16. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to let you send me on my way to Judea.
17. Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’?
18. But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.
19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silas and Timothy – was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, but in him it has always been ‘Yes’.
20. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.
21. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
22. set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
23. I call God as my witness – and I stake my life on it – that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
24. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith