问候
1我是奉上帝旨意做基督耶稣使徒的保罗，与提摩太弟兄写信给在哥林多的上帝的教会以及亚该亚境内所有的圣徒。
2愿我们的父上帝和主耶稣基督赐给你们恩典和平安！
上帝的安慰
3我们主耶稣基督的父上帝当受赞美！祂是仁慈的父和赐一切安慰的上帝。 4我们遭遇任何患难，祂都安慰我们，使我们能够用祂给我们的安慰去安慰那些在各样患难中的人。 5正如我们多受基督所受的苦楚，也靠基督多得安慰。 6我们遭受患难，是为了使你们得到安慰和拯救；我们得到安慰，也是为了使你们得到安慰，以便你们能忍受像我们所遭遇的诸般苦难。 7我们对你们坚信不移，因为知道你们既和我们同受患难，也必和我们同得安慰。
8弟兄姊妹，希望你们知道我们在亚细亚所遭遇的苦难。那时我们承受极大的压力，超过了我们的极限，甚至连活命的指望都没了。 9我们心里觉得必死无疑，这使我们不倚靠自己，只倚靠使死人复活的上帝。 10祂曾救我们脱离死亡的威胁，将来还要救我们。我们深信祂必继续救我们。 11你们也要用祈祷帮助我们，使恩典借着许多人的祷告临到我们，众人便因此而为我们感恩。
保罗改变计划
12我们感到自豪的是：我们本着上帝所赐的圣洁和诚实为人处世，倚靠祂的恩典，不倚靠人的聪明才智，对待你们更是这样。这一点，我们的良心可以作证。 13-14我们不写任何你们读不懂、不明白的内容。你们现在对我们有几分认识，但我盼望你们最终完全认识到：当主耶稣再来的日子，你们将以我们为荣，正如我们将以你们为荣一样。
15我有这样的把握，所以早就计划去你们那里，使你们有两次蒙福的机会。 16我打算从你们那里去马其顿，再从马其顿回到你们那里，然后你们为我送行前往犹太。 17我定了这计划，难道会反复无常吗？难道我是意气用事，出尔反尔吗？ 18我在信实的上帝面前保证：我们对你们说的话绝不会忽是忽非！ 19我和西拉、提摩太在你们当中所传扬的那位上帝的儿子耶稣基督绝不会忽是忽非，在祂只有“是”。 20因为上帝的一切应许在基督里都是确实的，所以我们也是借着基督说“阿们1:20 “阿们”是“诚然如此”的意思。”，将荣耀归于上帝。 21是上帝使我们和你们一同在基督里信心坚固。祂差遣1:21 “差遣”希腊文是“膏立”。了我们， 22在我们身上盖了祂自己的印记，并让圣灵住在我们心中作担保。
23我求上帝为我作证：我没有去哥林多，是为了宽容你们。 24我们并不是要操纵你们的信仰，而是要帮助你们，使你们喜乐，因为你们在信仰上已经站稳了。
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11. about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Paul’s Change of Plans
12Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity1:12 Many manuscripts holiness and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 13For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17Was 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”?
18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas1:19 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20For 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. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
23I 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. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
