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The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

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- Chapter 1 -

(Acts 18:1–11; 1 Corinthians 1:1–3)
1
I, Paul, together with Timothy our brother, write this letter to you. Messiah Jesus sent me to serve him and to obey God’s will. We are sending this letter to those who come together as God’s people in the city of Corinth; we are also sending it to all the Messianics who live in the region of Achaia, people whom God has set apart for himself.
2
May God give you the free gifts of his love and peace, these things that come from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of All Comfort

3
May we always praise God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is the one who does us acts of kindness and who always comforts us.
4
God comforts us when we go through any painful trial. His comfort heals our lives so we can give away that very same comfort to other people who are suffering.
5
Just as we experience the sufferings of Messiah which are beyond all measure, we also experience through Messiah comfort that cannot be measured.
6
So whenever we experience sufferings, it is so God may comfort you and rescue you from danger. Whenever God comforts us, it is so you can be comforted even more, so he can teach you to wait for God, when you suffer in the same way we suffered.
7
We are certain about what will happen to you; because you suffer like we suffer, God will also comfort you, as he does us.
8
Brothers and sisters in Messiah, we want you to know about the trouble we had in the province of Asia. That trouble gave us such pain that we could not bear it. We were almost certain that we were going to die.
9
They pronounced the sentence of death on us; we were waiting to be killed. That sentence of death taught us not to rely on our own strength but on God, who raises the dead and brings them back to life.
10
But God rescued us from those terrible dangers, and he promises to rescue us in the future.
11
He will do this as you help us by praying for us. Now many thank God because he has been so kind to us, since many have prayed for us.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12
We can very happily say that we have lived toward all people in an honest and sincere way. We lived in the world as God’s own people and we have deep trust in God, that was a gift from him. We do not live in any way that the world values. We do not listen to the world’s wisdom when we choose what we will do. Instead, God has made us honest and holy in how we live.
13
You have read my letters. I have written them so you can understand them.
14
You know a little about us already, but on the day when the Lord Jesus returns, I hope that you will be very proud of us in his presence, and we will be very proud of you.
15
I am so sure that this will be the case that I have wanted to come to you first, so I could visit you twice.
16
I planned to see you both when I was on my way to Macedonia and then when I was coming back from there, so you could send me on my way to Judea.
17
My mind was made up that this would be the plan. I was not telling you “Yes” and then telling you “No.” I was not making my plans like unbelievers often make plans.
18
But God is faithful in guiding us, and we do not confuse you, either. We are making our plans and staying with them.
19
Our “Yes” comes from the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one we proclaimed to you; and there has never been any confusion in him, with him there is no “Yes and then No.” Instead, it has always been simply “Yes” in him.
20
For the promises of God are “Yes” because they come from him. And we add our confirmation to his “Yes.” And we say about God’s honor: “It is True! Yes!”
21
God makes the bond between us Messianics strong because we both are joined to Messiah, and he is the one who sends us out to tell people the good news.
22
He put his official seal on us, so people will know he approves of us. And he gave us the Spirit who lives within us, as an unbreakable promise that he will do even more things for us.
23
May God himself assure you about my reason for not coming to you Messianics in Corinth: It was so that you would not have to face me giving correction to you.
24
We are not like masters who give you orders about how you must trust in God. However, we want to work with you, so you can learn to trust God no matter what happens, and have joy in trusting him.
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(Acts 18:1–11; 1 Corinthians 1:1–3)
1
Paul, an apostle of Christ (a) Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of All Comfort

3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4
who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5
For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
6
But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
7
Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.
8
For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers,(b) concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
9
Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10
who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us,
11
you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12
For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
13
For we write no other things to you than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end—
14
as also you acknowledged us in part—that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
15
In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit,
16
and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea.
17
When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?”
18
But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.”
19
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.”
20
For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us.
21
Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
22
who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
23
But I call God for a witness to my soul, that to spare you, I didn’t come to Corinth.
24
We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.

Footnotes

(a)1:1 “Christ” means “Anointed One”.
(b)1:8 The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
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