2 Corinthians 1:22-23

1:22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. ¹ 

Why Paul Postponed His Visit

1:23 Now I appeal to God as my witness, ²  that to spare ³  you I did not come again to Corinth. ⁴ 

2 Corinthians 4:14

4:14 We do so ⁵  because we know that the one who raised up Jesus ⁶  will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence.

2 Corinthians 5:5

5:5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose ⁷  is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ⁸ 

2 Corinthians 5:8

5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away ⁹  from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:21

5:21 God ¹⁰  made the one who did not know sin ¹¹  to be sin for us, so that in him ¹²  we would become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 8:18

8:18 And we are sending ¹³  along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in spreading the gospel. ¹⁴ 

2 Corinthians 9:9

9:9 Just as it is written, “He ¹⁵  has scattered widely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever.” ¹⁶ 

2 Corinthians 12:4

12:4 was caught up into paradise ¹⁷  and heard things too sacred to be put into words, ¹⁸  things that a person ¹⁹  is not permitted to speak.

[1:22]  ¹ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:23]  ² tn Grk “I call upon God as witness against my soul.” Normally this implies an appeal for help (L&N 33.176).

[1:23]  ³ tn Here φειδόμενος (feidomeno") has been translated as a telic participle.

[1:23]  ⁴ sn Paul had promised to come again to visit (see 2 Cor 1:15, 24) but explains here why he had changed his plans.

[4:14]  ³ tn Grk “speak, because.” A new sentence was started here in the translation, with the words “We do so” supplied to preserve the connection with the preceding statement.

[4:14]  ⁴ tc ‡ Several important witnesses (א C D F G Ψ 1881), as well as the Byzantine text, add κύριον (kurion) here, changing the reading to “the Lord Jesus.” Although the external evidence in favor of the shorter reading is slim, the witnesses are important, early, and diverse (Ì⁴⁶ B [0243 33] 629 [630] 1175* [1739] pc r sa). Very likely scribes with pietistic motives added the word κύριον, as they were prone to do, thus compounding this title for the Lord.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “for this very thing.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit” (see the note on the phrase “down payment” in 1:22).

[5:8]  ⁵ tn Or “be absent.”

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:21]  ⁷ sn The one who did not know sin is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[5:21]  ⁸ sn That is, “in Christ.”

[8:18]  ⁷ tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.

[8:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “the brother of whom the praise in the gospel [is] throughout all the churches.”

[9:9]  ⁸ sn He in the quotation refers to the righteous person.

[9:9]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 112:9.

[12:4]  ⁹ sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. In Luke 23:43 it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. The reference here in 2 Cor 12:4 is probably to be translated as parallel to the mention of the “third heaven” in v. 2. Assuming that the “first heaven” would be atmospheric heaven (the sky) and “second heaven” the more distant stars and planets, “third heaven” would refer to the place where God dwells. This is much more likely than some variation on the seven heavens mentioned in the pseudepigraphic book 2 Enoch and in other nonbiblical and rabbinic works.

[12:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “things that cannot be put into words.”

[12:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “a man.”