To the Church of God in Corinth, and to all Christ's People throughout Greece, from Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Timothy, a Brother.

Blessed is the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all-merciful Father, the God ever ready to console,

Who consoles us in all our troubles, so that we may be able to console those who are in any trouble with the consolation that we ourselves receive from him.

If we meet with trouble, it is for the sake of your consolation and salvation; and, if we find consolation, it is for the sake of the consolation that you will experience when you are called to endure the very sufferings that we ourselves are enduring;

And our hope for you remains unshaken. We know that, as you are sharing our sufferings, you will also share our consolation.

And from so imminent a death God delivered us, and will deliver us again; for in him we have placed our hopes of future deliverance, while you, also, help us by your prayers.

And then many lips will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

We never write anything to you other than what you will acknowledge to the very end--

For my own sake, as well, I decided not to pay you another painful visit.

So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.

All thanks to God, who, through our union with the Christ, leads us in one continual triumph, and uses us to spread the sweet odor of the knowledge of him in every place.

Unlike many people, we are not in the habit of making profit out of God's Message; but in all sincerity, and bearing God's commission, we speak before him in union with Christ.

All can see that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, a letter written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on 'tablets of stone,' but on 'tablets of human hearts.'

Will not the religion that confers the Spirit have still greater glory?

And, if that which was to pass away was attended with glory, far more will that which is to endure be surrounded with glory!

With such a hope as this, we speak with all plainness;

And all of us, with faces from which the veil is lifted, seeing, as if reflected in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness, from glory to glory, as it is given by the Lord, the Spirit.

This treasure we have in these earthen vessels, that its all- prevailing power may be seen to come from God, and not to be our own.

And so, while death is at work within us, Life is at work within you.

For we know that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with him, and will bring us, with you, into his presence.

For all this is for your sakes, that the loving-kindness of God, spreading from heart to heart, may cause yet more hearts to overflow with thanksgiving, to his glory.

We, all the while, gazing not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is transient, but what is unseen is imperishable.

Even while in our present body we sigh, longing to put over it our heavenly dwelling,

For we who are in this 'tent' sigh under our burden, unwilling to take it off, yet wishing to put our heavenly body over it, so that all that is mortal may be absorbed in Life.

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while our home is in the body, we are absent from our home with the Lord.

For at the Bar of the Christ we must all appear in our true characters, that each may reap the results of the life which he has lived in the body, in accordance with his actions--whether good or worthless.

It is the love of the Christ which compels us, when we reflect that, as one died for all, therefore all died;

And that he died for all, so that the living should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose for them.

But all this is the work of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us the Ministry of Reconciliation--

No, we are trying to commend ourselves under all circumstances, as God's ministers should--in many an hour of endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties,

As unknown, yet well-known; as at death's door, yet, see, we are living; as chastised, yet not killed;

As saddened, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things!

What agreement can thee be between a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the Living God. That is what God meant when he said--'I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Therefore "Come out from among the nations, and separate yourselves from them," says the Lord, "and touch nothing impure; And I will welcome you;

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters," says the Lord, the Ruler of all.'

I have the utmost confidence in you; I am always boasting about you. I am full of encouragement and, in spite of all our troubles, my heart is overflowing with happiness.

I am glad now; not because of the sorrow it caused you, but because your sorrow brought you to repentance. For it was God's will that you should feel sorrow, in order that you should not suffer loss in any way at our hands.

For, when sorrow is in accordance with God's will, it results in a repentance leading to Salvation, and which will never be regretted. The sure result of the sorrow that the world knows is Death.

For see what results that other sorrow--sorrow in accordance with God's will--has had in your case. What earnestness it produced! what explanations! what strong feeling! what alarm! what longing! what eagerness! what readiness to punish! You have proved yourselves altogether free from guilt in that matter.

In addition to the encouragement that this gave us, we were made far happier still by the happiness of Titus for his heart has been cheered by you all.

And his affection for you is all the greater, as he remembers the deference that you all showed him, and recalls how you received him with anxious care.

And that, not only in the way we had expected; but first they gave themselves to the Lord, and to us also, in accordance with God's will.

We are sending with him the Brother whose fame in the service of the Good News has spread through all the Churches;

So my reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

God has power to shower all kinds of blessings upon you, so that, having, under all circumstances and on all occasions, all that you can need, you may be able to shower all kinds of benefits upon others.

And he who supplies 'seed to the sower, and bread for eating,' will supply you with seed, and cause it to increase, and will multiply 'the fruits of your righteousness').

Rich in all things yourselves, you will be able to show liberality to all, which, with our help, will cause thanksgiving to be offered to God.

Through the evidence afforded by the service thus rendered, you cause men to praise God for your fidelity to your profession of faith in the Good News of the Christ, as well as for the liberality of your contributions for them and for all others.

All thanks to God for his inestimable gift!

Let such a man be assured of this--that our words in our letters show us to be, when absent, just what our deeds will show us to be, when present.

We, however, will not give way to unlimited boasting, but will confine ourselves to the limits of the sphere to which God limited us, when he permitted us to come as far as Corinth.

And, when I was with you in need, I did not become a burden to any of you; for our Brothers, on coming from Macedonia, supplied my needs. I kept myself, and will keep myself from being an expense to you in any way.

It is not surprising, therefore, if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of Righteousness. But their end will be in accordance with their actions.

As so many are boasting of earthly things, I, too, will boast.

For all your cleverness, you tolerate fools willingly enough!

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes, all but one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a whole day and night in the deep.

And, not to speak of other things, there is my daily burden of anxiety about all the Churches.