Beginning

5 Our body is the house in which our spirit lives here on earth. When that house is destroyed, then God will give us another house. That house is not made by man's hand. But God made it. It will last for ever in heaven.

² While we are in the house we have now, we are always crying and wanting to have our house from heaven.

³ When we have moved into it, then we are sure that we will never be left without a house.

⁴ While we are in this house, we cry and are troubled. It is not that we want to move out of this house, but we want to move into the other one. Then this body which will die will be changed into one which will live.

⁵ God is the one who has made us ready for this change. He has already given us the Spirit. This is the first part of what we are to receive, and it proves that we will get more.

⁶ So we always feel sure. While we live in our bodies we are not in our house with the Lord. We know that.

⁷ We do not see these things, but we believe them.

⁸ We feel sure that we will want to leave this body and go to live with the Lord.

⁹ So it does not matter if we are living here or go to live there. Wherever we are we want to please the Lord.

¹⁰ We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Then we will receive pay. If we have done well, our pay will be good. If we have not done well, our pay will not be good.

¹¹ We know that the Lord must be feared, so we try to get people to believe. God knows what we are and what we do. And we hope that in your hearts you, too, know.

¹² No, we are not praising ourselves again. But we are telling you this so that you may really be proud of us. Then you will be ready to answer people who are proud of themselves. They are proud of the things which can be seen. But in their hearts they have nothing to be proud of us.

¹³ If we are crazy, it is for God's sake. If we are right in our minds, it is for your sakes.

¹⁴ The love of Christ makes us do what we do to win men. We believe that one man died for all people. [To God] it is as if we all died with him.

¹⁵ He died for all, so that those who live would not live to please themselves. But they should live to please him who gave his life for them and rose again from death.

¹⁶ So then we no longer know people by what we see on the outside. There was a time when we knew Christ that way, but now we do not know him that way any longer.

¹⁷ So, if any man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. His old life has gone. You see, he has begun a new life.

¹⁸ But it is God who has done all this. He sent Christ to make peace with us and to bring us back to himself. Now he has given us the work of bringing other people back to God.

¹⁹ We are not looking at things that can be seen, but at things that cannot be seen. The things which can be seen last only a little while. But the things which cannot be seen last for ever.

²⁰ So we are messengers for Christ. God is using us to call people. So we are standing here for Christ and begging people, `Come back to God!'

²¹ Christ did no wrong thing. But for our sake God put the blame for our wrong ways on Christ. So now God sees us as good, because we are in Christ.

6 We work with God. So we beg you, do not take God's blessing and get nothing from it.

² Because God has said. `I heard you call at the right time. And I helped you in the day when I saved you.' See, now is the right time. Now is the day to be saved.

³ We put nothing in anyone's way. So no one can say our work is bad.

⁴ In every way we try to show that we are good servants of God. We do not give up when there is much trouble, and things go wrong, and things are hard.

⁵ We are being beaten and put in prison. We are being knocked around. We work hard. We are awake at night and we go hungry.

⁶ We help you with our knowledge and by living a clean life, with the help of the Spirit. We are patient and kind. We help you by the Holy Spirit. We have shown true love.

⁷ We have told you the truth with the power of God. These are the right things to use in our fight, and we have used them with both hands.

⁸ Some people respect us and some do not. Some give us a good name and some a bad name. Some people say we fool people and yet we tell the truth.

⁹ Many people do not know us, and yet many people know us very well. We almost die and yet we live. People give us much trouble but they do not kill us. We are very sad and yet always glad.

¹⁰ We are poor, but we make many people rich. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

¹¹ We talk plainly to you people in Corinth. We love you with all our hearts.

¹² We have not stopped loving you, but you do not love us.

¹³ I say this as to my own children. You should love us with all your hearts. with those who do not believe. You and they are not equal. How can people who do right, work with those who do not obey God? How can light and darkness be in the same place?

¹⁴ How can Christ agree with Belial, the devil? How can a person who believes work with a person who does not believe?

¹⁵ Is there anything equal about a house of God and a house of idols? We are a house of the living God. God has said, `I will live in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.'

¹⁶ So the Lord says, `Come away from among bad people. Stay away from them. Do not touch what is not clean. And I will receive you.

¹⁷ I will be your father. And you shall be my sons and daughters.' The Lord who is ruler of all says that.

7 My dear people, since God has promised us these things, we should make ourselves clean. We should clean out everything that makes our lives or our spirits dirty. We should try to be altogether holy because we respect God with fear.

² I do not say this to bring something against you. I have already told you that we love you very much. If we live or if we die, we will be together with you.

³ I really trust you. I am very proud of you. I have received much comfort. Even in all of our troubles I am very glad.

⁴ When we came to the country of Macedonia, we had no rest for our bodies. We had all kinds of trouble everywhere. There was fighting around us and our hearts were full of fear.

⁵ But God comforts those who are in trouble, and when Titus came, we were comforted.

⁶ You comforted him, and that comforted us. He told us that you wanted very much to see us. He told us that you were very sorry for what you had done. He told us that you want to stand with me. So now I am even more happy. 8 ,

⁷ I know that what I wrote in my letter made you sad. But I am not sorry I wrote it. Perhaps I was sorry at first, but now I am glad I sent it. I see the letter made you sad for a while.

⁸ I do not like to make you sad, but I am glad that it made you sad and made you turn from your wrong ways. You took it all as from God. So then, we did not really hurt you.

⁹ When we are sad the way God wants us to be, we turn from our wrong ways. Then we are saved and we can never be sorry about that. But the sorrow of the world brings death.

¹⁰ See what happened. When you were sad, the way God wanted you to be, then you tried to do the right thing. You wanted to free yourself from wrong. You hated what is wrong. You were afraid. You wanted very much to do what is right. You stood for the right. You punished wrong doing. In every way you showed that you did right in this matter.

¹¹ So, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the man who did wrong. And it was not for the sake of the man who had the wrong done to him. But I wrote so that you would see for yourselves, in the sight of God, how much we care for you.

¹² And so we have been comforted. Besides this, we were even more happy to see how happy Titus was. All of you really made his heart glad.

¹³ I told him how proud I was of you. And really, I had nothing to be ashamed of. Everything we have said to you has been true. So also, what we told Titus about you proved true.

¹⁴ He loves you even more when he remembers how you all obeyed him. You feared and trembled.

¹⁵ I am glad that I can always trust you.

8 My brothers, let me tell you how God has blessed the churches in Macedonia.

² They are being tested by much trouble. But they are always very happy. And they are very poor. Because of these two things, they give to others as if they were rich.

³ I can tell you because I saw it myself. They gave as much as they could and even more than that. They did it all because they wanted to.

⁴ They begged us to let them give something to help God's people.

⁵ And they did more than we thought they would do. First, they gave themselves to the Lord and to us, because we were doing God's work.

⁶ That is why we asked Titus to see about your gift. He started you off in your giving. And so he is the one to see that you finish it.

⁷ We remember how well you do in everything. You do well in believing, in talking, in knowing things, in trying your best, and in the way you love us. So now, do well in giving this gift.

⁸ I am not saying that you must do it. But I want to prove how strong your love is. That is why I have told you how other people show their love.

⁹ You know how much love our Lord Jesus Christ had. He was rich, but he became poor for your sakes. Because he became poor, you can become rich.

¹⁰ I tell you what I think. It is best for you to finish what you started a year ago. You were the first to think of helping, and you started to give money.

¹¹ So now, finish doing it. You wanted to do it, so now finish it. Give as much as you can.

¹² If a man wants to give, he is judged by what he has to give. He is not judged by what he cannot give.

¹³ I do not want it to be easy for others and hard for you.

¹⁴ I want it to be equal for everyone. Right now, you have plenty and are able to help them. Another time, when they have plenty, they will help you when you need it. In that way things will be equal.

¹⁵ The holy writings say, `The person who had plenty did not have too much. And the person who did not have much, had enough.' care for you into the heart of Titus that I have.

¹⁶ He was glad to go when I asked him, but he is also coming to you because he himself wants to come.

¹⁷ We are sending another brother with him. This brother has a good name in all the churches because he tells the good news.

¹⁸ Not only that, but the churches have chosen him to travel with us as we take care of this gift. We are doing this so that the Lord will be praised. We want to help others.

¹⁹ We do not want anyone to say that we have not done the right thing. So we are taking care of this big gift in the right way. 21We want to do what the Lord says is right, but also what people say is right.

²⁰ And we are also sending another brother with them. We have found him to be glad to help us in many matters, many times. And now he is much more glad to help because he trusts you very much.

²¹ I want to say this. Titus is my close friend and he works with me. And about our other brothers, they have been sent by the churches. They bring praise to Christ.

²² Now then, prove that you love them. Prove that what we have said about you is true. Then the churches will know it.

9 Of course, I really do not need to write to you about the money to be given to God's people.

² I know that you wanted to help. I am proud to tell the people of Macedonia about you. I tell them, `The people in Greece have been ready for a year.' And what you did has made most of them want to do something too.

³ But I am sending these brothers so that what we have said about you will be true in this way. I want you to be really ready with the gift, just as I said you would be.

⁴ If some men from Macedonia come with me and see that you are not ready, then we will be ashamed, and you too. We will be ashamed that we were so sure.

⁵ So I thought it would be good to send these brothers to you first. They will get this gift ready which you promised. Then it will be ready like a gift, and not as if you were forced to give it.

⁶ Here is something to remember. `The man who plants a little bit will get only a little from it. The man who plants much will get much from it.'

⁷ Everyone should give what he wants in his heart to give. He should be glad to give it, and should not give it because he was forced to give. `God loves a person who gives gladly.'

⁸ God is able to give you even more blessings than you need. In all things you will always have all you need for yourselves, and you will have enough to help all others.

⁹ The holy writings say, `A good man gives away many things. He gives to the poor people. He will always be a good man in the sight of God.'

¹⁰ God is the one who gives seed to plant and bread to eat. He will give you enough to give away and will make it become more and more. Of the good things you do he will give you a big harvest.

¹¹ You will become rich in every way. And then you will have enough to give plenty to all people. And many people will thank God for your gifts which we will bring them.

¹² This gift of money will help to give God's people what they need. It will also make many people thank God.

¹³ This gift will prove something to them. They will praise God because you obey the good news of Christ. They will praise God because you have given this gift to help them and all the others.

¹⁴ They will love you and talk to God about you, because God has blessed you very much.

¹⁵ Thank God for his gift so great that no words can ever tell it all!