1 Corinthians 7:17 - 2 Corinthians 11:15

Easy-to-Read Version

Live as God Called You

¹⁷ But each one of you should continue to live the way the Lord God has given you to live—the way you were when God chose you. I tell people in all the churches to follow this rule. ¹⁸ If a man was already circumcised when he was chosen, he should not change his circumcision. If a man was without circumcision when he was chosen, he should not be circumcised. ¹⁹ It is not important if anyone is circumcised or not. What is important is obeying God’s commands. ²⁰ Each one of you should stay the way you were when God chose you. ²¹ If you were a slave when God chose you, don’t let that bother you. But if you can be free, then do it. ²² If you were a slave when the Lord chose you, you are now free in the Lord. You belong to the Lord. In the same way, if you were free when you were chosen, you are now Christ’s slave. ²³ God paid a high price for you, so don’t be slaves to anyone else. ²⁴ Brothers and sisters, in your new life with God, each one of you should continue the way you were when God chose you.

Questions About Getting Married

²⁵ Now I write about people who are not married.^[a] I have no command from the Lord about this, but I give my opinion. And I can be trusted, because the Lord has given me mercy. ²⁶ This is a time of trouble. So I think it is good for you to stay the way you are. ²⁷ If you have a wife, don’t try to get free from her. If you are not married, don’t try to find a wife. ²⁸ But if you decide to marry, that is not a sin. And it is not a sin for a girl who has never married to get married. But those who marry will have trouble in this life, and I want you to be free from this trouble.

²⁹ Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: We don’t have much time left. So starting now, those who have wives should be the same as those who don’t. ³⁰ It should not be important whether you are sad or whether you are happy. If you buy something, it should not matter to you that you own it. ³¹ You should use the things of the world without letting them become important to you. This is how you should live, because this world, the way it is now, will soon be gone.

³² I want you to be free from worry. A man who is not married is busy with the Lord’s work. He is trying to please the Lord. ³³ But a man who is married is busy with things of the world. He is trying to please his wife. ³⁴ He must think about two things—pleasing his wife and pleasing the Lord. A woman who is not married or a girl who has never married is busy with the Lord’s work. She wants to give herself fully—body and spirit—to the Lord. But a married woman is busy with things of the world. She is trying to please her husband. ³⁵ I am saying this to help you. I am not trying to limit you, but I want you to live in the right way. And I want you to give yourselves fully to the Lord without giving your time to other things.

³⁶ A man might think that he is not doing the right thing with his fiancée. She might be almost past the best age to marry.^[b] So he might feel that he should marry her. He should do what he wants. It is no sin for them to get married. ³⁷ But another man might be more sure in his mind. There may be no need for marriage, so he is free to do what he wants. If he has decided in his own heart not to marry his fiancée, he is doing the right thing. ³⁸ So the man who marries his fiancée does right, and the man who does not marry does better.

³⁹ A woman should stay with her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, the woman is free to marry any man she wants, but he should belong to the Lord. ⁴⁰ The woman is happier if she does not marry again. This is my opinion, and I believe that I have God’s Spirit.

About Food Offered to Idols

8 Now I will write about meat that is sacrificed^[c] to idols. It is certainly true that “we all have knowledge,” as you say. But this knowledge only fills people with pride. It is love that helps the church grow stronger. ² Those who think they know something do not yet know anything as they should. ³ But whoever loves God is known by God.

⁴ So this is what I say about eating meat: We know that an idol is really nothing in the world, and we know that there is only one God. ⁵ It’s really not important if there are things called gods in heaven or on earth—and there are many of these “gods” and “lords” out there. ⁶ For us there is only one God, and he is our Father. All things came from him, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things were made through him, and we also have life through him.

⁷ But not all people know this. Some have had the habit of worshiping idols. So now when they eat meat, they still feel as if it belongs to an idol. They are not sure that it is right to eat this meat. So when they eat it, they feel guilty. ⁸ But food will not bring us closer to God. Refusing to eat does not make us less pleasing to God, and eating does not make us closer to him.

⁹ But be careful with your freedom. Your freedom to eat anything may make those who have doubts about what they can eat fall into sin. ¹⁰ You understand that it’s all right to eat anything, so you can eat even in an idol’s temple. But someone who has doubts might see you eating there, and this might encourage them to eat meat sacrificed to idols too. But they really think it is wrong. ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister—someone Christ died for—is lost because of your better understanding. ¹² When you sin against your brothers and sisters in Christ in this way and you hurt them by causing them to do things they feel are wrong, you are also sinning against Christ. ¹³ So if the food I eat makes another believer fall into sin, I will never eat meat again. I will stop eating meat, so that I will not make my brother or sister sin.

Rights That Paul Has Not Used

9 I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus our Lord. You people are an example of my work in the Lord. ² Others may not accept me as an apostle, but surely you do. You are proof that I am an apostle in the Lord.

³ Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them: ⁴ We have the right to eat and drink, don’t we? ⁵ We have the right to bring a believing wife with us when we travel, don’t we? The other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter all do this. ⁶ And are Barnabas and I the only ones who must work to earn our living? ⁷ No soldier ever serves in the army and pays his own salary. No one ever plants a vineyard without eating some of the grapes himself. No one takes care of a flock of sheep without drinking some of the milk himself.

⁸ These aren’t just my own thoughts. God’s law says the same thing. ⁹ Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses: “When a work animal is being used to separate grain, don’t keep it from eating the grain.”^[d] When God said this, was he thinking only about work animals? No. ¹⁰ He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work. ¹¹ We planted spiritual seed among you, so we should be able to harvest from you some things for this life. Surely that is not asking too much. ¹² Others have this right to get things from you. So surely we have this right too. But we don’t use this right. No, we endure everything ourselves so that we will not stop anyone from obeying the Good News of Christ. ¹³ Surely you know that those who work at the Temple get their food from the Temple. And those who serve at the altar get part of what is offered at the altar. ¹⁴ It is the same with those who have the work of telling the Good News. The Lord has commanded that those who tell the Good News should get their living from this work.

¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights, and I am not trying to get anything from you. That is not my purpose for writing this. I would rather die than to have someone take away what for me is a great source of pride. ¹⁶ It’s not my work of telling the Good News that gives me any reason to boast. That is my duty—something I must do. If I don’t tell people the Good News, I am in real trouble. ¹⁷ If I did it because it was my own choice, I would deserve to be paid. But I have no choice. I must tell the Good News. So I am only doing the duty that was given to me. ¹⁸ So what do I get for doing it? My reward is that when I tell people the Good News I can offer it to them for free and not use the rights that come with doing this work.

¹⁹ I am free. I belong to no other person, but I make myself a slave to everyone. I do this to help save as many people as I can. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew so that I could help save Jews. I myself am not ruled by the law, but to those who are ruled by the law I became like someone who is ruled by the law. I did this to help save those who are ruled by the law. ²¹ To those who are without the law I became like someone who is without the law. I did this to help save those who are without the law. (But really, I am not without God’s law—I am ruled by the law of Christ.) ²² To those who are weak, I became weak so that I could help save them. I have become all things to all people. I did this so that I could save people in any way possible. ²³ I do all this to make the Good News known. I do it so that I can share in the blessings of the Good News.

²⁴ You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! ²⁵ All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn’t last. But our prize is one that will last forever. ²⁶ So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air. ²⁷ It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it.

Warning From History

10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who were with Moses. They were all under the cloud,^[e] and they all walked through the sea. ² They were all baptized^[f] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.

⁶ And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did. ⁷ Don’t worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to have a wild party.”^{[g] 8} We should not commit sexual sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sin. ⁹ We should not test Christ^[h] as some of them did. Because of that, they were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys.

¹¹ The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to. ¹² So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall. ¹³ The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴ So, my dear friends, stay away from worshiping idols. ¹⁵ You are intelligent people. Judge for yourselves the truth of what I say now. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing^[i] that we give thanks for is a sharing in the blood sacrifice of Christ, isn’t it? And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ, isn’t it? ¹⁷ There is one loaf of bread, so we who are many are one body, because we all share in that one loaf.

¹⁸ And think about what the people of Israel do. When they eat the sacrifices,^[j] they are united by sharing what was offered on the altar. ¹⁹ So, am I saying that sacrifices to idols are the same as those Jewish sacrifices? No, because an idol is nothing, and the things offered to idols are worth nothing. ²⁰ But I am saying that when food is sacrificed to idols, it is an offering to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to share anything with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and then go drink a cup that honors demons. You cannot share a meal at the Lord’s table and then go share a meal that honors demons. ²² Doing that would make the Lord jealous.^[k] Do you really want to do that? Do you think we are stronger than he is?

Use Your Freedom for God’s Glory

²³ “All things are allowed,” you say. But not all things are good. “All things are allowed.” But some things don’t help anyone. ²⁴ Try to do what is good for others, not just what is good for yourselves.

²⁵ Eat any meat that is sold in the meat market. Don’t ask questions about it to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. ²⁶ You can eat it, “because the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”^[l]

²⁷ Someone who is not a believer might invite you to eat with them. If you want to go, then eat anything that is put before you. Don’t ask questions to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. ²⁸ But if someone tells you, “That food was offered to idols,” then don’t eat it. That’s because some people think it is wrong, and it might cause a problem for the person who told you that. ²⁹ I don’t mean that you think it is wrong. But the other person might think it is wrong. That’s the only reason not to eat it. My own freedom should not be judged by what another person thinks. ³⁰ I eat the meal with thankfulness. So I don’t want to be criticized because of something I thank God for.

³¹ So if you eat, or if you drink, or if you do anything, do it for the glory of God. ³² Never do anything that might make other people do wrong—Jews, non-Jews, or anyone in God’s church. ³³ I do the same thing. I try to please everyone in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me. I am trying to do what is good for the most people so that they can be saved.

11 Follow my example, just as I follow the example of Christ.

Being Under Authority

² I praise you because you remember me in all things. You follow closely the teachings I gave you. ³ But I want you to understand this: The head of every man is Christ. And the head of a woman is the man.^[m] And the head of Christ is God.

⁴ Every man who prophesies or prays with his head covered brings shame to his head. ⁵ But every woman who prays or prophesies should have her head covered. If her head is not covered, she brings shame to her head. Then she is the same as a woman who has her head shaved. ⁶ If a woman does not cover her head, it is the same as cutting off all her hair. But it is shameful for a woman to cut off her hair or to shave her head. So she should cover her head.

⁷ But a man should not cover his head, because he is made like God and is God’s glory. But woman is man’s glory. ⁸ Man did not come from woman. Woman came from man. ⁹ And man was not made for woman. Woman was made for man. ¹⁰ So that is why a woman should have her head covered with something that shows she is under authority.^[n] Also, she should do this because of the angels.

¹¹ But in the Lord the woman needs the man, and the man needs the woman. ¹² This is true because woman came from man, but also man is born from woman. Really, everything comes from God.

¹³ Decide this for yourselves: Is it right for a woman to pray to God without something on her head? ¹⁴ Even nature itself teaches you that wearing long hair is shameful for a man. ¹⁵ But wearing long hair is a woman’s honor. Long hair is given to the woman to cover her head. ¹⁶ Some people may still want to argue about this. But we and the churches of God don’t accept what those people are doing.

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ In the things I tell you now I don’t praise you. Your meetings hurt you more than they help you. ¹⁸ First, I hear that when you meet together as a church you are divided. And this is not hard to believe ¹⁹ because of your idea that you must have separate groups to show who the real believers are!

²⁰ When you all come together, it is not really the Lord’s Supper^[o] you are eating. ²¹ I say this because when you eat, each one eats without waiting for the others. Some people don’t get enough to eat or drink, while others have too much.^{[p] 22} You can eat and drink in your own homes. It seems that you think God’s church is not important. You embarrass those who are poor. What can I say? Should I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

²³ The teaching I gave you is the same that I received from the Lord: On the night when the Lord Jesus was handed over to be killed, he took bread ²⁴ and gave thanks for it. Then he divided the bread and said, “This is my body; it is for you. Eat this to remember me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after they ate, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said, “This cup represents the new agreement from God, which begins with my blood sacrifice. When you drink this, do it to remember me.” ²⁶ This means that every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are telling others about the Lord’s death until he comes again.

²⁷ So if you eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that does not fit its meaning, you are sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Before you eat the bread and drink the cup, you should examine your own attitude. ²⁹ If you eat and drink without paying attention to those who are the Lord’s body, your eating and drinking will cause you to be judged guilty. ³⁰ That is why many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves in the right way, then God would not judge us. ³² But when the Lord judges us, he punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned with the world.

³³ So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If some are too hungry to wait, they should eat at home. Do this so that your meeting together will not bring God’s judgment on you. I will tell you what to do about the other things when I come.

Gifts From the Holy Spirit

12 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand about spiritual gifts. ² You remember the lives you lived before you were believers. You let yourselves be influenced and led away to worship idols—things that have no life. ³ So I tell you that no one who is speaking with the help of God’s Spirit says, “Jesus be cursed.” And no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” without the help of the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different ways to serve, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ And there are different ways that God works in people, but it is the same God who works in all of us to do everything.

⁷ Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person. The Spirit gives this to each one to help others. ⁸ The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. And the same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge. ⁹ The same Spirit gives faith to one person and to another he gives gifts of healing. ¹⁰ The Spirit gives to one person the power to do miracles, to another the ability to prophesy, and to another the ability to judge what is from the Spirit and what is not. The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak in different kinds of languages, and to another the ability to interpret those languages. ¹¹ One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things. The Spirit decides what to give each one.

The Body of Christ

¹² A person has only one body, but it has many parts. Yes, there are many parts, but all those parts are still just one body. Christ is like that too. ¹³ Some of us are Jews and some of us are not; some of us are slaves and some of us are free. But we were all baptized to become one body through one Spirit. And we were all given^[q] the one Spirit.

¹⁴ And a person’s body has more than one part. It has many parts. ¹⁵ The foot might say, “I am not a hand, so I don’t belong to the body.” But saying this would not stop the foot from being a part of the body. ¹⁶ The ear might say, “I am not an eye, so I don’t belong to the body.” But saying this would not make the ear stop being a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell anything. ^18-19 If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But as it is, God put the parts in the body as he wanted them. He made a place for each one. ²⁰ So there are many parts, but only one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you!” ²² No, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are actually very important. ²³ And the parts that we think are not worth very much are the parts we give the most care to. And we give special care to the parts of the body that we don’t want to show. ²⁴ The more beautiful parts don’t need this special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it. ²⁵ God did this so that our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other. ²⁶ If one part of the body suffers, then all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part is honored, then all the other parts share its honor.

²⁷ All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body. ²⁸ And in the church God has given a place first to apostles, second to prophets, and third to teachers. Then God has given a place to those who do miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who can help others, those who are able to lead, and those who can speak in different kinds of languages. ²⁹ Not all are apostles. Not all are prophets. Not all are teachers. Not all do miracles. ³⁰ Not all have gifts of healing. Not all speak in different kinds of languages. Not all interpret those languages. ³¹ Continue to give your attention to the spiritual gifts you consider to be the greatest. But now I want to point out a way of life that is even greater.

Let Love Be Your Guide

13 I may speak in different languages, whether human or even of angels. But if I don’t have love, I am only a noisy bell or a ringing cymbal. ² I may have the gift of prophecy, I may understand all secrets and know everything there is to know, and I may have faith so great that I can move mountains. But even with all this, if I don’t have love, I am nothing. ³ I may give away everything I have to help others, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing by doing all this if I don’t have love.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. ⁵ Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. ⁶ Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. ⁷ Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.

⁸ Love will never end. But all those gifts will come to an end—even the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages, and the gift of knowledge. ⁹ These will all end because this knowledge and these prophecies we have are not complete. ¹⁰ But when perfection comes, the things that are not complete will end.

¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I made plans like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways. ¹² It is the same with us. Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror. But then, in the future, we will see him right before our eyes. Now I know only a part, but at that time I will know fully, as God has known me. ¹³ So these three things continue: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Use Spiritual Gifts to Help the Church

14 Love should be the goal of your life, but you should also want to have the gifts that come from the Spirit. And the gift you should want most is to be able to prophesy. ² I will explain why. Those who have the gift of speaking in a different language are not speaking to people. They are speaking to God. No one understands them—they are speaking secret things through the Spirit. ³ But those who prophesy are speaking to people. They help people grow stronger in faith, and they give encouragement and comfort. ⁴ Those who speak in a different language are helping only themselves. But those who prophesy are helping the whole church.

⁵ I would like all of you to have the gift of speaking in different languages. But what I want more is for you to prophesy. Anyone who prophesies is more important than those who can only speak in different languages. However, if they can also interpret those languages, they are as important as the one who prophesies. If they can interpret, then the church can be helped by what they say.

⁶ Brothers and sisters, will it help you if I come to you speaking in different languages? No, it will help you only if I bring you a new truth or some knowledge, prophecy, or teaching. ⁷ This is true even with lifeless things that make sounds—like a flute or a harp. If the different musical notes are not made clear, you can’t understand what song is being played. Each note must be played clearly for you to be able to understand the tune. ⁸ And in a war, if the trumpet does not sound clearly, the soldiers will not know it is time to prepare for fighting.

⁹ It is the same with you. If you don’t speak clearly in a language people know, they cannot understand what you are saying. You will be talking to the air! ¹⁰ It is true that there are many different languages in the world, and they all have meaning. ¹¹ But if I don’t understand the meaning of what someone is saying, it will just be strange sounds to me, and I will sound just as strange to them. ¹² That’s why you who want spiritual gifts so much should prefer those gifts that help the church grow stronger.

¹³ So those who have the gift of speaking in a different language should pray that they can also interpret what they say. ¹⁴ If I pray in a different language, my spirit is praying, but my mind does nothing. ¹⁵ So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. ¹⁶ You might be praising God with your spirit. But someone there without understanding cannot say “Amen” to your prayer of thanks, because they don’t know what you are saying. ¹⁷ You may be thanking God in a good way, but others are not helped.

¹⁸ I thank God that my gift of speaking in different kinds of languages is greater than any of yours. ¹⁹ But in the church meetings I would rather speak five words that I understand than thousands of words in a different language. I would rather speak with my understanding, so that I can teach others.

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, don’t think like children. In evil things be like babies, but in your thinking you should be like full-grown adults. ²¹ As the Scriptures^[r] say,

This is what the Lord says.

²² And from this we see that the use of different languages shows how God deals with those who don’t believe, not with those who believe. And prophecy shows how God works through those who believe, not through unbelievers. ²³ Suppose the whole church meets together and you all speak in different languages. If some people come in who are without understanding or don’t believe, they will say you are crazy. ²⁴ But suppose you are all prophesying and someone comes in who does not believe or who is without understanding. Their sin will be shown to them, and they will be judged by everything you say. ²⁵ The secret things in their heart will be made known. So they will bow down and worship God. They will say, “Without a doubt, God is here with you.”^[s]

Your Meetings Should Be Helpful to All

²⁶ So, brothers and sisters, what should you do? When you meet together, one person has a song, another has a teaching, and another has a new truth from God. One person speaks in a different language, and another interprets that language. The purpose of whatever you do should be to help everyone grow stronger in faith. ²⁷ When you meet together, if anyone speaks to the group in a different language, it should be only two or no more than three people who do this. And they should speak one after the other. And someone else should interpret what they say. ²⁸ But if there is no interpreter, then anyone who speaks in a different language should be quiet in the church meeting. They should speak only to themselves and to God.

²⁹ And only two or three prophets should speak. The others should judge what they say. ³⁰ And if a message from God comes to someone who is sitting, the first speaker should be quiet. ³¹ You can all prophesy one after the other. This way everyone can be taught and encouraged. ³² The spirits of prophets are under the control of the prophets themselves. ³³ God is not a God of confusion but a God of peace. This is the rule for all the meetings of God’s people.

³⁴ The women should keep quiet in these church meetings. They are not allowed to speak out but should be under authority, as the Law of Moses says. ³⁵ If there is something they want to know, they should ask their own husbands at home. It is shameful for a woman to speak up like that in the church meeting.

³⁶ God’s teaching did not come from you, and you are not the only ones who have received it. ³⁷ If you think you are a prophet or that you have a spiritual gift, you should understand that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸ If you do not accept this, you will not be accepted.

³⁹ So my brothers and sisters, continue to give your attention to prophesying. And don’t stop anyone from using the gift of speaking in different languages. ⁴⁰ But everything should be done in a way that is right and orderly.

The Good News About Jesus Christ

15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. ² That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don’t, you believed for nothing.

³ I gave you the message that I received. I told you the most important truths: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; ⁴ that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day, as the Scriptures say; ⁵ and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. ⁶ After that Christ appeared to more than 500 other believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. ⁷ Then he appeared to James and later to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, he appeared to me. I was different, like a baby born before the normal time.

⁹ All the other apostles are greater than I am. I say this because I persecuted the church of God. That is why I am not even good enough to be called an apostle. ¹⁰ But, because of God’s grace, that is what I am. And his grace that he gave me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But I was not really the one working. It was God’s grace that was with me.) ¹¹ So then it is not important if I told you God’s message or if it was the other apostles who told you—we all tell people the same message, and this is what you believed.

We Will Be Raised From Death

¹² We tell everyone that Christ was raised from death. So why do some of you say that people will not be raised from death? ¹³ If no one will ever be raised from death, then Christ has never been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has never been raised, then the message we tell is worth nothing. And your faith is worth nothing. ¹⁵ And we will also be guilty of lying about God, because we have told people about him, saying that he raised Christ from death. And if no one is raised from death, then God never raised Christ from death. ¹⁶ If those who have died are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised from death, then your faith is for nothing; you are still guilty of your sins. ¹⁸ And those in Christ who have already died are lost. ¹⁹ If our hope in Christ is only for this life here on earth, then people should feel more sorry for us than for anyone else.

²⁰ But Christ really has been raised from death—the first one of all those who will be raised. ²¹ Death comes to people because of what one man did. But now there is resurrection from death because of another man. ²² I mean that in Adam all of us die. And in the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again. ²³ But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be raised. Then, when Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life. ²⁴ Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rulers, authorities, and powers. Then he will give the kingdom to God the Father.

²⁵ Christ must rule until God puts all enemies under his control.^{[t] 26} The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. ²⁷ As the Scriptures say, “God put everything under his control.”^[u] When it says that “everything” is put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself. God is the one putting everything under Christ’s control. ²⁸ After everything has been put under Christ, then the Son himself will be put under God. God is the one who put everything under Christ. And Christ will be put under God so that God will be the complete ruler over everything.

²⁹ If no one will ever be raised from death, then what will the people do who are baptized for those who have died? If the dead are never raised, then why are people baptized for them?

³⁰ And what about us? Why do we put ourselves in danger every hour? ³¹ I face death every day. That is true, brothers and sisters, just as it is true that I am proud of what you are because of Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² I fought wild animals in Ephesus. If I did that only for human reasons, then I have gained nothing. If we are not raised from death, “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.”^[v]

³³ Don’t be fooled: “Bad friends will ruin good habits.” ³⁴ Come back to your right way of thinking and stop sinning. Some of you don’t know God. I say this to shame you.

What Kind of Body Will We Have?

³⁵ But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?” ³⁶ These are stupid questions. When you plant something, it must die in the ground before it can live and grow. ³⁷ And when you plant something, what you plant does not have the same “body” that it will have later. What you plant is only a seed, maybe wheat or something else. ³⁸ But God gives it the body that he has planned for it, and he gives each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹ All things made of flesh are not the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish have yet another kind. ⁴⁰ Also there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the beauty of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the beauty of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon has another kind, and the stars have another. And each star is different in its beauty.

⁴² It will be the same when those who have died are raised to life. The body that is “planted” in the grave will ruin and decay, but it will be raised to a life that cannot be destroyed. ⁴³ When the body is “planted,” it is without honor. But when it is raised, it will be great and glorious. When the body is “planted,” it is weak. But when it is raised, it will be full of power. ⁴⁴ The body that is “planted” is a physical body. When it is raised, it will be a spiritual body.

There is a physical body. So there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ As the Scriptures say, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.^[w]”^[x] But the last Adam^[y] is a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual man did not come first. It was the physical man that came first; then came the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸ All people belong to the earth. They are like that first man of earth. But those who belong to heaven are like that man of heaven. ⁴⁹ We were made like that man of earth, so we will also be made like that man of heaven.

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers and sisters: Our bodies of flesh and blood cannot have a part in God’s kingdom. Something that will ruin cannot have a part in something that never ruins. ⁵¹ But listen, I tell you this secret: We will not all die, but we will all be changed. ⁵² It will only take the time of a second. We will be changed as quickly as an eye blinks. This will happen when the last trumpet blows. The trumpet will blow and those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we will all be changed. ⁵³ This body that ruins must clothe itself with something that will never ruin. And this body that dies must clothe itself with something that will never die. ⁵⁴ So this body that ruins will clothe itself with that which never ruins. And this body that dies will clothe itself with that which never dies. When this happens, the Scriptures will be made true:

⁵⁶ Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But we thank God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Don’t let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. You know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

The Collection for Believers in Judea

16 Now, about the collection of money for God’s people: Do the same as I told the Galatian churches to do. ² On the first day of every week, each of you should take some of your money and put it in a special place. Save up as much as you can from what you are blessed with. Then you will not have to gather it all after I come. ³ When I arrive, I will send some men to take your gift to Jerusalem. These will be the ones you all agree should go. I will send them with letters of introduction. ⁴ If it seems good for me to go too, we can all travel together.

Paul’s Plans

⁵ I plan to go through Macedonia, so I will come to you after that. ⁶ Maybe I will stay with you for a time. I might even stay all winter. Then you can help me on my trip, wherever I go. ⁷ I don’t want to come see you now, because I would have to leave to go to other places. I hope to stay a longer time with you, if the Lord allows it. ⁸ But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. ⁹ I will stay here, because a good opportunity for a great and growing work has been given to me now. And there are many people working against it.

¹⁰ Timothy might come to you. Try to make him feel comfortable with you. He is working for the Lord the same as I am. ¹¹ So none of you should refuse to accept Timothy. Help him continue on his trip in peace so that he can come back to me. I am expecting him to come back with the other brothers.

¹² Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers. He prefers not to come now, but he will come when he has the opportunity.

Paul Ends His Letter

¹³ Be careful. Hold firmly to your faith. Have courage and be strong. ¹⁴ Do everything in love.

¹⁵ You know that Stephanas and his family were the first believers in Achaia. They have given themselves to the service of God’s people. I ask you, brothers and sisters, ¹⁶ to follow the leading of people like these and others who work hard and serve together with them.

¹⁷ I am happy that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come. You are not here, but they have filled your place. ¹⁸ They have been a great encouragement to me and to you as well. You should recognize the value of such people.

¹⁹ The churches in Asia send you their greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in the Lord. Also the church that meets in their house sends greetings. ²⁰ All the brothers and sisters here send their greetings. Give each other the special greeting of God’s people.^[z]

²¹ Here’s my greeting in my own handwriting— Paul.

²² If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be separated from God—lost forever!

Come, O Lord!^[aa]

²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴ My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

1 Greetings from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Greetings also from Timothy our brother in Christ.

To God’s church in Corinth and to all of God’s holy people throughout Achaia.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. ⁵ We share in the many sufferings of Christ. In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ. ⁶ If we have troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is so that we can comfort you. And this helps you patiently accept the same sufferings we have. ⁷ Our hope for you is strong. We know that you share in our sufferings. So we know that you also share in our comfort.

⁸ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there, which were greater than our own strength. We even gave up hope for life. ⁹ In fact, it seems like God has been telling us we are going to die. But this is so that we will not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from death. ¹⁰ He saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We feel sure he will always save us. ¹¹ And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.

The Change in Paul’s Plans

¹² This is what we are proud of, and I can say with a clear conscience that it is true: In everything we have done in the world, we have done it with an honest and pure heart from God. And this is even truer in what we have done with you. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. ¹³ We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope you will fully understand, ¹⁴ just as you already understand many things about us. I hope you will understand that you can be proud of us, just as we will be proud of you on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵ I was very sure of all this. That is why I made plans to visit you first. Then you could be blessed twice. ¹⁶ I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. ¹⁷ Do you think that I made these plans without really thinking? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, saying yes and no at the same time.

¹⁸ But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. ²⁰ The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. ²¹ And God is the one who makes you and us strong in Christ. God is also the one who chose us for his work.^{[ab] 22} He put his mark on us to show that we are his. Yes, he put his Spirit in our hearts as the first payment that guarantees all that he will give us.

²³ I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was that I did not want to punish or hurt you. ²⁴ I don’t mean that we are trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own happiness.

2 So I decided that my next visit to you would not be another visit to make you sad. ² If I make you sad, then who will make me happy? Only you can make me happy—you, the ones I made sad. ³ I wrote you a letter so that when I came to you I would not be made sad by those who should make me happy. I felt sure that all of you would share my joy. ⁴ When I wrote to you before, I was very troubled and my heart was full of sadness. I wrote with many tears. I did not write to make you sad, but to let you know how much I love you.

Forgive the Person Who Did Wrong

⁵ Someone in your group has caused sadness—not to me, but to all of you. I mean he has caused sadness to all in some way. (I don’t want to make it sound worse than it really is.) ⁶ The punishment that most of your group gave him is enough for him. ⁷ But now you should forgive him and encourage him. This will keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. ⁸ So I beg you to show him that you love him. ⁹ This is why I wrote to you. I wanted to test you and see if you obey in everything. ¹⁰ If you forgive someone, then I also forgive them. And what I have forgiven—if I had anything to forgive—I forgave it for you, and Christ was with me. ¹¹ I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us. We know very well what his plans are.

God Gives Us Victory Over Troubles

¹² I went to Troas to tell people the Good News of Christ. The Lord gave me a good opportunity there. ¹³ But I had no peace because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said goodbye and went to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. ¹⁵ Our offering to God is to be the perfume of Christ that goes out to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost. ¹⁶ To those who are being lost, this perfume smells like death, and it brings them death. But to those who are being saved, it has the sweet smell of life, and it brings them life. So who is good enough to do this work? ¹⁷ Certainly not those who are out there selling God’s message for a profit! But we don’t do that. With Christ’s help we speak God’s truth honestly, knowing that we must answer to him.

Servants of God’s New Agreement

3 Why are we beginning again to tell you all these good things about ourselves? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? ² No, you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by all people. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone^[ac] tablets but on human hearts.

⁴ We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. ⁵ I don’t mean that we are able to do anything good ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. ⁶ He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

An Agreement With Greater Glory

⁷ The old agreement^[ad] that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. ⁸ So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. ⁹ This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory. ¹⁰ That old agreement had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of the new agreement. ¹¹ If the agreement that was brought to an end came with glory, then the agreement that never ends has much greater glory.

¹² We are so sure of this hope that we can speak very openly. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face. He covered his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. ¹⁴ But their minds were closed. And even today, when those people read the writings of the old agreement,^[ae] that same covering hides the meaning. That covering has not been removed for them. It is taken away only through Christ. ¹⁵ Yes, even today, when they read the Law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. ¹⁶ But when someone changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. ¹⁷ The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And our faces are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Spiritual Treasure in Clay Jars

4 God, with his mercy, gave us this work to do, so we don’t give up. ² But we have turned away from secret and shameful ways. We don’t use trickery, and we don’t change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly. This is how we show people who we are. And this is how they can know in their hearts what kind of people we are before God. ³ The Good News that we tell people may be hidden, but it is hidden only to those who are lost. ⁴ The ruler^[af] of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News—the message about the divine greatness of Christ. Christ is the one who is exactly like God. ⁵ We don’t tell people about ourselves. But we tell people that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we tell them that we are your servants for Jesus. ⁶ God once said, “Let light shine out of the darkness!”^[ag] And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts to let us know that his own divine greatness is seen in the face of Christ.

⁷ We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. ⁸ We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. ⁹ We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ So we constantly experience the death of Jesus in our own bodies, but this is so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. ¹¹ We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. ¹² So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.

¹³ The Scriptures say, “I believed, so I spoke.”^[ah] Our faith is like that too. We believe, and so we speak. ¹⁴ God raised the Lord Jesus from death, and we know that he will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we will stand before him. ¹⁵ All these things are for you. And so the grace of God is being given to more and more people. This will bring more and more thanks to God for his glory.

Living by Faith

¹⁶ That is why we never give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. ¹⁷ We have small troubles for a while now, but these troubles are helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles. ¹⁸ So we think about what we cannot see, not what we see. What we see lasts only a short time, and what we cannot see will last forever.

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.^[ai] 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^[aj] 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^[ak]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ God’s temple^[al] 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^[am] 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.

Paul Defends His Ministry

10 I, Paul, am begging you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. Some say that I am bold when I am writing you from a distance, but not when I am there with you. ² They think our motives for what we do are like those of the world. I plan to be very bold against those people when I come. I hope I will not need to use that same boldness with you. ³ We live in this world, but we don’t fight our battles in the same way the world does. ⁴ The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons have power from God and can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy people’s arguments, ⁵ and we tear down every proud idea that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We also capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ. ⁶ We are ready to punish anyone there who does not obey, but first we want you to be fully obedient.

⁷ You must look at the facts before you. If you feel sure you belong to Christ, you must remember that we belong to Christ the same as you do. ⁸ It may seem as though we boast too much about the authority the Lord gave us. But he gave us this authority to strengthen you, not to hurt you. So I will not be ashamed of whatever boasting we do. ⁹ I don’t want you to think that I am trying to scare you with my letters. ¹⁰ Some people say, “Paul’s letters are powerful and sound important, but when he is with us, he is weak and the worst speaker you have ever heard.” ¹¹ Those people should know this: When we are there with you, we will show the same power that we show now in our letters.

¹² We don’t dare put ourselves in the same class with those who think they are so important. We don’t compare ourselves to them. They use themselves to measure themselves, and they judge themselves by what they themselves are. This shows that they know nothing.

¹³ But we will not boast about anything outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our boasting to the work God gave us, but this work includes our work with you. ¹⁴ We would be boasting too much only if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News about Christ. ¹⁵ We limit our boasting to the work that is ours. We don’t boast about the work other people have done. We hope that your faith will continue to grow. We hope that you will help our work to grow much larger. ¹⁶ We want to tell the Good News in the areas beyond your city. We don’t want to boast about work that has already been done in someone else’s area. ¹⁷ “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”^{[an] 18} What people say about themselves means nothing. What counts is whether the Lord says they have done well.

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would be patient with me even when I am a little foolish. But you are already patient with me. ² I am jealous for you with a jealousy that comes from God. I promised to give you to Christ. He must be your only husband. I want to give you to Christ to be his pure bride.^{[ao] 3} But I am afraid that your minds will be led away from your true and pure following of Christ. This could happen just as Eve was tricked by that snake with his clever lies. ⁴ You seem to be quite patient with anyone who comes to you and tells you about a Jesus that is different from the Jesus we told you about. You seem very willing to accept a spirit or a message that is different from the Spirit and message that you received from us.

⁵ I don’t think that those “super apostles” are any better than I am. ⁶ It is true that I am not a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have shown this to you clearly in every way.

⁷ I did the work of telling God’s Good News to you without pay. I humbled myself to make you important. Do you think that was wrong? ⁸ I accepted pay from other churches. I took their money so that I could serve you. ⁹ If I needed something when I was with you, I did not trouble any of you. The brothers who came from Macedonia gave me all that I needed. I did not allow myself to be a burden to you in any way. And I will never be a burden to you. ¹⁰ No one there in Achaia will stop me from boasting about that. I say this with the truth of Christ in me. ¹¹ And why do I not burden you? Do you think it is because I don’t love you? God knows that I love you.

¹² And I will continue doing what I am doing now, because I want to stop those people from having a reason to boast. They would like to say that the work they boast about is the same as ours. ¹³ They are false apostles, lying workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ That does not surprise us, because even Satan changes himself to look like an angel of light.^{[ap] 15} So it does not surprise us if Satan’s servants make themselves look like servants who work for what is right. But in the end those people will get the punishment they deserve.