<t /><p class="bodytext">This is the third time I am coming to visit<n id="1" /> you. <b><i>By the testimonyi>b><n id="2" /> <b><i>of two or three witnesses every matter will be establishedi>b>.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Blessed is<n id="1" /> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

<t /><p class="bodytext">But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession<n id="1" /> in Christ<n id="2" /> and who makes known<n id="3" /> through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord,<n id="1" /> are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another,<n id="2" /> which is from<n id="3" /> the Lord, who is the Spirit.<n id="4" />p>

For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including<n id="1" /> more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase<n id="2" /> to the glory of God.

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.<n id="1" />

And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves<n id="1" /> from everything that could defile the body<n id="2" /> and the spirit, and thus accomplish<n id="3" /> holiness out of reverence for God.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">I have great confidence in you; I take great pride<n id="1" /> on your behalf. I am filled with encouragement;<n id="2" /> I am overflowing with joy in the midst of<n id="3" /> all our suffering.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our body<n id="1" /> had no rest at all, but we were troubled in every way &#8211; struggles from the outside, fears from within.

Therefore we have been encouraged. And in addition to our own encouragement, we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because all of you have refreshed his spirit.<n id="1" />

And his affection for you is much greater<n id="1" /> when he remembers the obedience of you all, how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

Have you been thinking all this time<n id="1" /> 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.<n id="2" />

[[EMPTY]]<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">From Paul,<n id="1" /> an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth,<n id="2" /> with all the saints who are in all Achaia.<n id="3" />

But we have rejected<n id="1" /> shameful hidden deeds,<n id="2" /> not behaving<n id="3" /> with deceptiveness<n id="4" /> or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone&#8217;s conscience before God.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,<n id="1" /> so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.<n id="2" />p>

For see what this very thing, this sadness<n id="1" /> as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves,<n id="2" /> what indignation,<n id="3" /> what alarm, what longing, what deep concern,<n id="4" /> what punishment!<n id="5" /> In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you,<n id="1" /> but just as everything we said to you was true,<n id="2" /> so our boasting to Titus about you<n id="3" /> has proved true as well.

Through the evidence<n id="1" /> of this service<n id="2" /> they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing<n id="3" /> with them and with everyone.