Study Desk

But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds,

but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

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.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing,

For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair;

we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,

As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, " I believed; therefore I spoke ," we also believe, therefore we also speak.

Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

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

For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

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.

We 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.

And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.

But as God's servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses,

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

Our affection for you is not restricted, but you are restricted in your affections for us.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our body had no rest at all, but we were troubled in every way—struggles from the outside, fears from within.