Study Desk

You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly.

And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.

He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us.

For this service you perform not only meets the needs of God's people, but also produces an outpouring of gratitude to God.

And because of the proof which this service of yours brings, many will give glory to God for your loyalty to the gospel of Christ, which you profess, and for your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else.

And so with deep affection they will pray for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown you.

Let us thank God for his priceless gift!

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

As for us, however, our boasting will not go beyond certain limits; it will stay within the limits of the work which God has set for us, and this includes our work among you.

So we do not boast about the work that others have done beyond the limits God set for us. Instead, we hope that your faith may grow and that we may be able to do a much greater work among you, always within the limits that God has set.

I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.

I did not charge you a thing when I preached the Good News of God to you; I humbled myself in order to make you important. Was that wrong of me?

Do I say this because I don't love you? God knows I love you!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus—blessed be his name forever!—knows that I am not lying.

I know a certain Christian man who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the highest heaven (I do not know whether this actually happened or whether he had a vision—only God knows).

I repeat, I know that this man was snatched to Paradise (again, I do not know whether this actually happened or whether it was a vision—only God knows), and there he heard things which cannot be put into words, things that human lips may not speak.

Perhaps you think that all along we have been trying to defend ourselves before you. No! We speak as Christ would have us speak in the presence of God, and everything we do, dear friends, is done to help you.

I am afraid that the next time I come my God will humiliate me in your presence, and I shall weep over many who sinned in the past and have not repented of the immoral things they have done—their lust and their sexual sins.

We pray to God that you will do no wrong—not in order to show that we are a success, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to be failures.