Study Desk

However, if the people from Macedonia should come with me and find out that you are not ready, how ashamed we would be—not to speak of your shame—for feeling so sure of you!

You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly.

And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.

He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us.

For this service you perform not only meets the needs of God's people, but also produces an outpouring of gratitude to God.

And because of the proof which this service of yours brings, many will give glory to God for your loyalty to the gospel of Christ, which you profess, and for your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else.

And so with deep affection they will pray for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown you.

Let us thank God for his priceless gift!

I beg you not to force me to be harsh when I come; for I am sure I can deal harshly with those who say that we act from worldly motives.

For I am not ashamed, even if I have boasted somewhat too much about the authority that the Lord has given us—authority to build you up, not to tear you down.

As for us, however, our boasting will not go beyond certain limits; it will stay within the limits of the work which God has set for us, and this includes our work among you.

So we do not boast about the work that others have done beyond the limits God set for us. Instead, we hope that your faith may grow and that we may be able to do a much greater work among you, always within the limits that God has set.

For it is when the Lord thinks well of us that we are really approved, and not when we think well of ourselves.

I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.

For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!

And during the time I was with you I did not bother you for help when I needed money; the believers who came from Macedonia brought me everything I needed. As in the past, so in the future: I will never be a burden to you!

I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other "apostles" from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do.

But since there are so many who boast for merely human reasons, I will do the same.

And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches.