For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, ¹  but we are speaking in Christ before ²  God as persons of sincerity, ³  as persons sent from God.

For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are ¹  the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them ²  and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ³ 

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! ¹ 

For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea ¹  through us. We plead with you ²  on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”

Blessed is ¹  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God’s power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power toward you.

Grace and peace to you ¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

But it is God who establishes ¹  us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, ² 

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.

You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion, ¹  which is producing through us thanksgiving to God,

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! ¹ 

From Paul, ¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, ²  with all the saints who are in all Achaia. ³ 

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.

But we have rejected ¹  shameful hidden deeds, ²  not behaving ³  with deceptiveness ⁴  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

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.

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 

But as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”