- Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the 
      will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together 
      with all the saints throughout Achaia:
 
    - Grace and peace to you from God our Father 
      and the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
    - Praise be to the God and Father of our 
      Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
 
    - who comforts us in all our troubles, so 
      that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have 
      received from God.
 
    - For just as the sufferings of Christ flow 
      over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
 
    - If we are distressed, it is for your comfort 
      and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces 
      in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
 
    - And our hope for you is firm, because we 
      know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our 
      comfort.
 
    - We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, 
      about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great 
      pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of 
      life.
 
    - Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence 
      of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, 
      who raises the dead.
 
    - He has delivered us from such a deadly 
      peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will 
      continue to deliver us,
 
    - as you help us by your prayers. Then many 
      will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer 
      to the prayers of many.
 
    - Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies 
      that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations 
      with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done 
      so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.
 
    - For we do not write you anything you cannot 
      read or understand. And I hope that,
 
    - as you have understood us in part, you 
      will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast 
      of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
 
    - Because I was confident of this, I planned 
      to visit you first so that you might benefit twice.
 
    - I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia 
      and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on 
      my way to Judea.
 
    - When I planned this, did I do it lightly? 
      Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, 
      "Yes, yes" and "No, no" ?
 
    - But as surely as God is faithful, our message 
      to you is not "Yes" and "No."
 
    - For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was 
      preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" 
      and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes."
 
    - For no matter how many promises God has 
      made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" 
      is spoken by us to the glory of God.
 
    - Now it is God who makes both us and you 
      stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
 
    - set his seal of ownership on us, and put 
      his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
 
    - I call God as my witness that it was in 
      order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
 
    - Not that we lord it over your faith, but 
      we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.  
      
        
  
 
      Back | 
      
Home |
      
      Next