2 Corinthians
Chapter 1
1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, with all the holy ones throughout Achaia:
因天主的旨意，做基督耶稣宗徒的保禄和弟茂德兄弟，致书于格林多的天主教会和全阿哈雅的众位圣徒：
2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
愿恩宠与平安由我们的父天主，和主耶稣基督赐给你们！
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, 2
愿我们的主耶稣基督的天主和父，仁慈的父和施与各种安慰的天主受赞扬，
4 who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
是他在我们的各种磨难中，常安慰我们，为使我们能以自己由天主所亲受的安慰，去安慰那些在各种困难中的人。
5 For as Christ's sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ 3 does our encouragement also overflow.
因为基督所受的苦难，加于我们身上的越多，我们借着基督，所得的安慰也越多。
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
我们如果受磨难，那是为叫你们受安慰与得救；我们如果受安慰，那也是为叫你们受安慰；这安慰足以能使你们坚忍那与我所受的同样苦难。
7 Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement. 4
为此，我们对你们所怀有的希望是坚定不移的，因为我们知道：你们怎样分受了痛苦，也要怎样同享安慰。
8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia; 5 we were utterly weighed down beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
弟兄们！我们深愿你们知道，我们在亚细亚所受的磨难：我们受到了非人力所能忍受的重压，甚至连活的希望也没有了；
9 Indeed, we had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death, 6 that we might trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.
而且我们自己也认为必死无疑，这是为叫我们不要倚靠自己，而只倚靠那使死人复活的天主。
10 He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope (that) he will also rescue us again,
他由这样多的死亡危险中救援了我们，而今仍在施救，我们切望将来还要施救，
11 as you help us with prayer, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift granted us through the prayers of many.
只要你们以祈祷协助我们；这样，因有许多人为我们求得恩赐，好使将来也有许多人替我们感恩。
12 7 8 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, (and) not by human wisdom but by the grace of God.
我们认为光荣的事，就是有我们的良心作证：我们处世是本着由天主而来的直爽与真诚，并不是本着本性的智慧，而是本着天主的恩宠；对于你们尤其如此，
13 For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand completely,
因为我们给你们所写的，无非是你们所能朗诵，所能了解的。我盼望你们能完全了解我们，
14 as you have come to understand us partially, that we are your boast as you also are ours, on the day of (our) Lord Jesus.
就如你们对我们已有了几分了解，好在我们的主耶稣的日子上，我们是你们的夸耀，而你们也是我们的夸耀。
15 With this confidence I formerly intended to come 9 to you so that you might receive a double favor,
怀着这种信念，我原先有意到你们那里去，为使你们获得第二次的恩惠，
16 namely, to go by way of you to Macedonia, and then to come to you again on my return from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea.
并经过你们那里到马其顿，再由马其顿回到你们那里，然后由你们送我往犹太去。
17 So when I intended this, did I act lightly? 10 Or do I make my plans according to human considerations, so that with me it is ＂yes, yes＂ and ＂no, no＂?
那么，我怀着这种意思，难道是我行事轻浮吗？或者我定主意，是随情感定的，以致在我内有＂是＂而又＂非＂吗？
18 As God is faithful, 11 our word to you is not ＂yes＂ and ＂no.＂
天主是忠实的！我们对你们所说的话，并不是＂是＂而又＂非＂的，
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not ＂yes＂ and ＂no,＂ but ＂yes＂ has been in him.
因为借我们，即借我和息耳瓦诺同弟茂德，在你们中间所宣讲的天主子耶稣基督，并不是＂是＂而又＂非＂的，在他只有一个＂是＂
20 For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.
因为天主的一切恩许，在他内都成了＂是＂，为此也借着他，我们才答应＂阿们＂，使光荣藉我们归于天主。
21 12 But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God;
那坚固我们同你们在基督内的，并给我们傅油的，就是天主；
22 he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.
他在我们身上盖了印，并在我们心里赐下圣神作为抵押。
23 But I call upon God as witness, on my life, that it is to spare you that I have not yet gone to Corinth. 13
我指着我的性命呼号天主作证：我没有再到格林多去，是为了顾惜你们。
24 Not that we lord it over your faith; rather, we work together for your joy, for you stand firm in the faith.
这并不是说：在信仰方面我们愿管制你们，而是说：我们愿作你们喜乐的合作者，因为你们在信仰上已站稳了。
Footnotes(注解)
1 [1-11] The opening follows the usual Pauline form, except that the thanksgiving takes the form of a doxology or glorification of God (2 Cor 1:3). This introduces a meditation on the experience of suffering and encouragement shared by Paul and the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:4-7), drawn, at least in part, from Paul's reflections on a recent affliction (2 Cor 1:8-10). The section ends with a modified and delayed allusion to thanksgiving (2 Cor 1:11).
2 [3] God of all encouragement: Paul expands a standard Jewish blessing so as to state the theme of the paragraph. The theme of ＂encouragement＂ or ＂consolation＂ (paraklesis) occurs ten times in this opening, against a background formed by multiple references to ＂affliction＂ and ＂suffering.＂
3 [5] Through Christ: the Father of compassion is the Father of our Lord Jesus (2 Cor 1:3); Paul's sufferings and encouragement (or ＂consolation＂) are experienced in union with Christ. Cf Luke 2:25: the ＂consolation of Israel＂ is Jesus himself.
4 [7] You also share in the encouragement: the eschatological reversal of affliction and encouragement that Christians expect (cf Matthew 5:4; Luke 6:24) permits some present experience of reversal in the Corinthians' case, as in Paul's.
5 [8] Asia: a Roman province in western Asia Minor, the capital of which was Ephesus.
6 [9-10] The sentence of death: it is unclear whether Paul is alluding to a physical illness or to an external threat to life. The result of the situation was to produce an attitude of faith in God alone. God who raises the dead: rescue is the constant pattern of God's activity; his final act of encouragement is the resurrection.
7 [1:12-2:13] The autobiographical remarks about the crisis in Asia Minor lead into consideration of a crisis that has arisen between Paul and the Corinthians. Paul will return to this question, after a long digression, in 2 Cor 7:5-16. Both of these sections deal with travel plans Paul had made, changes in the plans, alternative measures adopted, a breach that opened between him and the community, and finally a reconciliation between them.
8 [12-14] Since Paul's own conduct will be under discussion here, he prefaces the section with a statement about his habitual behavior and attitude toward the community. He protests his openness, single-mindedness, and conformity to God's grace; he hopes that his relationship with them will be marked by mutual understanding and pride, which will constantly increase until it reaches its climax at the judgment. Two references to boasting frame this paragraph (2 Cor 1:12, 14), the first appearances of a theme that will be important in the letter, especially in 2 Cor 10-13; the term is used in a positive sense here (cf the note on 1 Cor 1:29-31).
9 [15] I formerly intended to come: this plan reads like a revision of the one mentioned in 1 Cor 16:5. Not until 2 Cor 1:23-2:1 will Paul tell us something his original readers already knew, that he has canceled one or the other of these projected visits.
10 [17] Did I act lightly?: the subsequent change of plans casts suspicion on the original intention, creating the impression that Paul is vacillating and inconsistent or that human considerations keep dictating shifts in his goals and projects (cf the counterclaim of 2 Cor 1:12). ＂Yes, yes＂ and ＂no, no＂: stating something and denying it in the same or the next breath; being of two minds at once, or from one moment to the next.
11 [18-22] As God is faithful: unable to deny the change in plans, Paul nonetheless asserts the firmness of the original plan and claims a profound constancy in his life and work. He grounds his defense in God himself, who is firm and reliable; this quality can also be predicated in various ways of those who are associated with him. Christ, Paul, and the Corinthians all participate in analogous ways in the constancy of God. A number of the terms here, which appear related only conceptually in Greek or English, would be variations of the same root, mn, in a Semitic language, and thus naturally associated in a Semitic mind, such as Paul's. These include the words yes (2 Cor 1:17-20), faithful (2 Cor 1:18), Amen (2 Cor 1:20), gives us security (2 Cor 1:21), faith, stand firm (2 Cor 24).
12 [21-22] The commercial terms gives us security, seal, first installment are here used analogously to refer to the process of initiation into the Christian life, perhaps specifically to baptism. The passage is clearly trinitarian. The Spirit is the first installment or ＂down payment＂ of the full messianic benefits that God guarantees to Christians. Cf Eph 1:13-14.
13 [23-24] I have not yet gone to Corinth: some suppose that Paul received word of some affair in Corinth, which he decided to regulate by letter even before the first of his projected visits (cf 2 Cor 1:16). Others conjecture that he did pay the first visit, was offended there (cf 2 Cor 2:5), returned to Ephesus, and sent a letter (2 Cor 2:3-9) in place of the second visit. The expressions to spare you (2 Cor 2:23) and work together for your joy (2 Cor 2:24) introduce the major themes of the next two paragraphs, which are remarkable for insistent repetition of key words and ideas. These form two clusters of terms in the English translation: (1) cheer, rejoice, encourage, joy; (2) pain, affliction, anguish. These clusters reappear when Paul resumes treatment of this subject in 2 Cor 7:5-16.