But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ.

But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

Having by the same spirit the same faith as David had when he said, "I believed, and therefore have I spoken:" I also believe, and therefore I speak;

since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

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

So there is a new creation when any man is in Christ. The old life has passed away, behold, the new is come.

for God said [Isa. 49:8], "I listened to you at the right time [i.e., when you needed my favor], and I helped you on the day of your salvation." Look, now is the right time [to accept God's favor]; now is the day of salvation.

in honor or dishonor, in praise or blame; considered an imposter, when I am true,

obscure, when I am well known, at the point of death, yet here I am alive, punished, but not dead yet,

pained, when I am always glad, poor, when I make many others rich, penniless, when really I own everything.

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.

For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

In fact, if I did pain you by that letter, I do not regret it. I did regret it when I discovered that my letter had pained you even for the time being,

For ye sorrowed godly: so that in nothing were ye hurt by us. For godly sorrow causeth repentance, unto salvation not to be repented of: when worldly sorrow causeth death.

And his affection for you is all the more [when he] remembers the obedience of all of you as you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

I give you my opinion in this matter: this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to take action [to help the believers in Jerusalem], but also [the first] to desire to do it.

for what a man gives with a ready mind, according to his abilities, is well received; but not when he goes beyond his circumstances.

So, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers [See verse 3] to visit you ahead of time and arrange beforehand for your previously promised generous gift. Then it will be ready [when I arrive] as a generously given gift and not as something given grudgingly.

For when, through this work of giving, they see what you are, they give glory to God for the way in which you have given yourselves to the good news of Christ, and for the wealth of your giving to them and to all;

And when they see the outstanding [evidence of] God's favor in you, they will pray for you with deep affection [or, "will long to see you"].

But I myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ, who, as to appearance, when present am mean among you, but absent am bold towards you;

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.

When we pull down, calculations, and every height that uplifteth itself against the knowledge of God, and when we bring into captivity every thought unto the obedience of the Christ,

And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

We do not have the audacity to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with some who [supply testimonials to] commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they lack wisdom and behave like fools.

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.

For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah.

Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

For a man is proved worthy, not by his self-commendation, but when he is commended by the Lord.

You put up with it all right, when some interloper preaches a second Jesus (not the Jesus I preached), or when you are treated to a Spirit different from the Spirit you once received, and to a different gospel from what I gave you! Why not put up with me?

Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by proclaiming to you the gospel of God free of charge, so that you could be exalted?

I robbed other churches, taking wages to do you service: and when I was present with you, and wanted, I was not a burden to any one;

And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them who desire occasion; that when they glory, they may be found even as we.

When I talk as a confident boaster, I am not talking with the Lord's authority but like a fool.

For ye bear with fools easily when you are wise yourselves.

You tolerate a man even when he enslaves you, when he plunders you, when he gets you into his power, when he puts on airs of superiority, when he strikes you in the face!

[When I was] in Damascus [Note: Paul here refers to his conversion. See Acts 9:1ff], the governor [who served] under King Aretas, was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to capture me,

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

I have been making a fool of myself, but you forced me to do it, when you ought to have been expressing your approval of me. For I am not a bit inferior to your superfine apostles, even if I am nobody!

The signs that mark a true apostle were most patiently shown when I was among you, in signs, wonders, and marvels.

For what is there in which ye were at disadvantage when compared with other churches, except that I myself was not a charge to you? Forgive me this wrong.

Are you thinking all this time that I am defending myself to you? It is in the very presence of God and as one who is in union with Christ that I am speaking. And it is all for building you up, beloved, for I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, when I come I shall find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me.

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to them that have sinned heretofore, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;

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].

For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not when present deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for casting down.

For you have heard about the way I lived in the past, when I was in the Jewish religion, [that is], how I mercilessly persecuted the church of God, making havoc of it.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

[And when I was called], God revealed His Son to me so that I could preach [about] Him to the Gentiles. [When this happened] I immediately avoided discussing the matter with anyone.

I did not go up to Jerusalem to [discuss it with] those who had become apostles before me either; instead I went away into Arabia. [Note: This is probably when Paul received supernatural power from the Holy Spirit]. Then afterward, I returned to Damascus. [Note: This was in Syria where Paul was converted].

But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

(for he that had wrought powerfully in Peter with respect to his apostleship among the Jews, had also wrought powerfully in me upon account of the Gentiles:) and when James,

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

I really convict myself of transgression when I rebuild what I destroyed.

You senseless Galatians! Who has bewitched you, when you had Jesus Christ shown crucified right before your eyes?

Answer me this one question, "Is it on the ground of your obedience to the Law that you received the Spirit, or is it because, when you heard, you believed?"

When He supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, is it because you do what the Law commands or because you believe the gospel message?

Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no one maketh it void, or addeth thereto.

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.

But when faith was come, we were no longer under a paedagogue.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

Now, however, when you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you are beginning to turn back to those weak and beggarly externalities, eager to be in bondage to them again?

Believers, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [when I first came to you; do not do it now].

But you are aware [I am sure] that when I first came preaching the Gospel [message] to you, I had a physical handicap.

And when you could have been tempted to look down on me [because of the nature of my affliction], instead you welcomed me as [if I were] an angel, or even Christ Jesus Himself!

But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, "You are to love your fellow man equally with yourself."

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Let us not be weary of well doing. For when the time is come we shall reap without weariness.

See what big letters I make, when I write you in my own hand!

when He made known to us the secret of His will. And this is in harmony with God's merciful purpose

for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it--the purpose which He has cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in Heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.

In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do,

in whom also you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

For this reason I also, from the time when I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and your love to all the saints,

I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers.

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,

You practiced such things when you lived according to the evil ways of this world, and according to the ruler of the [spiritual] powers of the air. [Note: This refers to Satan, whose influence permeates life around us]. He is the [evil] spirit who is now at work in people who are disobedient [to God].

among whom all of us lived, we as well as you, when we obeyed the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of the flesh and its impulses, when we were objects of God's anger by nature, like the rest of men.

but God who is rich in mercy, on account of his great love with which he loved us,??5 even when we were dead in sins he made us alive with Christ,??y grace are you saved,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Therefore remember, that when you were Gentiles in the flesh, called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, made in the flesh with hands;

when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace,

And when, upon the cross, he had destroyed their mutual enmity, he sought by means of his cross to reconcile them both to God, united in one Body.

When the Messiah came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)