³We don’t put anything in anyone’s way. So no one can find fault with our work for God. ⁴Instead, we make it clear that we serve God in every way. We serve him by holding steady. We stand firm in all kinds of trouble, hard times and suffering.

⁵We don’t give up when we are beaten or put in prison. When people stir up trouble in the streets, we continue to serve God. We work hard for him. We go without sleep and food. ⁶We remain pure. We understand completely what it means to serve God. We are patient and kind. We serve him in the power of the Holy Spirit. We serve him with true love. ⁷We speak the truth. We serve in the power of God. We hold the weapons of godliness in the right hand and in the left. ⁸We serve God in times of glory and shame. We serve him whether the news about us is bad or good. We are true to our calling.

But people treat us as if we were pretenders. ⁹We are known, but people treat us as if we were unknown. We are dying, but we continue to live. We are beaten, but we are not killed. ¹⁰We are sad, but we are always full of joy. We are poor, but we make many people rich. We have nothing, but we own everything.

¹¹Believers at Corinth, we have spoken freely to you. We have opened our hearts wide to you. ¹²We are not holding back our love from you. But you are holding back your love from us. ¹³I speak to you as if you were my children. It is only fair that you open your hearts wide to us also.

Do Not Be Joined to Unbelievers

¹⁴Do not be joined to unbelievers. What do right and wrong have in common? Can light and darkness be friends? ¹⁵How can Christ and Satan agree? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶How can the temple of the true God and the statues of other gods agree?

We are the temple of the living God. God has said, “I will live with them. I will walk among them. I will be their God. And they will be my people.”

¹⁷“So come out from among them

and be separate,

says the Lord.

Do not touch anything that is not pure and clean.

Then I will receive you.”

¹⁸“I will be your Father.

You will be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord who rules over all.”

7Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So let us make ourselves pure from everything that pollutes our bodies and spirits. Let us be completely holy. We want to honor God.

Paul’s Joy

²Make room for us in your hearts. We haven’t done anything wrong to anyone. We haven’t caused anyone to sin. We haven’t taken advantage of anyone.

³I don’t say this to judge you. I have told you before that you have an important place in our hearts. We would live or die with you. ⁴I have great faith in you. I am very proud of you. I am very happy. Even with all our troubles, my joy has no limit.

⁵When I came to Macedonia, my body wasn’t able to rest. I was attacked no matter where I went. I had battles on the outside and fears on the inside.

⁶But God comforts those who are sad. He comforted me when Titus came. ⁷I was comforted not only when he came but also by the comfort you had given him. He told me how much you longed for me. He told me about your deep sadness and concern for me. That made my joy greater than ever.

⁸Even if my letter made you sad, I’m not sorry I sent it. At first I was sorry. I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. ⁹Now I am happy. I’m not happy because you were made sad. I’m happy because your sadness led you to turn away from your sins. You became sad just as God wanted you to. So you were not hurt in any way by us.

¹⁰Godly sadness causes us to turn away from our sins and be saved. And we are certainly not sorry about that! But worldly sadness brings death.

¹¹Look at what that godly sadness has produced in you. You are working hard to clear yourselves. You are angry and alarmed. You are longing to see me. You are concerned. You are ready to make sure that the right thing is done. In every way you have proved that you are not guilty in that matter.

¹²So even though I wrote to you, it wasn’t because of the one who did the wrong. It wasn’t because of the one who was hurt. Instead, I wrote you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how faithful you are to us. ¹³All of that cheers us up.

We were also very glad to see how happy Titus was. You have all renewed his spirit. ¹⁴I had bragged about you to him. And you have not let me down. Everything we said to you was true. In the same way, our bragging about you to Titus has also turned out to be true. ¹⁵His love for you is even greater when he remembers that you all obeyed his teaching. You received him with fear and trembling. ¹⁶I am glad I can have complete faith in you.

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