56For our broken ways give death its sting, and our broken ways give the law its power. But no more! 57We give thanks to the Great Spirit, who has given us the victory over our broken ways and over death through our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One!
58So then, my much-loved family members, you must stand strong, with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Never give up working hard for our Honored Chief, for you know that what- ever you do for him will never fade away.
OFFERINGS TO HELP CREATOR’S HOLY PEOPLE
1Now, in respect to the taking of offerings to help Creator’s holy people who live in Village of Peace (Jerusalem): I am giving you the same instructions that I gave to the sacred families who gather in the territory of Land of Pale Skins (Galatia).
2When you gather on the first day of the week, take from as much as you have been blessed with and set it aside. Keep it in a safe place until I come. In this way no offerings will need to be taken when I come. 3Then, when I arrive, I will send your trusted messengers, along with letters of approval, to Village of Peace (Jerusalem). 4If you think it wise for me to travel with them, we will walk the road together.
5But on my way to you I must first pass through Land of Tall People (Macedonia). After that I will come to you 6and perhaps stay for a while, or even for the winter. Then when I leave, you can sing a traveling song over me as I continue my journey to wherever I may go.
7I am trusting that it is Creator’s plan for me to stay with you for a season, instead of just passing through. 8But for now I will be staying at Village of Desire (Ephesus) until the Festival of Weeks, 9for a wide path filled with new possibilities has opened before me, even though there are many trying to block the way.
The Festival of Weeks Small Man (Paul) is speaking of is a ceremonial harvest festival that the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) celebrated. It was called the Festival of Weeks53 or Pentecost, meaning “fifty,” because it was celebrated after seven weeks, on the fiftieth day, following another festival called Passover.54
10If He Gives Honor (Timothy) comes to you, calm his fears about being with you, for he is working at doing what the Great Spirit wants, just as I am. 11So make sure no one looks down on him. Then send him on his way in peace, for I am waiting for him to come to me along with other brothers in the sacred family.
12Now about our spiritual brother He Tears Down (Apollos): more than once I have encouraged him and others to come and stay awhile with you, but for him it was not a good time to come. He will come to you when the time is right.
SMALL MAN’S FINAL WORDS
13Keep your eyes wide open. Stand firm in the faith. Be brave and strong. 14Let love be the reason behind all that you do.
15Do not forget about Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and all who live in his house. They were the first to follow the way of the Chosen One in Land of Sorrow (Achaia). They set their hearts to serving Creator’s holy people. I beg of you, my sacred family, 16to follow their guidance and to walk in the footsteps of all who serve in this manner.
17It made my heart glad when Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and Lucky Man (Fortunatus) and Man of Sorrows (Achaicus) came to me. They have been walking in your footsteps by helping me while you have been away. 18My spirit has been renewed by them in the same way they have renewed yours. You should make sure men like these are given the honor they deserve.
19The sacred families who gather in Land of the Rising Sun (Asia) send their greetings to you. Strong Eagle (Aquila) and Lives Long (Priscilla)55 and the sacred family that meets for ceremony in their home also send warm greetings to you in our Honored Chief. 20All the sacred family members send their greetings to you. Welcome each other with a holy kiss.
21I, Small Man (Paul) write this final greeting with my own hand.
22Let all who fail to love our Honored Chief be cut off56 from the Chosen One!57 Come, O Honored Chief, Come! (Maranatha!)58
23May the gift of great kindness that comes through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) remain with you. 24May the deep love I have for all of you in the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), find its way into your hearts.
Aho! May it be so!
SECOND LETTER FROM SMALL MAN TO THE SACRED FAMILY IN VILLAGE OF PLEASURE
2 CORINTHIANS
GREETINGS
1From Small Man (Paul), chosen by the Great Spirit to be a message bearer for the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), and from He Gives Honor (Timothy), our spiritual brother.
To the members of Creator’s sacred family who gather in Village of Pleasure (Corinth), and to all Creator’s holy people who live in the territory of Land of Sorrow (Achaia).
2Great kindness and peace to you from our Father the Great Spirit and from our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. 3All blessings belong to the Great Spirit, who is the Father of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. He is a kind-hearted and merciful Father, the Maker of Life who walks by our side to give us help, and the Great Spirit of all comfort.
COURAGE AND COMFORT
4The Great Spirit walks with us through times of trouble, giving us courage and well-being so that we can give to others the same comfort he has given to us. 5When our suffering overflows because we represent the Chosen One, he gives us overflowing strength and well-being. 6Our sufferings and the comfort we receive help us to bring you comfort when you suffer in the same way we have. 7This gives us great hope, for we know that when you share in our troubles, you will also share in our comfort.
8With this in mind, my sacred family members, we want you to know about the road of suffering we walked in Land of the Rising Sun (Asia). Things could not have been worse. We ran out of strength, and our hearts fell to the ground. It was as if we had come face to face with death. 9It truly felt as if death were stalking us. This caused us to stop trusting in ourselves and to put our trust in the Great Spirit who brings the dead back to life—and he did! 10The Great Spirit snatched us from the jaws of death. Yes, we have set our hearts on the one who rescues us, that he will rescue us again and again! 11We need your prayers, for as you send your voice to the Great Spirit, many will see in our lives the answers to your many prayers and give him thanks.
12We may be bragging, but we are bold enough to tell you that our hearts are pure, for we have walked this road of life in a sacred and true manner. We have not followed the ways of this world, but by the gift of Creator’s great kindness we have walked in a good way before the people of this world, and even more toward you. In the same way, our words to you are as straight as an arrow. We do not speak with forked tongues in our letters to you. 13What you read in our letters should be clear to you, so I hope you understand everything in the way we mean it.
14Even now you do not fully know us, and my hope is that you will come to know us for who we truly are. Then on the day of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), we will take pride in knowing each other. 15-16It was for this reason that I had planned the blessing of two visits with you. I would have come to you first on my way to Land of Tall People (Macedonia), and then I would have come to you again on my way to Land of Promise (Judea). Then you could have sung a traveling song over me and sent me on my way.
A MAN OF HIS WORD
17So when I had to change my plans, did this make you think that I am not a man of my word? Do you think I say “Yes” when I mean “No,” like the people who follow the ways of this world? 18If you trust the Great Spirit, then you can trust that I am a man of my word. When I say “Yes” or “No” I mean what I say.
19So you can be sure that the message made known to you by Forest Walker (Silvanus), He Gives Honor (Timothy), and me, Small Man (Paul), remains “Yes” in the Chosen One Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Son of the Great Spirit, for Creator is true to his word. 20The many promises of the Great Spirit find their “Yes” in the Chosen One. He is the reason we say, “Aho! May it be so!” to honor the Great Spirit.
21Creator has set us all firmly on the roc
k of the Chosen One. He poured the oil of the Spirit’s power on us. 22He put his Spirit into our hearts to mark us as his own. His Spirit in us is the promise of our place in the world to come.
23I call on the Great Spirit to be a witness to the truth I tell you now. The reason I did not come to you in Village of Pleasure (Corinth) was to spare you the pain my sharp words would bring to you. 24Instead, we want to work together with you to make your hearts glad. It is not our aim to rule over you but to walk together with you as you stand firm in your faith.
1So I made up my mind not to sadden you with another painful visit. 2If I came to you in this way, there would be no one to make my heart glad, for your hearts would be on the ground. 3I have written this letter so that when I come to you it will be a time of rejoicing instead of sadness. I am sure you also want the same thing.
4My heart was on the ground as I wrote the other letter to you. I wrote each word in pain, sorrow, and many tears. Not to cause you pain, but to let you know how great my love is for all of you.
FORGIVE THE ONE WHO HAS DONE WRONG
5But there is one among you who has caused trouble and pain, not so much to me but mostly to all of you. 6The discipline most of you have already given him is enough. There is no need to punish him further. 7Instead, to keep him from losing heart and falling into deep sorrow and self-pity, you should forgive and speak words of healing over him. 8That is why I now beg you to show him once again how much you love him.
9The reason for my letter was to find out whether you would follow all of my instructions, even the hard ones. 10Anyone you forgive, I forgive also. Whatever I have already forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I forgave knowing that the Chosen One is here with us in spirit.1 11I do this to make sure that Accuser (Satan) gains no foothold, for we know his evil trickster ways.
SMALL MAN AT THE VILLAGE OF CUT THROUGH
12On my journey I arrived at the seaport village of Cut Through (Troas). For it was there that our Honored Chief had opened a way for me to tell the good story about the Chosen One. 13But my spirit was restless when I did not find Big Man (Titus) there, for he is like a brother to me. So I left there and journeyed on my way to look for Big Man (Titus) in Land of Tall People (Macedonia).
Small Man (Paul) tells us later in this letter that he went to Land of Tall People (Macedonia) with some fellow travelers. When he did not find Big Man (Titus) there, he continued to be restless and even argued with his fellow travelers. But Big Man (Titus) finally arrived, making the heart of Small Man (Paul) glad!2
14We are giving thanks to the Great Spirit, for the Chosen One is his headman dancer leading us in the victory dance. Everywhere we go Creator uses us to spread the sweet-smelling smoke of what it means to know the Chosen One. 15To the Great Spirit we smell like the Chosen One. To those who are being set free and made whole we have the smell of life, 16but to the ones who are walking the road to a bad end, we have the smell of death. Who among us is able to carry the weight of such a task?
17We are not like those who are turning Creator’s message into a way to gain possessions. For in the Chosen One, with Creator looking down on us, we speak truth from our hearts as we represent the Great Spirit.
SERVANTS OF THE NEW PEACE TREATY
1Do you think we are trying to prove ourselves to you once again? Do we, like some others, need letters of approval for you or from you? 2You are our letter of approval, one that has been written on our hearts, a letter everyone can clearly see and read. 3Your lives show that you are a letter about the Chosen One, written by us not with pen and ink but by Creator’s own Spirit, not with words that have been carved into stone tablets but with words that have been carved into human hearts.
4We say such bold things about ourselves because we trust in what the Great Spirit can do through the Chosen One. 5We do not think we have the power to do these things on our own. Our power comes from the Great Spirit, who works in and through us. 6For it is Creator himself who has chosen and prepared us to tell others the meaning and purpose of his new peace treaty.
This new peace treaty does not depend on written words, but in what the Spirit says. For the peace treaty written as law ended in death, but what the Spirit writes on our hearts brings life.
7The law of the peace treaty that was given by Drawn from the Water (Moses) became a way of death instead of life. Even so, this law came with so much honor and shining-greatness that the people of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) could not look for long on the face of Drawn from the Water (Moses), even though the brightness was already fading. 8In the light of this, how much greater will be the honor and shining-greatness that comes from the Spirit?
THE BEAUTY OF THE NEW PEACE TREATY
9If the way that condemns people to death came like a shining light, then the way that gives people good standing and life far outshines it. 10The shining light that came first has lost its brilliance in the greater light of the beauty and splendor that has now come. 11For if what was fading away came as a shining light, how much more beauty and shining-greatness belongs to what will never fade away! 12This kind of hope gives us the courage to speak with brave words about these things.
13We will not be like Drawn from the Water (Moses), who hid his face behind a cloth so the people of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) would not see that the brightness was fading away. This kept them from seeing and understanding. 14Even now, when the old peace treaty is being read, it is as if the same cloth also covers their minds and blinds them to the truth. It is only the Chosen One who can remove their blinders and make them see.
15But to this day, whenever they hear the words of Drawn from the Water (Moses) being read, a cloth remains over their hearts. 16But our Honored Chief removes the cloth from the hearts of all who turn to him. 17The Honored Chief I am talking about here is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit walks, freedom follows!
18So then, with uncovered faces, we are seeing the bright and shining face of our Honored Chief. This bright and shining-greatness, which shines from his face into ours, keeps changing us to be more and more like him. This is what the Spirit does for us, for he is the Spirit of our Honored Chief.
A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
1Since we have received this sacred task through Creator’s mercy, we never lose heart as we walk this road. 2For this reason we have put an end to shameful ways that are kept hidden in darkness. We do not walk in the ways of a trickster or misrepresent Creator’s message. Instead, under Creator’s watchful eyes we openly speak the truth. In this way, all who hear can know within themselves what kind of people we are.
3But even if the good story we tell is hidden from their eyes, it is hidden only to the ones who walk the road to a bad end. 4For the ones who do not believe have been blinded in their minds by the evil spirit-ruler of this present world. This blindness keeps them from seeing the light that shines when the good story is told about the beauty of the Chosen One, who is the only one who fully represents the Great Spirit.
5The story we tell is not about ourselves. It is about our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. And because of him we see ourselves as your servants. 6For the same Great Spirit who told light to shine out of darkness has shined his light into our hearts. His light helps us to see the beauty of the Great Spirit in the face of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.
CLAY POTS FILLED WITH CREATOR’S POWER
7Our bodies are like old clay pots that have been filled with the sacred gift of his light. This shows that the great power we have does not come from us but from our Creator. 8Trouble surrounds us and presses in on us, but we know there is always a way out. Even when we do not know which way to go, we never lose hope or give in to fear. 9We are hunted down and mistreated, but the Great Spirit never abandons us. Even when beaten to the ground, we get up and keep walking.
10Everywhere we go death bears down on us. Our bodies are dying the kind of death Creator Sets Free (Jesus) died. In this way his life will also be seen in our bodies. 11It is because of Crea
tor Sets Free (Jesus) that we who are alive are always facing death. It is for this reason that the life of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) will also be seen in our death-doomed bodies. 12So you can see that we struggle with death, but because of this you have the life of the world to come.
COURAGE TO SPEAK
13It has been written in our Sacred Teachings, “My faith gave me the courage to speak.”3 Since the same faith lives in our spirits, we too have the courage to speak. 14For we know that the one who raised up Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to sit beside the Great Spirit will also raise us up to be with him.4 Then together, we will all stand before him.
15So then, all that we suffer is for your good. This means that Creator’s gift of great kindness will reach more and more people. Then many people will give thanks to the Great Spirit, bringing him even greater honor. 16That is why we never lose heart. For even though our outer being is fading away, our inner being grows stronger every day.
17For the troubles we now face are small compared to what is coming and do not last for long. Instead, they are getting us ready for the great and shining beauty of the world to come, a beauty beyond comparison that will never fade away. So we set our minds not on the things we can see but on the things we cannot see. 18For the things we can see will last only for a short time, but the things we cannot see are from the world to come, which will never fade away.
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