The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace.
and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough,
When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it.
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness
So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.
Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?
I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.
To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.
though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.
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