Bible Book 47. 2 Corinthians Complete 1-13, English Standard Version (ESV) Read Along Bible

second Corinthians second Corinthians one Paul an apostle of nice Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother through the Church of God that is at Corinth with all the saints who are in the whole of akia grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort - if we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation and if we are comforted it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer our hope for you is unshaken for we know that as you share in our sufferings you will also share in our comfort for we do not want you to be ignorant brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead he delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many for our boast is this the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you for we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledged and I hope you will fully acknowledge just as you did partially acknowledge us that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you because I was sure of this I wanted to come to you first so that you might have a second experience of grace I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea was I vacillating when I wanted to do this do I make my plans according to the flesh ready to say yes yes and no no at the same time as surely as God is faithful our word to you has not been yes and no for the son of God Jesus Christ whom we proclaimed among you Silvanus and Timothy and I was not yes and no but in him it is always yes for all the promises of God find their yes in him that is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for His glory and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee but I call God to witness against me it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth not that we lord it over your faith but we work with you for your joy for you stand firm in your faith you second corinthians 2:4 i made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you for if I caused you pain who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained and I wrote as I did so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice for I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all for I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you now if anyone has caused pain he has caused it not to me but in some measure not to put it too severely to all of you for such a one this punishment by the majority is enough so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow so I begged you to reaffirm your love for him for this is why I wrote that I might test you and know whether you are obedient and everything anyone whom you forgive I also forgive indeed what I have forgiven if I have forgiven anything has been for your sake in the presence of Christ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs when I came to trow as to preach the gospel of Christ even though a door was opened for me in the Lord my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there so I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to one of fragrance from death to death to the other a fragrance from life to life who is sufficient for these things for we are not like so many peddlers of God's Word but as men of sincerity as commissioned by God in the sight of God we speak in Christ you second Corinthians three are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you you yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by US written not with ink but with the spirit of the Living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts such as the confidence that we have through Christ toward God not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life now if the Ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the Ministry of the Spirit have even more glory for if there was glory in the Ministry of condemnation the Ministry of righteousness must far exceeded in glory indeed in this case what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it for if what was being brought to an end came with glory much more will what is permanent have glory since we have such a hope we are very bold not like Moses who had put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the Old Covenant that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away yes to this day whenever Moses has read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the Lord is the spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit you second Corinthians four therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God we do not lose heart but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled only to those who are perishing in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake for God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies for we live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so death is at work in us but life in you since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written I believed and so I spoke we also believe and so we also speak knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence for it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of God so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen or transient but the things that are unseen are eternal you second Corinthians five for we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for in this tent we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked for while we are still in this tent we groan being burdened not that we would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life he who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee so we are always of good courage we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body in at home with the Lord so whether we are at home or away we make it our aim to please him but we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade others but what we are is known to God and I hope it is known also to your conscience we are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart for if we are beside ourselves it is for God if we are in our right mind it is for you for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sick died and was raised from now on therefore we regard no one according to the flesh even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh we regard him thus no longer therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the Ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God you second Corinthians six working together with him then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain for he says in a favorable time I listen to you and in a day of salvation I have helped you behold now is the favorable time behold now is the day of salvation we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance in afflictions hardships calamities beatings imprisonments riots Labor's sleepless nights hunger by purity knowledge patience kindness the Holy Spirit genuine love by truthful speech and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left through honor and discipline through slander and praise we are treated as imposters and yet are true as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold who live as punished and yet not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing everything we have spoken freely to you Corinthians our heart is wide open you are not restricted by us but you are restricted in your own affections in return I speak as two children widen your hearts also do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what Fellowship has light with darkness what Accord has Christ with Belial or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever what agreement has the temple of God with idols for we are the Temple of the Living God as God said I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them says the Lord and touch no unclean thing then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me says the Lord Almighty you second Corinthians 7 since we have these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God make room in your hearts for us we have wronged no one we have corrupted no one we have taken advantage of no one I do not say this to condemn you for I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together I am acting with great boldness toward you I have great pride in you I am filled with comfort in all our affliction I am overflowing with joy for even when we came into Macedonia our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn fighting without and fear within you but God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you as he told us of your longing your mourning your zeal for me so that I rejoiced still more for even if I made you grieve with my letter I do not regret it though I did regret it for I see that that letter grieved you though only for a while as it is I rejoice not because you were grieved but because you were grieved into repenting for you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us for godly grief produces the repentance that leads to salvation without regret whereas worldly grief produces death for see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you but also what eagerness to clear yourselves what indignation what fear what longing what zeal what punishment at every point you have proved yourself innocent in the matter so although I wrote to you it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God therefore we are comforted and besides our own comfort we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his Spirit has been refreshed by you all for whatever boasts I made to him about you I was not put to shame but just as everything we said to you is true so also our boasting before Titus has proved true and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling I rejoice because I have perfect confidence in you you second Corinthians eight we want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia for in a severe test of affliction their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty of overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us accordingly we urged Titus that as he had started so he should complete among you this act of grace but as you excel in everything in faith in speech and knowledge in all earnestness and in our love for you see that you excel in this act of grace also I say this not as a command but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich and in this manner I give my judgment this benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it so now finished doing it as well so that your readiness and desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have for if the readiness is there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need that there may be fairness as it is written whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack but thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care have for you for he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord with him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel and not only that but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill we take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man and with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you as for Titus he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit and as for our brothers they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ's so give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men you second Corinthians nine now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the Saints for I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia saying that akia has been ready since last year and your zeal has stirred up most of them but I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter so that you may be ready as I said you would be otherwise if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready which would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident so I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised so that may be ready as a willing gift not as an exaction the point is this whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful Giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work as it is written he has distributed freely he has given to the poor his righteousness endures forever he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food with supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increased the harvest of your righteousness you will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way which through us will produce Thanksgiving to God for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God by their approval of this service they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift you second Corinthians ten I Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am humble and face-to-face with you but bold toward you when I am away I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh for though we walk in the flesh we are not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete look at what is before your eyes if anyone is confident that he is Christ's let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's so also our weed for even if I boast a little too much of our authority which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you I will not be ashamed I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters for they say his letters are waiting and strong but his bodily presence is weak in his speech of no account let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absence we do when presence not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves but when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another they are without understanding but we will not post beyond limits but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us to reach even to you for we are not overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you for we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ we do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others but our hope is that as your faith increases our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged so that we may preach the gospel and lands beyond you without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence let the one who boasts boast in the Lord for it is not the one who commends himself was approved but the one whom the Lord commends you second Corinthians 11 Levin I wish you would bear with me and a little foolishness do bear with me for I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted you put up with it readily enough indeed I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles even if I am unskilled in speaking I am not so in knowledge indeed in every way we have made this plain to you in all things or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you and when I was with you and was in need I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my meat so I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way as the truth of Christ is in me this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of akia and why because I do not love you God knows I do and what I do I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do for such men are false apostles deceitful work disguising themselves as apostles of Christ and no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light so it is no surprise of his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness there and will correspond to their deeds I repeat let no one think me foolish but even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little what I am saying with this boastful confidence I say not with the Lord's Authority but as a fool since many boast according to the flesh I to the most for you gladly bear it fools being wise yourselves for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you in the face to my shame I must say we were too weak for that whatever anyone else dares to boast of pipe speaking as a fool I also dare to boast of that are they Hebrews so am i are they Israelites so am I are they offspring of Abraham so am i servants of Christ's I am a better one like a man man with far greater Labor's far more imprisonments with countless beatings and often near death five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times I was shipwrecked a night a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers danger from robbers danger from my own people danger from Gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at sea danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches who is weak and I am NOT weak who is made to fall and I am NOT indignant if I must boast I will boast of the things that show my weakness the God and father of the Lord Jesus he who is blessed forever knows that I am not lying at Damascus the governor under king Aaron test was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands you second Corinthians twelve I must go on boasting though there is nothing to be gained by it I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and I know that this man was caught up into paradise whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and he heard things that cannot be told which man may not other on behalf of this man I will boast but on my own behalf I will not boast except of my weaknesses though if I should wish to boast I would not be a fool for I would be speaking the truth but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations a thorn was given me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities for when I am weak then I am strong I have been a you forced me to it for I ought to have been commended by you for I was not at all inferior to these super apostles even though I am noting the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works for in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches except that I myself did not burden you forgive me this wrong here for the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be a burden for I seek not what is yours but you for children are not obligated to save up for their parents but parents for their children I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls if I love you more am I to be loved less but granting that I myself did not burden you I was crafty you say and got the better of you by deceit did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him did Titus take advantage of you didn't we not act in the same spirit did we not take the same steps have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ and all for your a building beloved for I fear then perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish and that you may find me not as you wish that perhaps there may be quarreling jealousy anger hostility slander gossip conceit and disorder I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity sexual immorality and sensuality that they have practiced you second Corinthians 13 this is the third time I am coming to you every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses I warned those who sinned before and all the others and I warned them now while absent as I did when present on my second visit that if I come again I will not spare them since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me he is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you for he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God for we also are weak in him but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test but we pray to God that you may not do wrong not that we may appear to admit the tests but that you may do what is right though we may seem to have failed for we cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth for we are glad we are weak and you are strong your restoration is what we pray for for this reason I write these things while I am away from you that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down finally brothers rejoice aim for restorations comfort one another agree with one another live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you greet one another with a holy kiss all the Saints greet you the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all you

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Length: 40min 35sec (2435 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 17 2019