Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.

But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.

I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it.

for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man.

The Cheerful Giver

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.

So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.