Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, ¹  we try to persuade ²  people, ³  but we are well known ⁴  to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ¹  the message of reconciliation.

For even if I made you sad ¹  by my letter, ²  I do not regret having written it ³  (even though I did regret it, ⁴  for ⁵  I see that my letter made you sad, ⁶  though only for a short time).

For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated ¹  (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you. ² 

For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us ¹  for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so. ² 

Why then was the law given? ¹  It was added ²  because of transgressions, ³  until the arrival of the descendant ⁴  to whom the promise had been made. It was administered ⁵  through angels by an intermediary. ⁶ 

and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is ¹  a sign of their ²  destruction, but of your salvation – a sign which ³  is from God.

But for now ¹  I have considered it necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. For he is my brother, ²  coworker and fellow soldier, and your messenger ³  and minister ⁴  to me in my need. ⁵ 

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: ²  Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths ¹  about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. ² 

He has not held fast ¹  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ²  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ³ 

because we recall ¹  in the presence of our God and Father ²  your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope ³  in our Lord Jesus Christ.

with such affection for you ¹  we were happy ²  to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

He ¹  opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat ²  in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. ³ 

By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, ¹  you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. ² 

I recall ¹  your sincere faith ²  that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure ³  is in you.

but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, ¹  now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, ²  so that by God’s grace he would experience ³  death on behalf of everyone.

During his earthly life ¹  Christ ²  offered ³  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.

And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office ¹  have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, ²  although they too are descendants of Abraham. ³ 

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ¹  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ²  will be blessed in what he does. ³