who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God.

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.

He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. Yes, he is the one on whom we have set our hope, and he will rescue us again,

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."

Now the one who makes us and you as well secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God,

who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

After all, if I were to grieve you, who should make me happy but the person I am making sad?

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.

To God we are the aroma of the Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.

To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a living fragrance. Who is qualified for this?

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.

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.

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.

So if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are dying.

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 God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus the Messiah.

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to God together with you.

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.

He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

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

Yet God, who comforts those who feel miserable, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.

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."

But thanks be to God, who placed in the heart of Titus the same dedication to you that I have.

With him we have sent the brother who is praised in all the churches for spreading the gospel.

We have also sent with them our brother whom we have often tested in many ways and found to be dedicated. At present he is more dedicated than ever because he has so much confidence in you.

Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

Now he who supplies seed to the farmer and bread to eat will also supply you with seed and multiply it and enlarge the harvest that results from your righteousness.

Now I myself, Paul, plead with you with the gentleness and kindness of the Messiah I who am humble when I am face to face with you but forceful toward you when I am away!

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.

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.

"The person who boasts should boast in the Lord."

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

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.

But I will go on doing what I'm doing in order to deny an opportunity to those people who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in the work they are boasting about.

Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah.

You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face!

Who is weak without me being weak, too? Who is caused to stumble without me becoming indignant?

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

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.

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

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,