Study Desk

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

But because we have the same spirit of faith in accordance with what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak,

Therefore we do not lose heart, but even if our outer person is being destroyed, yet our inner person is being renewed day after day.

because we are not looking at what is seen, but what is not seen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal.

For indeed we who are in this tent groan, being burdened for this reason, that we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we are attempting to persuade people, but we are revealed to God, and I hope to be revealed in your consciences.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to boast about us, in order that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

And he died for all, in order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

So then, from now on we know no one from a human point of view, if indeed we have known Christ from a human point of view, but now we know him this way no longer.

but commending ourselves as servants of God in every way, in much endurance, in afflictions, in distresses, in difficulties,

as grieving, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and possessing everything.

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your affections.

For even when we arrived in Macedonia, our body had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—quarrels outside, fears within.

But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus,

and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted among you, because he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved according to the will of God, so that you suffered loss in no way through us.

For grief according to the will of God brings about a repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but worldly grief brings about death.

Consequently, even if I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who had been wronged, but in order that your diligence on our behalf might be revealed to you before God.

For if I have boasted anything to him about you, I have not been put to shame, but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, thus also our boasting to Titus has proven to be true.

and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by the will of God.