Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us,

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

Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.

As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please him.

Our affection for you is not restricted, but you are restricted in your affections for us.

Now as a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts to us also.

For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.

You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God,

I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so that I could serve you!

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern for all the churches.

It is necessary to go on boasting. Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the sake of the truth.

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.

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.

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.

For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.