For they refreshed my spirit and yours. So then, recognize people like this.

Let anyone who has no love for the Lord be accursed. Our Lord, come!

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.

But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.

And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.

as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.

For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God -- not by human wisdom but by the grace of God -- we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you.

For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us -- by me and Silvanus and Timothy -- was not "Yes" and "No," but it has always been "Yes" in him.

For every one of God's promises are "Yes" in him; therefore also through him the "Amen" is spoken, to the glory we give to God.

I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad but the one I caused to be sad?

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.

This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him,

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

For this reason also I wrote you: to test you to see if you are obedient in everything.

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him -- for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

so that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).

Now when I arrived in Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened a door of opportunity for me,

I had no relief in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and set out for Macedonia.

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing --

to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God.

who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory!

For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it.

For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory!

But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.

For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.

For God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.

For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body.

For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling,

For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

for we live by faith, not by sight.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.

Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we are well known to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.

And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!"

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

For he says, "I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you." Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!

We do not give anyone an occasion for taking an offense in anything, so that no fault may be found with our ministry.

by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left,

Our affection for you is not restricted, but you are restricted in your affections for us.

Now as a fair exchange -- I speak as to my children -- open wide your hearts to us also.

Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of reverence for God.

Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we have ruined no one, we have exploited no one.

I do not say this to condemn you, for I told you before that you are in our hearts so that we die together and live together with you.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our body had no rest at all, but we were troubled in every way -- struggles from the outside, fears from within.

We were encouraged not only by his arrival, but also by the encouragement you gave him, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your deep concern for me, so that I rejoiced more than ever.

For even if I made you sad by my letter, I do not regret having written it (even though I did regret it, for I see that my letter made you sad, though only for a short time).

Now I rejoice, not because you were made sad, but because you were made sad to the point of repentance. For you were made sad as God intended, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.

For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death.

For see what this very thing, this sadness as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what punishment! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has proved true as well.

And his affection for you is much greater when he remembers the obedience of you all, how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means. They did so voluntarily,

begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping the saints.

Thus we urged Titus that, just as he had previously begun this work, so also he should complete this act of kindness for you.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich.

For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.

For I do not say this so there would be relief for others and suffering for you, but as a matter of equality.

But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you,

And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in spreading the gospel.

For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.

For it is not necessary for me to write you about this service to the saints,

For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you.

Now God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow.

because the service of this ministry is not only providing for the needs of the saints but is also overflowing with many thanks to God.

And in their prayers on your behalf they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards,

for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments

For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so.

For we would not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

But we will not boast beyond certain limits, but will confine our boasting according to the limits of the work to which God has appointed us, that reaches even as far as you.

For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ.

For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough!

For I consider myself not at all inferior to those "super-apostles."

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

When I was with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia fully supplied my needs. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

And what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may eliminate any opportunity for those who want a chance to be regarded as our equals in the things they boast about.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

For since you are so wise, you put up with fools gladly.

For you put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly toward you, if someone strikes you in the face.

(To my disgrace I must say that we were too weak for that!) But whatever anyone else dares to boast about (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern for all the churches.