1 Corinthians 16 - 2 Corinthians 1

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Collection for the Saints

16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia.^{(A) 2} On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.^{(B) 3} And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

Plans for Travel

⁵ I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through Macedonia^(C)— ⁶ and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. ⁷ I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. ⁸ But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, ⁹ for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am;^{(D) 11} therefore let no one despise him. Send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers and sisters.^(E)

¹² Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers and sisters, but he was not at all willing to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.^(F)

Final Messages and Greetings

¹³ Keep alert; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.^{(G) 14} Let all that you do be done in love.^(H)

¹⁵ Now, brothers and sisters, you know that members of the household of Stephanas were the first fruits in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints;^{(I) 16} I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people and of everyone who works and toils with them.^{(J) 17} I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,^{(K) 18} for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons.^(L)

¹⁹ The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord.^{(M) 20} All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. ²² Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come!^{[a](N) 23} The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴ My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.^[b]

Salutation

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:^(O)

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^(P)

Paul’s Thanksgiving after Affliction

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation,^{(Q) 4} who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.^{(R) 6} If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

⁸ We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.^{(S) 9} Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us;^[c] on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again,^{(T) 11} as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our^[d] behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.^(U)

The Postponement of Paul’s Visit

¹² Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with holiness^[e] and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you.^{(V) 13} For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end— ¹⁴ as you have already understood us in part—that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.^(W)

¹⁵ Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor;^{[f](X) 16} I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea.^{(Y) 17} Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards,^[g] ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸ As surely as God is faithful, our word to you is not^[h] “Yes and No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”^{(Z) 20} For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.^{(AA) 21} But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us,^{(AB) 22} who has put his seal on us and given^[i] us his Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.^(AC)

²³ But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth.^{(AD) 24} I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy because you stand firm in faith.^(AE)