6. So we urged Titus that just as he had begun, so he should also complete this grace to you.
7. Now as you excel in everything — faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us — excel also in this grace.
8. I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.
9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.
10. Now I am giving an opinion on this because it is profitable for you, who a year ago began not only to do something but also to desire it.
11. But now finish the task as well, that just as there was eagerness to desire it, so there may also be a completion from what you have.
12. For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13. It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality —
14. at the present time your surplus is available for their need, so their abundance may also become available for our need, so there may be equality.
15. As it has been written:The person who gathered muchdid not have too much,and the person who gathered littledid not have too little.
16. Thanks be to God who put the same concern for you into the heart of Titus.
17. For he accepted our urging and, being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.