Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

²Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

³But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head.

⁵Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved.

⁶For if a woman doesn’t cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her head be covered.

⁷A man should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. So too, woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man.

⁹Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.

¹⁰This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman.

¹²For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace to him,

¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her as a covering.

¹⁶If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

¹⁹Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

²⁰When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

²¹For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk!

²²Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,

²⁴and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

²⁹For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

³⁰This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.

³¹If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,

³²but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

³³Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another.

³⁴If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.

¹Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.

²You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols.

³Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

⁵There are different ministries, but the same Lord.

⁶And there are different activities, but the same God produces each gift in each person.

⁷A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:

⁸to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit,

⁹to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

¹⁰to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues.

¹¹One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

¹²For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body — so also is Christ.

¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴Indeed, the body is not one part but many.

¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body.

¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body.

¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

¹⁸But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.

¹⁹And if they were all the same part, where would the body be?

²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable.

²³And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect,

²⁴which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable,

²⁵so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.

²⁶So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it.

²⁸And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues.

²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?

³⁰Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret?

³¹But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

¹If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

³And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,

⁵is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

⁶Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

¹³Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.

¹Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

²For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

⁴The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

⁶So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds — whether flute or harp  — if they don’t make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized?

⁸In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

⁹In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, none is without meaning.

¹¹Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

¹²So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

¹⁵What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you;

¹⁹yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.

²⁰Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

²¹It is written in the law, I will speak to this people by people of other tongues and by the lips of foreigners, and even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

²²Speaking in other tongues, then, is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

²⁴But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all.

²⁵The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”

²⁶What then, brothers and sisters? Whenever you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, another tongue, or an interpretation. Everything is to be done for building up.

²⁷If anyone speaks in another tongue, there are to be only two, or at the most three, each in turn, and let someone interpret.

²⁸But if there is no interpreter, that person is to keep silent in the church and speak to himself and God.

²⁹Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate.

³⁰But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent.

³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged.

³²And the prophets’ spirits are subject to the prophets,

³³since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says.

³⁵If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

³⁶Or did the word of God originate from you, or did it come to you only?

³⁷If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord’s command.

³⁸If anyone ignores this, he will be ignored.

³⁹So then, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other tongues.

⁴⁰But everything is to be done decently and in order.

¹Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand

²and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.

³For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.

⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

¹¹Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?

¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;

¹⁴and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

¹⁵Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ — whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised.

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

¹⁹If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

²⁰But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.

²²For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

²³But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

²⁴Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

²⁵For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶The last enemy to be abolished is death.

²⁷For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.

²⁸When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them?

³⁰Why are we in danger every hour?

³¹I face death every day, as surely as I may boast about you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

³²If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

³⁴Come to your senses and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?”

³⁶You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

³⁷And as for what you sow — you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.

³⁸But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.

³⁹Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

⁴⁰There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones.

⁴¹There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor.

⁴²So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;

⁴³sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;

⁴⁴sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

⁴⁸Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

⁴⁹And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

⁵⁰What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,

⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

⁵³For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.

⁵⁴When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.

⁵⁵Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

¹Now about the collection for the saints: Do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches.

²On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come.

³When I arrive, I will send with letters those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

⁴If it is suitable for me to go as well, they will travel with me.

⁵I will come to you after I pass through Macedonia  — for I will be traveling through Macedonia —

⁶and perhaps I will remain with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I go.

⁷I don’t want to see you now just in passing, since I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows.

⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

⁹because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me  — yet many oppose me.

¹⁰If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear while with you, because he is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am.

¹¹So let no one look down on him. Send him on his way in peace so that he can come to me, because I am expecting him with the brothers.

¹²Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. However, he will come when he has an opportunity.

¹³Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.

¹⁴Do everything in love.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, you know the household of Stephanas: They are the firstfruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the saints. I urge you

¹⁶also to submit to such people, and to everyone who works and labors with them.

¹⁷I am delighted to have Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus present, because these men have made up for your absence.

¹⁸For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore recognize such people.

¹⁹The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord, along with the church that meets in their home.

²⁰All the brothers and sisters send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹This greeting is in my own hand  — Paul.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Our Lord, come!

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

⁴He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort.

⁸We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed — beyond our strength  — so that we even despaired of life itself.

⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

¹⁰He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again

¹¹while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.

¹²Indeed, this is our boast: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom but by God’s grace.

¹³For we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely —

¹⁴just as you have partially understood us — that we are your reason for pride, just as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵Because of this confidence, I planned to come to you first, so that you could have a second benefit,

¹⁶and to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then come to you again from Macedonia and be helped by you on my journey to Judea.

¹⁷Now when I planned this, was I of two minds? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely human way so that I say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?

¹⁸As God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes and no.”

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you — Silvanus, Timothy, and I — did not become “Yes and no.” On the contrary, in him it is always “Yes.”

²⁰For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God.

²¹Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us.

²²He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

²³I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth.

²⁴I do not mean that we lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in your faith.

¹In fact, I made up my mind about this: I would not come to you on another painful visit.

²For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?

³I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours.

⁴For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart — not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

⁵If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree — not to exaggerate  — to all of you.

⁶This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.

⁷As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

⁹I wrote for this purpose: to test your character to see if you are obedient in everything.

¹⁰Anyone you forgive, I do too. For what I have forgiven — if I have forgiven anything — it is for your benefit in the presence of Christ,

¹¹so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me,

¹³I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. Instead, I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

¹⁵For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

¹⁶To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things?

¹⁷For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

³You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God  — not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God.

⁵It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

⁶He 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.

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

⁹For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory.

¹⁰In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it.

¹¹For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹²Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness.

¹³We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside,

¹⁴but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.

¹⁵Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,

¹⁶but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

¹⁸We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

¹Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.

³But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

⁴In their case, the god of this age 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.

⁵For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.

⁶For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

⁸We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

⁹we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

¹⁰We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.

¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.

¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.

¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.

¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

¹⁸So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

¹For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.

²Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling,

³since, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked.

⁴Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

⁶So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart.

¹³For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died.

¹⁵And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

¹⁸Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

¹⁹That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

²¹He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹Working together with him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive the grace of God in vain.”

²For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!

³We are not giving anyone an occasion for offense, so that the ministry will not be blamed.

⁴Instead, as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardships, by difficulties,

⁵by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger,

⁶by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,

⁷by the word of truth, by the power of God; through weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,

⁸through glory and dishonor, through slander and good report; regarded as deceivers, yet true;

⁹as unknown, yet recognized; as dying, yet see — we live; as being disciplined, yet not killed;

¹⁰as grieving, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.

¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

¹³I speak as to my children; as a proper response, open your heart to us.

¹⁴Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹⁷Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.

¹⁸And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

¹So then, dear friends, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

²Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, taken advantage of no one.

³I don’t say this to condemn you, since I have already said that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

⁴I am very frank with you; I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement; I am overflowing with joy in all our afflictions.

⁵In fact, when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. Instead, we were troubled in every way: conflicts on the outside, fears within.

⁶But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

⁷and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

⁸For even if I grieved you with my letter, I don’t regret it. And if I regretted it — since I saw that the letter grieved you, yet only for a while —

⁹I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us.

¹⁰For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death.

¹¹For consider how much diligence this very thing — this grieving as God wills — has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter.

¹²So even though I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong, or because of the one who was wronged, but in order that your devotion to us might be made plain to you in the sight of God.

¹³For this reason we have been comforted. In addition to our own comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy Titus had, because his spirit was refreshed by all of you.

¹⁴For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been disappointed; but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth.

¹⁵And his affection toward you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of all of you, and how you received him with fear and trembling.

¹⁶I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you.