Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ¹ 

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

For such people are false apostles, deceitful ¹  workers, disguising themselves ²  as apostles of Christ.

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ¹  from everything that could defile the body ²  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ³  holiness out of reverence for God. ⁴ 

so that we may preach the gospel in the regions that lie beyond you, and not boast of work already done in another person’s area.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ²  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

who made us adequate ¹  to be servants of a new covenant ²  not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So here is my opinion on this matter: It is to your advantage, since you ¹  made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give,

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving ¹  according to human standards. ² 

I urged Titus to visit you ¹  and I sent our ²  brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? ³  Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way? ⁴ 

Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you – unless, indeed, you fail the test! ¹ 

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose ¹  is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ² 

But as God’s servants, ¹  we have commended ourselves in every way, ²  with great endurance, in persecutions, ³  in difficulties, in distresses,

Therefore show ¹  them openly before the churches the proof of your love and of our pride in you. ² 

Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, ¹  so that we would not trust in ourselves ²  but in God who raises the dead.

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

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ¹  the message of reconciliation.

Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ¹ 

Do not become partners ¹  with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

Thus ¹  we urged ²  Titus that, just as he had previously begun this work, ³  so also he should complete this act of kindness ⁴  for you.