Study Desk

When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there.

But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.

For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.

For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable for such a task?

You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read.

For if there was glory in that which lasted for a while, how much more glory is there in that which lasts forever!

For if the gospel we preach is hidden, it is hidden only from those who are being lost.

For it is not ourselves that we preach; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

Throughout our lives we are always in danger of death for Jesus' sake, in order that his life may be seen in this mortal body of ours.

All this is for your sake; and as God's grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving.

For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.

For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

For we know that when this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.

God is the one who has prepared us for this change, and he gave us his Spirit as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us.

For our life is a matter of faith, not of sight.

For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life.

Are we really insane? It is for God's sake. Or are we sane? Then it is for your sake.

We are ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that one man died for everyone, which means that they all share in his death.

He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for him who died and was raised to life for their sake.

Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends!