I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Timothy our brother joins me in writing.

We are sending this letter to you, the members of God’s church in Corinth. It is also for all of God’s people everywhere in Achaia.

2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

God Gives Comfort

3Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who gives tender love. All comfort comes from him. 4He comforts us in all our troubles. Now we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We ourselves have received comfort from God. 5We share the sufferings of Christ. We also share his comfort.

6If we are having trouble, it is so that you will be comforted and renewed. If we are comforted, it is so that you will be comforted. Then you will be able to put up with the same suffering we have gone through. 7Our hope for you remains firm. We know that you suffer just as we do. In the same way, God comforts you just as he comforts us.

8Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the hard times we suffered in Asia Minor. We were having a lot of trouble. It was far more than we could stand. We even thought we were going to die. 9In fact, in our hearts we felt as if we were under the sentence of death.

But that happened so that we would not depend on ourselves but on God. He raises the dead to life. 10God has saved us from deadly dangers. And he will continue to do it. We have put our hope in him. He will continue to save us.

11You must help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because of what will happen to us. They will thank God for his kindness to us in answer to the prayers of many.

Paul Changes His Plans

12Here is what we take pride in. Our sense of what is right and wrong gives witness that we have acted in God’s holy and honest ways. That is how we live in the world. We live that way most of all when we are dealing with you. Our way of living is not wise in the eyes of the world. But it is in keeping with God’s grace.