Bible in 90 Days

The resurrection of the dead.

15 Brethren, as pertaining to the gospel that I preached to you, which you have also accepted, and in which you continue, ² by which also you are saved, I call to your mind how I preached to you – if you keep it, unless you have believed in vain. ³ For first of all I delivered to you that which I received: how Christ died for our sins, agreeing to the scriptures; ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day in accordance with the scriptures; ⁵ and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. ⁶ After that he was seen by more than 500 brethren at once, of whom many remain to this day, and many have fallen asleep. ⁷ After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸ And last of all he was seen by me, as by one who was born out of due time. ⁹ For I am the least of all the apostles, and am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the congregation of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace in me was not in vain, but I laboured more greatly than them all – yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you have believed.

¹² If Christ is preached, that he rose from the dead, how is it that some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no rising again of the dead, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁴ If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain. ¹⁵ Yea, and we are found to be false witnesses of God, for we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if it be so that the dead rise not again. ¹⁶ For if the dead do not rise again, then Christ is not risen again. ¹⁷ And if it be so that Christ did not rise, then your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ And, moreover, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If it is in this life only that we believe on Christ, then we are of all men the most miserable.

²⁰ But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who sleep. ²¹ For by a man came death, and by a man came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as through Adam all die, even so through Christ shall all be made alive, ²³ and each one in his own order. The first is Christ, then those who are Christ’s at his coming. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he has delivered up the kingdom to God the Father, when he has put down all rule, authority, and power. ²⁵ For he must reign till he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is excepted. ²⁸ When all things are subdued to him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him who put things under him, so that God may be all in all things.

²⁹ Or else what are the people who are baptized over the dead doing, if the dead do not rise at all? Why are they then baptized over the dead? ³⁰ Yea, and why do we stand in danger every hour? ³¹ As sure as our confidence which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I am dying day by day. ³² That I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, after the manner of men, what does it gain me if the dead rise not again? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!

³³ Be not deceived: unwholesome talk corrupts good ways. ³⁴ Awake truly out of sleep, and do not sin. For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your reproach.

³⁵ But someone will say, How do the dead arise? With what bodies do they come in? ³⁶ Foolish one, that which you sow is not quickened to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what do you sow? You sow not the body that will be, but bare seed (I mean, of wheat or something else), ³⁸ and God gives it a body at his pleasure – to every seed a particular body.

³⁹ All flesh is not of the same kind, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another kind of flesh of animals, another kind of flesh of fishes, and another of birds. ⁴⁰ There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. ⁴¹ There is one kind of glory of the sun and another glory of the moon – and another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another in glory.

⁴² So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, and rises again in incorruption. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonour, and rises in honour. It is sown in weakness, and rises in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body, and rises a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body; as it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, and the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then that which is spiritual.

⁴⁷ The first man is of the earth, earthy. And the second man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸ As is the earthy, such are those who are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are those who are heavenly. ⁴⁹ And as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly.

⁵⁰ This I say, brethren: that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. ⁵¹ Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² and that in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will blow, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When this corruptible has put on incorruptibility, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is consumed into victory.

⁵⁵ Death, where is your sting? Hell, where is your victory? ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brethren, be steadfast and unmoveable, always rich in the works of the Lord, because you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

He reminds them about the gathering for the poor Christians at Jerusalem, and concludes his letter with the greetings of certain loving brethren.

16 Of the gathering for the saints: as I have arranged in the congregations of Galatia, let you do the same. ² Upon some Sunday, let every one of you put aside at home and lay up whatever he thinks meet, so that there will be no gatherings when I come. ³ When I have come, whomever you may approve by your letters, them I will send to bring your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ And if it seems that I should go, they may go with me.

⁵ I want to come to you after I have gone over Macedonia, for I will be going throughout Macedonia. ⁶ Perhaps I will stay with you a while, or over the winter, so that you may bring me on my way wherever I go. ⁷ I do not want to see you now in passing, but I trust to stay a while with you, if God permits. ⁸ I will remain at Ephesus until Pentecost, ⁹ for a great door, and fruitful, is opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes, see that he be without fear with you. For he works the work of the Lord, as I do. ¹¹ Let no one dishonour him, but send him onwards in peace, so that he may come to me. For I am waiting for him with the brethren.

¹² To speak of brother Apollos: I greatly urged him to go to you with the brethren, but his mind was not at all to go at this time. However, he will go when he has the opportunity.

¹³ Watch, stand fast in the faith, acquit yourselves like men, and be strong. ¹⁴ Let all you do be done in love.

¹⁵ Brethren, you know the house of Stephanas, how they are the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to minister to the saints. ¹⁶ I beseech you to show regard for such persons, and to all who help and labour. ¹⁷ I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for that which was missing on your part, they have supplied. ¹⁸ They have comforted my spirit and yours. See therefore that you acknowledge such people.

¹⁹ The congregations of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, and so does the congregation that is in their house. ²⁰ All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹ The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand. ²² If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, the same be anathema maranatha. ²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. ²⁴ My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The end of the first epistle to the Corinthians, sent from
Philippi by the hands of Stephanas and
Fortunatus and Achaicus
and Timotheus.

The consolation of God in trouble. The love of Paul toward the Corinthians, and his reason for not going to them earlier.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and brother Timothy.

To the congregation of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia. ² Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, insomuch that we are able to comfort others who are troubled, in whatsoever tribulation it may be, with the same comfort that we ourselves are comforted with by God. ⁵ For as the afflictions of Christ are plentiful in us, so also is our consolation plentiful by Christ.

⁶ Whether we are troubled regarding your consolation and salvation, which salvation shows her power in that you suffer the same afflictions that we also suffer, or whether we are comforted regarding your consolation and salvation, ⁷ yet our hope is steadfast for you, inasmuch as we know that as you have your part in afflictions, so shall you be partakers of consolation.

⁸ Brethren, I would not have you unaware of the trouble that happened to us in Asia. For we were grieved out of measure passing strength, so greatly that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Also, we received an answer of death in ourselves, and that because we should not put our trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead to life again, ¹⁰ and who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver. On whom we trust that yet hereafter he will deliver, ¹¹ by the help of your prayer for us, so that by reason of many deliverances thanks may be given by many for us, for the grace given to us.

¹² Our assurance is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in sincerity and godly purity, and not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world, and most of all toward you. ¹³ We write no other things to you than what you read and also know. Yea and I trust you will find us to the end ¹⁴ just as you have found us so far. For we are your delight and joy, even as you are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵ And in this confidence I was minded the other time to have gone to you, so that you might have had yet one pleasure more, ¹⁶ and to have passed by you on the way to Macedonia, and to have come again out of Macedonia to you, and to have been led on my way toward Judea by you. ¹⁷ When I was so minded, was it lightly? Or do I think carnally the things that I think, such that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay?

¹⁸ God is faithful. For our preaching to you was not yea and nay. ¹⁹ For God’s Son Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us (that is to say, by me and Silvanus and Timothy) was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. ²⁰ For all the promises of God in him are yea, and are in him Amen, to the laud of God through us. ²¹ For it is God who established us and you in Christ, and has anointed us; ²² who has also sealed us, and has given the earnest of the Spirit into our hearts.

He explains the reason for his absence. He exhorts them to forgive the man who was fallen, and to receive him again with love.

²³ I call God as a witness to my soul that it was to favour you that I did not go any more to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we are lords over your faith, but are helpers of your joy. 2 ¹ For by faith you stand. But I determined in myself that I would not come again to you in heaviness. ² For if I make you sorrowful, who is it that should make me glad, but the same who are made sorrowful by me? ³ And I wrote this same epistle to you lest, if I went, I should be made sad by those of whom I ought to rejoice. Certainly this confidence I have in you all: that my joy is the joy of you all. ⁴ For in great affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears – not to make you sorrowful, but so that you might perceive the love that I have most specially for you.

⁵ But if any man has caused grief, he has not grieved me but in part – lest I should overburden you all. ⁶ It is enough for the same man that he was rebuked by many. So now, instead, you ought to forgive him, and comfort him, ⁷ lest that same person should be swallowed up with overmuch heaviness. ⁸ Therefore I exhort you, so that love may have the power over him.

⁹ For this reason also I wrote: to know the proof of you, whether you would be obedient in all things.

¹⁰ Whomever you forgive for anything, I forgive also. And if I forgive a person anything, I forgive it for your sakes in the place of Christ, ¹¹ lest Satan should get the advantage of us. For his devices are not unknown to us.

¹² When I had come to Troas for the sake of Christ’s gospel (and a great door was opened to me by the Lord), ¹³ I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother. So I took my leave of them and went away into Macedonia – ¹⁴ thanks be to God, who always gives us the victory in Christ, and opens the savour of the knowledge of him by us in every place. ¹⁵ For we are for God the sweet savour of Christ, both among those who are saved and also among those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one part we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other part we are the savour of life unto life.

And who is fit for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not as many are, who tamper with the word of God. But it is out of pureness, and by the power of God, and in the sight of God, that we speak in Christ.

Paul praises the preaching of the gospel above the preaching of the law.

3 We begin to praise ourselves again. Do we, like some others, need letters of recommendation to you? or letters of recommendation from you? ² You are our letter written in our hearts, which is understood and read by all people, ³ in that it is known that you are the epistle of Christ through our work – and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, and not in tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart.

⁴ Such confidence we have through Christ in God. ⁵ It is not that we are competent in and of ourselves, so as to think a good thought, as it were, by ourselves. But our ability comes from God, ⁶ who has made us able to minister the new testament – not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ If the ministration of death through the letters figured in stones was so glorious that the children of Israel could not behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance (which glory nevertheless is done away with), ⁸ why shall not the ministration of the Spirit be much more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministering of condemnation is glorious, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰ For without doubt, that which was there glorified is not once glorified in relation to this surpassing glory. ¹¹ So then, if that which is destroyed was glorious, much more will that which remains be glorious.

¹² Seeing then that we have such confidence, we speak boldly, ¹³ and do not do as Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not see the purpose served by that which is abolished. ¹⁴ But their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same covering remains unremoved in the old testament when they read it, which in Christ is put away. ¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil hangs before their hearts. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, when they turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

¹⁷ The Lord no doubt is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ And we all behold the glory of the Lord with his face revealed, and are changed into his likeness from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord.

A true preacher is diligent. He does not corrupt the word of God. He does not preach himself, but seeks the honour of Christ – yea though it be at the risk of his life.

4 Therefore, seeing that we have such an office, even as mercy has come on us, we faint not, ² but have cast from us the cloaks of dishonesty, and do not walk in craftiness. Neither do we corrupt the word of God, but walk in open truth, and appeal to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ If our gospel be yet hid, it is hid among those who are lost, ⁴ in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

⁵ For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus to be the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, which has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing power of it may be seen to be of God, and not of us. ⁸ We are troubled on every side, yet we are not without means. We are in poverty, but not utterly bereft. ⁹ We are persecuted, but are not forsaken. We are cast down, nevertheless we do not perish. ¹⁰ And we always bear in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Jesus may appear in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life also of Jesus may appear in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then, death works in us, and life in you.

¹³ Seeing, then, that we have the same spirit of faith as is written of – I believed, and therefore I have spoken – we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ For we know that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up also by the means of Jesus, and will set us with you. ¹⁵ For I do all things for your sakes, so that the abundant grace, through thanks given by many, may redound to the glory of God.

¹⁶ And so we are not wearied, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our exceeding tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepares an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory for us, ¹⁸ while we look not on the things that are seen, but on the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal.

The reward for suffering trouble.

5 We know surely that if our earthly abode, the tabernacle we now dwell in, were destroyed, we have an abode prepared by God: a habitation not made with hands, but eternal in heaven. ² And for this we sigh, desiring to be clothed with our dwelling which is from heaven – ³ if yet we be found clothed, and not naked. ⁴ For as long as we are in this tabernacle, we sigh and are grieved. For we would not be unclothed, but would be clothed upon, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

⁵ He who has ordained us for this thing is God, the very same who has given to us the earnest of the Spirit. ⁶ Therefore we are always of good cheer. And we know well that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from God. ⁷ For we walk in faith, and see not. ⁸ Nevertheless, we are of good comfort – and yet would rather be away from the body, and be present with the Lord.

⁹ And so whether we are at home or away from home, we endeavour to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that every person may receive the works of his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. ¹¹ Seeing then that we know how the Lord is to be feared, we fare fair with men. For we are known well enough to God.

I trust also that we are known in your consciences. ¹² We are not praising ourselves again to you, but give you reason to have confidence in us, so that you may have something to answer to those who put confidence in the face, and not in the heart. ¹³ For if we are too fervent, it is for God that we are too fervent. If we are restrained, it is for your sakes that we show restraint.

¹⁴ For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge this way: if one is dead for all, then all are dead; ¹⁵ and that he died for all so that those who live should henceforth live not for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. ¹⁶ And so henceforth we know no man after the flesh, insomuch that even if we have known Christ after the flesh, now henceforth we know him this way no more. ¹⁷ Therefore if any person is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away: behold, all things are become new.

¹⁸ Nevertheless, all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the office to preach the atonement. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, and made agreement between the world and himself, and did not impute people’s sins to them. And he has committed to us the preaching of the atonement. ²⁰ Now then, we are messengers in the place of Christ, even as though God did beseech you through us. So we entreat you in Christ’s stead to be at one with God. ²¹ For he has made him who knew no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that we, by means of him, should be that righteousness which is accepted before God.

An exhortation to receive the word of God with thankfulness and amendment of life. The diligence of Paul in the gospel, and how he warns them to avoid the company of the heathen.

6 We as helpers therefore exhort you, do not receive the grace of God in vain. ² For he says: I have heard you in a favoured time, and in the day of salvation I have succoured you. Behold, now is that well-favoured time; behold, now is that day of salvation. ³ Let us give no one occasion for evil, so that in our service no fault may be found, ⁴ but in all things let us behave ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience – in afflictions, in hardship, in anguish, ⁵ in stripes, in prison, in strife, in labour, in sleeplessness, in hunger; ⁶ in pureness, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, ⁷ in the words of truth; in the power of God, with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left; ⁸ in honour and dishonour, in evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, ⁹ as unknown and yet known. As dying, and behold, we live yet; as chastened, and not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowing, and yet always merry; as poor, and yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

¹¹ O ye Corinthians, we pursue you with many words. Our hearts yearn to you. ¹² You are not shut out in us, but are shut away in your own selves. ¹³ I promise you like reward with me, as to my children. So set yourselves free, ¹⁴ and bear not a stranger’s yoke with the unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ What concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he who believes with an infidel? ¹⁶ How does the temple of God agree with idols? And you are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Therefore: Come out from among them, and separate yourselves (says the Lord), and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, ¹⁸ and will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

He exhorts them to receive the promises of God thankfully. The Corinthians are commended for their obedience and love toward Paul.

7 Seeing that we have such promises, dearly beloveds, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, and grow up to full holiness in the fear of God. ² Understand us: we have hurt no one, we have corrupted no one, we have defrauded no one. ³ I do not say this to condemn you, for I have told you before that you are in our hearts, to die and live with you. ⁴ I make very much of you, and rejoice greatly in you.

I am filled with comfort and am exceedingly joyous in all our tribulations. ⁵ For when we had come into Macedonia, we had no rest in our flesh, but we were troubled on every side. Outwardly was conflict, inwardly was fear. ⁶ Nevertheless, God, who comforts the abject, comforted us at the coming of Titus. ⁷ And not with his coming only, but also with the consolation that he was comforted with by you. For he told us of your longing, your mourning, your fervent heart for me, so that I now rejoice the more. ⁸ Therefore, though I made you sorrowful with a letter, I do not regret it – though I did have regrets. For I realize that the letter made you sorrowful, though it was but for a season. ⁹ But now I am happy – not that you were sorrowful, but that you so sorrowed that you repented. For your sorrow was godly, so that in nothing were you hurt by us. ¹⁰ For godly sorrow causes repentance unto salvation, not to be regretted, while worldly sorrow causes death.

¹¹ Behold what diligence this godly sorrow that you felt has wrought in you. Yea, it caused you to clear yourselves: it led to indignation, it led to fear, it led to desire, it led to a fervent mind, it led to punishment. For in every point you have shown yourselves to be clear in that matter. ¹² So although I wrote to you, I did it not for the sake of him who did the injury, nor for the sake of him who was injured, but so that our good mind that we have toward you in the sight of God might appear to you.

¹³ Therefore we are comforted because you are comforted. Yea and we rejoiced much more for the joy that Titus had, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. ¹⁴ I am therefore not now ashamed, though I boasted to him of you. For just as all the things that I preached to you are true, so also the boasts that I made to Titus are found true. ¹⁵ And now his inward affection for you is greater when he remembers the obedience of every one of you, how with fear and trembling you received him. ¹⁶ I rejoice that I may be reassured about you in every point.

He reminds them to help the poor saints in Jerusalem, as the Macedonians did. He sends Titus ahead.

8 I want you to understand, brethren, of the grace of God that is given in the congregations of Macedonia, ² how the greatness of their joy is in that they are tried with much tribulation. And moreover, though they were very poor, yet they have given very liberally, and that in sincerity. ³ For as they were able (I am witness), yea and beyond their ability, they were willing of their own accord, ⁴ and insisted that we take their gift and let them be partakers with others in ministering to the saints. ⁵ And this they did not as we looked for, but gave their own selves first to the Lord, and after to us by the will of God. ⁶ So we could not but desire Titus to accomplish the same work of grace among you too, even as he had begun.

⁷ Now therefore, as you are rich in all respects – in faith, in word, in knowledge, in all ferventness, and in love, which you have to us – so also see to it that you contribute generously to this gift. ⁸ I say this, not as commanding, but, seeing others are so fervent, to prove your love also, whether it be perfect or no. ⁹ You know the munificence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, so that you through his poverty could be made rich.

¹⁰ And I give counsel in the matter because to do this is proper for you, who began not only to do, but also to will, a year ago. ¹¹ Now therefore perform the deed, so that as there was in you a ready willingness, so also you follow through, out of what you have. ¹² For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a person has, and not according to what he does not have.

¹³ It is not my mind that others be set at ease and you be burdened, ¹⁴ but, so that there be equality now at this time, that your abundance may relieve their lack, and that their abundance also hereafter may supply your lack – so that there may be equality, ¹⁵ agreeing to that which is written: He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.

¹⁶ Thanks be to God, who put in the heart of Titus the same good mind toward you. ¹⁷ For he accepted the request; yea rather, he was so well willing, that of his own accord he has gone to you. ¹⁸ And we have sent with him that brother whose renown is in the gospel throughout all the congregations. ¹⁹ And not only this, he has also been chosen by the congregations to be a fellow traveler with us in our journey concerning this gift, which is ministered by us for the praise of the Lord, and to stir up your ready mind. ²⁰ For we want to guard against anyone finding fault with us in this large distribution that we are attending to, ²¹ and therefore provide for things to be beyond reproach, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men. ²² And we have sent with them a brother of ours whom we have often found eager to help in many things, but now much more eager.

The great confidence that I have in you has caused me to do this – ²³ partly for the sake of Titus, who is my fellow and helper concerning you all, and partly because of others who are our brethren, and the messengers of the congregations, and the glory of Christ. ²⁴ Therefore show them the proof of your love, and of our boasting about you, so that the congregations may see it.

In this chapter he does the same that he did in the chapter going before; that is, moves them to help the poor brethren in Jerusalem.

9 Of the ministering to the saints, it is more than I need do to write to you. ² For I know your readiness of mind, of which I boast to the Macedonians, and say that Achaia was prepared a year ago, and your ferventness has inspired many. ³ Nevertheless, I have sent these brethren lest our boasting over you should be in vain in this respect, and so that you (as I have said) will prepare yourselves – ⁴ lest perhaps, if some of the Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, the boast I made in this matter should be an embarrassment to us, not to mention to you.

⁵ Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go beforehand to you, to arrange for the good blessing you promised earlier, so it could be ready – so that it is a blessing, and not a defrauding. ⁶ Remember this: he who sows little will reap little, and he who sows plentifully will reap plentifully. ⁷ And let every person do as he has purposed in his heart – not grudgingly, or under constraint. For God loves a cheerful giver.

⁸ God is able to make you rich in all grace, so that you, in all things having sufficient to the utmost, may be rich for all manner of good works. ⁹ As it is written: He who dispersed abroad and has given to the poor, his righteousness remains forever.

¹⁰ He who gives the sower seed will provide bread for food, and will multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ so that in everything you may be made rich, in all generosity – which raises through us thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the work of this ministry not only supplies the need of the saints, but is also fruitful in that for this laudable ministering, thanks may be given to God by many, ¹³ who glorify God for the obedience of your profession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in distributing to them and to all people. ¹⁴ And in their prayers to God for you they long after you, for the abundant grace of God given to you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

He refers to the false apostles, and defends his authority and calling.

10 I Paul myself beseech you, by the meekness and softness of Christ – I who when I am present among you am of no reputation, but am bold toward you when absent. ² I beseech you so that I need not to be bold when I am present (with that same confidence that I am supposed to be bold with) toward some who consider us as though we walked carnally. ³ Nevertheless, though we walk encompassed with the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal things, but things mighty in God to cast down strongholds, ⁵ with which we overthrow imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity all understanding to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and are ready to take vengeance on all disobedience, when your obedience might come to an end. ⁷ Do you look on things after the outward appearance?

If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him also consider that as he is Christ’s, so also are we Christ’s. ⁸ And if I were to boast somewhat of our authority, which the Lord has given us to build up, and not to break you down, it would not be to my discredit. ⁹ I say this so that I do not seem as though I went about to make you afraid with letters. ¹⁰ For the epistles (says he) are strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is poor. ¹¹ Let such a man think of it this way: that as we are in words by letters when we are absent, such are we in deeds when we are present.

¹² For we cannot find in our hearts to make ourselves of their number, or to compare ourselves with those who laud themselves; nevertheless, while they measure themselves against themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they understand nothing. ¹³ But we will not boast unduly, but according to the measure of the work that God has assigned to us – a work that reaches even to you. ¹⁴ For we are not overrating ourselves, as if we had not reached to you, because we did reach you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵ And we do not claim undue credit for other men’s labours. Yea, and we hope, when your faith is increased among you, to be advanced further in our work, ¹⁶ and to preach the gospel in those regions that are beyond you – and not to boast of that which is prepared already by another man’s work.

¹⁷ But let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. ¹⁸ For he who praises himself is not accepted, but he whom the Lord praises.

Paul (with reluctance) commends himself, and defends his authority against the false prophets.

11 I would you could suffer me a little in my foolishness, yea and I ask you to bear with me. ² For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I espoused you to one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. ³ But I fear that, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴ For if he who comes preaches another Jesus than him whom we preached, or if you are given another spirit than that which you were given, or another gospel than that which you were given, you might right well be content.

⁵ I suppose that I was not behind the chief apostles. ⁶ Though I be poor in speaking, yet I am not so in knowledge. However, among you we are known to the utmost, who we are in all things. ⁷ Did I sin, because I humbled myself so that you could be exalted, and because I preached to you the gospel of God free? ⁸ I robbed other congregations, and took support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was present with you and had need, I was a burden to no one, for that which was lacking to me, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I kept myself so that I would not be burdensome to you. And I will continue so to keep myself. ¹⁰ If the truth of Christ is in me, this claim will not be taken from me in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows. ¹² Nevertheless, what I do, that I will continue to do, so as to cut away occasion from those who desire occasion to seem like us in the things that they claim.

¹³ For the false apostles are deceitful workers, and fashion themselves to be like the apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself is changed into the fashion of an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers fashion themselves as though they were the ministers of righteousness – whose end shall be according to their deeds.

¹⁶ I say again, lest anyone think that I am foolish, or else even now take me as a fool if I boast a little, ¹⁷ that what I am saying I do not say after the ways of the Lord, but as it were foolishly, since we have now come to boasting. ¹⁸ Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will boast also. ¹⁹ For you suffer fools gladly, because you yourselves are wise. ²⁰ For you oblige even if a man brings you into bondage, if a man devours, if a man takes, if a man exalts himself, if a man strikes you on the face. ²¹ I speak by way of rebuke. As if we were weak!

However, in any point a man dares to presume (I speak foolishly), I dare to presume also: ²² they are Hebrews; so am I. They are Israelites; so am I. They are the seed of Abraham; so am I. ²³ They are the ministers of Christ (I speak like a fool); I am more so: in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequently, in death often.

²⁴ Five times from the Jews I received every time forty stripes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. I was once stoned. I suffered shipwreck three times. Night and day I have been in the deep of the sea, ²⁶ often journeying, in danger in rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own nation, in danger among the heathen. I have been in danger in cities, in danger in the countryside, in danger on the sea, in danger among false brethren, ²⁷ in labour and travail, in sleepless nights often, in hunger, in thirst – going without food often, in cold and without clothing. ²⁸ And besides the things that outwardly happen to me, I am daily concerned and do care for all the congregations. ²⁹ Who is sick, and I am not sick? Who is hurt in the faith and my heart does not burn? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of my afflictions. ³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forevermore, knows that I do not speak untruly.

³² In the city of Damascus, the governor of the people under king Aretas laid watch in the city of the Damascenes, and would have captured me. ³³ But at a window I was let down in a basket through the wall, and so escaped his hands.

Paul is taken up into the third heaven and hears words not to be spoken of.

12 No doubt it is not seemly for me to boast. Nevertheless, I will come to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ about fourteen years ago (whether he was in the body I cannot tell, or whether he was out of the body I cannot tell, God knows) who was taken up into the third heaven. ³ And I know the same man (whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knows), ⁴ how he was taken up into Paradise and heard words not to be spoken, which no man can utter. ⁵ Of this man I will boast. Of myself I will not boast, unless it be of my infirmities. ⁶ And yet if I chose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. Nevertheless, I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be, or hears from me.

⁷ And lest I should be unduly lifted up through the greatness of the revelations, there was given to me unquietness of the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me – because I should not be unduly lifted up. ⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord three times, to put it from me. ⁹ And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect through weakness. Very gladly therefore will I rest in my weakness, so that the strength of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content in infirmities, in reproach, in need, in persecutions, in anguish, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹ I am made a fool in going on about myself. You have compelled me. I ought to have been commended by you. For in nothing was I inferior to the chief apostles. Though I am nothing, ¹² yet the signs that mark an apostle were wrought among you with all patience – with miracles, and wonders, and works of power. ¹³ For in what were you less favoured than other congregations? – unless it is in that I was not burdensome to you. Forgive me this wrong done to you! ¹⁴ And now the third time I am ready to come to you, and still I will not be a burden to you. For I seek not yours, but you. Also, the children ought not to lay up for the fathers and mothers, but the fathers and mothers for the children. ¹⁵ I will very gladly give, and will be given, for your souls – though the more I love you, the less I am loved in return.

¹⁶ But granted that I did not impose upon you, nevertheless I was crafty and took you with guile – ¹⁷ Did I rob you through any of the men that I sent to you? ¹⁸ I asked Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus defraud you of anything? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in like steps? ¹⁹ Again, do you think that we are justifying ourselves to you? We speak in Christ, in the sight of God.

But we do all things, dearly beloveds, for your upbuilding. ²⁰ For I fear lest it come to pass that when I come, I will not find you such as I would like, and you will find me such as I would not want. I fear lest there be found among you debate, envying, anger, rivalry, backbiting, whisperings, swelling, and discord. ²¹ I fear that when I come again, God may bring me low among you, and I may be constrained to bewail many of those who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and wantonness that they have committed.

He promises to come to them, and he exhorts them to get themselves in order so that he may find them perfect and in harmony.

13 Now I am coming the third time to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall everything be established. ² I told you before and I am warning you now, and as I said when I was present with you the second time, so I write now, being absent, to those who in time past have sinned and to all others: if I come again, I will not spare, ³ seeing that you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me – who among you is not weak, but is mighty in you. ⁴ And indeed, though it came of weakness that he was crucified, yet he lives through the power of God. And we no doubt are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the might of God among you.

⁵ Prove yourselves, whether you are in the faith or not. Examine your own selves. Do you not know your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless you are castaways. ⁶ I trust that you will realize that we are not castaways.

⁷ I desire before God that you do no evil – not that we should seem commendable, but that you should do that which is honourable. And let us be counted as uncommendable persons.

⁸ We can do nothing against the truth, only for the truth. ⁹ We are glad when we are weak and you strong. This also we wish for: even that you were perfect. ¹⁰ Therefore I write these things being absent, lest when I am present I must use sharpness, according to the power that the Lord has given me – to build up, and not to break down.

¹¹ Finally, brethren, fare ye well. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹² Greet one another in a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints send greetings to you. ¹⁴ May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

The end of the second epistle to the Corinthians.
Sent from Philippi, a city in
Macedonia, by the
hands of Titus
and Lucas.

Paul rebukes them because they had fallen away from the gospel. He recounts his own life, emphasizes his office and apostleship, and declares himself to be equal with the high apostles.

1 Paul, an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and by God the Father who raised him from death, ² and all the brethren who are with me.

To the congregations of Galatia.

³ Grace be with you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God our Father, ⁵ to whom be praise for ever and ever. Amen.

⁶ I marvel that you are so soon turned away from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to another gospel – ⁷ which is nothing other than that there are some who trouble you and intend to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ Nevertheless, even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you other than that which we have preached to you, hold him as accursed. ⁹ As I said before, so I say now again: if anyone preaches any other thing to you than that which you have received, hold him as accursed. ¹⁰ Do I preach man’s doctrine, or God’s? Or do I go about to please men? If I sought to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ.

¹¹ I tell you, brethren, that the gospel I preached was not after the manner of men. I neither received it from man, ¹² nor was I taught it, but I received it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard of my conduct in time past, in the ways of the Jews – how beyond measure I persecuted the congregation of God, and ravaged it, ¹⁴ and prevailed in the law of the Jews above many of my companions who were of my own nation, and was a much more fervent maintainer of the precepts of the elders.

¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, ¹⁶ in order to declare his Son by me, to preach him among the heathen, I did not immediately commune of the matter with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor return to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but went my ways into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸ Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ I did not see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ The things that I write, lo, God knows I do not speak untruly.

²¹ After that, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was not personally known to the congregations of Judea that were in Christ, ²³ but they only heard that he who persecuted them in time past, now preaches the faith that before he destroyed. ²⁴ And they glorified God in my behalf.

He withstands Peter to his face, and asserts that the law and circumcision are not necessary to salvation.

2 Then fourteen years after that, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took with me Titus also. ² Yea, and I went up by revelation, and discussed with them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles (but between ourselves, with those who were counted chief), lest it be thought that I should run or had run in vain.

³ Also Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised. ⁴ The issue arose because of incomers, being false brethren, who came in among others to spy out the liberty that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into bondage. ⁵ To whom we gave no ground, no, not for the space of an hour, as concerning to be brought into subjection – and that in order that the truth of the gospel may continue with you.

⁶ Of those who seemed to be great (what they were in time past does not matter to me; God looks on no man’s person) – nevertheless, those who seemed great contributed nothing to me. ⁷ But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel over the uncircumcision was committed to me, as the gospel over the circumcision was to Peter ⁸ (for he who was mighty in Peter in the apostleship over the circumcision was mighty in me among the Gentiles), ⁹ and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, then James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands, and agreed with us that we should preach among the heathen, and they among the Jews – ¹⁰ warning only that we should remember the poor, which thing also I was diligent to do.

¹¹ And when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to the face. For he was worthy to be blamed. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. ¹³ And the other Jews dissembled likewise, insomuch that Barnabas was brought into their simulation also.

¹⁴ But when I saw that they did not go the right way after the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you being a Jew live according to the customs of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? ¹⁵ We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the deeds of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. And therefore we have believed on Jesus Christ, so that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the deeds of the law – because no flesh can be justified by the deeds of the law.

¹⁷ If then, while we seek to be made righteous by Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, is Christ then the minister of sin? God forbid. ¹⁸ For if I build again that which I destroyed, then I make myself a trespasser. ¹⁹ But I through the law am dead to the law, so that I may live unto God. ²⁰ I am crucified with Christ. I live indeed – yet now not I, but Christ lives in me. For the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain.

He rebukes the unsteadfastness of the Galatians. He shows the imperfection of the law, but declares nevertheless that it was not given for nothing.

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, such that you should not believe the truth – you to whom Jesus Christ was described before the eyes, and among you crucified?

² This only would I learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the deeds of the law, or by the preaching of the faith? ³ Are you so unwise that after you have begun in the Spirit, you would now end in the flesh? ⁴ So many things then you have suffered in vain, if that be vain! ⁵ He who ministered to you the Spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it through the deeds of the law, or by preaching of the faith? ⁶ It is even as Abraham believed God, and it was ascribed to him for righteousness. ⁷ Understand therefore that it is those who are of faith who are the children of Abraham.

⁸ For the scripture foresaw that God would justify the heathen through faith, and therefore showed beforehand glad tidings to Abraham: In you shall all nations be blessed. ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. ¹⁰ For as many as are under the deeds of the law are under malediction. For it is written: Cursed is every one who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law, to fulfil them.

¹¹ That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for: The just shall live by faith. ¹² The law is not of faith. (But: The man who fulfils the things contained in the law, will live in them.) ¹³ But Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law, and was made accursed for us – for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree – ¹⁴ so that the blessing of Abraham may come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, and so that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

¹⁵ Brethren, I will speak with reference to the custom of men. Though it be but a man’s last will and testament, yet no one sets it aside or adds anything to it once it is confirmed. ¹⁶ To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, In the seeds, as in many, but, In your seed, as in one, which is Christ. ¹⁷ This I say: the law, which began afterwards (over 430 years), does not nullify the testament that was confirmed before by God in Christ, so as to make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it does not come by promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹ For what then does the law serve? The law was added because of transgressions (till the seed came to whom the promise was made), and it was instituted by angels in the hand of a mediator. ²⁰ A mediator is not a mediator of one. But God is one. ²¹ Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid. However, if there had been a law given that could have given life, then no doubt righteousness would have come by the law. ²² But the scripture included all things under sin so that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, should be given to those who believe.

²³ Before faith came, we were kept and shut up under the law, with a view to the faith that would afterward be declared. ²⁴ Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to the time of Christ, so that we may be made righteous by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.