We always carry around in our [physical] bodies the [threat of] dying, as Jesus did [i.e., the apostles were constantly exposed to impending danger and death], so that the life of Jesus [i.e., His virtue, courage, faithfulness, etc.] may be demonstrated in our bodies [i.e., in the way we live] also.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

for we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ; that every one may receive the retribution, according as his actions in the body were either good or evil.

Not again, ourselves, do we commend unto you, but as though an occasion we were giving unto you - something to boast of, in our behalf; that ye may have something suited unto them who, in appearance, are boasting, and not in heart.

for whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God; whether we be of sound mind -- it is to you,

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

In behalf of Christ, therefore, are we ambassadors, - as if God were beseeching through us: we entreat, in behalf of Christ, - be reconciled unto God!

For, even when we came into Macedonia, no relief at all, had our flesh; but, in every way, were we in tribulation, - without, fightings! within, fears!

and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still.

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

Now, am I rejoicing, - not that ye were grieved, but that ye were grieved unto repentance; for ye were grieved according to God, in order that, in nothing, should ye receive damage from us.

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.

For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

And he has great affection for you when he remembers how obedient all of you were [i.e., obedient to his or Paul's instructions to the church], and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling [i.e., with a respectful, submissive spirit].

how that the abundance of their rejoicing is, that they are tried with much tribulation. And thereto, though they were exceeding poor, yet have they given exceeding richly, and that in singleness.

For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

Ye know the liberality of our Lord Jesus Christ, which though he were rich, yet for your sakes became poor: that ye through his poverty might be made rich.

in this I only advise you: it being for your credit, since you have not only begun to execute it, but you were the first that form'd the design a year ago.

So, now finish doing it also, so that just as you were eager to want to, you will also [be eager to] finish it, according to your ability.

Now it is unnecessary for me to write you about this service to God's holy people [in Jerusalem, who were in need].

But I sent the brethren, in order that our boasting which is in your behalf may not be in vain in this region; in order that, as I was saying, your were ready:

Otherwise, if any Macedonians were to come with me, and find you unprepared, we--to say nothing of you--should feel ashamed of our present confidence.

So it seemed to me wise for the brothers to go before, and see that the amount which you had undertaken to give was ready, so that it might be a cause for praise, and not as if we were making profit out of you.

Now I Paul, who am humble [when speaking] face to face with you, but bold when I am away from you, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ [Note: This means either Paul was imitating Christ's behavior or that the Corinthians were to do so]:

I entreat, however, that, when present, I may not be bold with the assurance wherewith I think to be daring against some who account of us as though, according to flesh, we were walking, -

You people are looking [merely] at the appearance of things [or, "You should look at what is obvious!" In either case, it suggests they were misjudging Paul's ministry]. If any person is confident within himself that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: We are just as much Christ's [servants] as he is.

If, however, I were to boast more loudly concerning the authority which the Lord gave me (not to cast you down, but to build you up), I should have no cause for shame.

Let it not seem as if I were overawing you with my letters.

For, not as though we were not reaching unto you, are we over-stretching ourselves, for, as far as even you, were we beforehand in the glad-message of the Christ:

O that ye were bearing with me a little of the folly, but ye also do bear with me:

for if, indeed, he who is coming doth preach another Jesus whom we did not preach, or another Spirit ye receive which ye did not receive, or other good news which ye did not accept -- well were ye bearing it,

and even if unlearned in word -- yet not in knowledge, but in every thing we were made manifest in all things to you.

Therefore it is no great thing, though his ministers fashion themselves as though they were the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their deeds.

What I am about to say I am not speaking by the Lord's command, but as it were in pure folly, in this boldness of boasting.

in reference to dishonour I speak, how that we were weak, and in whatever any one is bold -- in foolishness I say it -- I also am bold.

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as though I were beside myself), such, far, more, am I; in labors more abundant, in imprisonments also more abundant, in floggings beyond measure, in deaths often.

I know a man in Christ above fourteen years agone - whether he were in the body I cannot tell, or whether he were out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth - which was taken up into the third heaven.

And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain.

I have become a fool; ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended by you; for I have been nothing behind those who were in surpassing degree apostles, if also I am nothing.

In truth the signs of the true apostle were wrought among you in all patience by signs and marvels and powers.

In what respect, then, were you inferior to the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

I gave orders to Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus make any profit out of you? were we not guided by the same Spirit, in the same ways?

You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.

I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

But we pray unto God, that ye may do nothing base, - not that, we, may appear, accepted, but that, ye, the honourable thing, may be doing, even though, we, should be, as it were, rejected;

We are glad when we are weak, and ye strong. This also we wish for, even that ye were perfect.

But even though I myself or an angel from heaven were to preach any gospel other than that which I did preach to you, let him be accursed.

Think you that I am now trying to conciliate men or God? Or am I "seeking to please men"? If I were still seeking to please men, I should not be a slave of Christ.

And I make known to you, brethren, the good news that were proclaimed by me, that it is not according to man,

and prevailed in the Jews' law, above many of my companions, which were of mine own nation, and was a much more fervent maintainer of the traditions of the elders.

And I went not up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia, and again I came back to Damascus.

(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you as if I were standing before God that I am not lying.)

And the churches of Judaea which were in Christ still had no knowledge of my face or person:

Only they were hearing - He that was persecuting us formerly, now, is announcing the glad-message of the faith which he formerly laid waste;

And they were giving glory to God on my account.

And I went up by revelation; and I put before them the good news which I was preaching among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were of good name, so that the work which I was or had been doing might not be without effect.

Also Titus which was with me, though he were a Greek, yet was not compelled to be circumcised;

Yet there were false brethren who had crept in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us again.

But we refused to yield for a single instant to their claims; we were determined that the truth of the gospel should hold good for you.

But those in authority??hat they once were makes no difference to me; God is no respecter of persons??hose I say who were in authority had no additions to make my message.

but, on the contrary, seeing that the glad tidings of the uncircumcision were confided to me, even as to Peter that of the circumcision,

And when they perceived the favour which had been given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave, the right hand of fellowship, unto me and Barnabas, in order that, we, should go unto the nations, and, they, unto the circumcision: -

Only, we were to remember the poor, and that I have taken pains to do.

For before certain men came from James, he did take food with the Gentiles: but when they came, he went back and made himself separate, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

And the other Jews were guilty of the same dissimulation with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, in the presence of the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all. "If you, although you are a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you try to compel the Gentiles to become Jews?

But if, while we were desiring to get righteousness through Christ, we ourselves were seen to be sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? In no way!

Now it was to Abraham that the promises were spoken, and to his offspring. God did not say, "offsprings" as if speaking of many, but "and to your offspring," as of one; and this is Christ.

For if the inheritance were by law, it is no more by promise: but God gave it to Abraham through the promise.

Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.

Is then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought. For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law;

Before the Faith came we were perpetual prisoners under the Law, in preparation for the destined faith about to be revealed.

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

For all of you who were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ.

So we Jews also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the empty externalities of the world.

That he might make them free who were under the law, and that we might be given the place of sons.

But once, when you Gentiles had no knowledge of God, you were slaves to gods which have no real being.

Brethren, I beseech you, be ye as I am; for I also am as ye were: ye have not injured me at all.

and though my physical condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, as though I were Christ Jesus himself!

How happy were ye then? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

My little children, of whom I do as it were travail in birth again,

I would I were with you now, and could change my voice, for I stand in a doubt of you.

these things have an allegorical meaning: the two women signify the two covenants, the one from mount Sinai, which is represented by Agar, whose children were born in a state of servitude.

ye were freed from the Christ, ye who in law are declared righteous; from the grace ye fell away;

You were running your race nobly. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

But, brothers, if I were still preaching [that a person had] to be circumcised, why am I being persecuted? [Note: Paul's argument seems to be "I must not be preaching circumcision since I am being persecuted by those who believe in it"]. [If I preached that a person had to be circumcised] then my preaching that Christ died on the cross would not be such an offense [to those who believe in it].

I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

For you, brothers, were called for freedom; only do not make your freedom an excuse for self-indulgence, but in love enslave yourselves to one another.

As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,

the same in himself to have it declared when the time were full come: that all things, both the things which are in heaven, and also the things which are in earth, should be gathered together, even in Christ. That is to say, in him

In Him also we have received an inheritance [a destiny—we were claimed by God as His own], having been predestined (chosen, appointed beforehand) according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will,

that we should celebrate his glory, who were the first that plac'd our hopes in Christ.

In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God].

And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins,

in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God].

Among whom also, we all, had our behaviour, at one time, in the covetings of our flesh, doing the things desired by the flesh and the mind, and were children, by nature, of anger - even as the rest, -

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,

Although we were dead by our offences, gave us life together with the Christ, - by favour, ye have been saved, -