Our Weak Human Bodies

5 Our body is like a house we live in here on earth. When it is destroyed, we know that God has another body for us in heaven. The new one will not be made by human hands as a house is made. This body will last forever. ² Right now we cry inside ourselves because we wish we could have our new body which we will have in heaven. ³ We will not be without a body. We will live in a new body. ⁴ While we are in this body, we cry inside ourselves because things are hard for us. It is not that we want to die. Instead, we want to live in our new bodies. We want this dying body to be changed into a living body that lasts forever. ⁵ It is God Who has made us ready for this change. He has given us His Spirit to show us what He has for us.

⁶ We are sure of this. We know that while we are at home in this body we are not with the Lord. ⁷ Our life is lived by faith. We do not live by what we see in front of us. ⁸ We are sure we will be glad to be free of these bodies. It will be good to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ So if we stay here on earth or go home to Him, we always want to please Him. ¹⁰ For all of us must stand before Christ when He says who is guilty or not guilty. Each one will receive pay for what he has done. He will be paid for the good or the bad done while he lived in this body.

¹¹ Because of this, we know the fear of God. So we try to get men to put their trust in Christ. God knows us. I hope that your hearts know me well also. ¹² We do not want to sound as if we think we are so important. Instead, we are making it easy for you to be proud of us. In that way, you will be able to tell them about us. They always talk about the way people look, but do not care about their hearts. ¹³ Are we crazy to talk like this? It is all because of what God has done. If we are using our minds well, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ puts us into action. We are sure that Christ died for everyone. So, because of that, everyone has a part in His death. ¹⁵ Christ died for everyone so that they would live for Him. They should not live to please themselves but for Christ Who died on a cross and was raised from the dead for them.

¹⁶ So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them. We even thought about Christ that way one time. But we do not think of Him that way anymore. ¹⁷ For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. ¹⁸ All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. ¹⁹ God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men’s sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. ²⁰ We are Christ’s missionaries. God is speaking to you through us. We are speaking for Christ and we ask you from our hearts to turn from your sins and come to God. ²¹ Christ never sinned but God put our sin on Him. Then we are made right with God because of what Christ has done for us.

Our Job to Do

6 We are working together with God. We ask you from our hearts not to receive God’s loving-favor and then waste it. ² The Holy Writings say, “I heard you at the right time. I helped you on that day to be saved from the punishment of sin. Now is the right time! See! Now is the day to be saved.” ^{(A) 3} We do not want to put anything in the way that would keep people from God. We do not want to be blamed. ⁴ Everything we do shows we are God’s servants. We have had to wait and suffer. We have needed things. We have been in many hard places and have had many troubles. ⁵ We have been beaten. We have been put in prison. We have been in fights. We have worked hard. We have stayed awake watching. We have gone without food. ⁶ We have been pure. We have known what to do. We have suffered long. We have been kind. The Holy Spirit has worked in us. We have had true love. ⁷ We have spoken the truth. We have God’s power. We have the sword of being right with God in the right hand and in the left hand. ⁸ Some men respect us and some do not. Some men speak bad against us and some thank us. They say we lie, but we speak the truth. ⁹ Some men act as if they do not know us. And yet we are known by everyone. They act as if we were dead, but we are alive. They try to hurt and destroy us, but they are not able to kill us. ¹⁰ We are full of sorrow and yet we are always happy. We are poor and yet we make many people rich. We have nothing and yet we have everything.

¹¹ We have spoken to you who are in the city of Corinth with plain words. Our hearts are wide open. ¹² Our hearts are not closed to you. But you have closed your hearts to us. ¹³ I am speaking to you now as if you were my own children. Open your hearts wide to us! That will pay us back for what we have done for you.

¹⁴ Do not be joined together with those who do not belong to Christ. How can that which is good get along with that which is bad? How can light be in the same place with darkness? ¹⁵ How can Christ get along with the devil? How can one who has put his trust in Christ get along with one who has not put his trust in Christ? ¹⁶ How can the house of God get along with false gods? We are the house of the living God. God has said, “I will live in them and will walk among them. I will be their God and they will be My people.” ^{(B) 17} The Lord has said, “So come out from among them. Do not be joined to them. Touch nothing that is sinful. And I will receive you. ¹⁸ I will be a Father to you. You will be My sons and daughters, says the All-powerful God.”

7 Since we have these great promises, dear friends, let us turn away from every sin of the body or of the spirit. Let us honor God with love and fear by giving ourselves to Him in every way.

His Love for the Corinthians

² Receive us into your hearts. We have done no wrong to anyone. We have not led anyone in the wrong way. We have not used anyone for our good. ³ I do not say this to tell you that you are wrong. As I have said before, you have a place in our hearts and always will. If we live or die, we will be together. ⁴ I trust you and am proud of you. You give me much comfort and joy even when I suffer.

⁵ When we arrived in the country of Macedonia, we had no rest. We had all kinds of trouble. There was fighting all around us. Our hearts were afraid. ⁶ But God gives comfort to those whose hearts are heavy. He gave us comfort when Titus came. ⁷ Not only did his coming comfort us, but the comfort you had given him made me happy also. He told us how much you wanted to see us. He said that you were sad because of my trouble and that you wanted to help me. This made me happy.

⁸ I am not sorry now if my letter made you sad. I know it made you sad, but it was only for awhile. ⁹ I am happy now. It is not because you were hurt by my letter, but because it turned you from sin to God. God used it and you were not hurt by what we did. ¹⁰ The sorrow that God uses makes people sorry for their sin and leads them to turn from sin so they can be saved from the punishment of sin. We should be happy for that kind of sorrow, but the sorrow of this world brings death. ¹¹ See how this sorrow God allowed you to have has worked in you. You had a desire to be free of that sin I wrote about. You were angry about it. You were afraid. You wanted to do something about it. In every way you did what you could to make it right. ¹² I sent this. It was not written only because of the man who did the wrong or because of the one who suffered. ¹³ All this has given us comfort. More than this, we are happy for the joy Titus has. His spirit has been made stronger by all of you. ¹⁴ I told him how proud I was of you. You did not make me ashamed. What we said to Titus proved to be true. ¹⁵ He loves you all the more. He remembers how all of you were ready to obey and how you respected him. ¹⁶ I am happy that I can have complete trust in you.

The Christian Way to Give

8 Christian brothers, we want you to know how the loving-favor of God has been shown in the churches in the country of Macedonia. ² They have been put to the test by much trouble, but they have much joy. They have given much even though they were very poor. ³ They gave as much as they could because they wanted to. ⁴ They asked from their hearts if they could help the Christians in Jerusalem. ⁵ It was more than we expected. They gave themselves to the Lord first. Then they gave themselves to us to be used as the Lord wanted. ⁶ We asked Titus to keep on helping you finish this act of love. He was the one to begin this. ⁷ You are rich in everything. You have faith. You can preach. You have much learning. You have a strong desire to help. And you have love for us. Now do what you should about giving also. ⁸ I am not saying that you must do this, but I have told you how others have helped. This is a way to prove how true your love is. ⁹ You know of the loving-favor shown by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, but He became poor for your good. In that way, because He became poor, you might become rich.

¹⁰ This is what I think. You had better finish what you started a year ago. You were the first to want to give a gift of money. ¹¹ Now do it with the same strong desires you had when you started. ¹² If a man is ready and willing to give, he should give of what he has, not of what he does not have. ¹³ This does not mean that others do not have to give and you have to give much. You should share alike. ¹⁴ You have more than you need now. When you have need, then they can help you. You should share alike. ¹⁵ The Holy Writings say, “The man who gathered much did not have too much. The man who did not gather much had enough.” ^(C)

Titus Will Be Coming

¹⁶ I thank God that He gave Titus the same desire to help you. ¹⁷ He was glad when we asked him to help you. He decided himself to go to you. ¹⁸ We are sending the Christian brother along. He is respected in the churches for his preaching. ¹⁹ Not only that, but he has been asked by the churches to travel with me to Jerusalem. He will help in giving them the gift. The Lord will be honored by it because it shows how we want to help each other.

²⁰ We want everyone to trust us with the way we take this large gift of money to them. ²¹ We want to do the right thing. We want God and men to know we are honest. ²² We are sending another Christian brother with them. We have tested him many times. His faith has proven to be true. He wants very much to help because he trusts you. ²³ Titus works with me to help you. The other two Christian brothers have been sent by the churches. Their lives honor Christ. ²⁴ Show these men you love them and let the churches see your love. Show them the reason I am proud of you.

Giving to Help Other Christians

9 I do not need to write to you about helping those who belong to Christ. ² I know you want to do it. I have told the people in the country of Macedonia that you were ready to send money last year. Your desire has started most of them to give. ³ I am sending these Christian brothers so the words I said about you will prove to be true and you will be ready to help. ⁴ What if some of the people of Macedonia came with me and found you were not ready to send your gift of money? We would all be ashamed since we have talked of you so much. ⁵ That is why I asked these men to go ahead of me. They can see that the gift you promised is ready. In that way, it will be a true gift and not something you were made to do.

⁶ Remember, the man who plants only a few seeds will not have much grain to gather. The man who plants many seeds will have much grain to gather. ⁷ Each man should give as he has decided in his heart. He should not give, wishing he could keep it. Or he should not give if he feels he has to give. God loves a man who gives because he wants to give. ⁸ God can give you all you need. He will give you more than enough. You will have everything you need for yourselves. And you will have enough left over to give when there is a need. ⁹ The Holy Writings say, “He has given much to the poor. His right-standing with God lasts forever.” ^{(D) 10} It is God Who gives seed to the man to plant. He also gives the bread to eat. Then we know He will give you more seed to plant and make it grow so you will have more to give away. ¹¹ God will give you enough so you can always give to others. Then many will give thanks to God for sending gifts through us. ¹² This gift you give not only helps Christians who are in need, but it also helps them give thanks to God. ¹³ You are proving by this act of love what you are. They will give thanks to God for your gift to them and to others. This proves you obey the Good News of Christ. ¹⁴ They will pray for you with great love because God has given you His loving-favor. ¹⁵ Thank God for His great Gift.