trials

Paul encourages the Corinthians and all God’s people throughout Achaia, which was originally part of the Peloponnesus. The Romans applied the name to all Greece and Macedonia in 146 BC, and Augustus divided the whole into two provinces—Macedonia in the north and Achaia in the south, with Corinth as its capital. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our savior, who encourages us in all our tribulations, who comforts us in all our trials so that we can comfort others in their trials. So if we are afflicted it is for your encouragement and deliverance, and if we are encouraged that should encourage you when you have to endure sufferings like those we are experiencing. For we want you to know about the trials we have experienced in the province of Asia. Things were so bad that in our hearts we felt that we were under a sentence of death. However, this was to get us to rely on God, and not ourselves. He rescued us from deadly peril, and the One in whom we have placed our hope will continue to rescue us. You must add your help by praying for us; for the more people that are praying, the more people there will be to give thanks when the prayer is answered. In confidence I had planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and visit again on the way back, but to spare you I didn’t come to Corinth at that time in order not to come in a rebuking spirit, as I should have had to come to you, if I had come then. Not that we have Lordship over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy: for by faith you stand.