21 of God through us. Now he who confirms us with you in Christ and 22 anointed us, is God: who also sealed us as his own and set the pledge and instalment of the Spirit in our hearts. 23 I call God to witness against my soul, it was to spare you that I 24 forbore to revisit Corinth. (Not that we exercise lordship over your faith. Nay, we work together for your joy. For by your faith you 2 1, 2 stand.) I decided that I would not visit you again in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is to make me glad? who but he who is 3 made sorrowful by me? and I wrote just for this reason, in case upon my arrival I might have sorrow from those who ought to furnish me with joy; confident as I am in you all, that my joy is the joy of you 4 all. For it was out of much distress and misery of heart that I wrote you, with many tears; not to make you sorrowful, but to make you 5 realise the love which I have for you especially. If anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused sorrow to me, but to you all; at least6 not to be too severe-to a section of you. This punishment from the 7 majority is enough for the individual in question, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest haply the 8 man be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I appeal to you 9 to ratify your love to him. For it was with this object that I also 10 wrote, to find out the proof of your obedience in every point. The man whom you forgive for anything, I forgive also. And truly whatever I have forgiven, my forgiveness has been for your sakes in the 11 presence of Christ-to prevent Satan from taking any advantage of us; 12 for well do we know his schemes. Now on arriving at Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even although a door stood open for me in the 13 Lord, I got no relief for my spirit, since I did not find Titus my brother; 14 so I took leave of them and departed to Macedonia. Thanks be to God who ever makes our life a pageant of triumph in Christ, and dis15 closes through us in every place the odour of his knowledge! For to God we are a fragrance of Christ, in the saved and in the perishing: 16 to these an odour of death to death, to those an odour of life to life. 17 (And who is qualified for this?) For we are not like the majority who adulterate the word of God; nay, out of sincerity, from God, thus it is we speak in Christ before God. 3 1 Are we beginning once more "to commend ourselves"? or do we require, like some people, letters of commendation to you or 2 from you? You are yourselves our letter, written within our hearts, 3 recognised and read by all men. It is plain, to look at you, that you are a letter of Christ, executed by our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of 4 stone, but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.-Such is the confidence 5 we have through Christ towards God. It is not that we are personally qualified to form any judgment by our unaided selves; our qualifica6 tion is from God, who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not of written law but of spirit. For the written law 7 puts to death, but the spirit makes alive. Now if the ministry of death, engraved in letters of stone, was accompanied with such splendour that the sons of Israel could not gaze on the face of Moses 8 for the splendour of his face-a splendour that was waning-surely the 9 ministry of the Spirit shall be of still greater splendour? For if splendour belongs to the ministry of condemnation, far far more does 10 the ministry of uprightness excel in splendour. Indeed in this respect 1 Omitting ix. what has been made splendid possesses no splendour, in view of the 11 splendour that is surpassing. For if the appearance of what was waning was splendid, then splendid far far more is what remains. 12, 13 Since then we have such a hope, we use great openness, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil upon his face, to prevent the sons 14 of Israel gazing on the end of what was waning. Moreover their minds have been hardened. For to this very day, upon the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains. Veiled to them the fact that it 15 has waned in Christ! Yes, down to this day, whensoever Moses is 16 read, a veil lies on their heart. But whensoever they turn to the Lord, the 17 veil is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit: where the Spirit of the 18 Lord is, there freedom is. And while we all, with face unveiled, behold as in a mirror the splendour of the Lord, we are transformed into that very image from splendour to splendour, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 4 1 Therefore, after the mercy we have obtained, we do not lose 2 heart in this, our ministry. The practices which very shame conceals, we have disowned; we do not proceed by craft or falsify the word of God, but by the disclosure of the truth we commend ourselves to 3 every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel 4 is veiled, it is veiled for the perishing; in their case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that no ray should reach them from the radiance of the gospel of the splendour of Christ, 5 who is the image of God. For it is not ourselves that we preach, it is Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. 6 For the God who said, "Out of darkness light shall shine," is he who shone within our hearts to irradiate the knowledge of God's splendour in the face of Christ. 7 8 9 10 11 12, 13 But this treasure we hold in earthen vessels, That the pre-eminence of the power may be God's, not due to us- perplexed yet not despairing, persecuted yet not forsaken, prostrate yet not destroyed, Bearing about ever in the body the dying of Jesus, That the life of Jesus also may be disclosed in our body: For we who live are always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake, That the life of Jesus also may be disclosed in our mortal flesh. In us then death is active, in you life. Yet having the same spirit of faith as that whereof it is written, I believed: therefore I spoke we too 14 believe, and therefore speak; since we know that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up with Jesus and present us with you. 15 All is for your sakes, that grace multiplied may cause thanksgiving to abound through the greater number to the honour of God. 16 17 18 Wherefore we lose not heart: Although our outer man decays, Day after day our inner man is renewed. 1 For the moment's light distress results for us in an eternal weight of majesty: While we look not at the seen, but at the unseen, For the seen is for a time, But the unseen is eternal. 1 Omitting o 5 1 2 34 5 For we know that if our earthly house of the tabernacle be taken down, in the heavens. And truly this is why we groan, As we yearn to be clothed upon with our habitation from heaven; Seeing that once it is put on, we shall not indeed be found naked. And truly we who are in this tabernacle do groan under the burden, Since our desire is not to be unclothed, but clothed upon, To have mortality swallowed up by life. For this very end has he formed us, Even the God who gave us the pledge and instalment of the Spirit. 6 So then we are ever confident, knowing that for us to be at home in 7 the body is to be abroad from the Lord (for the sphere of our walk is 8 faith, not appearances)—we are confident, I say, and would far sooner be 9 abroad from the body and at home with the Lord. Wherefore we also make it our ambition, whether at home or abroad, to be well-pleasing to 10 him. For we must all be exposed before the tribunal of Christ, that each may be paid back for what he has done with the body, according to his deeds, be they good or ill. 11 Knowing the fear of the Lord, then, we "try to win over men." But what we are is plain to God; plain also, as I hope, within your consciences. 12 We are not "commending ourselves to you" again, but giving you an opportunity to exult on our behalf, that you may have some answer for 13 those who exult in appearance and not in heart. We have "gone out of our mind"? that is God's concern. We are "in our senses"? that is in 14 your interest. For it is the love of Christ that urges us: because our con15 viction is that one died on behalf of all-so then all died-and died on behalf of all, in order that the living might live no longer for themselves 16 but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. So, as for us, from henceforth we know no man after the flesh. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him thus no more. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old things 18 have passed away, behold, they have become new! And it is all of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of 19 reconciliation, whose purport is God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not reckoning to them their trespasses; and he has placed 20 with us the word of reconciliation. On Christ's behalf then we are envoys, as though by us God made appeal. We entreat you on behalf 21 of Christ, accept reconciliation to God. Him who knew no sin he made 6 1 to be sin for us, that we might become God's uprightness in him. As his fellow-workers we appeal to you also not to receive the grace of God in 2 vain-for he saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened to thee, Lo now is the day of salvation— 3 and we give no occasion for stumbling at any point, that our ministry 4 may not be impugned. No, as ministers of God we commend ourselves in every point, in much endurance, amid distresses, amid troubles, amid 5 calamities, amid stripes, amid imprisonments, amid tumults, amid labours, 6 amid vigils, amid fastings, in purity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in 7 kindness, in the holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God: by the weapons of uprightness in the right hand and 8 in the left, by credit and dishonour, by evil report and good report, as 11 9 "impostors" yet truthful, as "unknown" yet well known, as dying yet 10 lo! we live, as chastised yet not put to death, as sorrowful but ever rejoicing, as poor but enriching many, as having nothing yet possessed of everything. We keep nothing back from you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12, 13 Your constraint lies not in us, it lies in your own hearts. Now one good turn deserves another (I am speaking as to my children), be you wide 14 open too. Share no incongruous yoke with unbelievers. 15 16 17 18 For what partnership can exist between uprightness and wickedness? What harmony has Christ with Beliar? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? What compact has God's sanctuary with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God: even as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk in them, And I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate," saith the "And touch nothing unclean, and I will welcome you with favour: Saith the Lord Almighty. 71 As we possess these promises, then, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Take us into your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have ruined 3 no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I am not speaking to condemn you; I have said before that you are in our hearts to die 4 together and to live together. Great is my frank confidence in regard to you, greatly do I exult on your behalf amid all our distress. I am full 5 of cheer, brimming over with delight. For even when we came to Macedonia our flesh got no relief, we were in utter distress-it was 6 wrangles without, fears within. But the God who cheers the depressed 7 cheered us by the arrival of Titus; and it was not merely by his arrival, but also by the cheer with which he had been encouraged over you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I 8 rejoiced more and more. For though I caused you sorrow with my letter, I do not regret it. I had regrets, it is true, when I discovered that that 9 letter had caused you sorrow (though it was only for a time); but, as matters stand, I rejoice-not because you had sorrow, but because you had sorrow to repentance. For you had sorrow in God's way, that you 10 might suffer no loss through us; for sorrow in God's way results in repentance to salvation-a repentance not to be regretted-but the sorrow of 11 the world results in death. Look at this very fact, that you were caused sorrow in God's way! what earnest care was its result in you, yes and clearing of yourselves, yes and indignation, yes and fear, yes and longing, yes and zeal, yes and punishment! You gave every proof that you were 12 innocent in the business. So then, although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of him who did the wrong, nor for the sake of him who was wronged, but in order to make clear to yourselves in the sight of God 13 how earnestly you care for us. Hence our cheer. But over and above our own cheer we rejoiced more abundantly than ever at the 14 joy of Titus, because you had all refreshed his spirit. For I was not put to shame over any exultation that I had made to him upon your behalf; but as all that we said to you was true, so our exulting on your 1 Reading Biry: omitting [[p]]. 15 behalf before Titus proved also to be truth. And his affection for you is all the greater as he recalls the obedience of you all, and how you received 16 him with fear and trembling. I rejoice that in everything you give me confidence. 81 Now we would inform you, brothers, about the grace of God which 2 has been given to the Communities of Macedonia. Amid a severe ordeal of distress, their abundant joy and their deep poverty have had an abund3 ant issue in rich generosity upon their part; up to their means (I bear 4 witness) and beyond their means, they of their own free will besought us with urgent entreaty for the favour of participating in the ministry to 5 the saints. And they surpassed our expectations. They actually gave themselves-first to the Lord, to begin with, and to us by the will of God. 6 So much so that we appealed to Titus to get this bounty completed among 7 you also, since it was he who had previously made a beginning. Come, as you excel in everything, in faith and speech and knowledge and all earnestness and in your love to us, excel also in this bounty. 8 I do not speak by way of command, but through the earnestness of others 9 I would put the genuineness of your love also to the proof. (For you know the bounteous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; how for your sakes, rich though he was, he became poor, that through his poverty you might 10 grow rich.) Still, on this subject I give my opinion (it is for your own advantage, you who a year ago were the first not only in deed but also in 11 desire to make a beginning); complete the deed now as well as the desire, so that after your readiness in desiring you may likewise complete the 12 doing, in proportion to what you possess. For if the readiness is there, it is right welcome-according to what a man has, not according to what he 13 has not. This does not mean ease for other people and hardship for you: 14 it is a matter of equality. On the present occasion your abundance serves to supply their lack, in order that their abundance also may come to supply your lack; so that there may be equality, even as it is written: He whose gathering was large had nothing over, 15 16 And he whose gathering was small had not too little. Now thanks be to God for putting into the heart of Titus the same 17 earnest care of you. For, while he accepted our appeal, he has gone off to 18 you of his own free will, so earnest is he. And we have sent along with him the brother whose praise in the gospel is known throughout all the 19 Communities: further, he was also appointed by the Communities as our fellow-traveller in the matter of this bounty which we are administering 20 for the honour of the Lord and with encouragement to ourselves. (We are taking precautions to prevent anyone from impugning us in reference to 21 this munificence which we are administering; for our concern is for what is honourable not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.) 22 Along with them we have also sent our brother, of whose earnestness we have had proof many a time and in many a matter, but yet stronger proof 23 now in the great confidence which he has with regard to you. As for Titus, he is my comrade and fellow-worker in your interest. As for our brothers, 24 they are messengers from the Communities, a credit to Christ. Afford i them the proof of your love, then, our warrant for exulting on your 9 1 acccount before the Communities. For it is superfluous for me 2 to be writing you on the ministry to the saints. I know your readiness and exult over it on your account to the Macedonians; "Achaia," I tell them, "has been prepared for a year back." And your zeal has been a 3 stimulus to the most of them. But I have sent the brothers lest our exulta 1 Reading ενδείξασθε. |