For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living.

In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time?

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith.

Now I decided not to pay you another painful visit.

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

I wrote to you out of great sorrow and anguish of heart along with many tears not to make you sad but to let you know how much love I have for you.

so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions.

but my spirit could not find any relief, because I couldn't find Titus, my brother. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

At least we are not commercializing God's word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah's name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

Are we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?

You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God,

who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on Moses' face (because the glory was fading away from it),

will not the Spirit's ministry have even more glory?

not like Moses, who kept covering his face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged.

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God's word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

For we do not preach ourselves, but rather Jesus the Messiah as Lord, and ourselves as merely your servants for Jesus' sake.

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

In every way we're troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair,

persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

That's why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day.

because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

Of course, if we do put it on, we will not be found without a body.

So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life.

For we live by faith, not by sight.

We are not recommending ourselves to you again but are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who are proud of outward things rather than inward character.

So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don't think of him that way anymore.

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

Since, then, we are working with God, we plead with you not to accept God's grace in vain.

We do not put an obstacle in anyone's way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry.

as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and yet as you see very much alive, as punished and yet not killed,

We have not cut you off, but you have cut off your own feelings toward us.

Make room for us in your hearts! We have not treated anyone unjustly, harmed anyone, or cheated anyone.

I am not saying this to condemn you. I told you before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.

If I made you sad with my letter, I do not regret it, although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while.

Now I am happy, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repent. For you were sorry in a godly way, and so you were not hurt by us in any way.

We did not expect that! They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this was God's will.

I am not commanding you but testing the genuineness of your love by the enthusiasm of others.

I am giving you my opinion on this matter because it will be helpful to you. Last year you were not only willing to do something, but had already started to do it.

For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you do not have.

Not that others should have relief while you have hardship. Rather, it is a question of fairness.

At the present time, your surplus fills their need, so that their surplus may fill your need. In this way things are fair.

As it is written, "The person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little."

We intend to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of people.

I do not need to write to you any further about the ministry to the saints.

Now I have sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter may not prove to be an idle boast, and so that you may stand ready, just as I said.

Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find out that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you in this undertaking.

Therefore, I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me, to make arrangements in advance for this gift you promised, and to have it ready as something given generously and not forced.

Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.

since this ministry you render is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it is also overflowing with more and more prayers of thanksgiving to God.

I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh.

Of course, we are living in the world, but we do not wage war in a world-like way.

For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments

So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it.

I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters.

Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present!

We would not dare put ourselves in the same class with, or compare ourselves to, those who recommend themselves. Whenever they measure themselves by their own standards or compare themselves among themselves, they show how foolish they are.

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.

For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah.

We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows.

It is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person whom the Lord commends.

I do not think I'm inferior in any way to those "super-apostles."

Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

When I was with you and needed something, I did not bother any of you, because our brothers who came from Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their doom will match their deeds!

When I talk as a confident boaster, I am not talking with the Lord's authority but like a fool.

Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night.

in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

I know that this man whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows

However, if I did want to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I am not going to do it in order to keep anyone from thinking more of me than what he sees and hears about me.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the exceptional nature of these revelations, a thorn was given to me and placed in my body. It was Satan's messenger to keep on tormenting me so that I would not become conceited.

but he has told me, "My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah's power may rest on me.

I have become a fool. You forced me to be one. Really, I should have been commended by you, for I am not in any way inferior to your "super-apostles," even if I am nothing.

How were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I did not bother you for help? Forgive me for this wrong!

Now I'm ready to visit you for a third time, and I will not bother you for help. I do not want your things, but rather you yourselves. Children should not have to support their parents, but parents their children.

Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?

I did not take advantage of you through any of the men I sent you, did I?

I am afraid that I may come and somehow find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly conduct.

I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

I have already warned those who sinned previously and all the rest. Although I am absent now, I am warning them as I did on my second visit: If I come back, I will not spare you,

since you want proof that the Messiah is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is making his power felt among you.

We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed.

For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.