Category: 2 Corinthians

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will,and Timothyourbrother:

To God’s church at Corinth,with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.

2 Grace to you and peacefrom God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of Comfort

3 Praisethe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of merciesand the God of all comfort.

4 He comforts us in all our affliction,so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

5 For as the sufferingsof Christoverflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows.

6 If we are afflicted,it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

7 And our hopefor you is firm, because we know that as you sharein the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort.

8 For we don’t want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in Asia:we were completely overwhelmed — beyond our strength— so that we even despairedof life.

9 Indeed, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in Godwho raisesthe dead.

10 He has deliveredus from such a terrible death,and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again

11 while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on ourbehalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.

A Clear Conscience

12 For this is our confidence: The testimonyof our conscienceis that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with God-given sincerity and purity, not by fleshlywisdombut by God’s grace.

13 Now we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely —

14 as you have partially understood us — that we are your reason for pride,as you are ours,in the day of ourLord Jesus.

A Visit Postponed

15 I planned with this confidence to come to you first,so you could have a double benefit,

16 and to go on to Macedoniawith your help, then come to you again from Macedonia and be given a start by youon my journeyto Judea.

17 So when I planned this, was I irresponsible? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely humanway so that I say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” simultaneously?

18 As God is faithful,our message to you is not “Yes and no.”

19 For the Son of God,Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us — by me and Silvanusand Timothy — did not become “Yes and no”; on the contrary, a final “Yes” has come in Him.

20 For every one of God’s promisesis “Yes” in Him. Therefore, the “Amen”is also spoken through Him by us for God’s glory.

21 Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointedus.

22 He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down paymentin our hearts.

23 I call on God as a witness,on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth.

24 I do not mean that we have control ofyour faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you standby faith.

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1 In fact, I made up my mind about this:I would not come to you on another painful visit.

2 For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?

3 I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confidentabout all of you that my joy will also be yours.

4 For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart — not that you should be hurt, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

A Sinner Forgiven

5 If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree — not to exaggerate— to all of you.

6 The punishment inflicted by the majority is sufficient for that person.

7 As a result, you should instead forgiveand comfort him. Otherwise, this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

9 I wrote for this purpose: to test your characterto see if you are obedientin everything.

10 If you forgive anyone, I do too. For what I have forgiven — if I have forgiven anything — it is for you in the presence of Christ.

11 I have done this so that we may not be taken advantageof by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

A Trip to Macedonia

12 When I came to Troasto preach the gospel of Christ, the Lord opened a doorfor me.

13 I had no restin my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus,but I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia.

A Ministry of Life or Death

14 But thanks be to God,who always puts us on displayin Christand through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

15 For to God we are the fragranceof Christ among those who are being savedand among those who are perishing.

16 To some we are an aroma of deathleading to death, but to others, an aroma of lifeleading to life. And who is competent for this?

17 For we are not like the manywho market God’s messagefor profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

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Living Letters

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone.

3 It is clear that you are Christ’s letter,producedby us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God— not on stone tabletsbut on tablets that are hearts of flesh.

Paul’s Competence

4 We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ.

5 It is not that we are competent inourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God.

6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,not of the letter,but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.

New Covenant Ministry

7 Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory,so that the Israelites were not able to look directly at Moses’ face because of the glory from his face — a fading glory —

8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory.

10 In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it.

11 For if what was fading awaywas glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

12 Therefore, having such a hope,we use great boldness.

13 We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his faceso that the Israelites could not stare at the end of what was fading away,

14 but their minds were closed.For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant,the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.

15 Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,

16 but whenever a person turnsto the Lord, the veil is removed.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror atthe glory of the Lordand are being transformedinto the same imagefrom glory to glory;this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

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The Light of the Gospel

1 Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy,we do not give up.

2 Instead, we have renounced shameful secret things, not walkingin deceit or distorting God’s message,but commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in God’s sight by an open display of the truth.

3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

4 In their case, the god of this agehas blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,who is the image of God.

5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.

6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledgeof God’s gloryin the face of Jesus Christ.

Treasure in Clay Jars

7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary powermay be from God and not from us.

8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

10 We always carry the death of Jesusin our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

11 For we who live are always given over to deathbecause of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.

12 So death works in us, but life in you.

13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,we also believe, and therefore speak.

14 We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesusand present us with you.

15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgivingto increase to God’s glory.

16 Therefore we do not give up.Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner personis being renewed day by day.

17 For our momentary light afflictionis producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

18 So we do not focus on what is seen,but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

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Our Future after Death

1 For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwellingis destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwellingin the heavens,not made with hands.

2 Indeed, we groan in this body, desiringto put on our dwelling from heaven,

3 since, when we are clothed,we will not be found naked.

4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortalitymay be swallowed up by life.

5 And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

6 So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

7 For we walk by faith,not by sight,

8 and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.

9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasingto Him.

10 For we must all appear before the tribunalof Christ,so that each may be repaidfor what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.

11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord,we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.

12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in the outward appearancerather than in the heart.

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

14 For Christ’s love compelsus, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all,then all died.

15 And He died for allso that those who live should no longer live for themselves,but for the Onewho died for them and was raised.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

16 From now on, then, we do not knowanyone in a purely human way.Even if we have knownChrist in a purely human way,yet now we no longer knowHim in this way.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;old things have passed away, and look,new thingshave come.

18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the worldto Himself,not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadorsfor Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf,“Be reconciled to God.”

21 He made the One who did not know sinto be sinfor us,so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

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1 Working togetherwith Him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive God’s grace in vain.”

2 For He says:

I heard you in an acceptable time,

and I helped you in the day of salvation.

Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.

The Character of Paul’s Ministry

3 We give no opportunity for stumbling to anyone, so that the ministry will not be blamed.

4 But as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything:

by great endurance, by afflictions,

by hardship, by difficulties,

5 by beatings, by imprisonments,

by riots, by labors,

by sleepless nights, by times of hunger,

6 by purity,by knowledge,

by patience,by kindness,

by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,

7 by the message of truth,

by the power of God;

through weapons of righteousness

on the right hand and the left,

8 through gloryand dishonor,

through slander and good report;

as deceivers yet true;

9 as unknown yet recognized;

as dying and look — we live;

as being disciplined yet not killed;

10 as grieving yet always rejoicing;

as poor yet enriching many;

as having nothing yet possessing everything.

11 We have spoken openlyto you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.

12 You are not limited by us, but you are limited by your own affections.

13 I speak as to my children. As a proper response, you should also be open to us.

Separation to God

14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness?Or what fellowship does lighthave with darkness?

15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial?Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

16 And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols?For weare the sanctuary of the living God, as God said:

I will dwell among them

and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they will be My people.

17 Therefore, come out from among them

and be separate, says the Lord;

do not touch any unclean thing,

and I will welcome you.

18 I will be a Fatherto you,

and you will be sonsand daughters to Me,

says the Lord Almighty.

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1 Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises,let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit,completing our sanctificationin the fear of God.

Joy and Repentance

2 Accept us.We have wronged no one, corruptedno one, defrauded no one.

3 I don’t say this to condemn you, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, to live together and to die together.

4 I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement; I am overcome with joy in all our afflictions.

5 In fact, when we came into Macedonia,wehad no rest. Instead, we were troubled in every way: conflictson the outside, fearsinside.

6 But God, who comforts the humble,comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

7 and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow,and your zealfor me, so that I rejoiced even more.

8 For even if I grieved you with my letter,I do not regret it — even though I did regret it since I saw that the letter grieved you, yet only for a little while.

9 Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us.

10 For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.

11 For consider how much diligence this very thing — this grieving as God wills — has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be purein this matter.

12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong, or because of the one who was wronged, but in order that your diligence for us might be made plain to you in the sight of God.

13 For this reason we have been comforted.

In addition to our comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy Titushad,because his spirit was refreshed by all of you.

14 For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been embarrassed; but as I have spoken everything to you in truth,so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth.

15 And his affection toward you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of all of you, and how you received him with fear and trembling.

16 I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you.

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Appeal to Complete the Collection

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churchesof Macedonia:

2 During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity.

3 I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability,

4 they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharingin the ministry to the saints,

5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God’s will.

6 So we urged Titus that just as he had begun, so he should also complete this grace to you.

7 Now as you excel in everything — faith, speech, knowledge,and in all diligence, and in your love for us— excel also in this grace.

8 I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich,for your sake He became poor,so that by His poverty you might become rich.

10 Now I am giving an opinion on this because it is profitable for you, who a year ago began not only to do something but also to desire it.

11 But now finish the taskas well, that just as there was eagerness to desire it, so there may also be a completion from what you have.

12 For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

13 It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality—

14 at the present time your surplus is available for their need, so their abundance may also become available for our need, so there may be equality.

15 As it has been written:

The person who gathered much

did not have too much,

and the person who gathered little

did not have too little.

Administration of the Collection

16 Thanks be to God who put the same concern for you into the heart of Titus.

17 For he accepted our urging and, being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.

18 We have sent with him the brotherwho is praised throughout the churches for his gospel ministry.

19 And not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to accompany us with this giftthat is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness to help.

20 We are taking this precaution so no one can criticize us about this large sum administered by us.

21 For we are making provisionfor what is right,not only before the Lord but also before men.

22 We have also sent with them our brother. We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent — and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

23 As for Titus, he is my partnerand coworkerserving you; as for our brothers, they are the messengersof the churches, the glory of Christ.

24 Therefore, show them proof before the churches of your love and of our boastingabout you.

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Motivations for Giving

1 Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you.

2 For I know your eagerness, and I brag about you to the Macedonians:“Achaiahas been prepared since last year,” and your zealhas stirred up most of them.

3 But I sent the brothers so our boasting about you in the matter would not prove empty, and so you would be prepared just as I said.

4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be embarrassed in that situation.

5 Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous giftyou promised, so that it will be ready as a gift and not as an extortion.

6 Remember this:The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God lovesa cheerful giver.

8 And God is ableto make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

9 As it is written:

He scattered;

He gave to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever.

10 Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

11 You will be enrichedin every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

12 For the ministry of this serviceis not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.

13 They will glorify God for your obedience to the confession ofthe gospel of Christ, and for your generosityin sharing with them and with others through the proof provided by this service.

14 And they will have deep affection foryou in their prayers on your behalf because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

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Paul’s Apostolic Authority

1 Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ — I who am humble among you in person but bold toward you when absent.

2 I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual way.

3 For though we live in the body,we do not wage war in an unspiritual way,

4 since the weapons of our warfareare not worldly,but are powerfulthrough God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments

5 and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledgeof God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

6 And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed.

7 Look at what is obvious.If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ,he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we.

8 For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you upand not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed.

9 I don’t want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters.

10 For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable.”

11 Such a person should consider this: What we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.

12 For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commendthemselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves,they lack understanding.

13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assignedto us, which reaches even to you.

14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ.

15 We are not bragging beyond measure about other people’s labors. But we have the hopethat as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged,

16 so that we may proclaim the good news to the regions beyond you,not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry.

17 So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

18 For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends.

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