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.

Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

And that as you are full of every good thing, of faith, of the word, of knowledge, of a ready mind, and of love to us, so you may be full of this grace in the same way.

For if the willingness is present, it is acceptable to the extent if some man has, not to the extent he does not have.

at this present time your surplus [over necessities] is going to supply their need, so that [at some other time] their surplus may be given to supply your need, that there may be equality;

But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

And we have sent at the same time with him the brother whose praise in the gospel [has become known] throughout all the churches.

And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

We are taking this precaution so no one can criticize us about this large sum administered by us.

For I have before made clear to those of Macedonia my pride in your ready mind, saying to them that Achaia has been ready for a year back; and a great number have been moved to do the same by your example.

At the same time I am sending these brothers just in case my pride in you should prove an empty boast in this particular instance; I want you to be "all ready," as I have been telling them that you would be,

Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

But in the Writings it says, He who puts in only a small number of seeds, will get in the same; and he who puts them in from a full hand, will have produce in full measure from them.

And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;

Now I, the same Paul, who, when present among you, am timid, but when absent, am bold toward you, entreat you, by the mildness and gentleness of Christ;

But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Look ye on things after the outer appearance? If any man trust in himself that he is Christ's, let the same also consider of himself, that as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed.

That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

because some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak and his speech is of no account."

Let such people take this into their reckoning, that whatever we are in word by our letters when absent, the same are we also in act when present.

For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

For we have no need to make ourselves seem more than we are, as if our authority did not come as far as to you: for we came even as far as you with the good news of Christ:

I could wish ye would bear with me as to some little foolishness, - Nay! do even bear with me!

But I have a fear, that in some way, as Eve was tricked by the deceit of the snake, your minds may be turned away from their simple and holy love for Christ.

For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception].

But what I am doing I will keep doing, [for I am determined to keep this independence] in order to cut off the claim of those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things they brag about.

For such men are false Apostles, workers of deceit, making themselves seem like Apostles of Christ.

So it is no great thing if his servants make themselves seem to be servants of righteousness; whose end will be the reward of their works.

Again I say, Let not any one think me to be a fool; but if otherwise, receive me then even as a fool, that I also may boast myself some little.

What I say, I say not according to the Lord, but as in folly, in this same confidence of boasting.

Seeing that there are those who take credit to themselves after the flesh, I will do the same.

For ye tolerate it if some man enslaves you, if some man devours you, if some man seizes you, if some man lifts himself up, if some man strikes you on the face.

I say this by way of shaming ourselves, as if we had been feeble. But if anyone puts himself forward (I am talking like a foolish person), I will do the same.

And I know the same man - whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth -

was [actually] taken up into Paradise. [Note: This is the same as the "third heaven" of the previous verse, and was a place in the presence of God. See Luke 23:43; Rev. 2:7]. There he heard inexpressible words which are not permitted for people to repeat.

On behalf of such a man [and his experiences] I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.

For if I had a desire to take credit to myself, it would not be foolish, for I would be saying what is true: but I will not, for fear that I might seem to any man more than he sees me to be, or has word from me that I am.

But, so that I would not become too conceited over the tremendous revelations [I received], a "thorn in the flesh" was given to me as a messenger from Satan to torment me. [Note: This "thorn" was probably some physical handicap, possibly defective eyesight. See Gal. 4:14-15; 6:11].

But be that as it may, I did not burden you [with my support]. But [some say that] I was sly and took you by trickery.

I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

It may seem to you that all this time we have been attempting to put ourselves in the right; but we are saying these things before God in Christ. For all things, dear brothers, are for your profit.

For I am afraid I may perhaps come and find you are not what I could wish, while you may find I am not what you could wish; I am afraid of finding quarrels, jealousy, temper, rivalry, slanders, gossiping, arrogance, and disorder ??21 afraid that when I come back to you, my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn for many who sinned some time ago and yet have never repented of the impurity, the sexual vice, and the sensuality which they have practised.

and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over some of those who formerly have committed shocking sins, and have not repented for them -- their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality, which once they practiced.

I warned you already, on my second visit, and I warn you now before I come, both you who sinned some time ago and the rest of you as well, that I will spare no one if I come back.

For He was weak when He was crucified [i.e., by assuming a human body capable of suffering and death], but [now] He lives by God's power. For we too are weak, [along] with Him [i.e., each of us experiences the frailties of a human body], but by [this same] power from God, we will live with Him to serve you. [Note: The various translations differ widely on how to properly translate this difficult verse].

Your own selves try ye, if ye are in the faith; your own selves prove ye; do ye not know your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, if ye be not in some respect disapproved of?

But I pray to God that you may do nothing wrong. Not so that we [and our teaching] may appear to be approved, but that you may continue doing what is right, even though we [by comparison] may seem to have failed.

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfected; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace: and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the mercy of Christ, to some different good news??7 not that there is any other, only that there are some people who are trying to unsettle you and want to turn the good news of the Christ around.

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

Now even though it were myself or some angel from heaven, whoever preaches a gospel that contradicts the gospel I preached to you, God's curse be on him!

and made progress in Judaism beyond many of the same age with me in my nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

But [all went well, for] not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, despite the fact that he was a Greek.

(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)

and having known the grace of God which was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who seem to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision;

Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

and the rest of the Jews also played the same dissembling part with him; so that even Barnabas was carried away too by their dissimulation.

But when I saw that they were not living uprightly in agreement with the true words of the good news, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how will you make the Gentiles do the same as the Jews?

God forbid. And if I build again the same things which I demolished, I shew myself a transgressor: for I through the law am dead to the law,

In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

For so many as are of works of law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who does not abide in all things which have been written in the book of the law, to do the same.

Brothers (I speak according to a man), in the same way of a man, no man annuls or adds to a contract that has been ratified.

Here is what I am saying: The Agreement originally made by God [with Abraham], with its attending promises, was not canceled when the law of Moses was given some four hundred and thirty years later.

In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elemental forces of the world.

But now that you have come to know God [as your Father], or rather, to be known by Him [as His children], how can you turn back again to the weak, cheap, elementary teachings [of the law of Moses], to which you [seem to] desire to become enslaved?

Which things, indeed, may bear another meaning; for, the same, are two covenants, - one, indeed, from Mount Sinai, into bondage, bringing forth, the which is Hagar, -

Now Hagar is (represents) Mount Sinai in Arabia and she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Yet at that time the child born in the course of nature persecuted the child born by the power of the Spirit; and it is the same now.

I have confidence in you, that, through the Lord, you will be of the same mind with me, so that he who troubles you shall fall under the censure he deserves, whoever he be.

But as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision [as I had done before I met Christ; and as some accuse me of doing now, as necessary for salvation], why am I still being persecuted [by Jews]? In that case the stumbling block of the cross [to unbelieving Jews] has been abolished.

Brethren, if even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.

If any man seem to himself that he is somewhat, when indeed he is nothing, the same deceiveth himself in his imagination.

But, his own work, let each one be putting to the proof, and, then, for himself alone, the matter of boasting, shall he have, and not for some other,

Be not deceiving yourselves! God, is not to be mocked; for, whatsoever a man soweth, the same, shall he also reap, -

Those who have the desire to seem important in the flesh, put force on you to undergo circumcision; only that they may not be attacked because of the cross of Christ.

[This letter is from] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to God's will, [and is being sent] to the saints [i.e., God's holy people] at Ephesus [Note: This was a major city in the western province of Asia Minor, and now a part of Turkey. The words "at Ephesus" are omitted in some manuscripts, suggesting it was a circular letter], and the faithful ones in [fellowship with] Christ Jesus [everywhere else ?].

unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,

and what God's tremendous power [working] in us believers is. [This power is] the same as that utilized by God's mighty strength,

The same mighty power was exerted upon the Christ, when he raised the Christ from the dead and 'caused him to sit at his right hand' on high, exalting him above all Angels and Archangels of every rank,

even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment).

for thro' him both of us have access by the same spirit to the father.

That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you.

Every one of us, however, has been entrusted with some charge, each in accordance with the extent of the gift of the Christ.

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

Let him that stole, steal no more; but let him rather labour with his hands some good thing, that he may have to give unto him that needeth.

For you [should] know this for certain: No sexually immoral or [morally] impure person, or greedy person, who is [the same as] an idol worshiper, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

but all things, when they are rebuked of the light, are manifest. For whatsoever is manifest, that same is light.

For the husband is the wife's head, even as Christ is the head of the congregation, and the same is the saviour of the body.

In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

through all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and in regard to this same, watching in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.