1Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy, we do not lose heart.
2Instead, we have renounced the shameful things done in secret, not walking in cunning nor adulterating the word of God, but by the open manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every human conscience before God.
3But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing,
4among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
6For God, who said, “Out of darkness light shall shine,” is the one who shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from us;
8in every way pressed hard but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair,
9persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed,
10always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
11For we who are alive are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.
13But having the same spirit of faith, in keeping with what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, and therefore we also speak,
14knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you.
15For all things are for your sake, so that grace, having spread to more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart, but even though our outer person is wasting away, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day.
17For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,
18as we do not fix our eyes on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Open in the interactive reader →