Study Desk

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart.

And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death.

So even though I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong, or because of the one who was wronged, but in order that your devotion to us might be made plain to you in the sight of God.

For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been disappointed; but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth.

And in this matter I am giving advice because it is profitable for you, who began last year not only to do something but also to want to do it.

It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality.

And not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to accompany us with this gracious gift that we are administering for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help.

Indeed, we are giving careful thought to do what is right, not only before the Lord but also before people.

But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter would not prove empty, and so that you would be ready just as I said.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Now I Paul, myself, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble among you in person but bold toward you when absent.

since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments