Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds.

But if we are afflicted, 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.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us – by me and Silvanus and Timothy – was not “Yes” and “No,” but it has always been “Yes” in him.

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

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).

Now God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow.

I said before when I was present the second time and now, though absent, I say again to those who sinned previously and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone,

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.

Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

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

Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,

And his affection for you is much greater when he remembers the obedience of you all, how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

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,

to finish what you started, so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly, you can also complete it according to your means.

and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.

because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak and his speech is of no account.”

And what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may eliminate any opportunity for those who want a chance to be regarded as our equals in the things they boast about.

For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God’s power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power toward you.