The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 4 -

God gave us this responsibility to carry out, and he also had mercy on us. So we are not downhearted.

We are careful not to do anything we would be ashamed of doing, and we have nothing to hide from anyone. We do not promise something that God will not give, and we do not twist God’s message to make it say what we want. We proclaim only the truth. In this way, we present ourselves for you to judge us as we stand before God.

If the good news is hidden with a veil, it is hidden from those who are dying apart from God.

For them, the god of this world has made them blind to the truth because they do not trust the good news about the wonderful honor of Messiah, for it is Messiah who shows us what God is like.

We do not proclaim ourselves to you as people who can rescue you from any evil. Instead, we proclaim Messiah Jesus as our Master, and we are your servants because we are joined to Jesus.

For God is the one who said, “Light will shine out of the darkness.” He has shone his light into our hearts, so that when we trust in Jesus Christ, we can learn how wonderful God is.

Treasure in Jars of Clay

(Romans 6:1–14)

Now we carry these precious gifts from God in our bodies, which are fragile like clay pots. There can be no mistake about where our strength comes from: It comes only from God.

We have suffered many different kinds of trouble, but they have not destroyed us. We may be confused about what we should do, but we never give up.

Some people try to harm us, but we are never alone; it is as if some people knocked us down, but we always get up again.

We are often in danger of dying, as Jesus died, but our bodies will live again, because Jesus is alive.

For those of us who are alive, God is always leading us to face death because we are joined to Jesus, so that when people look at us, they can know that Jesus is alive.

So you can see that death is doing its work in us, but that life is working in you.

We trust in God, just as the scriptures say: “I trust in God; this is why I speak.” We also trust in God, and we also speak about what he has done for us.

We know that God, who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, will also raise us up from the dead with him, and that Jesus will take us along with you, and take us to be where God is.

All that I have suffered is to help you, so that more and more people can know how God loves them freely, and so that they may praise him more and more.

We are not discouraged. When our bodies are dying a little each day outwardly, God is making us new every day on the inside.

For these short, easy times of suffering are getting us ready for the day when God will make us wonderful forever, wonderful in ways that no one can measure or explain.

For we are not waiting for things that we can see, but for the things we cannot see. The things that we can now see are temporary, but the things we cannot see, they last forever.

Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying,

in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake,

seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,”(a) who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Treasure in Jars of Clay

(Romans 6:1–14)

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;

always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.

So then death works in us, but life in you.

But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.”(b) We also believe, and therefore we also speak,

knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.

For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,

while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Footnotes

(a)4:6 ℘ Genesis 1:3

(b)4:13 ℘ Psalms 116:10