2 Corinthians 1 (BHT-ATN)

“To: God’s Assembly in Corinth”

1 From: Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

2 To: God’s assembly in Corinth, together with all those set apart to God as a special holy possession+ throughout the province of Achaia.

To all of+ ᵖyou+ grace, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

“Blessed Be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus the Messiah”

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, our merciful Father and the God from whom comes all help,+ 4 who continually helps and strengthens+ us amidst all our trials, so that we can be a source of strength and encouragement+ to others as they go through their own trials of all kinds, exhorting and consoling them with the exhortation and consolation that we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the Messiah’s sufferings,+ so through the Messiah we are an abundant source of strength, too.+ 6 If we are put through trials and difficulties, it is for your encouragement and salvation;+ if we are helped and strengthened, it is so that you may be helped and strengthened, urged on by our example+ as you patiently endure the same kinds of sufferings that we, too, ourselves are experiencing. 7 And this confidence of ours concerning you is not misplaced,+ because we know that just as you in those+ sufferings do share, so you share, too, in that+ help and strength.

8 In this regard, I would have you recall,+ brothers and sisters, the difficulties that befell us in the province of Asia. We were pressed so far beyond our own ability to endure that we lost all hope of ever coming out alive; 9 indeed, we felt as if the very death sentence itself had been passed against us.+ Yet this happened so that we would learn to place our confidence not in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.+ 10 He+ rescued us from the very jaws of death,+ and will continue to come to our rescue. In him+ we have placed our hope, that he will rescue us yet again, 11 as you, too, join in helping us by praying. And many will be those who as a result give thanks to God on our behalf, for how he so graciously delivered us from danger in answer to so many prayers.+

“It Was in Order to Spare You That I Didn’t Return to Corinth”

12 The reason we can speak with such confidence, you see, the truth of which is confirmed by our conscience,+ is this: It is with a purity of motive and sincerity from God—not by debased human+ wisdom, but by the gift of God—that we have conducted ourselves in the world,+ and especially so in our relations with you.+ 13 Indeed, we are writing you not a thing more than what you will read and also discern to be true.+ Yet I am looking forward to you discerning us+ completely, 14 just as you have discerned us in part.+ Then+ you will sing our praises, just as we will sing yours,+ in the Day of the Lord Jesus.+

15 Confident as I was of these things,+ my plan was to visit you first, so that you could have a second proof of my goodwill,+ 16 and then with your help+ go on to Macedonia; from Macedonia I would then make a return trip to you, and then by your help be given a start on my journey to Judea. 17 Now, I obviously changed my plan. Does that mean, though, that I was simply being fickle about it?+ When I make decisions, do I do it in so worldly a way+ that I can say in the same breath “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?+ Certainly not! 18 Yet God is faithful, and he can testify that the things we teach and say+ to you don’t waver between+ “Yes” and “No.” 19 God’s Son, you see, Jesus the Messiah, whom we ourselves proclaimed among you—I and Silas+ and Timothy—didn’t show himself to be an uncertain “Yes, but actually No”;+ on the contrary, it is still in him a resounding “Yes!” 20 As many promises as God has made, you see, are in him a “Yes, it is true!” That is why through him, too, the “Amen,” our “yes, it is certain!” is spoken to the glory of God by us. 21 Now the one who is establishing us together with you in faith in union with the Messiah+ and who anointed us is God, 22 who has also put his seal of ownership on us and placed a down payment of the things to come,+ that is, his Spirit, in our hearts.

23 As for me, I call on God as my witness, against my very life, that it was in order to spare you that I didn’t return to Corinth. 24 It’s not that we’re trying to act like tyrants over your faith;+ no, what we’re doing is working together with you, for your joy, because you have by faith+ taken your stand.

+1:2Lit the saints/holy ones. ME(OTB)/IT (see Timothy Miller, “Paul’s Priestly Mission and Salvation from the Coming Wrath: A Missiological Probe of Romans 15:16 and the Question of Divine Anger through the Worldview of Leviticus” [PhD diss., Columbia International University, 2024]).+1:2“All of” is drawn from the plural “you” here.+1:2Unless otherwise marked (through superscript—ˢyou), all second person pronouns are in the second person plural.+1:3Lit the God of all exhortation/help/encouragement/consolation. ME. Cf TEV.+1:4In Greek, the word παρακαλέω ( parakaleō) and its cognates have a wide range of meaning (console, encourage, exhort, urge, help, strengthen, etc; see, eg, NASB-Dic, 3870; L-N, 12.19), depending on the context. In this section, I have tried to give English readers a more wholistic sense of what Paul has in mind here. Cf 1 Th 3:2 and notes there.+1:4See notes at 1 Th 3:2.+1:5Lit For just as the sufferings of the Messiah abound to us. ME (see BDAG, 805, sv περισσεύω 1.a.β.)+1:5Lit so through the Messiah the strength/help/encouragement of us abounds, too. ME (see UBSHS [2 Co], 15).+1:6Or for your encouragement and deliverance.+1:6Lit for the of you encouragement/help, which is at work/which is effective/which produces. ME. Cf, eg, Php 1:12-13; 1 Th 1:6-10, 3:7. Paul is referring here to the effect his example (ie, how God has given him strength to endure) has on the other believers.+1:7Lit And our hope is firm concerning you. ME (see BDAG, 172, sv βέβαιος 1; Ibid, 319, ἐλπίς 1.a.; UBSHS [2 Co], 16). The content of the hope (“that the Corinthian Christians will continue in their faith despite the afflictions and suffering that they experience” [ UBSHS (2 Co), 16]; cf Php 1:6,1 Th 3:1-5) is signaled by the demonstrative pronoun in translation here.+1:7Or our, or his. The articles in this clause and the following clause are functioning anaphorically. The Messiah (see v 5a) and Paul and his companions (see vv 5-7) are both good contextual candidates for the anaphoric references here.+1:7Or our, or his. See previous note.+1:8Cf translation and note at 1 Co 10:1; TEV.+1:9Lit we have had the sentence of death in ourselves. ME (see UBSHS [1 Co], 19). Cf CJB, ISV, NET, NIV.+1:9Or who is going to raise the dead.+1:10Lit who.+1:10Lit so great a death. ME (see UBSHS [2 Co], 20).+1:10Lit in whom.+1:11Lit so that thanks are (or may be) given by many faces on our behalf for the gracious gift to us through many. ME (see BDAG, 1081, sv χάρισμα a; L-N, 9.9; UBSHS [2 Co], 21). The mismatch in languages here is obvious. Cf CEV, CJB, ISV, NAB, NCV, NET, NIV, NLT, REB, TEV.+1:12Lit the testimony/witness of our conscience.+1:12Lit fleshly. ME (see ANLEX, 346, sv σαρκικός 2, 3; BDAG, 914, σαρκικός 2; notes at 1 Co 3:1). Cf NAB.+1:12Cf 1 Th 2:1-8.+1:12The NIV and TEV capture the meaning well here, in my opinion, and have thus been followed in translation.+1:13The presence of γὰρ ( gar) here (which signals that this information is being used to give strength and support to the preceding statements) makes Hughes’ interpretation (that Paul is referring to the Corinthians’ firsthand knowledge of his character; see ESS [2 Co], 44) more likely than that represented in some of the other examples offered in the UBSHS and ESS (see ESS [2 Co], 44; UBSHS [2 Co], 26). Paul isn’t making a random point about how he writes understandable letters. He is saying that when his readers hear the things he has been writing about in reference to his character and integrity, they would acknowledge the truth of what he is saying based on their firsthand experience of his life. This is similar to 1 Th 1:5 and 2:1-10. BSL defines ἐπιγινώσκω ( epiginōskō) in this context as “to discern something clearly and distinctly, or as true or valid; often with a personal acquaintance that necessitates a reaction” ( BSL, 2 Co 1:13, sv).+1:13Cf NCV; TEV.+1:14Cf 1 Co 4:1-5.+1:14Or For. Following CEV, NCV, NLT, TEV in the interpretation of ὅτι ( hoti) in this context (see ESS [2 Co], 45). Paul is referring here to the age to come, when each person’s life and work will be brought into the light (see 1 Co 4:1-5).+1:14Lit for we are your boast, even as we too are yours. ME (see DBL Greek, #3016; L-N, 33.368; cf also the parallel ideas in places like Ps 34:1-6, Ps 44:8). The copula here is functioning futuristically. Cf ESV, NLT, NIV, TEV.+1:14Cf 1 Th 2:19-20.+1:15Lit with this confidence. ME. Cf CJB, NAB, NCV.+1:15Lit a second gift/grace. ME (see ANLEX, 407, sv χάρις 3.b.; BDAG, 1080, sv χάρις 3.a.).+1:16Or through your city. Lit through you (ie, either by way of Corinth, or with the assistance of the Corinthians; see ESS [2 Co], 51).+1:17Lit When planning this, therefore, surely not then did I use the vacillation? ME/IT (see BDAG, 314, sv ἐλαφρία). In Greek, the particle οὖν ( oun) signals an inference from what precedes, as well as a new development, and can operate on various levels and boundaries of discourse (see Runge, Disc Grammar, 43-8). In this case, the inference is drawn partly from the IT (ie, “I made these plans [and as you know, and I didn’t come back to Corinth]. Therefore, was I being fickle?”). The IT has been made explicit in translation for the sake of clarity. Cf REB, UBSHS (2 Co), 29.+1:17Lit according to the flesh. ME. Cf NIV, REB.+1:17Lit Or the things that I plan/decide, do I decide according to the flesh, so that there may be with me the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no”? ME (see BDAG, 665, sv ναί e.; ESS [2 Co], 54-5; UBSHS [2 Co], 30). Cf CEV, ESV, HCSB, ISV, NCV, NET, NIV, NRSV, TEV+1:18Lit our word to you. In this context, λόγος ( logos—“word,” “message,” “statement,” “instruction,” etc) encompasses communications concerning plans, as well as the gospel message itself (see ESS [1 Co], 56; UBSHS [2 Co], 30).+1:18Cf NLT.+1:19Lit Silvanus. Silvanus and Silas are the same person (see UBSHS [2 Co], 31). Cf NIV, TEV.+1:19Cf Ac 14:3, 1 Co 1:4-9, 2:1-5; 1 Th 1:5.+1:21Cf 1 Co 1:8.+1:22Cf NIV, REB, TNT, TEV; L-N, 57.170.+1:24Lit not that we lord it over your faith. ME (see UBSHS [2 Co], 35). Cf CEV, NLT, TEV.+1:24Or in the faith.