For I do not want you, brothers, to misunderstand the distress that I experienced in Asia, for I was so utterly and unendurably crushed, that I actually despaired of life itself.

For my boast is what my conscience tells me, that my relations to the world and still more to you have been marked by pure motives and godly sincerity, not by worldly shrewdness but by the favor of God.

The Son of God, Christ Jesus, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus, Timothy, and I, you have not found wavering between "Yes" and "No." With him it has always been "Yes,"

Not that we are the masters of you and your faith; we are working with you to make you happy, for in your faith you stand firm enough.

For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit.

For I was in great trouble and distress of mind when I wrote you, and I shed many tears as I did it, yet it was not to hurt your feelings, but to make you realize the extraordinary affection I have for you.

But if anyone has hurt anybody's feelings, it is not so much mine, as yours, or at least those of some of you, not to be too hard upon you all.

but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

Am I falling into self-recommendation again? Do I, like some people, need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by me, written not in ink, but in the Spirit of the living God, and not on tablets of stone, but on the human heart.

Not that I am of myself qualified to claim anything as originating with me. My qualification is from God,

and he has qualified me to serve him in the interests of a new agreement, not in writing but of spirit. For what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But if the religion of death, carved in letters of stone, was ushered in with such splendor, so that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face on account of the brightness that was fading from it,

why should not the religion of the Spirit be attended with much greater splendor?

not like Moses, who used to wear a veil over his face, to keep the Israelites from gazing at the fading of the splendor from it.

For it is not myself but Christ Jesus that I am proclaiming as Lord; I am only a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

But I have this treasure in a mere ear then jar, to show that its amazing power belongs to God and not to me.

I am hard pressed on every side, but never cut off: perplexed, but not driven to despair;

routed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed;

because I keep my eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

For I know that if this earthly tent that I live in is taken down, God will provide me a building in heaven to live in, not built by human hands but eternal.

For I who am still in my tent sigh with anxiety, because I do not want to be stripped of it, but to put on the other over it, so that what is only mortal may be absorbed in life.

(for I have to guide my steps by faith, not by what is seen)??8 yet I am confident, and I prefer to leave my home in the body and make my home with the Lord.

I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you cause to be proud of me, to use in answering men who pride themselves on external advantages and not on sincerity of heart.

As God's fellow-worker, I appeal to you, too, not to accept the favor of God and then waste it.

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

It is not that I am cramping you, it is your own affections.

Do not get into close and incongruous relations with unbelievers. What partnership can uprightness have with iniquity, or what can light have to do with darkness?

Make room for me in your hearts. I have not wronged or harmed or got the better of anybody.

I do not mean this as a reflection upon you, for as I said before, you will always have a place in my heart whether I live or die.

and not only by his coming, but by the comfort you had given him, for he told me how you longed to see me, how sorry you were, and how you took my part, which made me happier still.

I am glad of it now; not because you had your feelings hurt, but because having them hurt led you to repent, for you took it as God meant you to do, so that you should not lose anything at all through me.

So although I did write to you, it was not on account of the offender, nor of the injured man, but in the sight of God to reveal to you your devotion to me.

I do not mean this as a command. I only want to test the genuineness of your love by the devotion of others.

But I will tell you what I think about it. For this is the best way to deal with you, for you were the first not only to do anything about this, but to want to do anything, and that was last year.

If a man is willing to give, the value of his gift is in its proportion to what he has, not to what he has not.

I do not mean to be easy upon others and hard upon you,

but to equalize the burden, and in the present situation to have your plenty make up for what they need, so that some day their plenty may make up for what you need, and so things may be made equal??15 as the Scripture says, "The man who got much did not have too much, and the man who got little did not have too little."

I intend to do what is right not only in the Lord's sight but in the eyes of men.

But I send the brothers so that our pride in you may not have a fall in this matter, but you may be all ready as I have told them you will;

for if some people from Macedonia come with me, and find that you are not ready, it will humiliate me??o say nothing of you??or having expressed such confidence.

So I have thought it necessary to ask these brothers to go on to you ahead of me, to arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so as to have it ready, like an expression of your good will, not of your avarice.

Everyone must give what he has made up his mind to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion; God loves a man who is glad to give.

I beg you not to make me take as bold an attitude when I come, as I count on taking toward some people who suspect me of acting from worldly motives.

For though I do live an earthly life, I am not carrying on an earthly war,

for the weapons I use are not earthly ones, but divinely strong for destroying fortresses.

For suppose I do boast a little too much of my authority??hich the Lord gave me to build you up, not to pull you down?? will not have to blush for it.

I do not want to seem to scare you with my letters.

I do not indeed venture to class or compare myself with certain individuals who approve of themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.

But my boasting will not be extravagant, nor exceed the limits God has allowed me, which reach all the way to you.

I do not indulge in extravagant boasts over work done by others, but I do hope that as your faith increases, my influence may be immensely enlarged through you,

For it is not the man who approves of himself who is really approved; it is the man of whom the Lord approves.

For I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superfine apostles of yours.

Even if I have no particular gifts in speaking, I am not wanting in knowledge. Why, I have always made that perfectly clear in my dealings with you.

And when I was with you and wanted money, I did not burden any of you, for when the brothers came from Macedonia they supplied what I needed. So I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

By the truth of Christ that is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced anywhere in Greece.

And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

When I boast in this reckless way, I do not say what I am saying for the Lord, but as a fool would talk.

I have been beaten three times by the Romans, I have been stoned once, I have been shipwrecked three times, a night and a day I have been adrift at sea;

through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, often without food, and exposed to cold.

I know of a man fourteen years ago??hether in the body or out of it, I do not know, God knows??eing actually caught up to the third heaven.

And I know that this man?? do not know whether it was in the body or out of it, God knows??4 was caught up into Paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no human being can repeat.

Though if I do choose to boast, I will not be such a fool, for I will only be telling the truth. But I will refrain from it, for I do not want anyone to be influenced by the wonderful character of these revelations to think more of me than is justified by my words or conduct.

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!

For what is there in which the other churches had the better of you, except in the fact that I would not permit myself to be a burden to you? You must forgive me that wrong!

Here it is the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I do not intend to be a burden to you now; for it is not your money but yourselves that I want; for children are not expected to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children.

But granting that I did not burden you myself, I was clever about it, you say, and took you in by a trick.

I asked Titus to go and I sent his brother with him. Did Titus make anything out of you? Did not he and I act in the same spirit, and take the very same steps?

for I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. I am afraid that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, bad feeling, rivalry, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder,

Those who have kept on in their old sins and all the rest I have warned, and I warn them now while I am still away, as I did on my second visit, that if I come back I will spare nobody??3 since you demand proof that Christ really speaks through me. He is not weak in dealing with you. On the contrary, right among you he exhibits his power.

It is yourselves you must test, to see whether you are holding to the faith. It is yourselves you must examine. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is within you? Unless you fail to stand the test!

I hope you will see that I do not fail to stand it.

But I pray to God that you may not do wrong??ot to prove me equal to the test, but that you should do right even if I fail to stand it.

That is why I write this while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be harsh in my use of the authority the Lord has given me, for it was to build you up, not to pull you down.