2 Corinthians 5:12

5:12 We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.

2 Corinthians 5:14

5:14 For the love of Christ ⁵  controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ ⁶  died for all; therefore all have died.

2 Corinthians 7:4

A Letter That Caused Sadness

7:4 I have great confidence in you; I take great pride ⁷  on your behalf. I am filled with encouragement; ⁸  I am overflowing with joy in the midst of ⁹  all our suffering.

2 Corinthians 9:2-3

9:2 because I know your eagerness to help. ¹⁰  I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, ¹¹  that Achaia has been ready to give ¹²  since last year, and your zeal to participate ¹³  has stirred up most of them. ¹⁴  9:3 But I am sending ¹⁵  these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready ¹⁶  just as I kept telling them.

2 Corinthians 11:23

11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

2 Corinthians 12:10-11

12:10 Therefore I am content with ¹⁷  weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties ¹⁸  for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

The Signs of an Apostle

12:11 I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison ¹⁹  to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

2 Corinthians 12:19

12:19 Have you been thinking all this time ²⁰  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ²¹ 

[5:12]  ¹ tn The present tense of συνιστάνομεν (sunistanomen) has been translated as a conative present.

[5:12]  ² tn Or “to boast about us.”

[5:12]  ³ tn Or “who boast.”

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Or “in what is seen.”

[5:14]  ⁵ tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ (Jh agaph tou Cristou, “the love of Christ”) could be translated as either objective genitive (“our love for Christ”) or subjective genitive (“Christ’s love for us”). Either is grammatically possible, but with the reference to Christ’s death for all in the following clauses, a subjective genitive (“Christ’s love for us”) is more likely.

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Grk “one”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “great is my boasting.”

[7:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “comfort.”

[7:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “I am overflowing with joy in all our suffering”; the words “in the midst of” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to clarify that Paul is not rejoicing in the suffering itself, but in his relationship with the Corinthians in the midst of all his suffering.

[9:2]  ¹³ tn The words “to help” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[9:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “concerning which I keep boasting to the Macedonians about you.” A new sentence was started here and the translation was simplified by removing the relative clause and repeating the antecedent “this eagerness of yours.”

[9:2]  ¹⁵ tn The words “to give” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[9:2]  ¹⁶ tn The words “to participate” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[9:2]  ¹⁷ sn Most of them is a reference to the Macedonians (cf. v. 4).

[9:3]  ¹⁷ tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.

[9:3]  ¹⁸ tn That is, ready with the collection for the saints.

[12:10]  ²¹ tn Or “I take delight in.”

[12:10]  ²² tn Or “calamities.”

[12:11]  ²⁵ tn Or “I am in no way inferior.”

[12:19]  ²⁹ tc The reading “all this time” (πάλαι, palai) is found in several early and important Alexandrian and Western witnesses including א* A B F G 0243 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 1881 lat; the reading πάλιν (palin, “again”) is read by א² D Ψ 0278 Ï sy bo; the reading οὐ πάλαι (ou palai) is read by Ì⁴⁶, making the question even more emphatic. The reading of Ì⁴⁶ could only have arisen from πάλαι. The reading πάλιν is significantly easier (“are you once again thinking that we are defending ourselves?”), for it softens Paul’s tone considerably. It thus seems to be a motivated reading and cannot easily explain the rise of πάλαι. Further, πάλαι has considerable support in the Alexandrian and Western witnesses, rendering it virtually certain as the original wording here.

[12:19]  ³⁰ tn Or “for your strengthening”; Grk “for your edification.”