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Bible (WNT) NT 08: 2 Corinthians

Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, 2 Corinthians R. F. Weymouth <h2 id="id00011" style="margin-top: 4em">Book 47 2 Corinthians</h2> 001:001 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God— and our brother Timothy: To the Church of God in Corinth, with all God's people throughout Greece. 001:002 May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 001:003 Heartfelt thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ— the Father who is full of compassion and the God who gives all comfort. 001:004 He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 001:005 For just as we have more than our share of suffering for the Christ, so also through the Christ we have more than our share of comfort. 001:006 But if, on the one hand, we are enduring affliction, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if, on the other hand, we are receiving comfort, it is for your comfort which is produced within you through your patient fortitude under the same sufferings as those which we also are enduring. 001:007 And our hope for you is stedfast; for we know that as you are partners with us in the sufferings, so you are also partners in the comfort. 001:008 For as for our troubles which came upon us in the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down, and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life. 001:009 Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life. 001:010 He it is who rescued us from so imminent a death, and will do so again; and we have a firm hope in Him that He will also rescue us in all the future, 001:011 while you on your part lend us your aid in entreaty for us, so that from many lips thanksgivings may rise on our behalf for the boon granted to us at the intercession of many. 001:012 For the reason for our boasting is this—the testimony of our own conscience that it was in holiness and with pure motives before God, and in reliance not on worldly wisdom but on the gracious help of God, that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and above all in our relations with you. 001:013 For we are writing to you nothing different from what we have written before, or from what indeed you already recognize as truth and will, I trust, recognize as such to the very end; 001:014 just as some few of you have recognized us as your reason for boasting, even as you will be ours, on the day of Jesus our Lord. 001:015 It was because I entertained this confidence that I intended to visit you before going elsewhere—so that you might receive a twofold proof of God's favour— 001:016 and to pass by way of Corinth into Macedonia. Then my plan was to return from Macedonia to you, and be helped forward by you to Judaea. 001:017 Did I display any vacillation or caprice in this? Or the purposes which I form—do I form them on worldly principles, now crying "Yes, yes," and now "No, no"? 001:018 As certainly as God is faithful, our language to you is not now "Yes" and now "No." 001:019 For Jesus Christ the Son of God—He who was proclaimed among you by us, that is by Silas and Timothy and myself— did not show Himself a waverer between "Yes" and "No." But it was and always is "Yes" with Him. 001:020 For all the promises of God, whatever their number, have their confirmation in Him; and for this reason through Him also our "Amen" acknowledges their truth and promotes the glory of God through our faith. 001:021 But He who is making us as well as you stedfast through union with the Anointed One, and has anointed us, is God, 001:022 and He has also set His seal upon us, and has put His Spirit into our hearts as a pledge and foretaste of future blessing. 001:023 But as for me, as my soul shall answer for it, I appeal to God as my witness, that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth. 001:024 Not that we want to lord it over you in respect of your faith— we do, however, desire to help your joy—for in the matter of your faith you are standing firm. 002:001 But, so far as I am concerned, I have resolved not to have a painful visit the next time I come to see you. 002:002 For if I of all men give you pain, who then is there to gladden my heart, but the very persons to whom I give pain? 002:003 And I write this to you in order that when I come I may not receive pain from those who ought to give me joy, confident as I am as to all of you that my joy is the joy of you all. 002:004 For with many tears I write to you, and in deep suffering and depression of spirit, not in order to grieve you, but in the hope of showing you how brimful my heart is with love for you. 002:005 Now if any one has caused sorrow, it has been caused not so much to me, as in some degree—for I have no wish to exaggerate— to all of you. 002:006 In the case of such a person the punishment which was inflicted by the majority of you is enough. 002:007 So that you may now take the opposite course, and forgive him rather and comfort him, for fear he should perhaps be driven to despair by his excess of grief. 002:008 I beg you therefore fully to reinstate him in your love. 002:009 For in writing to you I have also this object in view— to discover by experience whether you are prepared to be obedient in every respect. 002:010 When you forgive a man an offence I also forgive it; for in fact what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has always been for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 002:011 for fear Satan should gain an advantage over us. For we are not ignorant of his devices. 002:012 Now when I came into the Troad to spread there the Good News about the Christ, even though in the Lord's providence a door stood open before me, 002:013 yet, obtaining no relief for my spirit because I did not find our brother Titus, I bade them farewell and went on into Macedonia. 002:014 But to God be the thanks who in Christ ever heads our triumphal procession, and by our hands waves in every place that sweet incense, the knowledge of Him. 002:015 For we are a fragrance of Christ grateful to God in those whom He is saving and in those who are perishing; 002:016 to the last-named an odor of death predictive of death, and to the others an odor of life predictive of life. And for such service as this who is competent? 002:017 We are; for, unlike most teachers, we are not fraudulent hucksters of God's Message; but with transparent motives, as commissioned by God, in God's presence and in communion with Christ, so we speak. 003:001 Do you say that this is self-recommendation once more? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 003:002 Our letter of recommendation is yourselves—a letter written on our hearts and everywhere known and read. 003:003 For all can see that you are a letter of Christ entrusted to our care, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the ever-living God—and not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets. 003:004 Such is the confidence which we have through Christ in the presence of God; 003:005 not that of ourselves we are competent to decide anything by our own reasonings, but our competency comes from God. 003:006 It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life. 003:007 If, however, the service that proclaims death—its code being engraved in writing upon stones—came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face— a vanishing brightness; 003:008 will not the service of the Spirit be far more glorious? 003:009 For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness. 003:010 For, in fact, that which was once resplendent in glory has no glory at all in this respect, that it pales before the glory which surpasses it. 003:011 For if that which was to be abolished came with glory, much more is that which is permanent arrayed in glory. 003:012 Therefore, cherishing a hope like this, we speak without reserve, and we do not imitate Moses, 003:013 who used to throw a veil over his face to hide from the gaze of the children of Israel the passing away of what was but transitory. 003:014 Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day during the reading of the book of the ancient Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is only in Christ that it is to be abolished. 003:015 Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their hearts. 003:016 But whenever the heart of the nation shall have returned to the Lord, the veil will be withdrawn. 003:017 Now by "the Lord" is meant the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, freedom is enjoyed. 003:018 And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from one degree of radiant holiness to another, even as derived from the Lord the Spirit. 004:001 Therefore, being engaged in this service and being mindful of the mercy which has been shown us, we are not cowards. 004:002 Nay, we have renounced the secrecy which marks a feeling of shame. We practice no cunning tricks, nor do we adulterate God's Message. But by a full clear statement of the truth we strive to commend ourselves in the presence of God to every human conscience. 004:003 If, however, the meaning of our Good News has been veiled, the veil has been on the hearts of those who are on the way to perdition, 004:004 in whom the god of this present age has blinded their unbelieving minds so as to shut out the sunshine of the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God. 004:005 (For we do not proclaim ourselves, but we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for the sake of Jesus.) 004:006 For God who said, "Out of darkness let light shine," is He who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory, which is radiant on the face of Christ. 004:007 But we have this treasure in a fragile vase of clay, in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be seen to belong to God, and not to originate in us. 004:008 We are hard pressed, yet never in absolute distress; perplexed, yet never utterly baffled; 004:009 pursued, yet never left unsuccoured; struck to the ground, yet never slain; 004:010 always, wherever we go, carrying with us in our bodies the putting to death of Jesus, so that in our bodies it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives. 004:011 For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus, so that in this mortal nature of ours it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives. 004:012 Thus we are constantly dying, while you are in full enjoyment of Life. 004:013 But possessing the same Spirit of faith as he who wrote, "I believed, and therefore I have spoken," we also believe, and therefore we speak. 004:014 For we know that He who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise us also to be with Jesus, and will cause both us and you to stand in His own presence. 004:015 For everything is for your sakes, in order that grace, being more richly bestowed because of the thanksgivings of the increased number, may more and more promote the glory of God. 004:016 Therefore we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. 004:017 For this our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us a preponderating, yes, a vastly preponderating, and eternal weight of glory; 004:018 while we look not at things seen, but things unseen; for things seen are temporary, but things unseen are eternal. 005:001 For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal. 005:002 For in this one we sigh, because we long to put on over it our dwelling which comes from Heaven— 005:003 if indeed having really put on a robe we shall not be found to be unclothed. 005:004 Yes, we who are in this tent certainly do sigh under our burdens, for we do not wish to lay aside that with which we are now clothed, but to put on more, so that our mortality may be absorbed in Life. 005:005 And He who formed us with this very end in view is God, who has given us His Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that bliss. 005:006 We have therefore a cheerful confidence. We know that while we are at home in the body we are banished from the Lord; 005:007 for we are living a life of faith, and not one of sight. 005:008 So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord. 005:009 And for this reason also we make it our ambition, whether at home or in exile, to please Him perfectly. 005:010 For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless. 005:011 Therefore, because we realize how greatly the Lord is to be feared, we are endeavouring to win men over, and God recognizes what our motives are, and I hope that you, in your hearts, recognize them too. 005:012 We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing. 005:013 For if we have been beside ourselves, it has been for God's glory; or if we are now in our right senses, it is in order to be of service to you. 005:014 For the love of Christ overmasters us, the conclusion at which we have arrived being this—that One having died for all, His death was their death, 005:015 and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. 005:016 Therefore for the future we know no one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ as a man, yet now we do so no longer. 005:017 So that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence. 005:018 And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has appointed us to serve in the ministry of reconciliation. 005:019 We are to tell how God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging men's transgressions to their account, and that He has entrusted to us the Message of this reconciliation. 005:020 On Christ's behalf therefore we come as ambassadors, God, as it were, making entreaty through our lips: we, on Christ's behalf, beseech men to be reconciled to God. 005:021 He has made Him who knew nothing of sin to be sin for us, in order that in Him we may become the righteousness of God. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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