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

You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,

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,

Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left,

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

For you put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly toward you, if someone strikes you in the face.

I had no relief in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and set out for Macedonia.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our body had no rest at all, but we were troubled in every way – struggles from the outside, fears from within.

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.

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

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,

so that now instead you should rather forgive and comfort him. This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair.

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

because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!

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.

Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia,

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