2 Corinthians 1

1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth, together with all God’s holy people throughout Achaia. 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the God from whom all comfort comes. 4He comforts us in every hardship we face, so that we in turn can comfort people facing any hardship, passing on to them the same comfort God gives us. 5For as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives, so our comfort also overflows through Christ. 6If we are afflicted, it is so that you may be comforted and saved. If we are comforted, it is so that you may be comforted too, and that comfort works in you as you patiently endure the same sufferings we also suffer. 7So we have a firm hope for you. We know that you are partners in the sufferings, and so you are partners in the comfort too.

8We do not want you to be left unaware, brothers and sisters, of the hardship that came on us in Asia. We were weighed down so heavily, so far past our strength, that we had given up hope even of staying alive. 9In fact, we had accepted within ourselves that we were condemned to die. That was so that our confidence would rest, not on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead. 10God rescued us from so great a death, and he will rescue us. We have fixed our hope on him that he will rescue us yet again, 11as you also work with us by praying for us. Then the gift God has given us through the prayers of many will be met with thanks from many people for our sake.

12Here is what we take pride in, and our conscience confirms it: in the world at large, and still more with you, we have behaved with a holiness and sincerity that come from God, guided not by merely human wisdom but by the grace of God. 13We write you nothing other than what you can read and recognize as true. And I hope you will come to recognize it completely, 14as you have already recognized us in part: that we are your reason to be proud, as you are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.

15Confident of this, I had planned to come to you first, to give you a second gift of grace. 16I would pass through your city on the way to Macedonia, return to you from Macedonia, and then let you help me on my journey to Judea. 17So when I planned this, did I treat it lightly? Or are my plans made by merely human standards, so that with me it is “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at once? 18But God is faithful, and our word to you is not “Yes” and “No” at once. 19Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom Silvanus, Timothy and I proclaimed among you, did not turn out to be “Yes” and “No.” In him “Yes” has become a reality. 20However many promises God has made, in him each one is “Yes.” So it is through him too that we answer God with “Amen,” and God is given glory through us. 21It is God who makes us secure in Christ, us together with you. God anointed us, 22and God sealed us as his own and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

23I call on God as witness against my own life if I am not telling the truth: I held back from coming to Corinth again because I wanted to spare you. 24We do not mean that we are masters of your faith. Rather, we work alongside you to bring you joy, because you are standing firm in your faith.