Day 65: 2 Corinthians 1 - 6

New Testament in 90 days reading for day 65.

2 Corinthians 1

14 as you have already understood us in part, so that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus.
15 Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing.
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea.
17 When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” when I really mean “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 proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.”
20 For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.
21 Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us,
22 placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.
23 I call God as my witness 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 are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.

2 Corinthians 2

1 So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
2 For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?
3 I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be saddened by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would share my joy.
4 For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.
5 Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me but all of you—to some degree, not to overstate it.
6 The punishment imposed on him by the majority is sufficient for him.
7 So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
9 My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake,
11 in order that Satan should not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord,
13 I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
15 For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
16 To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?
17 For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.

2 Corinthians 3

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
6 And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!
10 Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.
14 But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
15 And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4

1 Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.
12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13 And in keeping with what is written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak,
14 knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 5

1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
4 So while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 And God has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
11 Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.
12 We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart.
13 If we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.
15 And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.
21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 6

1 As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
2 For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!
3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

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