SECOND LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS PAUL AUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timothy the brother, to the congregation of God that is in Corinth, with all the saints that are in all Achaia: Joy to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and the God of all encouragement, who encourageth us in all our affliction, in order that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction by means of the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. Because, as the sufferings of the Christ overflow to us, even so through the Christ doth our encouragement also overflow. But whether we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and well-being; or whether we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, that is effective in the patient endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firm, since we know that as ye are sharers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the encouragement. For we wish you not to be ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which came upon us in Asia, that we were burdeneda exceedingly, beyond (i. 1-8.) Or, weighed down. our strength, so that we despaired even of life: yes, indeed, we ourselves had the sentence of death within ourselves, in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead, who rescued us from so great a death, and doth rescue us; on whom we have set our hope that he will still rescue us: ye also unitedly laboring for us by your praying; so that the kindness shown to us, being for many persons, may be gratefully acknowledged by many on our account. For our ground of exulting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not with human wisdom but with grace a from God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more especially toward you. For we are writing nothing else to you than what ye well know, or at least acknowledge, and I trust ye will acknowledge even to the end, (as indeed ye have acknowledged us in a measure,) that we are your ground of exulting, as ye also will be ours in the day of our Lord Jesus. And with this confidence I was intending to come first to you, and by way of you to pass through to Macedonia, and to come again from Macedonia to you, (that ye might receive a double pleasure,) and by you to be forwarded on my way to Judea. Then, having this intention, did I act at all with fickleness? or the things that I plan, do I plan according to human methods, that there should be with me, now, Yes, yes, and then, No, no? But God is trustworthy, that our word to you is not both Yes and No: for the Son of God Christ Jesus, who was proclaimed among you by us,—that is, by me and Silvanus and Timothy,-hath not been found to be Yes and No, but through him hath been found to be Yes. For however many are the promises of God, in him is the Yes: wherefore also through him is the Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now he that maketh us stedfast together with you unto Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: the same who hath also set his own seal upon us, and hath given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. b C (i. 9-22.) Or, a gift. b That is, truth, faithfulness. Or, spirit. Now I call God for a witness on my life, that it was to spare you that I have not yet come to Corinth. Not because we domineer over your faith, but are fellow-workers for your joy; for in the Faith ye have taken your stand. For I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you the next time in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is it that maketh me joyful, but he that is made sorrowful by me? And I have written this especially, lest on my coming I should have sorrow from those from whom I ought to have rejoicing; being fully persuaded in regard to all of you, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much distress and anxiety of heart I wrote to you, with many tears: not in order that ye might be grieved, but that ye might know the overflowing love which I have for you. a But if any one hath caused grief, he hath grieved not me alone, but in a measure (that I may not be severe) all of you. Sufficient for such a one is the censure by the majority: so that on the other hand ye should treat him kindly and encourage him, lest possibly he should be overwhelmed with excessive grief. Wherefore I entreat you to ratify your love toward him. For I wrote for this purpose also, that I might know this testing of you, whether ye are obedient in all things. Now to whom ye show any kindness, I do it also: for whatever kindness I indeed have shown, (if I have shown kindness at all,) I have done it on your account in the sight of Christ, that we may not be overreached by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes. Now on my coming to Troas for the Good-tidings of the Christ, and a door being opened to me by the Lord, I had no relief for my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; and so, taking leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. Now, thanks be to God, who is continually causing us to triumph in the Christ, and making manifest through us the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are unto God a perfume (i. 23—ii. 15.) Or, confirm, assure. of Christ, through those who are being saved and through those who are perishing: through the one a fragrance from death unto death, through the other a fragrance from life unto life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like the many, making traffic of the word of God; but on the contrary, as from genuineness, as from God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. Are we beginning again to recommend ourselves? or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? Ye are our letter, inscribed in our hearts, recognized and read by all men; plainly showing yourselves to be a letter from Christ written by us, inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh — hearts. d C And we have such confidence through the Christ toward God: not that we are competent of ourselves to reason out anything as from ourselves; but our competency is from God, who indeed made us competent to be ministering-servants of a new dispensation,not of form, but of spirit; for the form killeth, but the spirit maketh alive. But since the ministration of death, engraved in letters on stones, was with such glory that the children of Israel could not look steadily upon the face of Moses, by reason of the glory of his face, (which was to fade away,) how shall not the ministration of the spirit be much more with glory? For since to the ministration of condemnation there was glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness superabound with glory. For indeed that which was formerly glorious did not continue to be glorious in the same measure, on account of the surpassing glory. For since that which was fading away was clothed with glory, that which is enduring is much more with glory. Since then we have such a hope, we use great plainness of speech, and do not as Moses did, who used to put a veil upon his face, so that the children of Israel did not gaze upon the totality of that which was fading away; but their minds were stupefied; for (ii. 16-iii. 14.) until this very day, at the reading of the old dispensation, the same veil remaineth unremoved, because it is thrown aside through Christ. But even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. But whenever one shall turn to the Lord, the veil is entirely removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. THEREFORE, having this service, even as we had mercy shown us, we do not behave badly in it: on the contrary, we have abandoned the secret deeds of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the showing forth of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our Good-tidings is veiled, it is veiled with those who are perishing, in whom the god of this age hath blinded the understanding of the unbelieving, so that they do not see clearly the brightness of the Good-tidings of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God. For not ourselves do we proclaim, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants on account of Jesus. For that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, is the same who hath shone in our hearts for the beaming forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. b C Now we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in order that the pre-eminence of the power might be of God and not from us: for we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not utterly perplexed; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, in order that also the life of Jesus might be displayed in our body. For we, while we are living, are continually being delivered up to death on account of Jesus, in order that the life also (iii. 15-iv. 11.) "Or, portrait. b Gr., without a way, but not without a way out. |