Beginning

5 We know that our body—the tent we live in here on earth—will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a home for us to live in. It will not be the kind of home people build here. It will be a home in heaven that will continue forever. ² But now we are tired of this body. We want God to give us our heavenly home. ³ It will clothe us and we will not be naked. ⁴ While we live in this tent, we have burdens and so we complain. I don’t mean that we want to remove this tent, but we want to be clothed with our heavenly home. Then this body that dies will be covered with life. ⁵ This is what God himself made us for. And he has given us the Spirit as the first payment to guarantee the life to come.

⁶ So we always have confidence. We know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. ⁷ We live by what we believe will happen, not by what we can see. ⁸ So I say that we have confidence. And we really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Our only goal is to always please the Lord, whether we are living here in this body or there with him. ¹⁰ We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Everyone will get what they should. They will be paid for whatever they did—good or bad—when they lived in this earthly body.

Helping People Become God’s Friends

¹¹ We know what it means to fear the Lord, so we try to help people accept the truth. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know us too. ¹² We are not trying to prove ourselves to you again. But we are telling you about ourselves. We are giving you reasons to be proud of us. Then you will have an answer for those who are proud about what can be seen. They don’t care about what is in a person’s heart. ¹³ If we are crazy, it is for God. If we have our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ The love of Christ controls us, because we know that one person died for everyone. So all have died. ¹⁵ He died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from death so that they would live for him.

¹⁶ From this time on we don’t think of anyone as the world thinks of people. It is true that in the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks. But we don’t think that way now. ¹⁷ When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world.^[a] The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new! ¹⁸ All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him. ¹⁹ I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold people guilty for their sins. And he gave us this message of peace to tell people. ²⁰ So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is like God is calling to people through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. ²¹ Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin^[b] so that in Christ we could be right with God.

6 We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. ² God says,

I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.

³ We don’t want people to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem to others. ⁴ But in every way we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind. ⁵ We are beaten and thrown into prison. People get upset at us and fight against us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. ⁶ We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, ⁷ by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack.

⁸ Some people honor us, but others shame us. Some people say good things about us, but others say bad things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. ⁹ To some people we are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but look! We continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. ¹⁰ We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

¹¹ We have spoken freely to you people in Corinth. We have opened our hearts to you. ¹² Our feelings of love for you have not stopped. It is you who have stopped your feelings of love for us. ¹³ I speak to you as if you were my children. Do the same as we have done—open your hearts also.

We Are God’s Temple

¹⁴ You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. ¹⁵ How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil^[c]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ God’s temple^[d] cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said,

7 Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes our body or our soul unclean. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in the way we live.

Paul’s Joy

² Open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone or caused harm to anyone. And we have not cheated anyone. ³ I do not say this to blame you. I told you before that we love you so much we would live or die with you. ⁴ I feel that I can tell you anything. I am very proud of you. Even with all the troubles we have had, I am greatly encouraged and feel very happy.

⁵ When we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. We found trouble all around us. We had fighting on the outside and fear on the inside. ⁶ But God encourages those who are troubled, and he certainly encouraged us by bringing Titus to us. ⁷ It was so good to see him, but we were encouraged even more to hear about the encouragement you gave him. He told us that you really want to see me and that you are very sorry for what you did. And he told us how ready and willing you are to help me. When I heard this, I was so much happier.

⁸ Even if the letter I wrote you made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I know that letter made you sad, and I was sorry for that. But it made you sad only for a short time. ⁹ Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you decide to change. That is what God wanted, so you were not hurt by us in any way. ¹⁰ The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has will bring death. ¹¹ You had the kind of sorrow God wanted you to have. Now see what that sorrow has brought you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to prove that you were not wrong. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want the right thing to be done. You proved that you were not guilty in any part of that problem. ¹² The main reason I wrote that letter was not because of the one who did the wrong or the one who was hurt. I wrote so that you would realize, before God, how very much you care for us. ¹³ And that is what was so encouraging to us.

We were greatly encouraged, but we were especially pleased to see how happy Titus was. You all made him feel so much better. ¹⁴ I had bragged about you to Titus, and you didn’t embarrass me. We have always told you the truth, and now what we told Titus about you has been shown to be true. ¹⁵ And his love for you is stronger when he remembers that you were all ready to obey. You welcomed him with respect and fear. ¹⁶ I am so happy that I can trust you fully.

Help for God’s People in Judea

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want to tell you what God’s grace has done in the churches in Macedonia. ² These believers have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But their great joy caused them to be very generous in their giving. ³ I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do this. It was their idea. ⁴ But they asked us again and again—they begged us to let them share in this service for God’s people. ⁵ And they gave in a way that we did not expect: They gave themselves to the Lord and to us before they gave their money. This is what God wants.

⁶ So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of giving. He is the one who started this work. ⁷ You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking ability, in knowledge, in the willingness to help, and in the love you learned from us. So now we want you to be rich in this work of giving too.

⁸ I am not ordering you to give, but I want to see how real your love is by comparing you with others who have been so ready and willing to help. ⁹ You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that he gave up his heavenly riches for you. He gave up everything so that you could be richly blessed.

¹⁰ This is what I think you should do: Last year you were the first to want to give, and you were the first who gave. ¹¹ So now finish the work you started. Then your “doing” will be equal to your “wanting to do.” Give from what you have. ¹² If you want to give, your gift will be accepted. Your gift will be judged by what you have, not by what you don’t have. ¹³ We don’t want you to have troubles while others are comforted. We want everything to be equal. ¹⁴ At this time you have plenty and can provide what they need. Then later, when they have plenty, they can provide what you need. Then everyone will have an equal share. ¹⁵ As the Scriptures say,

Titus and His Companions

¹⁶ I thank God because he gave Titus the same love for you that I have. ¹⁷ Titus agreed to do what we asked. In fact, he himself wanted very much to come see you. ¹⁸ We are sending with Titus the brother who is praised by all the churches. He is praised because of his service to the Good News. ¹⁹ Also, he was chosen by the churches to go with us when we carry this gift. We are doing this service to bring honor^[e] to the Lord and to show that we really want to help.

²⁰ We are being careful so that no one will criticize us about the way we are caring for this large gift. ²¹ We are trying to do what is right. We want to do what the Lord accepts as right and also what people think is right.

²² Also, we are sending with them our brother who is always ready to help. He has proved this to us in many ways. And he wants to help even more now because he has much faith in you.

²³ Now about Titus—he is my partner. He is working together with me to help you. And about the other brothers—they are sent from the churches, and they bring honor to Christ. ²⁴ So show these men that you really have love. Show them why we are proud of you. Then all the churches can see it.

Your Giving Is a Blessing

9 I really don’t need to write to you about this help for God’s people. ² I know that you want to help. I have been bragging about you to the people in Macedonia. I told them that you people in Achaia have been ready to give since last year. And your desire to give has made most of the people here ready to give also. ³ But I am sending these brothers to you. I don’t want our bragging about you in this to be for nothing. I want you to be ready just as I said you would be. ⁴ If any of those from Macedonia come with me, and they find that you are not ready, we will be ashamed. We will be ashamed that we were so sure of you. And you will be ashamed too! ⁵ So I thought that I should ask these brothers to come there before we do. They will help in getting together the generous gift you promised. Then it will be ready when we come, and it will be seen as a blessing you are giving, not as something you were forced to do.

⁶ Remember this: The one who plants few seeds will have a small harvest. But the one who plants a lot will have a big harvest. ⁷ Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. You should not give if it makes you unhappy or if you feel forced to give. God loves those who are happy to give. ⁸ And God can give you more blessings than you need, and you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work. ⁹ As the Scriptures say,

¹⁰ God is the one who gives seed to those who plant, and he gives bread for food. And God will give you spiritual seed and make that seed grow. He will produce a great harvest from your goodness. ¹¹ God will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely. And your giving through us will make people give thanks to God.

¹² The service you are offering helps God’s people with their needs, but that is not all it does. It is also bringing more and more thanks to God. ¹³ This service is a proof of your faith, and people will praise God because of it. They will praise God that you freely share what you have with them and with all people. They will praise him to see you following the Good News about Christ that you openly accepted. They will praise God because you freely share with them and with all people. ¹⁴ And when they pray, they will wish they could be with you. They will feel this way because of the great grace that God gave you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful to describe.