Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

Who gave us salvation from so great a death: on whom we have put our hope that he will still go on to give us salvation;

For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

Even as you have been ready, in part, to say that we are your glory, in the same way that you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And being certain of this, it was my purpose to come to you before, so that you might have a second grace;

Not that we have authority over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy: for it is faith which is your support.

And I said this very thing in my letter, for fear that when I came I might have sorrow from those from whom it was right for me to have joy; being certain of this, that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much trouble and pain of heart and much weeping I sent my letter to you; not to give you sorrow, but so that you might see how great is the love which I have to you.

Let it be enough for such a man to have undergone the punishment which the church put on him;

So that now, on the other hand, it is right for him to have forgiveness and comfort from you, for fear that his sorrow may be over-great.

But if you give forgiveness to anyone, I do the same: for if I have given forgiveness for anything, I have done it because of you, in the person of Christ;

Do we seem to be again attempting to put ourselves in the right? or have we need, as some have, of letters of approval to you or from you?

And this is the certain faith which we have in God through Christ:

Will not the operation of the Spirit have a much greater glory?

For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.

For this reason, because we have been made servants of this new order, through the mercy given to us, we are strong:

And we have given up the secret things of shame, not walking in false ways, and not making use of the word of God with deceit; but by the revelation of what is true, as before God, we have the approval of every man's sense of right and wrong.

Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.

But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;

For we are conscious that if this our tent of flesh is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in heaven.

For truly, we who are in this tent do give out cries of weariness, for the weight of care which is on us; not because we are desiring to be free from the body, but so that we may have our new body, and death may be overcome by life.

For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad.

For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

For this reason, from this time forward we have knowledge of no man after the flesh: even if we have had knowledge of Christ after the flesh, we have no longer any such knowledge.

So if any man is in Christ, he is in a new world: the old things have come to an end; they have truly become new.

(For he says, I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is the day of salvation):

Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

Let your hearts be open to us: we have done no man wrong, no man has been damaged by us, we have made no profit out of any man,

It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together.

My words to you are without fear, I am full of pride on account of you: I have great comfort and joy in all our troubles.

For though my letter gave you pain, I have no regret for it now, though I had before; for I see that the letter gave you pain, but only for a time.

For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

So we have been comforted: and we had the greater joy in our comfort because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit had been made glad 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.

Seriously requesting us that they might have a part in this grace of being servants to the needs of the saints:

For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.

For if there is a ready mind, a man will have God's approval in the measure of what he has, and not of what he has not.

But so that things may be equal; that from those things of which you have more than enough at the present time their need may be helped, and that if you are in any need they may be a help to you in the same way, making things equal.

And with him we have sent a brother whose praise in the good news has gone through all the churches;

And not only so, but he was marked out by the churches to go with us in the grace of this giving which we have undertaken to the glory of the Lord and to make clear that our mind was ready:

For the business has been so ordered by us as to have the approval, not only of the Lord, but of men.

And we have sent with them our brother, whose ready spirit has been made clear to us at times and in ways without number, but it is now all the more so because of the certain faith which he has in you.

Make clear then to them, as representatives of the churches, the quality of your love, and that the things which we have said about you are true.

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.

But I have sent the brothers, so that the good things we said about you may be seen to be true, and that, as I said, you may be ready:

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.

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;

Praise be to God for what he has given, which words have no power to say.

Yes, I make my request to you, so that when I am with you I may not have to make use of the authority which may be needed against some to whom we seem to be walking after the flesh.

Being ready to give punishment to whatever is against his authority, after you have made it clear that you are completely under his control.

That I may not seem to have the desire of causing you fear by my letters.

For his letters, they say, have weight and are strong; but in body he is feeble, and his way of talking has little force.

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:

For I have a very great care for you: because you have been married by me to one husband, and it is my desire to give you completely holy to Christ.

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 if anyone comes preaching another Jesus from the one whose preachers we are, or if you have got a different spirit, or a different sort of good news from those which came to you, how well you put up with these things.

But though I am rough in my way of talking, I am not so in knowledge, as we have made clear to all by our acts among you.

Why? because I have no love for you? let God be judge.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking foolishly) I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death.

Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times the ship I was in came to destruction at sea, a night and a day I have been in the water;

If I have to take credit to myself, I will do so in the things in which I am feeble.

I have knowledge of a man in Christ, fourteen years back (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only), who was taken up to the third heaven.

And I have knowledge of such a man (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only),

On account of such a one I will have glory: for myself I will take no glory, but only in my feeble body.

I have been forced by you to become foolish, though it was right for my praise to have come from you: for in no way was I less than the chief of the Apostles, though I am nothing.

For what is there in which you were made less than the other churches, but in the one thing that I was not a trouble to you? Let me have forgiveness for this wrong.

And I will gladly give all I have for your souls. If I have the more love for you, am I to be loved the less?

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 have a fear that, when I come, you may not be answering to my desire, and that I may not be answering to yours; that there may be fighting, hate, angry feeling, divisions, evil talk about others, secrets, thoughts of pride, outbursts against authority;

And that when I come again, my God may put me to shame among you, and I may have grief for those who have done wrong before and have had no regret for their unclean ways, and for the evil desires of the flesh to which they have given way.

I said before, and still say it before I come, as being present for the second time, though I am still away from you, to those who have done wrong before, and to all the others, that if I come again I will not have pity;

But it is my hope that you will have no doubt that we are truly Christ's.