by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, ¹  by genuine ²  love,

and every arrogant obstacle ¹  that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey ²  Christ.

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.

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession ¹  in Christ ²  and who makes known ³  through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

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 God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” ¹  is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge ²  of God in the face of Christ. ³ 

So then from now on we acknowledge ¹  no one from an outward human point of view. ²  Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, ³  now we do not know him in that way any longer.

so that we may not be exploited ¹  by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).

You yourselves are our letter, ¹  written on our hearts, known and read by everyone,

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing,

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

And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in ¹  our sufferings, so also you will share in ²  our comfort.

God ¹  made the one who did not know sin ²  to be sin for us, so that in him ³  we would become the righteousness of God.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, ¹  regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, ²  that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

For our reason for confidence ¹  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ²  and sincerity which are from God ³  – not by human wisdom ⁴  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁵  toward you.

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, ¹  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, ²  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,