Bible in 90 Days

The Good News About Christ

15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. ² And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.

³ I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: 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 was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. ⁶ After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. ⁷ Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all he was seen by me—as by a person not born at the normal time. ⁹ All the other apostles are greater than I am. I am not even good enough to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But God’s grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God’s grace that was with me.) ¹¹ So if I preached to you or the other apostles preached to you, we all preach the same thing, and this is what you believed.

We Will Be Raised from the Dead

¹² Now since we preached that Christ was raised from the dead, why do some of you say that people will not be raised from the dead? ¹³ If no one is ever raised from the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is worth nothing, and your faith is worth nothing. ¹⁵ And also, we are guilty of lying about God, because we testified of him that he raised Christ from the dead. But if people are not raised from the dead, then God never raised Christ. ¹⁶ If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; 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 for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world.

²⁰ But Christ has truly been raised from the dead—the first one and proof that those who sleep in death will also be raised. ²¹ Death has come because of what one man did, but the rising from death also comes because of one man. ²² In Adam all of us die. 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. When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life, ²⁴ and then the end will come. At that time Christ will destroy all rulers, authorities, and powers, and he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father. ²⁵ Christ must rule until he puts all enemies under his control. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. ²⁷ The Scripture says that God put all things under his control.^[a] When it says “all things” are under him, it is clear this does not include God himself. God is the One who put everything under his control. ²⁸ After everything has been put under the Son, then he will put himself under God, who had put all things under him. Then God will be the complete ruler over everything.

²⁹ If the dead are never raised, what will people do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people being baptized for them?

³⁰ And what about us? Why do we put ourselves in danger every hour? ³¹ I die every day. That is true, brothers and sisters, just as it is true that I brag about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild animals in Ephesus only with human hopes, I have gained nothing. If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die.”^[b]

³³ Do not be fooled: “Bad friends will ruin good habits.” ³⁴ Come back to your right way of thinking and stop sinning. Some of you do not 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 Foolish person! When you sow a seed, it must die in the ground before it can live and grow. ³⁷ And when you sow it, it does not have the same “body” it will have later. What you sow is only a bare seed, maybe wheat or something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body that he has planned for it, and God 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 another. 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 beauty, and the stars have another. And each star is different in its beauty.

⁴² It is the same with the dead who are raised to life. The body that is “planted” will ruin and decay, but it is raised to a life that cannot be destroyed. ⁴³ When the body is “planted,” it is without honor, but it is raised in glory. When the body is “planted,” it is weak, but when it is raised, it is powerful. ⁴⁴ The body that is “planted” is a physical body. When it is raised, it is a spiritual body.

There is a physical body, and there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Scriptures: “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”^[c] But the last Adam became a spirit that gives life. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the physical and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸ People who belong to the earth are like the first man of earth. But those people who belong to heaven are like the man of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we were made like the man of earth, so we will^[d] also be made like the man of heaven.

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot have a part in the kingdom of God. Something that will ruin cannot have a part in something that never ruins. ⁵¹ But look! I tell you this secret: We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed. ⁵² It will take only a second—as quickly as an eye blinks—when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and those who have died will be raised to live forever, and we will all be changed. ⁵³ This body that can be destroyed must clothe itself with something that can never be destroyed. And this body that dies must clothe itself with something that can never die. ⁵⁴ So this body that can be destroyed will clothe itself with that which can never be destroyed, and this body that dies will clothe itself with that which can never die. When this happens, this Scripture 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! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ So my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Do not let anything move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

The Gift for Other Believers

16 Now I will write about the collection of money for God’s people. Do the same thing I told the Galatian churches to do: ² On the first day of every week, each one of you should put aside money as you have been blessed. Save it up so you will not have to collect money after I come. ³ When I arrive, I will send whomever you approve to take your gift to Jerusalem. I will send them with letters of introduction, ⁴ and if it seems good for me to go also, they will go along with me.

Paul’s Plans

⁵ I plan to go through Macedonia, so I will come to you after I go through there. ⁶ Perhaps I will stay with you for a time or even all winter. Then you can help me on my trip, wherever I go. ⁷ I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to stay a longer time with you if the Lord allows it. ⁸ But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, ⁹ because a good opportunity for a great and growing work has been given to me now. And there are many people working against me.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes to you, see to it that he has nothing to fear with you, because he is working for the Lord just as I am. ¹¹ So none of you should treat Timothy as unimportant, but help him on his trip in peace so that he can come back to me. I am expecting him to come with the brothers.

¹² Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers. He did not at all want to come now; he will come when he has the opportunity.

Paul Ends His Letter

¹³ Be alert. Continue strong in the faith. Have courage, and be strong. ¹⁴ Do everything in love.

¹⁵ You know that the family of Stephanas were the first believers in Southern Greece and that 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 anyone else who works and serves 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 refreshed my spirit and yours. You should recognize the value of people like these.

¹⁹ The churches in Asia send greetings to you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in the Lord, as does the church that meets in their house. ²⁰ All the brothers and sisters here send greetings. Give each other a holy kiss when you meet.

²¹ I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand.

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

Come, O Lord!

²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴ My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.^[e]

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

To the church of God in Corinth, and to all of God’s people everywhere in Southern Greece:

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. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us every time we have trouble, so 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, and if we have comfort, you also have comfort. This helps you to accept patiently the same sufferings we have. ⁷ Our hope for you is strong, knowing that you share in our sufferings and also in the comfort we receive.

⁸ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there that were beyond our own strength. We even gave up hope of living. ⁹ Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead. ¹⁰ God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again. 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 it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest^[f] and sincere heart from God. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. ^13-14 We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope that as you have understood some things about us, you may come to know everything about us. Then you can be proud of us, as we will be proud of you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵ I was so sure of all this that I made plans to visit you first so 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 meaning it? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, so that I say yes, yes and at the same time no, no.

¹⁸ But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I preached to you, 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 through Christ we say yes to the glory of God. ²¹ Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people. ²² He put his mark on us to show that we are his, and he put his Spirit in our hearts to be a guarantee for all he has promised.

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 to keep you from being punished or hurt. ²⁴ We are not trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own joy.

2 So I decided that my next visit to you would not be another one to make you sad. ² If I make you sad, who will make me glad? Only you can make me glad—particularly the person whom I made sad. ³ I wrote you a letter for this reason: that when I came to you I would not be made sad by the people who should make me happy. I felt sure of all of you, that you would share my joy. ⁴ When I wrote to you before, I was very troubled and unhappy in my heart, and 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 Sinner

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

Paul’s Concern in Troas

¹² When I came to Troas to preach 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 good-bye to them at Troas and went to Macedonia.

Victory Through Christ

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. ¹⁵ Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost. ¹⁶ To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work? ¹⁷ We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.

Servants of the New Agreement

3 Are we starting to brag about ourselves again? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets^[g] but on human hearts.

⁴ We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God. ⁵ We are not saying that we can do this work 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. This new agreement is not a written law, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God’s glory, which made Moses’ face so bright that the Israelites could not continue to look at it. But that glory later disappeared. ⁸ So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory. ⁹ If the law that judged people guilty of sin had glory, surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glory. ¹⁰ That old law had glory, but it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of this new way. ¹¹ If that law which disappeared came with glory, then this new way which continues forever has much greater glory.

¹² We have this hope, so we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face so the Israelites 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 that same covering hides the meaning when they read the old agreement. That covering is taken away only through Christ. ¹⁵ Even today, when they read the law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. ¹⁶ But when a person 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 Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Preaching the Good News

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 use no trickery, and we do not change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly, showing everyone who we are. Then they can know in their hearts what kind of people we are in God’s sight. ³ If the Good News that we preach is hidden, it is hidden only to those who are lost. ⁴ The devil who rules this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News—the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is exactly like God. ⁵ We do not preach about ourselves, but we preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we are your servants for Jesus. ⁶ God once said, “Let the light shine out of the darkness!” This is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face of Christ.

Spiritual Treasure in Clay Jars

⁷ We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the great power is from God, not from us. ⁸ We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. ⁹ We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ We carry the death of Jesus in our own bodies 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 life is working in you.

¹³ It is written in the Scriptures, “I believed, so I spoke.”^[h] Our faith is like this, too. We believe, and so we speak. ¹⁴ God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and we know that God 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 that is being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God for his glory.

Living by Faith

¹⁶ So we do not 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 they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. ¹⁸ We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but 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 house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever. ² But now we groan in this tent. We want God to give us our heavenly home, ³ because it will clothe us so we will not be naked. ⁴ While we live in this body, we have burdens, and we groan. We do not want to be naked, but we want to be clothed with our heavenly home. Then this body that dies will be fully covered with life. ⁵ This is what God made us for, and he has given us the Spirit to be a guarantee for this new life.

⁶ So we always have courage. We know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. ⁷ We live by what we believe, not by what we can see. ⁸ So I say that we have courage. We really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Our only goal is to please God whether we live here or there, ¹⁰ because we must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each of us will receive what we should get—good or bad—for the things we did in the earthly body.

Becoming Friends with God

¹¹ Since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to help people accept the truth about us. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know, too. ¹² We are not trying to prove ourselves to you again, but we are telling you about ourselves so you will be proud of us. Then you will have an answer for those who are proud about things that can be seen rather than what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we have our right minds, it is for you. ¹⁴ The love of Christ controls us, because we know that One died for all, so all have died. ¹⁵ Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him.

¹⁶ From this time on we do not think of anyone as the world does. In the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks, but we no longer think of him in that way. ¹⁷ If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! ¹⁸ All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. ¹⁹ God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. ²⁰ So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you 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 so that in Christ we could become right with God.

6 We are workers together with God, so we beg you: Do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. ² God says,

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

³ We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so nothing we do will be a problem for anyone. ⁴ But in every way we show we are servants of God: in accepting many hard things, in troubles, in difficulties, and in great problems. ⁵ We are beaten and thrown into prison. We meet those who become upset with us and start riots. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. ⁶ We show we are servants of God by our pure lives, our understanding, patience, and kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by true love, ⁷ by speaking the truth, and by God’s power. We use our right living to defend ourselves against everything. ⁸ Some people honor us, but others blame us. Some people say evil things about us, but others say good things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. ⁹ We are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but 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 in Corinth and have opened our hearts to you. ¹² Our feelings of love for you have not stopped, but you have stopped your feelings of love for us. ¹³ I speak to you as if you were my children. Do to us as we have done—open your hearts to us.

Warning About Non-Christians

¹⁴ You are not the same as those who do not believe. So do not join yourselves to them. Good and bad do not belong together. Light and darkness cannot share together. ¹⁵ How can Christ and Belial, the devil, have any agreement? What can a believer have together with a nonbeliever? ¹⁶ The temple of God cannot have any agreement with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live with them and walk with them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.”^[i]

7 Dear friends, we have these promises from God, so we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes body or soul unclean. We should try to become holy in the way we live, because we respect God.

Paul’s Joy

² Open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone, we have not ruined the faith of 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 very sure of you and am very proud of you. You give me much comfort, and in all of our troubles I have great joy.

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, who comforts those who are troubled, comforted us when Titus came. ⁷ We were comforted, not only by his coming but also by the comfort you gave him. Titus told us about your wish to see me and that you are very sorry for what you did. He also told me about your great care for me, and when I heard this, I was much happier.

⁸ Even if my letter made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. At first I was sorry, because it made you sad, but you were sad only for a short time. ⁹ Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you change your lives. You became sad in the way God wanted you to, so you were not hurt by us in any way. ¹⁰ The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives. This leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death. ¹¹ See what this sorrow—the sorrow God wanted you to have—has done to you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to restore yourselves. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want to do the right thing. In every way you have regained your innocence. ¹² I wrote that letter, not because of the one who did the wrong or because of the person who was hurt. I wrote the letter so you could see, before God, the great care you have for us. ¹³ That is why we were comforted.

Not only were we very comforted, we were even happier to see that Titus was so happy. All of you made him feel much better. ¹⁴ I bragged to Titus about you, and you showed that I was right. Everything we said to you was true, and you have proved that what we bragged about to Titus is 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 very happy that I can trust you fully.

Christian Giving

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace God gave the churches in Macedonia. ² They have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. 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 it. ⁴ But they begged and pleaded with us to let them share in this service for God’s people. ⁵ And they gave in a way we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants. ⁶ So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of grace since he is the one who started it. ⁷ You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us.^[j] In the same way, be strong also in the grace of giving.

⁸ I am not commanding you to give. But I want to see if your love is true by comparing you with others that really want to help. ⁹ You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that Christ was rich, but for you he became poor so that by his becoming poor you might become rich.

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. It will be judged by what you have, not by what you do not have. ¹³ We do not want you to have troubles while other people are at ease, but we want everything to be equal. ¹⁴ At this time you have plenty. What you have can help others who are in need. Then later, when they have plenty, they can help you when you are in need, and all will be equal. ¹⁵ As it is written in the Scriptures, “The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little.”^[k]

Titus and His Companions Help

¹⁶ I thank God because he gave Titus the same love for you that I have. ¹⁷ Titus accepted what we asked him to do. He wanted very much to go to you, and this was his own idea. ¹⁸ We are sending with him the brother who is praised by all the churches because of his service in preaching the Good News. ¹⁹ Also, this brother was chosen by the churches to go with us when we deliver this gift of money. We are doing this service to bring glory to the Lord and to show that we really want to help.

²⁰ We are being careful so that no one will criticize us for the way we are handling this large gift. ²¹ We are trying hard 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 who is working with me to help you. And about the other brothers—they are sent from the churches, and they bring glory to Christ. ²⁴ So show these men the proof of your love and the reason we are proud of you. Then all the churches can see it.

Help for Fellow Christians

9 I really do not need to write you about this help for God’s people. ² I know you want to help. I have been bragging about this to the people in Macedonia, telling them that you in Southern Greece have been ready to give since last year. And your desire to give has made most of them ready to give also. ³ But I am sending the brothers to you so that our bragging about you in this will not be empty words. I want you to be ready, as I said you would be. ⁴ If any of the people from Macedonia come with me and find that you are not ready, we will be ashamed that we were so sure of you. (And you will be ashamed, too!) ⁵ So I thought I should ask these brothers to go to you before we do. They will finish getting in order the generous gift you promised so it will be ready when we come. And it will be a generous gift—not one that you did not want to give.

⁶ Remember this: The person who plants a little will have a small harvest, but the person who plants a lot will have a big harvest. ⁷ Each of you should give as you have decided in your heart to give. You should not be sad when you give, and you should not give because you feel forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily. ⁸ And God can give you more blessings than you need. Then you will always have plenty of everything—enough to give to every good work. ⁹ It is written in the Scriptures:

¹⁰ God is the One who gives seed to the farmer and bread for food. He will give you all the seed you need and make it grow so there will be a great harvest from your goodness. ¹¹ He will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely. And your giving through us will cause many to give thanks to God. ¹² This service you do not only helps the needs of God’s people, it also brings many more thanks to God. ¹³ It is a proof of your faith. Many people will praise God because you obey the Good News of Christ—the gospel you say you believe—and because you freely share with them and with all others. ¹⁴ And when they pray, they will wish they could be with you because of the great grace that God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words.

Paul Defends His Ministry

10 I, Paul, am begging you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. Some people say that I am easy on you when I am with you and bold when I am away. ² They think we live in a worldly way, and I plan to be very bold with them when I come. I beg you that when I come I will not need to use that same boldness with you. ³ We do live in the world, but we do not fight in the same way the world fights. ⁴ We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses. Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy people’s arguments ⁵ and every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We 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 obey fully.

⁷ You must look at the facts before you. If you feel sure that you belong to Christ, you must remember that we belong to Christ just as you do. ⁸ It is true that we brag freely about the authority the Lord gave us. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down. So I will not be ashamed. ⁹ I do not want you to think 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 his speaking is nothing.” ¹¹ They should know this: We are not there with you now, so we say these things in letters. But when we are there with you, we will show the same authority that we show in our letters.

¹² We do not dare to compare ourselves with those who think they are very important. 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 brag about things outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our bragging to the work that God gave us, and this includes our work with you. ¹⁴ We are not bragging too much, as we would be if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News of Christ. ¹⁵ We limit our bragging to the work that is ours, not what others have done. We hope that as your faith continues to grow, you will help our work to grow much larger. ¹⁶ We want to tell the Good News in the areas beyond your city. We do not want to brag about work that has already been done in another person’s area. ¹⁷ But, “If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord.”^{[l] 18} It is not those who say they are good who are accepted but those the Lord thinks are good.

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 doing that. ² I am jealous over you with a jealousy that comes from God. I promised to give you to Christ, as your only husband. I want to give you as his pure bride. ³ But I am afraid that your minds will be led away from your true and pure following of Christ just as Eve was tricked by the snake with his evil ways. ⁴ You are very patient with anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus from the one we preached. You are very willing to accept a spirit or gospel that is different from the Spirit and Good News you received from us.

⁵ I do not think that those “great apostles” are any better than I am. ⁶ I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have shown this to you clearly in every way.

⁷ I preached God’s Good News to you without pay. I made myself unimportant to make you important. Do you think that was wrong? ⁸ I accepted pay from other churches, taking their money so 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 depend on you in any way, and I will never depend on you. ¹⁰ No one in Southern Greece will stop me from bragging about that. I say this with the truth of Christ in me. ¹¹ And why do I not depend on you? Do you think it is because I do not 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 brag. They would like to say that the work they brag about is the same as ours. ¹³ Such men are not true apostles but are workers who lie. They change themselves to look like apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ This does not surprise us. Even Satan changes himself to look like an angel of light.^{[m] 15} So it does not surprise us if Satan’s servants also make themselves look like servants who work for what is right. But in the end they will be punished for what they do.

Paul Tells About His Sufferings

¹⁶ I tell you again: No one should think I am a fool. But if you think so, accept me as you would accept a fool. Then I can brag a little, too. ¹⁷ When I brag because I feel sure of myself, I am not talking as the Lord would talk but as a fool. ¹⁸ Many people are bragging about their lives in the world. So I will brag too. ¹⁹ You are wise, so you will gladly be patient with fools! ²⁰ You are even patient with those who order you around, or use you, or trick you, or think they are better than you, or hit you in the face. ²¹ It is shameful to me to say this, but we were too “weak” to do those things to you!

But if anyone else is brave enough to brag, then I also will be brave and brag. (I am talking as a fool.) ²² Are they Hebrews?^[n] So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they from Abraham’s family? So am I. ²³ Are they serving Christ? I am serving him more. (I am crazy to talk like this.) I have worked much harder than they. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been near death many times. ²⁴ Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of thirty-nine lashes with a whip. ²⁵ Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time I was almost stoned to death. Three times I was in ships that wrecked, and one of those times I spent a night and a day in the sea. ²⁶ I have gone on many travels and have been in danger from rivers, thieves, my own people, the Jews, and those who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places where no one lives, and on the sea. And I have been in danger with false Christians. ²⁷ I have done hard and tiring work, and many times I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty, and many times I have been without food. I have been cold and without clothes. ²⁸ Besides all this, there is on me every day the load of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ I feel weak every time someone is weak, and I feel upset every time someone is led into sin.

³⁰ If I must brag, I will brag about the things that show I am weak. ³¹ God knows I am not lying. He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is to be praised forever. ³² When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas wanted to arrest me, so he put guards around the city. ³³ But my friends lowered me in a basket through a hole in the city wall. So I escaped from the governor.

A Special Blessing in Paul’s Life

12 I must continue to brag. It will do no good, but I will talk now about visions and revelations^[o] from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who was taken up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. I do not know whether the man was in his body or out of his body, but God knows. ^3-4 And I know that this man was taken up to paradise.^[p] I don’t know if he was in his body or away from his body, but God knows. He heard things he is not able to explain, things that no human is allowed to tell. ⁵ I will brag about a man like that, but I will not brag about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ But if I wanted to brag about myself, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will not brag about myself. I do not want people to think more of me than what they see me do or hear me say.

⁷ So that I would not become too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me, a painful physical problem^[q] was given to me. This problem was a messenger from Satan, sent to beat me and keep me from being too proud. ⁸ I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me. ¹⁰ For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.

Paul’s Love for the Christians

¹¹ I have been talking like a fool, but you made me do it. You are the ones who should say good things about me. I am worth nothing, but those “great apostles” are not worth any more than I am!

¹² When I was with you, I patiently did the things that prove I am an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles. ¹³ So you received everything that the other churches have received. Only one thing was different: I was not a burden to you. Forgive me for this!

¹⁴ I am now ready to visit you the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I want nothing from you, except you. Children should not have to save up to give to their parents. Parents should save to give to their children. ¹⁵ So I am happy to give everything I have for you, even myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶ It is clear I was not a burden to you, but you think I was tricky and lied to catch you. ¹⁷ Did I cheat you by using any of the messengers I sent to you? No, you know I did not. ¹⁸ I asked Titus to go to you, and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not cheat you, did he? No, you know that Titus and I did the same thing and with the same spirit.

¹⁹ Do you think we have been defending ourselves to you all this time? We have been speaking in Christ and before God. You are our dear friends, and everything we do is to make you stronger. ²⁰ I am afraid that when I come, you will not be what I want you to be, and I will not be what you want me to be. I am afraid that among you there may be arguing, jealousy, anger, selfish fighting, evil talk, gossip, pride, and confusion. ²¹ I am afraid that when I come to you again, my God will make me ashamed before you. I may be saddened by many of those who have sinned because they have not changed their hearts or turned from their sexual sins and the shameful things they have done.

Final Warnings and Greetings

13 I will come to you for the third time. “Every case must be proved by two or three witnesses.”^{[r] 2} When I was with you the second time, I gave a warning to those who had sinned. Now I am away from you, and I give a warning to all the others. When I come to you again, I will not be easy with them. ³ You want proof that Christ is speaking through me. My proof is that he is not weak among you, but he is powerful. ⁴ It is true that he was weak when he was killed on the cross, but he lives now by God’s power. It is true that we are weak in Christ, but for you we will be alive in Christ by God’s power.

⁵ Look closely at yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are living in the faith. You know that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test. ⁶ But I hope you will see that we ourselves have not failed the test. ⁷ We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. It is not important to see that we have passed the test, but it is important that you do what is right, even if it seems we have failed. ⁸ We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ We are happy to be weak, if you are strong, and we pray that you will become complete. ¹⁰ I am writing this while I am away from you so that when I come I will not have to be harsh in my use of authority. The Lord gave me this authority to build you up, not to tear you down.

¹¹ Now, brothers and sisters, I say good-bye. Live in harmony. Do what I have asked you to do. Agree with each other, and live in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹² Greet each other with a holy kiss. ¹³ All of God’s holy people send greetings to you.

¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

1 From Paul, an apostle. I was not chosen to be an apostle by human beings, nor was I sent from human beings. I was made an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. ² This letter is also from all those of God’s family^[s] who are with me.

To the churches in Galatia:^[t]

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in, as God the Father planned. ⁵ The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.

The Only Good News

⁶ God, by his grace through Christ, called you to become his people. So I am amazed that you are turning away so quickly and believing something different than the Good News. ⁷ Really, there is no other Good News. But some people are confusing you; they want to change the Good News of Christ. ⁸ We preached to you the Good News. So if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, should preach to you something different, we should be judged guilty! ⁹ I said this before, and now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If anyone is preaching something different to you, let that person be judged guilty!

¹⁰ Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul’s Authority Is from God

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made up by human beings. ¹² I did not get it from humans, nor did anyone teach it to me, but Jesus Christ showed it to me.

¹³ You have heard about my past life in the Jewish religion. I attacked the church of God and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion, doing better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the teachings handed down by our ancestors.

¹⁵ But God had special plans for me and set me apart for his work even before I was born. He called me through his grace ¹⁶ and showed his son to me so that I might tell the Good News about him to those who are not Jewish. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any person. ¹⁷ I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia and later went back to Damascus.

¹⁸ After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ God knows that these things I write are not lies. ²¹ Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.

²² In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me. ²³ They had only heard it said, “This man who was attacking us is now preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And these believers praised God because of me.

Other Apostles Accepted Paul

2 After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas. I also took Titus with me. ² I went because God showed me I should go. I met with the believers there, and in private I told their leaders the Good News that I preach to the non-Jewish people. I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted. ³ Titus was with me, but he was not forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴ We talked about this problem because some false believers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to overturn the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves. ⁵ But we did not give in to those false believers for a minute. We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you.

⁶ Those leaders who seemed to be important did not change the Good News that I preach. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were “important” or not. To God everyone is the same.) ⁷ But these leaders saw that I had been given the work of telling the Good News to those who are not Jewish, just as Peter had the work of telling the Jews. ⁸ God gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the Jewish people. But he also gave me the power to work as an apostle for those who are not Jews. ⁹ James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, understood that God had given me this special grace, so they accepted Barnabas and me. They agreed that they would go to the Jewish people and that we should go to those who are not Jewish. ¹⁰ The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor—something I really wanted to do.

Paul Shows that Peter Was Wrong

¹¹ When Peter came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he was wrong. ¹² Peter ate with the non-Jewish people until some Jewish people sent from James came to Antioch. When they arrived, Peter stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish, and he separated himself from them. He was afraid of the Jews. ¹³ So Peter was a hypocrite, as were the other Jewish believers who joined with him. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did. ¹⁴ When I saw they were not following the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, “Peter, you are a Jew, but you are not living like a Jew. You are living like those who are not Jewish. So why do you now try to force those who are not Jewish to live like Jews?”

¹⁵ We were not born as non-Jewish “sinners,” but as Jews. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law.

¹⁷ We Jews came to Christ, trying to be made right with God, and it became clear that we are sinners, too. Does this mean that Christ encourages sin? No! ¹⁸ But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up. ¹⁹ It was the law that put me to death, and I died to the law so that I can now live for God. ²⁰ I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me. ²¹ By saying these things I am not going against God’s grace. Just the opposite, if the law could make us right with God, then Christ’s death would be useless.

Blessing Comes Through Faith

3 You people in Galatia were told very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But you were foolish; you let someone trick you. ² Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and believed it. ³ You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish. ⁴ Were all your experiences wasted? I hope not! ⁵ Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, he does these things because you heard the Good News and believed it.

⁶ The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”^{[u] 7} So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith. ⁸ The Scriptures, telling what would happen in the future, said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[v] 9} So all who believe as Abraham believed are blessed just as Abraham was. ¹⁰ But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse, because the Scriptures say, “Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law.”^{[w] 11} Now it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law, because the Scriptures say, “Those who are right with God will live by faith.”^{[x] 12} The law is not based on faith. It says, “A person who obeys these things will live because of them.”^{[y] 13} Christ took away the curse the law put on us. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. It is written in the Scriptures, “Anyone whose body is displayed on a tree^[z] is cursed.” ¹⁴ Christ did this so that God’s blessing promised to Abraham might come through Jesus Christ to those who are not Jews. Jesus died so that by our believing we could receive the Spirit that God promised.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵ Brothers and sisters, let us think in human terms: Even an agreement made between two persons is firm. After that agreement is accepted by both people, no one can stop it or add anything to it. ¹⁶ God made promises both to Abraham and to his descendant. God did not say, “and to your descendants.” That would mean many people. But God said, “and to your descendant.” That means only one person; that person is Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came four hundred thirty years later, cannot change that agreement and so destroy God’s promise to Abraham. ¹⁸ If the law could give us Abraham’s blessing, then the promise would not be necessary. But that is not possible, because God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise he had made.

¹⁹ So what was the law for? It was given to show that the wrong things people do are against God’s will. And it continued until the special descendant, who had been promised, came. The law was given through angels who used Moses for a mediator^[aa] to give the law to people. ²⁰ But a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is only one.

The Purpose of the Law of Moses

²¹ Does this mean that the law is against God’s promises? Never! That would be true only if the law could make us right with God. But God did not give a law that can bring life. ²² Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

²³ Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming. ²⁴ In other words, the law was our guardian leading us to Christ so that we could be made right with God through faith. ²⁵ Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under a guardian.