My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously ¹  will also reap generously.

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others. ¹ 

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

Let such a person consider this: What we say ¹  by letters when we are absent, we also are in actions when we are present.

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,

And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows)

I do not say this to condemn you, for I told you before ¹  that you are in our hearts so that we die together and live together with you. ² 

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

But their minds were closed. ¹  For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. ²  It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. ³ 

among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe ¹  so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel ²  of Christ, ³  who is the image of God.

But as you excel ¹  in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you ²  – make sure that you excel ³  in this act of kindness ⁴  too.

For the love of Christ ¹  controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ ²  died for all; therefore all have died.

For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated ¹  (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you. ² 

And even if I am unskilled ¹  in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way.

For we groan while we are in this tent, ¹  since we are weighed down, ²  because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

But I am sending ¹  these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready ²  just as I kept telling them.

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

You are looking at outward appearances. ¹  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.

Have you been thinking all this time 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. ² 

so that now instead ¹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ²  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ³