Study Desk

Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God-not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No."

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in Him it has always been "Yes."

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.

For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?

For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you-to some degree, not to overstate it.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

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

We are pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

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

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

So while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life.