2 Corinthians 1:12

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Paul Defends His Changed Plans For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God– not by human wisdom but by the grace of God– we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you.

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Referenced Verses

  • 2 Cor 2:17 : 17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God.
  • 1 Cor 2:13 : 13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
  • Heb 13:18 : 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to conduct ourselves rightly in every respect.
  • Jas 3:13-18 : 13 True Wisdom Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.
  • 2 Cor 4:2 : 2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.
  • Job 23:10-12 : 10 But he knows the pathway that I take; if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. 11 My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.
  • Acts 23:1 : 1 Paul looked directly at the council and said,“Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day.”
  • Acts 24:16 : 16 This is the reason I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and toward people.
  • Rom 9:1 : 1 Israel’s Rejection Considered I am telling the truth in Christ(I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit–
  • Rom 16:18-19 : 18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive. 19 Your obedience is known to all and thus I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.
  • 1 Cor 2:4-5 : 4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God.
  • Job 27:5-6 : 5 I will never declare that you three are in the right; until I die, I will not set aside my integrity! 6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go; my conscience will not reproach me for as long as I live.
  • Job 31:1-9 : 1 Job Vindicates Himself“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? 2 What then would be one’s lot from God above, one’s heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust, and disaster for those who work iniquity? 4 Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? 5 If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit– 6 let him weigh me with honest scales; then God will discover my integrity. 7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, or if anything has defiled my hands, 8 then let me sow and let another eat, and let my crops be uprooted. 9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men commit adultery with her. 11 For I would have committed a shameful act, an iniquity to be judged. 12 For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, and it would uproot all my harvest. 13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants or my female servants when they disputed with me, 14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him? 15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us in the womb? 16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself, and did not share any of it with orphans– 18 but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow! 19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat, 20 whose heart did not bless me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, 21 if I have raised my hand to vote against the orphan, when I saw my support in the court, 22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let my arm be broken off at the socket. 23 For the calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his majesty I was powerless. 24 “If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold,‘You are my security!’ 25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained, 26 if I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing, 27 so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth, 28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above. 29 If I have rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy or exulted because calamity found him– 30 I have not even permitted my mouth to sin by asking for his life through a curse– 31 if the members of my household have never said,‘If only there were someone who has not been satisfied from Job’s meat!’– 32 But no stranger had to spend the night outside, for I opened my doors to the traveler– 33 if I have covered my transgressions as men do, by hiding iniquity in my heart, 34 because I was terrified of the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I remained silent and would not go outdoors– 35 Job’s Appeal“If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature– let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written. 36 Surely I would wear it proudly on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown; 37 I would give him an accounting of my steps; like a prince I would approach him. 38 Job’s Final Solemn Oath“If my land cried out against me and all its furrows wept together, 39 if I have eaten its produce without paying, or caused the death of its owners, 40 then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!” The words of Job are ended.
  • Ps 7:3-5 : 3 O LORD my God, if I have done what they say, or am guilty of unjust actions, 4 or have wronged my ally, or helped his lawless enemy, 5 may an enemy relentlessly chase me and catch me; may he trample me to death and leave me lying dishonored in the dust.(Selah)
  • Ps 44:17-21 : 17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you or violated your covenant with us. 18 We have not been unfaithful, nor have we disobeyed your commands. 19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; you have covered us with darkness. 20 If we had rejected our God, and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 21 would not God discover it, for he knows one’s thoughts?
  • Isa 38:3 : 3 “Please, LORD. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
  • 2 Cor 8:8 : 8 I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others.
  • 2 Cor 10:2-4 : 2 now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that(I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving according to human standards. 3 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments
  • 2 Cor 11:3 : 3 But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
  • 2 Cor 12:15-19 : 15 Now I will most gladly spend and be spent for your lives! If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit! 17 I have not taken advantage of you through anyone I have sent to you, have I? 18 I urged Titus to visit you and I sent our brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way? 19 Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.
  • Gal 6:4 : 4 Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else.
  • Eph 6:14 : 14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,
  • Phil 1:10 : 10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,
  • 1 Thess 2:10 : 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe.
  • 1 Tim 1:5 : 5 But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
  • 1 Tim 1:19-20 : 19 To do this you must hold firmly to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
  • Titus 2:7 : 7 showing yourself to be an example of good works in every way. In your teaching show integrity, dignity,
  • Jas 4:6 : 6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says,“God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”
  • 1 Pet 3:16 : 16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.
  • 1 Pet 3:21 : 21 And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you– not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
  • 1 John 3:19-22 : 19 And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence, 20 that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. 21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.
  • 1 Cor 4:4 : 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord.
  • 1 Cor 5:8 : 8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
  • 1 Cor 15:10 : 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them– yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
  • 2 Cor 1:17 : 17 Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both“Yes, yes” and“No, no” at the same time?
  • Josh 24:14 : 14 Now obey the LORD and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the LORD.
  • Job 13:15 : 15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face!

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • 2 Cor 1:13-15
    3 verses
    81%

    13For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely

    14just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

    15And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us,

  • 2 Cor 5:11-13
    3 verses
    80%

    11The Message of Reconciliation Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we are well known to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

    12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who take pride in outward appearance and not in what is in the heart.

    13For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

  • 2 Cor 4:2
    79%

    2But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

  • 1 Thess 2:10
    79%

    10You are witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe.

  • 1 Thess 1:5-9
    5 verses
    78%

    5in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction(surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you).

    6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction.

    7As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

    8For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything.

    9For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

  • 2 Thess 1:12
    77%

    12that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  • 1 Thess 2:1-6
    6 verses
    77%

    1Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, about our coming to you– it has not proven to be purposeless.

    2But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition.

    3For the appeal we make does not come from error or impurity or with deceit,

    4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts.

    5For we never appeared with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed– God is our witness–

    6nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others,

  • 2 Cor 7:13-14
    2 verses
    76%

    13Therefore we have been encouraged. And in addition to our own encouragement, we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because all of you have refreshed his spirit.

    14For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has proved true as well.

  • Heb 13:18
    76%

    18Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to conduct ourselves rightly in every respect.

  • 2 Cor 1:11
    76%

    11as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.

  • 2 Cor 7:3-4
    2 verses
    76%

    3I do not say this to condemn you, for I told you before that you are in our hearts so that we die together and live together with you.

    4A Letter That Caused Sadness I have great confidence in you; I take great pride on your behalf. I am filled with encouragement; I am overflowing with joy in the midst of all our suffering.

  • 2 Cor 12:19
    75%

    19Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.

  • 2 Cor 3:4
    75%

    4Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.

  • 2 Cor 2:17
    75%

    17For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God.

  • Phil 1:10-11
    2 verses
    75%

    10so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

    11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

  • Phlm 1:7-8
    2 verses
    75%

    7I have had great joy and encouragement because of your love, for the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

    8Paul’s Request for Onesimus So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper,

  • 2 Cor 10:15
    74%

    15Nor do we boast beyond certain limits in the work done by others, but we hope that as your faith continues to grow, our work may be greatly expanded among you according to our limits,

  • 2 Cor 8:19-22
    4 verses
    74%

    19In addition, this brother has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help.

    20We did this as a precaution so that no one should blame us in regard to this generous gift we are administering.

    21For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.

    22And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times and found eager in many matters, but who now is much more eager than ever because of the great confidence he has in you.

  • Phil 1:26-27
    2 verses
    74%

    26so that what you can be proud of may increase because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.

    27Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that– whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent– I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel,

  • 2 Cor 8:7
    74%

    7But as you excel in everything– in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you– make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.

  • Rom 9:1
    74%

    1Israel’s Rejection Considered I am telling the truth in Christ(I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit–

  • 2 Thess 1:3-4
    2 verses
    74%

    3Thanksgiving We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater.

    4As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

  • 1 Thess 3:9
    74%

    9For how can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel because of you before our God?

  • 2 Cor 1:24
    74%

    24I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

  • 3 John 1:12
    73%

    12Worthy Demetrius Demetrius has been testified to by all, even by the truth itself. We also testify to him, and you know that our testimony is true.

  • Eph 1:8
    73%

    8that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

  • 2 Cor 3:2
    73%

    2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone,

  • 1 Thess 2:12
    73%

    12exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.