8. Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there that were beyond our own strength. We even gave up hope of living.
9. Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead.
10. God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again.
11. And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.
12. This is what we are proud of, and I can say it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest and sincere heart from God. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has.
13-14. We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope that as you have understood some things about us, you may come to know everything about us. Then you can be proud of us, as we will be proud of you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
15. I was so sure of all this that I made plans to visit you first so you could be blessed twice.
16. I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea.
17. Do you think that I made these plans without really meaning it? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, so that I say yes, yes and at the same time no, no.
18. But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no.
19. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I preached to you, was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes.
20. The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God.
21. Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people.
22. He put his mark on us to show that we are his, and he put his Spirit in our hearts to be a guarantee for all he has promised.
23. I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was to keep you from being punished or hurt.
24. We are not trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own joy.