2 Corinthians 1:6

1:6 But if we are afflicted, ¹  it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.

2 Corinthians 3:14

3:14 But their minds were closed. ²  For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. ³  It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. ⁴ 

2 Corinthians 5:19

5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ⁵  the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 6:16

6:16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are ⁶  the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them ⁷  and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ⁸ 

¹ tn Or “are troubled.”

² tn Grk “their minds were hardened.”

³ tn Grk “the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant”; the phrase “they hear” has been introduced (“when they hear the old covenant read”) to make the link with the “Israelites” (v. 13) whose minds were closed (v. 14a) more obvious to the reader.

⁴ tn Or “only in Christ is it eliminated.”

³ tn Or “he has entrusted to us.”

⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (Ì⁴⁶ א² C D² F G Ψ 0209 Ï lat sy Tert), read ὑμεῖς…ἐστε (Jumei"…este, “you are”) instead of ἡμεῖς…ἐσμεν (Jhmei"…esmen, “we are”) here, but several other early and important mss (א* B D* L P 0243 6 33 81 326 365 1175 1739 1881 2464 co Cl Or) have ἡμεῖς…ἐσμεν. The external evidence is somewhat in favor of the first person pronoun and verb; the internal evidence weighs in even stronger. In light of the parallel in 1 Cor 3:16, where Paul uses ἐστε (“you are the temple of God”), as well as the surrounding context here in which the second person verb or pronoun is used in vv. 14, 17, and 18, the second person reading seems obviously motivated. The first person reading can explain the rise of the other reading, but the reverse is not as easily done. Consequently, the first person reading of ἡμεῖς…ἐσμεν has all the credentials of authenticity.

⁵ tn Or “live among them,” “live with them.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Lev 26:12; also similar to Jer 32:38; Ezek 37:27.