Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough!

that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.

For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing –

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others.

For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!

For I do not say this so there would be relief for others and suffering for you, but as a matter of equality.

was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.

and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective.

Let such a person consider this: What we say by letters when we are absent, we also are in actions when we are present.

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,

For even if I made you sad by my letter, I do not regret having written it (even though I did regret it, for I see that my letter made you sad, though only for a short time).

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

When I was with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia fully supplied my needs. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

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 to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

So here is my opinion on this matter: It is to your advantage, since you made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give,