2 Corinthians 7–8

Chapter 7

Paul Reveals His Heart

¹Therefore, having these promises, ^abeloved, ^blet us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

^2aMake room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one.

³I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said ^abefore that you are ^bin our hearts to die together and to live together.

⁴Great is my ^aconfidence ¹in you; great is my ^bboasting on your behalf. I am filled with ^ccomfort; I am overflowing with ^djoy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we came into ^aMacedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were ^bafflicted on every side: ^cconflicts without, fears within.

⁶But ^aGod, who comforts the ¹depressed, ^bcomforted us by the coming of ^cTitus;

⁷and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.

⁸For though I ^acaused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—

⁹I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything ¹through us.

¹⁰For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a ^arepentance ¹without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing, this ¹godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what ^alonging, what zeal, what ^bavenging of wrong! In everything you ^cdemonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

¹²So although ^aI wrote to you, it was not for the sake of ^bthe offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

¹³For this reason we have been ^acomforted.

And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of ^bTitus, because his ^cspirit has been refreshed by you all.

¹⁴For if in anything I have ^aboasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before ^bTitus proved to be the truth.

¹⁵His ¹affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the ^aobedience of you all, how you received him with ^bfear and trembling.

¹⁶I rejoice that in everything ^aI have confidence in you.

Chapter 8

Great Generosity

¹Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been ^agiven in the churches of ^bMacedonia,

²that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the ^awealth of their liberality.

³For I testify that ^aaccording to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,

⁴begging us with much urging for the ^afavor ¹of participation in the ^2bsupport of the ³saints,

⁵and this, not as we had ¹expected, but they first ^agave themselves to the Lord and to us by ^bthe will of God.

⁶So we ^aurged ^bTitus that as he had previously ^cmade a beginning, so he would also complete in you ^dthis gracious work as well.

⁷But just as you ^aabound ^bin everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the ¹love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.

⁸I ^aam not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.

⁹For you know ^athe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^bthough He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

¹⁰I ^agive my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin ^ba year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it.

¹¹But now finish ¹doing it also, so that just as there was the ^areadiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.

¹²For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable ^aaccording to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

¹³For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality—

¹⁴at this present time your abundance being a supply for ^atheir need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality;

¹⁵as it is written, “^aHe who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”

¹⁶But ^athanks be to God who ^bputs the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of ^cTitus.

¹⁷For he not only accepted our ^aappeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.

¹⁸We have sent along with him ^athe brother whose fame in the things of the ^bgospel has spread through ^call the churches;

^19aand not only this, but he has also been ^bappointed by the churches to travel with us in ^cthis gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our ^dreadiness,

²⁰¹taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift;

²¹for we ^ahave regard for what is honorable, not only in ^bthe sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

²²We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

²³As for ^aTitus, he is my ^bpartner and fellow worker ¹among you; as for our ^cbrethren, they are ^2dmessengers of the churches, ^ea glory to Christ.

²⁴Therefore ¹openly before the churches, ²show them the proof of your love and of our ^areason for boasting about you.