2 Corinthians 1-3

21st Century King James Version

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

² Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,

⁴ who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God.

⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

⁶ And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

⁷ And our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

⁸ For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were pressed beyond measure, beyond strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.

⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raiseth the dead,

¹⁰ who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver us, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.

¹¹ Ye also helped by praying together for us, so that for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

¹² For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience: that we have had our discourse in the world, and more abundantly toward you, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God in simplicity and godly sincerity.

¹³ For we write no other things unto you than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end,

¹⁴ as ye also have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the Day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵ And in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before this, that ye might have a second benefit:

¹⁶ to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come again to you on my way out of Macedonia, and be sent by you on my way toward Judea.

¹⁷ When therefore I was thus minded, did I decide lightly? Or the things which I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be “yea, yea” and “nay, nay”?

¹⁸ But as God is true, our word toward you was not “yea” and “nay.”

¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “yea” and “nay,” but in Him was “yea.”

²⁰ For all the promises of God in Him are “yea”; and in Him “amen” unto the glory of God by us.

²¹ Now He who establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God,

²² who hath also put His seal upon us, and given us the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³ Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that it was to spare you that I came not as yet unto Corinth,

²⁴ not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers for your joy. For by faith ye stand.

2 But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

² For if I make you sorrowful, who is he then who maketh me glad, but the same who is made sorrowful by me?

³ And I wrote as I did unto you lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from those of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

⁴ For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly for you.

⁵ But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part” that I may not overburden you all.

⁶ Sufficient to such a man is this censure, which was inflicted by many,

⁷ so that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

⁸ Therefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him.

⁹ For to this end also did I write, that I might have proof from you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

¹⁰ To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also; for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, I forgave it for your sakes in the person of Christ,

¹¹ lest Satan should get an advantage over us. For we are not ignorant of his devices.

¹² Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s Gospel, and a door was opened unto me by the Lord,

¹³ I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

¹⁴ Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and who maketh manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place.

¹⁵ For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in those who are saved and in those who perish:

¹⁶ to the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

¹⁷ For we are not as many who corrupt the Word of God; but as out of sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

² Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

³ for ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but in fleshy tablets of the heart.

⁴ And such is the trust we have through Christ to Godward.

⁵ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

⁶ who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament — not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

⁷ But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away with,

⁸ how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be more glorious?

⁹ For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory!

¹⁰ For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

¹¹ For if that which is done away with was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

¹² Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech—

¹³ and not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which was being abolished.

¹⁴ But their minds were blinded; for until this day the same veil remaineth untaken away in the reading of the old testament, which veil is done away with in Christ.

¹⁵ But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts.

¹⁶ Nevertheless, when they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

¹⁷ Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

¹⁸ But we all, with uncovered face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.