2 Corinthians 1-3

Lexham English Bible

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints who are in all Achaia. ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving for God’s Compassion and Comfort

³ Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, thus through Christ our comfort overflows also. ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that is at work in the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we^[a] know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so also you will be sharers in the comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction that happened in the province of Asia,^[b] that we were burdened to an extraordinary degree, beyond our strength, so that we were in despair even of living. ⁹ But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not be putting confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰ who delivered us from so great a risk of death, and will deliver us, in whom we have put our hope that he will also deliver us again, ¹¹ while^[c] you also join in helping on our behalf^[d] by prayer, so that thanks may be given on our behalf^[e] by many persons for this gracious gift given to us through the help of many.

Paul’s Clear Conscience

¹² For our reason for boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, in holiness^[f] and purity of motive from God, not^[g] in merely human wisdom, but by the grace of God. ¹³ For we are not writing anything else to you except what you can read or also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely^[h], ¹⁴ just as you have also understood us in part, that we are your reason for boasting, just as you are also ours in the day of our Lord Jesus.

Paul Delays His Visit to Corinth

¹⁵ And with this confidence, I was wanting to come to you previously, in order that you may have a second proof of my goodwill, ¹⁶ and through you to go to Macedonia, and to come to you again from Macedonia, and to be sent on my way by you to Judea. ¹⁷ Therefore, when I^[i] was wanting to do this, perhaps then was I making use of vacillation? Or was I deciding what I was deciding according to the flesh, in order that with me my “yes” may be “yes” and my “no” may be “no” at the same time?^{[j] 18} But God is faithful, so that our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, did not become “yes” and “no,” but has become “yes” in him. ²⁰ For as many as are the promises of God, in him they are “yes”; therefore also through him is the “amen” to the glory of God through us. ²¹ Now the one who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anoints us is God, ²² who also sealed us and gave the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³ But I call upon God as witness against my life, that in order to^[k] spare you, I did not come again to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

2 For I have decided this for myself, not to come to you again in sorrow. ² For if I cause you sorrow, then who will make me glad except the one who is caused to be sad by me? ³ And I wrote this very thing in order that when I^[l] came, I would not experience sorrow from those who ought to have made me glad, because I^[m] have confidence about you all, that my joy belongs to all of you^[n]. ⁴ For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not so that you may be caused to be sad, but so that you may know the love that I have especially for you.

Forgive and Comfort the Offender

⁵ But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me sorrow, but to some degree^[o]—in order not to say too much^[p]—to all of you. ⁶ This punishment by the majority is sufficient for such a person. ⁷ So then, you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow this person should be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸ Therefore I urge you to confirm your love for him. ⁹ Because for this reason also I wrote, in order that I could know your proven character, whether you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰ Now to whomever you forgive anything, I also do; for indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake^[q] in the presence of Christ, ¹¹ in order that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).

Triumphant Ministry in Christ

¹² Now when I^[r] arrived in Troas for the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me by the Lord, ¹³ I did not experience rest in my spirit, because^[s] I did not find Titus my brother, but saying farewell to them, I departed for Macedonia. ¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and who reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him through us in every place. ¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, ¹⁶ to those on the one hand an odor from death to death, and to those on the other hand a fragrance from life to life. And who is qualified for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not like the majority who peddle the word of God, but as from pure motives—but as from God—we speak before God in Christ.

New Covenant Ministry

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we, like some, need letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by all people, ³ revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴ Now we possess such confidence through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, ⁶ who also makes us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ But if the ministry of death in letters carved on stone came with glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look intently into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was transitory, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more with glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, by much more will the ministry of righteousness overflow with glory. ¹⁰ For indeed what had been glorified has not been glorified in this case, on account of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was transitory came with glory, by much more what remains is with glory.

¹² Therefore, because we^[t] have such a hope, we use much boldness, ¹³ and not as Moses used to place a veil over his face, in order that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was transitory. ¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. For until this very day, the same veil remains upon the reading of the old covenant, not being uncovered, because it is done away with in Christ. ¹⁵ But until today, whenever Moses is read aloud, a veil lies upon their heart, ¹⁶ but whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting^[u] the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory into glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.