Study Desk

But we thank God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be separated from God—lost forever! Come, O Lord!

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy our brother in Christ. To the church of God in Corinth, and to all of God's people everywhere in Southern Greece:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort.

He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.

Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead.

God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again.

And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.

This is what we are proud of, and I can say it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest and sincere heart from God. We did this by God's grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has.

But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I preached to you, was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes.

The yes to all of God's promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God.

Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people.

I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was to keep you from being punished or hurt.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume.

Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.

We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.

You show that you are a letter from Christ sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets but on human hearts.

We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God.