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who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
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Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
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For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”
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Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
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set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?
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I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.
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For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
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But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
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For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
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To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
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You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
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You show 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.
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We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
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Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
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And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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Present Weakness and Resurrection Life
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
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And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
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The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
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For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
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For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
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because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
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Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
