1 & 2 Corinthians (<i>GOD'S WORD</i>)

1 and 2 Corinthians (GOD'S WORD)

1 Corinthians 1:13 (GOD'S WORD)

¹³Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul's name?

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (GOD'S WORD)

²⁶Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. ²⁷But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. ²⁸God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises—what it considers to be nothing—in order to destroy what it considers to be something.
²⁹As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence.³⁰You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our righteousness, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. ³¹As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-9 (GOD'S WORD)

   ⁶However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn't belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. ⁷We speak about the mystery of God's wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God had planned for our glory before the world began. ⁸Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.⁹But as Scripture says:
                    "No eye has seen,
                        no ear has heard,
                            and no mind has imagined
                                the things that God has prepared
                                    for those who love him."

1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁰God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. ¹¹After all, who knows everything about a person except that person's own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God's Spirit. ¹²Now, we didn't receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us. ¹³ We don't speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit's teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit.
    ¹⁴A person who isn't spiritual doesn't accept the teachings of God's Spirit. He thinks they're nonsense. He can't understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. ¹⁵Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subject to no one's evaluation.
   ¹⁶    "Who has known the mind of the Lord
                so that he can teach him?"
However, we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:5-17 (GOD'S WORD)

⁵Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are servants who helped you come to faith. Each did what the Lord gave him to do.⁶I planted, and Apollos watered, but God made it grow. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is important because only God makes it grow.⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive
a reward for his own work. ⁹We are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field. You are God’s building.¹⁰As a skilled and experienced builder, I used the gift that God gave me to lay the foundation {for that building}. However, someone else is building on it. Each person must be careful how he builds on it.¹¹After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that foundation is Jesus Christ. ¹²People may build on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. ¹³The day will make what each one does clearly visible because fire will reveal it. That fire will determine what kind of work each person has done. ¹⁴If what a person has built survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If his work is burned up, he will suffer [the loss]. However, he will be saved, though it will be like going through a fire.
¹⁶Don't you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him because God's temple is holy. You are that holy temple!

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁸Don't deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise in the ways of this world, you should give up that wisdom in order to become really wise. ¹⁹The wisdom of this world is nonsense in God's sight. That's why Scripture says, "God catches the wise in their cleverness." ²⁰Again Scripture says, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are pointless."

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (GOD'S WORD)

¹People should think of us as servants of Christ and managers who are entrusted with God’s mysteries. ²Managers are required to be trustworthy.
³It means very little to me that you or any human court should crossexamine me. I don’t even ask myself questions. ⁴I have a clear conscience, but that doesn’t mean I have God’s approval. It is the Lord who cross-examines me. ⁵Therefore, don’t judge anything before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will also bring to light what is hidden in the dark and reveal people’s motives. Then each person will receive praise from God.

1 Corinthians 4:9-12 (GOD'S WORD)

⁹As I see it, God has placed us apostles last in line, like people condemned to die. We have become a spectacle for people and angels to look at. ¹⁰We have given up our wisdom for Christ, but you have insight because of Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ To this moment, we are hungry, thirsty, poorly dressed, roughly treated, and homeless. ¹²We wear ourselves out doing physical labor. When people verbally abuse us, we bless them. When people persecute us, we endure it. ¹³When our reputations are attacked, we remain courteous. Right now we have become garbage in the eyes of the world and trash in the sight of all people.

1 Corinthians 6:1-11 (GOD'S WORD)

   ¹When one of you has a complaint against another, how dare you go to court to settle the matter in front of wicked people. Why don't you settle it in front of God's holy people? ²Don't you know that God's people will judge the world? So if you're going to judge the world, aren't you capable of judging insignificant cases? ³Don't you know that we will judge angels, not to mention things in this life?      ⁴When you have cases dealing with this life, why do you allow people whom the church has a low opinion of to be your judges? ⁵You should be ashamed of yourselves! Don't you have at least one wise person who is able to settle disagreements between believers? ⁶Instead, one believer goes to court against another believer, and this happens in front of unbelievers.
   ⁷You are already totally defeated because you have lawsuits against each other. Why don't you accept the fact that you have been wronged? Why don't you except that you have been cheated?
  ⁸Instead, you do wrong and cheat, and you do this to other believers .⁹Don't you know that wicked people won't inherit the kingdom of God? Stop decieving youselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins, who worship false gods, those who commit adultery, homosexuals, ¹⁰or thieves, those who are greety or drink, who use abusive language, or who rob people will not inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹That's what some of you were! But you have been washed and made holy, and you have received God's appoval in the name of the Lord Jesus Christs and in the spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁵Don't you realize that your bodies are parts of Christ's body? Should I take the parts of Christ's body and make them parts of a prostitute's body? That's unthinkable! ¹⁶Don't you realize that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her? God says, "The two will be one." ¹⁷However, the person who united himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him
¹⁸Stay away from sexual sins. Other sins that people commit don't affect their bodies the same way sexual sins do. People who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. ¹⁹Don't you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don't belong to yourselves.²⁰You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.

1 Corinthians 8:1-8 (GOD'S WORD)

  ¹From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother in the Christian faith.
    ²To God’s church that was made holy by Christ Jesus and called to be God’s holy people in the city of Corinth and to people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   ³Good willa and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!Now about eating food that was offered to false gods: We know that the false gods in this world don't really exist and that no god exists except the one God. ⁵People may say that there are gods in heaven and on earth -- many gods and many lords, as they would call them. ⁶But for us,
    "There is only one God, the Father.
          Everything came from him, and we live for him.
       There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ.
          Everything came into being through him,
             and we live because of him."
    ⁷But not everyone knows this. Some people are so used to worshiping false gods that they believe they are eating food offered to a false god. So they feel guilty because their conscience is weak.
    ⁸Food will not affect our relationship with God. We are no worse off if we eat [that food] and no better off if we don't.

1 Corinthians 10:16-22 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁶ When we bless the cup of blessing aren’t we sharing the blood of Christ? When we break the bread aren’t we sharing the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one loaf, we are one body, although we are many individuals. All of us share one loaf.
¹⁸Look at the people of Israel from a human point of view. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices share what is on the altar? ¹⁹Do I mean that an offering made to a false god is anything, or that a false god itself is anything? ²⁰Hardly! What I am saying is that these sacrifices which people make are made to demons and not to God. I don’t want you to be partners with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot participate at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons. ²²Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is?

1 Corinthians 11:6-24 (GOD'S WORD)

   ³However, I want you to realize that Christ has authority over every man, a husband has authority over his wife, and God has authority over Christ. ⁴Every man who covers his head when he prays or speaks what God has revealed dishonors the one who has authority over him. ⁵Every woman who prays or speaks what God has revealed and has her head uncovered while she speaks dishonors the one who has authority over her. She is like the woman who has her head shaved. ⁶So if a woman doesn't cover her head, she should cut off her hair. If it's a disgrace for a woman to cut off her hair or shave her head, she should cover her head. ⁷ A man should not cover his head. He is God's image and glory. The woman, however, is man's glory. ⁸Clearly, man wasn't made from woman but woman from man. ⁹ Man wasn't created for woman but woman for man. ¹⁰Therefore, a woman should wear something on her head to show she is under [someone's] authority, out of respect for the angels.¹¹Yet, as believers in the Lord, women couldn’t exist without men and men couldn’t exist without women. ¹²As a woman came into existence from a man, so men come into existence by women, but everything comes from God.
    ¹³Judge your own situation. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?¹⁴Doesn’t nature itself teach you that it is disgraceful for a man to have long hair? ¹⁵Doesn’t it teach you that it is a woman’s pride to wear her hair long? Her hair is given to her in place of a covering. ¹⁶If anyone wants to argue about this bthey can’t, becausen we don’t have any custom like this—
nor do any of the churches of God.
   ¹⁷I have no praise for you as I instruct you in the following matter: When you gather, it results in more harm than good. ¹⁸In the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church you split up into opposing groups. I believe some of what I hear. ¹⁹Factions have to exist in order to make it clear who the genuine believers among you are.
   ²⁰When you gather in the same place, you can’t possibly be eating the Lord’s Supper.²¹Each of you eats his own supper without waiting for each other. So one person goes hungry and another gets drunk. ²²Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Do you despise God’s church and embarrass people who don’t have anything to eat? What can I say to you? Should I praise you? I
won’t praise you for this. ²³After all, I passed on to you what I had received from the Lord. On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread 24and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”

1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (GOD'S WORD)

²⁷Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the Lord's cup in an improper way will be held responsible for the Lord's body and blood. ²⁸ With this in mind, individuals must determine whether what they are doing is proper when they eat the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹Anyone who eats and drinks is eating and drinking a judgment against himself when he doesn't recognize the Lord's body.
³⁰This is the reason why many of you are weak and sick and quite a number {of you} have died.³¹If we were judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. ³² But when the Lord judges us, he disciplines us so that we won't be condemned along with the rest of the world.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (GOD'S WORD)

   ¹I may speak in the languages of humans and of angels. But if I don't have love, I am a loud gong or a clashing cymbal.²I may have the gift to speak what God has revealed, and I may understand all mysteries and have all knowledge. I may even have enough faith to move mountains. But if I don't have love, I am nothing. ³ I may even give away all that I have and give up my body to be burned. But if I don't have love, none of these things will help me.
   ⁴Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn't jealous. It doesn't sing its own praises. It isn't arrogant. ⁵It isn't rude. It doesn't think about itself. It isn't irritable. It doesn't keep track of wrongs. ⁶It isn't happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. ⁷ Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
  ⁸Love never comes to an end. There is the gift of speaking what God has revealed, but it will no longer be used. There is the gift of speaking in other languages, but it will stop by itself. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will no longer be used. ⁹Our knowledge is incomplete and our ability to speak what God has revealed is incomplete. ¹⁰But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will no longer be used. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways. ¹²Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me.
    ¹³So three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.

1 Corinthians 14:1-25 (GOD'S WORD)

¹ Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially the gift of speaking what God has revealed. ²When a person speaks in another language, he doesn’t speak to people but to God. No one understands him. His spirit is speaking mysteries. ³But when a person speaks what God has revealed, he speaks to people to help them grow, to encourage them, and to comfort them. ⁴When a person speaks in another language, he helps himself grow. But when a person speaks what God has revealed, he helps the church grow. ⁵I wish that all of you could speak in other languages, but especially that you could speak what God has revealed. The person who speaks what God has revealed is more important than the person who speaks in other languages. This is true unless he can interpret what he says to help the church grow. ⁶Brothers and sisters, it wouldn’t do you any good if I came to you speaking in other languages, unless I explained revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or doctrine to you.
    ⁷Musical instruments like the flute or harp produce sounds. If there is no difference in the notes, how can a person tell what tune is being played? ⁸For example, if the trumpet doesn’t sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? ⁹In the same way, if you don’t speak in a way that can be understood, how will anyone know what you’re saying? You will be talking into thin air.
    ¹⁰No matter how many different languages there are in the world, not one of them is without meaning. ¹¹If I don’t know what a language means, I will be a foreigner to the person who speaks it and that person will be a foreigner to me. ¹²In the same way, since you’re eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in them so that you help the church grow. ¹³So the person who speaks in another language should pray for an interpretation of what he says.
    ¹⁴If I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my mind is not productive. ¹⁵So what does this mean? It means that I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, and I will sing psalms with my mind. ¹⁶Otherwise, if you praise God only with your spirit, how can outsiders say “Amen!” to your prayer of thanksgiving? They don’t know what you’re saying. ¹⁷Your prayer of thanksgiving may be very good, but it doesn’t help other people grow. ¹⁸I thank God that I speak in other languages more than any of you. ¹⁹Yet, in order to teach others in church, I would rather say five words that can be understood than ten thousand words in another language.
    ²⁰Brothers and sisters, don’t think like children. When it comes to evil, be like babies, but think like mature people. ²¹God’s word says,

            “Through people who speak foreign languages
                and through the mouths of foreigners
                    I will speak to these people,
                        but even then they will not listen to me,
                            says the Lord.”

    ²²So the gift of speaking in other languages is a sign for unbelievers, not for believers. The gift of speaking what God had revealed is a sign for believers, not for unbelievers. ²³Suppose the whole congregation gathers in the same place and you speak in other languages. When outsiders or unbelievers come in, won’t they say that you’re out of your mind? ²⁴Now suppose you speak what God has revealed. When unbelievers or outsiders come in you will show them where they are wrong and convince them that they are sinners. ²⁵The secrets in their hearts will become known, and in this way they will quickly bow with their faces touching the ground, worship God, and confess that God is truly among you.

1 Corinthians 14:26-34 (GOD'S WORD)

²⁶So what does this mean, brothers and sisters? When you gather, each person has a psalm, doctrine, revelation, another language, or an interpretation. Everything must be done to help each other grow. ²⁷If people speak in other languages, only two or three at the most should speak. They should do it one at a time, and someone must interpret what each person says. ²⁸But if an interpreter isn't present, those people should remain silent in church. They should only speak to themselves and to God.
²⁹Two or three people should speak what God has revealed. Everyone else should decide whether what each person said is right or wrong. ³⁰ If God reveals something to another person who is seated, the first speaker should be silent. ³¹All of you can take your turns speaking what God has revealed. In that way, everyone will learn and be encouraged. ³²People who speak what God has revealed must control themselves.³³God is not a God of disorder but a God of peace.
As in all the churches of God 's holy people, ³⁴the women must keep silent. They don't have the right to speak. They must take their place as Moses' Teachings say.

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (GOD'S WORD)

²⁰ But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life. ²¹ Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. ²²As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. ²³ This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him {will be made alive}. ²⁴Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and power.
²⁵ Christ must rule until God put every enemy under his control. ²⁶The last enemy he will destroy is death. ²⁷Clearly, God has put everything under Christ's authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ's authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything under Christ's authority. ²⁸But when God puts everything under Christ's authority, the Son will put himself under God's authority, since God had put everything under the Son's authority. Then God will be in control of everything.

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 (GOD'S WORD)

   ³⁵But someone will ask, "How do the dead come back to life? With what kind of body will they come back?"³⁶You fool! The seed you plant doesn't come back to life unless it dies first. ³⁷What you plant, whether it's wheat or something else, is only a seed. It doesn't have the form that a plant will have. ³⁸God gives the plant the form he wants it to have. Each kind of seed grows into its own form. ³⁹Not all flesh is the same. Humans have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish have still another.⁴⁰There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies don't all have the same splendor, neither do earthly bodies. ⁴¹The son has one kind of splender, the moon has another kind of splender, and the stars have still another kind of splender. Even one star differs in splender from another star. ⁴²That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay. ⁴³When the body is planted, it doesn't have any splender and it is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splender and is strong. ⁴⁴It is planted as a physical body. It comes back to life as a spiritual body. As there is a physical body, so there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵This is what scipture says: "The first man, Adam, became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual does not come first, but the physical and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was made from the dust of the earth. He came from the earth. The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸The people on earth are like the man who was made from the dust of the earth. The people in heaven are like the man who came from heaven.⁴⁹As we have worn the likeness of the man who was made from the dust of the earth, we will also wear the likeness of the man who came from heaven. ⁵⁰Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What decays cannot inherit what doesn't decay.
⁵¹I'm telling you a mystery. Not all of us will die, but we will all be changed. ⁵²It will happen in an instant, in a split second at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will come back to life. They will be changed so that they can live forever. ⁵³This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever. ⁵⁴ When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true:
        "Death is turned into victory!
    ⁵⁵    Death, where is your victory?
                Death, where is your sting?"
⁵⁶ Sin gives death its sting, and God's standards give sin its power. ⁵⁷ Thank God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    ⁵⁸So, then, brothers and sisters, don't let anyone move you off the foundation [of your faith]. Always excel in the work you do for the Lord. You know that the hard work you do for the Lord is not pointless.

1 Corinthians 16:5-9 (GOD'S WORD)

⁵After I go through the province of Macedonia, I'll visit you, (I will be going through Macedonia.) ⁶I'll probably stay with you. I might even spend the winter. Then you can give me your support as I travel, wherever I decide to go. ⁷Right now all I could do is visit you briefly, but if the Lord lets me, I hope to spend some time with you. ⁸I will be staying here in Ephesus until Pentecost. ⁹ I have a great opportunity to do effective work here, although there are many people who oppose me.

**2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (GOD'S WORD)**

²⁰Certainly, Christ made God's many promises come true. For that reason, because of our message, people also honor God by saying. "Amen!"
²¹God establishes us, together with you, in a relationship with Christ. He has also anointed us. ²²In addition, has given us the Spirit as his guarantee.

**2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (GOD'S WORD)**

¹⁴ But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It's like a fragrance that fills the air. ¹⁵ To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying. ¹⁶ To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance.

2 Corinthians 3:4-11 (GOD'S WORD)

⁴Christ gives us confidence about you in God's presence.⁵ By ourselves we are not qualified in any way to claim that we can do anything. Rather, God makes us qualified.⁶ He has also qualified us to be ministers of a new promise, a spiritual promise, not a written one. Clearly, what was written brings death, but the Spirit brings life.
⁷The ministry that brought death was inscribed on stone. Yet, it came with such glory that the people of Israel couldn't look at Moses' face. His face was shining with glory, even though that glory was fading.⁸ Won't the ministry that brings the Spirit have even more glory?⁹If the ministry that brings punishment has glory, then the ministry that brings God's approval has an overwhelming glory. ¹⁰In fact, the ministry that brings punishment lost its glory because of the superior glory of the other ministry. ¹¹If that former ministry faded away despite its glory, how much more does that ministry which remains continue to be glorious?

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁷This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ As all of us reflect the Lord's glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 (GOD'S WORD)

¹We don't become discouraged, since God has given us this ministry through his mercy. ²Instead, we have refused to use secret and shameful ways. We don't use tricks, and we don't distort God's word. As God watches, we clearly reveal the truth to everyone. This is our {letter of} recommendation.
³So if the Good News that we tell others is covered with a veil, it is hidden from those who are dying. ⁴The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. As a result, they don't see the light of the Good News about Christ who is God's image.
⁵Our message is not about ourselves. It is about Jesus Christ as the Lord. We are your servants for his sake. ⁶We are his servants because the same God who said that light should shine out of darkness has given us light. For that reason we bring to light the knowledge about God's glory which shines from Christ's face.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (GOD'S WORD)

¹We know that if the life we live here on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house in heaven that isn't made by human hands. ² In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven. ³ After we have put it on, we won't be naked. ⁴ While we are in this tent, we sigh. We feel distressed because we don't want to take off the tent, but we do want to put on the eternal house. Then [eternal] life will put an end to our mortal existence. ⁵ God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit to guarantee it.
⁶ So we are confident. We know that as long as we are living in these bodies, we are living away from the Lord. ⁷ Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord. ⁹ Whether we live in the body or move out of it, our goal is to be pleasing to him. ¹⁰ All of us must appear in front of Christ's judgment seat. Then all people will receive what they deserve for the good or evil they have done while living in their bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (GOD'S WORD)

²¹God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might seek recieve God's approval through him.

2 Corinthians 6:1-18 (GOD'S WORD)

¹ Since we are God’s coworkers, we urge you not to let God’s kindness be wasted on you. ²God says,
            “At the right time I heard you. On the day of salvation I helped you.” Listen, now is God’s acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!
    ³We don’t give people any opportunity to find fault with how we serve. ⁴Instead, our lives demonstrate that we are God’s servants. We have endured many things: suffering, distress, anxiety, ⁵beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and lack of food. ⁶ People can seen our purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit’s presence bin our livesn , our sincere love, ⁷truthfulness, and the presence of God’s power. We demonstrate that we are God’s servants ⁸as we are praised and dishonored, as we are slandered and honored, and as we use what is right to attack what is wrong and to defend the truth. We are treated as dishonest although we are honest, ⁹as unknown although we are well-known, as dying although, as you see, we go on living. We are punished, but we are not killed. ¹⁰People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything.¹¹We have been very open in speaking to you Corinthians. We have a place for you in our hearts. ¹²We haven’t cut you off. Your own emotions have cut you off from us . ¹³I’m talking to you as I would talk to children. Treat us the same way we’ve treated you. Make a place for us in your hearts too.
    ¹⁴Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness? ¹⁵Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever? ¹⁶Can God’s temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said, “I will live and walk among them. I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
   ¹⁷The Lord says, “Get away from unbelievers. Separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.”
    ¹⁸ The Lord Almighty says, “I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 (GOD'S WORD)

¹Since we have these promises, dear friends, we need to cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit and live a holy life in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (GOD'S WORD)

⁹You know about the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor in order to make you rich through his poverty.

2 Corinthians 10:12-18 (GOD'S WORD)

    ¹²We wouldn't put ourselves in the same class with or compare ourselves to those who are bold enough to make their own recommendations. Certainly, when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves to themselves, they show how foolish they are.
    ¹³How can we brag about things that no one can evaluate? Instead, we will only brag about what God has given us to do -- coming to {the city of Corinth} where you live.¹⁴It's not as though we hadn't already been to Corinth. We're not overstating the facts. The fact is that we were the first to arrive in Corinth with the Good News about Christ. ¹⁵How can we brag about things done by others that can't be evaluated?
    We have confidence that as your faith grows, you will think enough of us to give us the help we need to carry out our assignment -- ¹⁶spreading the Good News in the regions far beyond you. We won't brag about things already accomplished by someone else.
    ¹⁷"Whoever brags should brag about what the Lord has done." ¹⁸It isn't the person who makes his own recommendation who receives approval, but the person whom the Lord recommends.

2 Corinthians 11:1-6 (GOD'S WORD)

¹I want you to put up with a little foolishness from me. I'm sure that you will. ²I'm as protective of you as God is. After all, you're a virgin whom I promised in marriage to one man -- Christ. ³However, I'm afraid that as the snake deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.⁴When someone comes to you telling about another Jesus whom we didn’t tell you about, you’re
willing to put up with it. When you receive a spirit that is different from the Spirit you received earlier, you’re also willing to put up with that. When someone tells you good news that is different from the Good News you already accepted, you’re willing to put up with that too.
⁵I don’t think I’m inferior in any way to your super-apostles.⁶Even though I’m not good with words, I know what I’m talking about. Timothy and I have made this clear to you in every possible way.

2 Corinthians 11:5-15 (GOD'S WORD)

    ⁵I don't think I'm inferior in any way to your super-apostles. ⁶Even though I'm not good with words, I know what I'm talking about. Timothy and I have made this clear to you in every possible way.
    ⁷Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by telling you the Good News of God free of charge so that you could become important? ⁸ I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to serve you. ⁹When I was with you and needed something, I didn't bother any of you for help. My friends from the province of Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a financial burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do that.
    ¹⁰As surely as I have Christ's truth, my bragging will not be silenced anywhere in Greece. ¹¹Why? Because I don't love you? God knows that I do love you. ¹² But I'll go on doing what I'm doing. This will take away the opportunity of those people who want to brag because they think they're like us. ¹³People who brag like this are false apostles. They are dishonest workers, since they disguise themselves as Christ's apostles. ¹⁴And no wonder, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it's not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants who have God's approval. In the end they will get what they deserve.

2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (GOD'S WORD)

¹I must brag, although it doesn't do any good. I'll go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a follower of Christ who was snatched away to the third heaven fourteen years ago. I don't know whether this happened to him physically or spiritually. Only God knows. ³ I know that this person ⁴was snatched away to paradise where he heard things that can't be expressed in words, things that humans cannot put into words. I don't know whether this happened to him physically or spiritually. Only God knows.

2 Corinthians 12:5-10 (GOD'S WORD)

⁵I'll brag about this person, but I won't brag about myself unless it's about my weaknesses.
⁶If I ever wanted to brag, I wouldn't be a fool. Instead, I would be telling the truth. But I'm going to spare you so that no one may think more of me than what he sees or hears about me, ⁷especially because of the excessive number of revelations that I've had.
Therefore, to keep me from becoming conceited, I am forced to deal with a recurring problem. That problem, Satan's messenger, torments me to keep me from being conceited. ⁸ I begged the Lord three times to take it away from me.⁹But he told me: "My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So I will brag even more about my weaknesses in order that Christ's power will live in me.
¹⁰Therefore, I accept weakness, mistreatment, hardship, persecution, and difficulties suffered for Christ. It's clear that when I'm weak, I'm strong.

2 Corinthians 12:11-13 (GOD'S WORD)

¹¹I have become a fool. You forced me to be one. You should have recommended me to others. Even if I'm nothing, I wasn't inferior in any way to your super-apostles. ¹²While I was among you I patiently did the signs, wonders, and miracles which prove that I'm an apostle. ¹³How were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I didn't bother you for help? Forgive me for this wrong!

2 Corinthians 13:1-4 (GOD'S WORD)

¹ This is the third time that I’ll be visiting you. Every accusation must be verified by two or three witnesses. ²I already warned you when I was with you the second time, and even though I’m not there now, I’m warning you again. When I visit you again, I won’t spare you. That goes for all those who formerly led sinful lives as well as for all the others. ³Since you want proof that Christ is speaking through me, that’s what you’ll get. Christ isn’t weak in dealing with you. Instead, he makes his power felt among you. ⁴He was weak when he was crucified, but by God’s power he lives. We are weak with him, but by God’s power we will live for you with his help.