Monday, March 23, 2015
Chronological New Testament Study Day 65
2 Corinthians 1; 2
Corinthians 2; 2 Corinthians 3; 2 Corinthians 4
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New International VersionToggle Dropdown
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and
Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the
saints throughout Achaia: 2 Grace and peace to you from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of
all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we
can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received
from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over
into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If
we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted,
it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same
sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because
we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our
comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,
about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure,
far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed,
in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might
not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He
has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we
have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as
you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the
gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 12 Now
this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in
the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and
sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom
but according to God's grace. 13 For we do not write you
anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as
you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can
boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus. 15 Because
I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit
twice.16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come
back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 When
I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner
so that in the same breath I say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no"? 18 But
as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and
"No." 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was
preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and
"No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20 For
no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.
And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now
it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set
his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come. 23 I call God as my witness that
it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not
that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it
is by faith you stand firm.
1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful
visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me
glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that
when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I
had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For
I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not
to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. 5 If
anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of
you, to some extent--not to put it too severely. 6 The
punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now
instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to
reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to
see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If
you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if there was
anything to forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in
order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. 12 Now
when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had
opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because
I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to
Macedonia. 14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal
procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the
knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ
among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To
the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who
is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle
the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with
sincerity, like men sent from God.
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we
need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You
yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You
show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not
with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts. 4Such confidence as this is ours through
Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to
claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He
has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of
the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now
if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone,
came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of
Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not
the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the
ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry
that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no
glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if
what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that
which lasts! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are
very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over
his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading
away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the
same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed,
because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day
when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But
whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And
we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.
1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this
ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced
secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word
of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if
our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The
god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For
we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light
shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But
we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side,
but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;9 persecuted, but
not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always
carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also
be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always
being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in
our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life
is at work in you. 13 It is written: "I believed;
therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe
and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who
raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present
us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit,
so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving
to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose
heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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