Study Desk

Thus death is at work in us but life in you.

We concentrate not on what is seen but on what is not seen, since things seen are temporary, but things not seen are eternal.

Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life.

We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person's appearance rather than his inner qualities.

and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised.

Any constraint you feel has not been imposed by us, but by your own inner selves.

But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the arrival of Titus!

However, it was not only his arrival which encouraged us, but also how encouraged he was about you, as he told us how you long to see me, how distressed you are over my situation, how zealous you are in my defense — this news made me even happier!

now I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God. For you handled the pain in God's way, so that you were not harmed by us at all.

Pain handled in God's way produces a turning from sin to God which leads to salvation, and there is nothing to regret in that! But pain handled in the world's way produces only death.

So even though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of either the one who did the wrong or the one wronged, but so that before God you could see for yourselves how deep is your devotion to us.

I tell you they have not merely given according to their means, but of their own free will they have given beyond their means.

Also, they didn't do this in the way we had expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, which means, by God's will, to us.

As I say, in regard to this matter I am only giving an opinion. A year ago you were not only the first to take action but the first to want to do so. Now it would be to your advantage

It is not that relief for others should cause trouble for you, but that there should be a kind of reciprocity:

for he not only responded to our urging, but, being so devoted, he is coming to you on his own initiative.

for we take pains to do what is right not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people .

With these two we are sending another brother of ours, one whose diligence we have tested many times in many ways, but who is now all the more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

But now I am sending the brothers so that our boast about you in this regard will not prove hollow, so that you will be ready, as I said you would be.

because rendering this holy service not only provides for the needs of God's people, but it also overflows in the many thanks people will be giving to God.