Paul’s Hardships and God’s Grace

¹As God’s fellow workers,then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

²For He says:“In the time of favor I heard you,and in the day of salvation I helped you.”Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;

⁵in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;

⁶in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

⁸through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine;

⁹unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed;

¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained.

¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:“I will dwell with themand walk among them,and I will be their God,and they will be My people.”

¹⁷“Therefore come out from among themand be separate, says the Lord.Touch no unclean thing,and I will receive you.”

¹⁸And:“I will be a Father to you,and you will be My sons and daughters,says the Lord Almighty.”

Paul and the False Apostles

¹I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.

²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.

⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

Paul’s Suffering and Service

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

¹⁸Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise.

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

²¹To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that!Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise,knows that I am not lying.

³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.

³³But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

Paul’s Revelation

¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.

³And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows—

⁴was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were inexpressible, things that man is not permitted to tell.

Paul’s Thorn and God’s Grace

⁵I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself, except in my weaknesses.

⁶Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me,

⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations.So to keep me from becoming conceited,I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

¹²The marks of a true apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance.

¹³In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery.

¹⁷Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you?

¹⁸I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up.

²⁰For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

²¹I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

The Excellence of Wisdom

¹Does not wisdom call out,and understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights overlooking the road,at the crossroads she takes her stand.

³Beside the gates to the city,at the entrances she cries out:

⁴“To you, O men, I call out,and my cry is to the sons of men.

⁵O simple ones, learn to be shrewd;O fools, gain understanding.

⁶Listen, for I speak of noble things,and the opening of my lips will reveal right.

⁷For my mouth will speak the truth,and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous;none are crooked or perverse.

⁹They are all plain to the discerning,and upright to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction instead of silver,and knowledge rather than pure gold.

¹¹For wisdom is more precious than rubies,and nothing you desire compares with her.

¹²I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence,and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³To fear the LORD is to hate evil;I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁴Counsel and sound judgment are mine;I have insight and strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign,and rulers enact just laws;

¹⁶By me princes rule,and all nobles who govern justly.

¹⁷I love those who love me,and those who seek me early shall find me.

¹⁸With me are riches and honor,enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, pure gold,and my harvest surpasses choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness,along the paths of justice,

²¹bestowing wealth on those who love meand making their treasuries full.

²²The LORD created me as His first course,before His works of old.

²³From everlasting I was established,from the beginning, before the earth began.

²⁴When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,when no springs were overflowing with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled,before the hills, I was brought forth,

²⁶before He made the land or fields,or any of the dust of the earth.

²⁷I was there when He established the heavens,when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when He established the clouds above,when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,

²⁹when He set a boundary for the sea,so that the waters would not surpass His command,when He marked out the foundations of the earth.

³⁰Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side,and His delightday by day,rejoicing always in His presence.

³¹I was rejoicing in His whole world,delighting together in the sons of men.

³²Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Listen to instruction and be wise;do not ignore it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who listens to me,watching daily at my doors,waiting at the posts of my doorway.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds lifeand obtains the favor of the LORD.

³⁶But he who fails to find me harms himself;all who hate me love death.”