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Praise to the God of All Comfort
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
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who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
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For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
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If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
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And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
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as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
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I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.
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set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
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Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
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Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
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He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
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And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
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Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
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For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
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that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
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Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;
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Warning Against Idolatry
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
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What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
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Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
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But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
