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

I have great confidence in you. I am very proud of you. I am very much encouraged. I am overjoyed in all our troubles.

See what great earnestness godly sorrow has produced in you! How ready you are to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how full of longing and enthusiasm, how eager to seek justice! In every way you have demonstrated that you are innocent in this matter.

For if I have been doing some boasting about you to him, I have never been ashamed of it. Moreover, since everything we told you was true, our boasting to Titus has also proved to be true.

I rejoice that I can have complete confidence in you.

In spite of their terrible ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and deep poverty have led them to be abundantly generous.

I can testify that by their own free will they have given to the utmost of their ability, yes, even beyond their ability.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

I am ashamed to admit it, but we have been too weak for that. Whatever anyone else dares to claim I am talking like a fool I can claim it, too.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

I have traveled extensively and have been endangered from rivers, robbers, my own people, and gentiles. I've also been in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea, from false brothers,

Besides everything else, I have a daily burden because of my anxiety about all the churches.

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.

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?

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

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,

I hope you will realize that we haven't failed our test.

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.

What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned!

For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it.

However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.

But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, "Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?"

yet we know that a person is not justified by doing what the Law requires, but rather by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. We, too, have believed in the Messiah Jesus so that we might be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by doing what the Law requires, for no human being will be justified by doing what the Law requires.

Now if we, while trying to be justified by the Messiah, have been found to be sinners, does that mean that the Messiah is serving the interests of sin? Of course not!

For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with the Messiah.

You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham's real descendants.

But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, "The person who keeps the commandments will have life in them."

Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

I am afraid for you! I don't want my work for you to have been wasted!

What, then, happened to your positive attitude? For I testify that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

So have I now become your enemy for telling you the truth?

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now those who belong to the Messiah Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.

So then, whenever we have the opportunity, let's practice doing good to everyone, especially to the family of faith.

In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God's grace

You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Therefore, because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with the Messiah (by grace you have been saved),

For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God

But now, in union with the Messiah Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.

For through him, both of us have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Surely you have heard about the responsibility of administering God's grace that was given to me on your behalf,

I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace that was given me by the working of his power.

in whom we have boldness and confident access through his faithfulness.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.

Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus.

and have nothing to do with the unfruitful actions that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are.

""so that it may go well for you, and that you may have a long life on the earth."

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.

The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel.

I rejoice because I eagerly expect and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of, because through my boldness the Messiah will be exalted through me, now as always, whether I live or die.

Indeed, I cannot decide between the two. I have the desire to leave this life and be with the Messiah, for that is far better.

For you have been given the privilege for the Messiah's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.

You have the same struggle that you saw in me and now hear that I am still having.

Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus:

And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

I do not have anyone else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.

Indeed, he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow on top of another.

Therefore, I am especially eager to send him so that you may have the joy of seeing him again, and so that I may feel relieved.

For it is we who are the circumcision we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh,

although I could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he can place confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to think so.

What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah

It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by the Messiah Jesus.

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

However, we should live up to what we have achieved so far.

Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have set for you.

For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.

I urge Euodia and Syntyche to have the same attitude in the Lord.

Yes, I also ask you, my true partner, to help these women. They have worked hard with me to advance the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Likewise, keep practicing these things: what you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Now I rejoice in the Lord greatly, because once again you have shown your concern for me. Of course, you were concerned for me but you did not have an opportunity to show it.

I am not saying this because I am in any need, for I have learned to be content in whatever situation I am in.

I know how to be humble, and I know how to prosper. In each and every situation I have learned the secret of being full and of going hungry, of having too much and of having too little.

I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints,

For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will with respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.

He is also the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might have first place in everything.

For God was pleased to have all of his divine essence inhabit him.

However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.