10. From such terrible dangers of death he saved us, and will save us; and we have placed our hope in him that he will save us again,
11. as you help us by means of your prayers for us. So it will be that the many prayers for us will be answered, and God will bless us; and many will raise their voices to him in thanksgiving for us.
12. We are proud that our conscience assures us that our lives in this world, and especially our relations with you, have been ruled by God-given frankness and sincerity, by the power of God's grace, and not by human wisdom.
13-14. We write to you only what you can read and understand. But even though you now understand us only in part, I hope that you will come to understand us completely, so that in the Day of our Lord Jesus you can be as proud of us as we shall be of you.
15. I was so sure of all this that I made plans at first to visit you, in order that you might be blessed twice.
16. For I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back, in order to get help from you for my journey to Judea.
17. In planning this, did I appear fickle? When I make my plans, do I make them from selfish motives, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?
18. As surely as God speaks the truth, my promise to you was not a “Yes” and a “No”.
19. For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you by Silas, Timothy, and myself, is not one who is “Yes” and “No”. On the contrary, he is God's “Yes”;
20. for it is he who is the “Yes” to all God's promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our “Amen” is said to the glory of God.
21. It is God himself who makes us, together with you, sure of our life in union with Christ; it is God himself who has set us apart,
22. who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us.
23. I call God as my witness — he knows my heart! It was in order to spare you that I decided not to go to Corinth.