So when that which is corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and that which is mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

NOW concerning the collection which is for the saints, as I have given an order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye.

Now I will come unto you when I have passed through Macedonia (for I am passing through Macedonia);

Now I exhort you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints:)

I rejoice in the arrival of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus; because what was lacking from you, they have supplied.

For they have refreshed my spirit and yours; respect therefore such men.

For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of the tribulation which came to us in Asia, that above measure we have been burdened beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life:

for we ourselves, in ourselves have received the sentence of death, that we should have no confidence in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead.

For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and peculiarly towards you.

As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your glory, as also ye are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

But I appeal to God as a witness unto my soul, that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth:

not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow-helpers of your joy; for by faith ye stand.

And I have written unto you for this very purpose, that I might not, when I come to you, have sorrow from those in whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly towards you.

For to this end also have I written, that I may know by this proof of you if ye are obedient in all things.

because ye are manifestly seen to be the letter of Christ, of which we have been the secretaries, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart.

And such confidence have we through Christ towards God:

THEREFORE having this ministry, as we have obtained mercy, we faint not;

but have renounced all shameful secret practices, not conducting ourselves with artifice, nor deceitfully disguising the word of God, but by clear manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience as in the presence of God.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the transcendent excellence of the power might be of God, and not of us.

Having then the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken, we also believe, and therefore speak;

FOR we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle should be taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Therefore we have always confidence, and know that whilst we are indwelling in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we have been made manifest to God, and I hope also have been made manifest in your consciences.

For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion of glorying on our behalf, that ye may have an answer for those who glory in countenance, and not in heart.

Wherefore from the present moment know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have also known Christ after the flesh, yet so henceforth know we him no more.

for he saith, "In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I succoured thee." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Let us have a like return; I speak as unto children; be ye also enlarged.

Give us a favourable reception: we have injured no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

I speak not for your condemnation, for I have already said, that ye are in our hearts to die and live together.

Now I rejoice, not that ye have been made sorrowful, but that ye have sorrowed unto repentance; for ye have been made sorry in a godly manner, that ye might receive damage from us in nothing.

For behold this very thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly manner, how great diligence did it produce in you! yea, what apologizing! yea, what indignation! yea, what fear! yea, what earnest desire! yea, what zeal! yea, what vengeance! In every step ye have approved yourselves as pure in this affair.

For if I have boasted of you to him in any thing, I am not ashamed; but as we have spoken all things to you in truth, so our boasting of you to Titus hath been found truth.

I rejoice therefore that in every thing I have confidence in you.

And in this I give my opinion: for this is expedient for you, who have before begun not only to do, but also to be willing a year ago.

Now then accomplish also the doing it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be also to perform out of that which ye have.

We have sent with him also a brother, whose praise in the gospel is [spread] through all the churches;

And we have sent with him our brother, whom we have often experienced in many things to be a man of diligence, but now much more diligent, through the great confidence which I have in you.

But I have sent the brethren, that our glorying in you might not be vain in this matter; that as I have said, ye may be prepared.

have thought it necessary therefore to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and prepare before your promised bounty, that it may be ready as a matter of bounty, and not as [extorted] of covetousness.

For we will not presume to put ourselves on the level, or compare ourselves with some who vaunt themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, have no understanding.

For we stretch not our pretensions beyond bounds, as though we reached not unto you; for we have advanced even unto you in the gospel of Christ:

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ.

For if he indeed that cometh preach another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not embraced, ye might well bear with him.

For though I may be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but on every occasion we have been made manifest in all things among you.

And when I was with you, and in want, I was burdensome to no man; for my want the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied; and on every occasion I have kept myself from being burdensome, and will keep myself.

Of the Jews five times I have received forty stripes save one.

Thrice I have been scourged with rods, once I have been stoned, thrice I have suffered shipwreck, a whole night and day I have passed in the deep;

Have I become a fool in boasting? ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing have I been inferior to the very chief apostles, though I be nothing.

The signs indeed of an apostle have been wrought among you in all patience, in miracles, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

For what is there wherein ye have been inferior to the other churches, except that I have not been burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

and lest when I come to you again, my God should bow me down, and I should lament over many who have sinned before, and have not repented of the impurities, and whoredom, and lasciviousness which they have committed.

I have told you before, and I repeat it, as when I was present the second time, and now absent, I write to those who have sinned already, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare you:

For this cause, though absent, I have written these things, that when I am present I may not use severity, according to the power which the Lord hath given me for edification, and not for destruction.

But though even we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you another gospel, different from that which we have preached to you, let him be an anathema.

As we have before spoken, and I now repeat it again, If any man preach a gospel different from that ye have received, let him be anathema.

For ye have heard of my former manner of life, when I professed Judaism, that in the most outrageous manner I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

to whom not even for an hour have we yielded subjection, that the truth of the gospel might abide with you.

only desiring that we would remember the poor??he very thing which I have also been diligent to perform.

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law; because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

For if I build up again the very same things which I have pulled down, I stamp myself a transgressor.

have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which was capable of procuring life, verily righteousness would have been by the law.

For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ, have been invested with Christ.

I am afraid for you, lest haply I have bestowed on you labour in vain.

Be as I am, for I also am as ye are, brethren??his is my request to you: ye have not injured me in the least.

What then was your blessedness, for I bear witness to you that, if it were possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes, and given them to me.

Ye have vacated all expectations from Christ, as many of you as are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be no otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear condign punishment whosoever he be.

For ye have been called unto liberty, brethren; only use not that liberty as a pretext for carnality, but in love be subject one to another.

envyings, murders, drunkenness, revels, and the like of these, concerning which I tell you now, as I have told you already, that they who live in such practices shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But they who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and irregular appetites.

But let every man bring his own work to the test, and then shall he have glorying in himself alone, and not [by comparison] with another.

Well then, whilst we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but especially unto those who are of the household of faith.

Ye see in how many words I have written unto you with my own hand.

in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

in whom also we have obtained our inheritance, predestinated according to the purpose of him who effectually worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will:

In whom ye also [trusted] after ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the holy Spirit of promise,

For this cause I also, since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love ye have to all saints,

have not ceased offering up my praises for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

among whom also we all have had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, as well as the rest.

for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

by whom also ye have been built up together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

if so be, that ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you:

in whom we have boldness and access with confidence to God by the faith of him.

There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye have been called to one hope of your calling;

who insensible to remorse, have delivered themselves over in lasciviousness, to the practice of all impurity, with insatiable avidity.

But ye have not so learned Christ;

if indeed ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Let him that stole steal no more; but rather labour hard, working with his hands that which is good, that he may have something to give to him that is in want.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye have been sealed unto the day of redemption.

And have no society with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather rebuke them.

And ye masters, do the same things to them, avoiding menacing language: knowing that you also yourselves have a master in heaven; and there is no respect of persons with him.

whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

Now I wish you, brethren, to know, that the things which have befallen me have rather conduced to the progress of the gospel;

experiencing the same conflict which ye have seen in me, and now hear to be in me.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always been obedient, not only during my presence with you, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling work out your own salvation.

holding up the word of life, that I may glory in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain.

For I have no one like minded with him, who will genuinely care for your affairs.

But ye have known the trial of him, that, as a son with a father, he hath served with me in the gospel.