For if I have a liberal share of Christ's sufferings, through Christ I have a liberal share of comfort too.

If I am in trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation, and if I am comforted, it is for the sake of the comfort which you experience when you steadfastly endure such sufferings as I also have to bear.

My hopes for you are unshaken. For I know that just as surely as you share my sufferings, just so surely you will share my comfort.

For I do not want you, brothers, to misunderstand the distress that I experienced in Asia, for I was so utterly and unendurably crushed, that I actually despaired of life itself.

You must help me by your prayers, so that many will give thanks to God on my behalf for the blessing granted me in answer to many prayers.

For my boast is what my conscience tells me, that my relations to the world and still more to you have been marked by pure motives and godly sincerity, not by worldly shrewdness but by the favor of God.

For what I am writing to you is only what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand it fully,

I was going to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then to come back to you from Macedonia and have you see me off for Judea.

for to all the promises of God he supplies the "Yes" that confirms them. That is why we utter the "Amen" through him, when we give glory to God.

Not that we are the masters of you and your faith; we are working with you to make you happy, for in your faith you stand firm enough.

For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit.

For if I hurt your feelings, who is there to cheer me up but the man whose feelings I hurt?

This is what I said in my letter, so that I might avoid coming and having my feelings hurt by the very people who might have been expected to make me happy, for I felt sure about you all, that what made me happy would make you all happy.

For I was in great trouble and distress of mind when I wrote you, and I shed many tears as I did it, yet it was not to hurt your feelings, but to make you realize the extraordinary affection I have for you.

For that individual, this censure by the majority of you is punishment enough,

For that is why I wrote you??o find out how you would stand the test, and see if you would obey me absolutely.

When you forgive a man, I forgive him too. For anything I had to forgive has been forgiven on your account, and as in the very presence of Christ,

to keep Satan from getting the better of us. For we know what he is after.

When I went to Troas to preach the good news of the Christ there, I found a good opening for the Lord's work,

to the one, a deathly, deadly odor, to the other a vital, life-giving one. Who is qualified for this task? I am!

For I am no peddler of God's message, like most men, but like a man of sincerity, commissioned by God and in his presence, in union with Christ I utter his message.

You are my recommendations, written on my heart, for everybody to read and understand.

and he has qualified me to serve him in the interests of a new agreement, not in writing but of spirit. For what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life.

If there was splendor in the religion of condemnation, the religion of uprightness must far surpass it in splendor.

For in comparison with its surpassing splendor, what was splendid has come to have no splendor at all.

For if what faded away came with splendor, how much more splendid what is permanent must be!

Their minds were dulled. For to this day, that same veil remains unlifted, when they read the old agreement, for only through union with Christ is it removed.

And all of us, reflecting the splendor of the Lord in our unveiled faces, are being changed into likeness to him, from one degree of splendor to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

For it is not myself but Christ Jesus that I am proclaiming as Lord; I am only a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, that is on the face of Christ.

never free from the danger of being put to death like Jesus, so that in my body the life of Jesus also may be seen.

For every day I live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be visible in my mortal nature.

For it is all for your benefit, in order that as God's favor reaches greater and greater numbers, it may result in more and more thanksgiving in praise of God.

For this slight, momentary trouble is piling up for me an eternal blessedness beyond all comparison,

because I keep my eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

For I know that if this earthly tent that I live in is taken down, God will provide me a building in heaven to live in, not built by human hands but eternal.

for if I do, I shall never find myself disembodied.

For I who am still in my tent sigh with anxiety, because I do not want to be stripped of it, but to put on the other over it, so that what is only mortal may be absorbed in life.

It is God himself who has prepared me for this change, and he has given me the Spirit as his guaranty.

(for I have to guide my steps by faith, not by what is seen)??8 yet I am confident, and I prefer to leave my home in the body and make my home with the Lord.

For we must all appear in our true characters before the tribunal of the Christ, each to be repaid with good or evil for the life he has lived in the body.

It is with this knowledge of what the fear of the Lord means that I appeal to men. My true character is perfectly plain to God, and I hope to your consciences too.

For if I was out of my senses, as they say, it was between God and me; and if I am in my right mind, it is for your good.

It is Christ's love that controls me, for I have become convinced that as one has died for all, all have died,

and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

It is for Christ, therefore, that I am an envoy, seeing that God makes his appeal through me. On Christ's behalf I beg you to be reconciled to God.

He made him who knew nothing of sin to be sin, for our sake, so that through union with him we might become God's uprightness.

For he says, "I have listened to you at a welcome time, And helped you on a day of deliverance!" Now the welcome time has come! This is the day of deliverance!

the truth of my teaching, and the power of God; with the weapons of uprightness for the right hand and the left,

What bargain can a temple of God make with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, And I will be their God and they will be my people."

So since we have promises like these, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves of everything that can defile body or spirit, and by reverence for God make our consecration complete.

Make room for me in your hearts. I have not wronged or harmed or got the better of anybody.

I do not mean this as a reflection upon you, for as I said before, you will always have a place in my heart whether I live or die.

For even when I reached Macedonia, my poor human nature could get no relief??here was trouble at every turn; fighting without, and fear within.

and not only by his coming, but by the comfort you had given him, for he told me how you longed to see me, how sorry you were, and how you took my part, which made me happier still.

For even if I did hurt your feelings with that letter, I cannot regret it; even if I did regret it, when I saw that the letter had hurt your feelings perhaps for a while,

I am glad of it now; not because you had your feelings hurt, but because having them hurt led you to repent, for you took it as God meant you to do, so that you should not lose anything at all through me.

For the pain that God approves results in a repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets; but the world's pain results in death.

That is why I am so comforted. With all my own comfort, I was still more overjoyed at the gladness of Titus, for his mind has been set at rest by you all.

for in spite of a severe ordeal of trouble, their extraordinary gladness, combined with their extreme poverty, has overflowed in a wealth of generosity.

For they have given to the utmost of their ability, as I can bear them witness, and beyond it,

They did far more than I hoped, for first in obedience to God's will, they gave themselves to the Lord, and to me.

This has led me to urge Titus to complete the arrangements he had formerly begun among you for this gracious undertaking.

You know how gracious the Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was rich, he became poor for your sake, in order that by his poverty you might become rich.

But I will tell you what I think about it. For this is the best way to deal with you, for you were the first not only to do anything about this, but to want to do anything, and that was last year.

but to equalize the burden, and in the present situation to have your plenty make up for what they need, so that some day their plenty may make up for what you need, and so things may be made equal??15 as the Scripture says, "The man who got much did not have too much, and the man who got little did not have too little."

for he has responded to my appeal, but he goes to you really of his own accord, he is so devoted to you.

I am sending with him his brother, who is famous in all the churches for his work in spreading the good news.

So as far as Titus is concerned, he is my partner and comrade in my work for you, while these brothers of ours represent the churches, and are a credit to Christ.

It is really unnecessary for me to write to you about this fund for your fellow-Christians,

for I know how willing you are to help in it; I boast of you for it to the people in Macedonia, telling them that Greece has been ready since last year, and your enthusiasm has been a stimulus to most of them.

for if some people from Macedonia come with me, and find that you are not ready, it will humiliate me??o say nothing of you??or having expressed such confidence.

So I have thought it necessary to ask these brothers to go on to you ahead of me, to arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so as to have it ready, like an expression of your good will, not of your avarice.

God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that you will always have enough for every situation, and ample means for every good enterprise:

You will grow rich in every way, so that through me you can show perfect liberality that will make men thank God for it.

For the rendering of this service does more than supply the wants of God's people; it results in a wealth of thanksgiving to God.

The way you stand the test of this service must do honor to God, through your fidelity to what you profess as to the good news of Christ, and through the liberality of your contributions for them and for all others;

then they will long for you and pray for you, because of the extraordinary favor God has shown you.

Thank God for his indescribable gift!

I appeal to you personally, by the gentleness and forbearance of Christ??he Paul who is so humble when face to face with you, but so bold in dealing with you when he is far away!

For though I do live an earthly life, I am not carrying on an earthly war,

for the weapons I use are not earthly ones, but divinely strong for destroying fortresses.

For suppose I do boast a little too much of my authority??hich the Lord gave me to build you up, not to pull you down?? will not have to blush for it.

For they say, "His letters are impressive and telling, but his personal appearance is insignificant and as a speaker he amounts to nothing."

Such people had better understand that when I arrive and take action I will do just as I say I will in my letters when I am far away.

It is no strain for me to do this, as it might be for people who had never got so far, for I was the first to come all the way to you with the good news of the Christ.

For it is not the man who approves of himself who is really approved; it is the man of whom the Lord approves.

I feel a divine jealousy about you, for I betrothed you to Christ, to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.

For when somebody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough!

For I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superfine apostles of yours.

I robbed other churches, letting them pay me so that I could work for you!

And when I was with you and wanted money, I did not burden any of you, for when the brothers came from Macedonia they supplied what I needed. So I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

And no wonder, for even Satan himself masquerades as a shining angel.

When I boast in this reckless way, I do not say what I am saying for the Lord, but as a fool would talk.

For you like to put up with fools, you are so wise yourselves!

For you put up with it if a man makes you his slaves, or lives on you, or takes you in, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face.

To my shame I must admit that I was too weak for that sort of thing. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of?? am playing the part of a fool?? will dare to boast of too.

If they are Christian workers?? am talking like a madman!?? am a better one! with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, vastly worse beatings, and in frequent danger of death.

Though if I do choose to boast, I will not be such a fool, for I will only be telling the truth. But I will refrain from it, for I do not want anyone to be influenced by the wonderful character of these revelations to think more of me than is justified by my words or conduct.

and he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for only where there is weakness is perfect strength developed." So I am perfectly willing to boast of all my weakness, so that the strength of Christ may shelter me.