Study Desk

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand—

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.

For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough,

So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.