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Bible (WNT) NT 08: 2 Corinthians

006:001 And you also we, as God's fellow workers, entreat not to be found to have received His grace to no purpose. 006:002 For He says, "At a time of welcome I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have succoured you." Now is the time of loving welcome! Now is the day of salvation! 006:003 We endeavour to give people no cause for stumbling in anything, lest the work we are doing should fall into discredit. 006:004 On the contrary, as God's servants, we seek their full approval— by unwearied endurance, by afflictions, by distress, by helplessness; 006:005 by floggings, by imprisonments; by facing riots, by toil, by sleepless watching, by hunger and thirst; 006:006 by purity of life, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love; 006:007 by the proclamation of the truth, by the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness, wielded in both hands; 006:008 through honour and ignominy, through calumny and praise. We are looked upon as impostors and yet are true men; 006:009 as obscure persons, and yet are well known; as on the point of death, and yet, strange to tell, we live; as under God's discipline, and yet we are not deprived of life; 006:010 as sad, but we are always joyful; as poor, but we bestow wealth on many; as having nothing, and yet we securely possess all things. 006:011 O Corinthians, our lips are unsealed to you: our heart is expanded. 006:012 There is no narrowness in our love to you: the narrowness is in your own feelings. 006:013 And in just requital—I speak as to my children—let your hearts expand also. 006:014 Do not come into close association with unbelievers, like oxen yoked with asses. For what is there in common between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what partnership has light with darkness? 006:015 Where can harmony between Christ and Belial be found? Or what participation has a believer with an unbeliever? 006:016 And what compact has the Temple of God with idols? For *we* are the Temple of the ever-living God; as God has said, "I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; and will be their God, and it is they who shall be My people." 006:017 Therefore, "`Come out from among them and separate yourselves,' says the Lord, `and touch nothing impure; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, 006:018 and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord the Ruler of all." 007:001 Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God. 007:002 Make room for us in your hearts. There is not one of you whom we have wronged, not one to whom we have done harm, not one over whom we have gained any selfish advantage. 007:003 I do not say this to imply blame, for, as I have already said, you have such a place in our hearts that we would die with you or live with you. 007:004 I have great confidence in you: very loudly do I boast of you. I am filled with comfort: my heart overflows with joy amid all our affliction. 007:005 For even after our arrival in Macedonia we could get no relief such as human nature craves. We were greatly harassed; there were conflicts without and fears within. 007:006 But He who comforts the depressed—even God—comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, 007:007 but also by the fact that he had felt comforted on your account, and by the report which he brought of your eager affection, of your grief, and of your jealousy on my behalf, so that I rejoiced more than ever. 007:008 For if I gave you pain by that letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it then. I see that that letter, even though for a time it gave you pain, had a salutary effect. 007:009 Now I rejoice, not in your grief, but because the grief led to repentance; for you sorrowed with a godly sorrow, which prevented you from receiving injury from us in any respect. 007:010 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, a repentance not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world finally produces death. 007:011 For mark the effects of this very thing—your having sorrowed with a godly sorrow—what earnestness it has called forth in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing affection, what jealousy, what meting out of justice! You have completely wiped away reproach from yourselves in the matter. 007:012 Therefore, though I wrote to you, it was not to punish the offender, nor to secure justice for him who had suffered the wrong, but it was chiefly in order that your earnest feeling on our behalf might become manifest to yourselves in the sight of God. 007:013 For this reason we feel comforted; and—in addition to this our comfort—we have been filled with all the deeper joy at Titus's joy, because his spirit has been set at rest by you all. 007:014 For however I may have boasted to him about you, I have no reason to feel ashamed; but as we have in all respects spoken the truth to you, so also our boasting to Titus about you has turned out to be the truth. 007:015 And his strong and tender affection is all the more drawn out towards you when he recalls to mind the obedience which all of you manifested by the timidity and nervous anxiety with which you welcomed him. 007:016 I rejoice that I have absolute confidence in you. 008:001 But we desire to let you know, brethren, of the grace of God which has been bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia; 008:002 how, while passing through great trouble, their boundless joy even amid their deep poverty has overflowed to increase their generous liberality. 008:003 For I can testify that to the utmost of their power, and even beyond their power, they have of their own free will given help. 008:004 With earnest entreaty they begged from us the favour of being allowed to share in the service now being rendered to God's people. 008:005 They not only did this, as we had expected, but first of all in obedience to God's will they gave their own selves to the Lord and to us. 008:006 This led us to urge Titus that, as he had previously been the one who commenced the work, so he should now go and complete among you this act of beneficence also. 008:007 Yes, just as you are already very rich in faith, readiness of speech, knowledge, unwearied zeal, and in the love that is in you, implanted by us, see to it that this grace of liberal giving also flourishes in you. 008:008 I am not saying this by way of command, but to test by the standard of other men's earnestness the genuineness of your love also. 008:009 For you know the condescending goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ— how for your sakes He became poor, though He was rich, in order that you through His poverty might grow rich. 008:010 But in this matter I give you an opinion; for my doing this helps forward your own intentions, seeing that not only have you begun operations, but a year ago you already had the desire to do so. 008:011 And now complete the doing also, in order that, just as there was then the eagerness in desiring, there may now be the accomplishment in proportion to your means. 008:012 For, assuming the earnest willingness, the gift is acceptable according to whatever a man has, and not according to what he has not. 008:013 I do not urge you to give in order that others may have relief while you are unduly pressed, 008:014 but that, by equalization of burdens, your superfluity having in the present emergency supplied their deficiency, their superfluity may in turn be a supply for your deficiency later on, so that there may be equalization of burdens. 008:015 Even as it is written, "He who gathered much had not too much, and he who gathered little had not too little." 008:016 But thanks be to God that He inspires the heart of Titus with the same deep interest in you; 008:017 for Titus welcomed our request, and, being thoroughly in earnest, comes to you of his own free will. 008:018 And we send with him the brother whose praises for his earnestness in proclaiming the Good News are heard throughout all the Churches. 008:019 And more than that, he is the one who was chosen by the vote of the Churches to travel with us, sharing our commission in the administration of this generous gift to promote the Lord's glory and gratify our own strong desire. 008:020 For against one thing we are on our guard—I mean against blame being thrown upon us in respect to these large and liberal contributions which are under our charge. 008:021 For we seek not only God's approval of our integrity, but man's also. 008:022 And we send with them our brother, of whose zeal we have had frequent proof in many matters, and who is now more zealous than ever through the strong confidence which he has in you. 008:023 As for Titus, remember that he is a partner with me, and is my comrade in my labours for you. And as for our brethren, remember that they are delegates from the Churches, and are men in whom Christ is glorified. 008:024 Exhibit therefore to the Churches a proof of your love, and a justification of our boasting to these brethren about you. 009:001 As to the services which are being rendered to God's people, it is really unnecessary for me to write to you. 009:002 For I know your earnest willingness, on account of which I habitually boast of you to the Macedonians, pointing out to them that for a whole year you in Greece have been ready; and the greater number of them have been spurred on by your ardour. 009:003 Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready; 009:004 for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say you yourselves—should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence. 009:005 I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you. 009:006 But do not forget that he who sows with a niggardly hand will also reap a niggardly crop, and that he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 009:007 Let each contribute what he has decided upon in his own mind, and not do it reluctantly or under compulsion. "It is a cheerful giver that God loves." 009:008 And God is able to bestow every blessing on you in abundance, so that richly enjoying all sufficiency at all times, you may have ample means for all good works. 009:009 As it is written, "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his almsgiving remains for ever." 009:010 And God who continually supplies seed for the sower and bread for eating, will supply you with seed and multiply it, and will cause your almsgiving to yield a plentiful harvest. 009:011 May you be abundantly enriched so as to show all liberality, such as through our instrumentality brings thanksgiving to God. 009:012 For the service rendered in this sacred gift not only helps to relieve the wants of God's people, but it is also rich in its results and awakens a chorus of thanksgiving to God. 009:013 For, by the practical proof of it which you exhibit in this service, you cause God to be extolled for your fidelity to your professed adherence to the Good News of the Christ, and for the liberality of your contributions for them and for all who are in need, 009:014 while they themselves also in supplications on your behalf pour out their longing love towards you because of God's surpassing grace which is resting upon you. 009:015 Thanks be to God for His unspeakably precious gift! <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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