For we live by believing and not by seeing. | For we walk by faith, not by sight. |
We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. | Although we are human beings, we do not engage in battle according to human standards. |
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For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. | Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. |
For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. | For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so too, through Christ, do we receive our consolation. |
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. | Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer self is continuing to decay, our inner self is being renewed day by day. |
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! | Consequently, anyone united to Christ is a new creation. The old order has passed away. Behold, all has become new. |
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. | The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. |
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. | He made him who did not know sin to be sin for our sake, so that through him we might become the righteousness of God. |
Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. | As long as the goodwill is present, the gift will be acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. |
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! | Our temporary light afflictions are preparing for us an incomparable weight of eternal glory. |
Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. | As sorrowful, and yet we are always rejoicing; as poor, and yet we make many rich; as having nothing, and yet we possess everything. |
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. | Enriched in every way, you will be able to practice all your acts of generosity, which, through our intervention, will result in thanksgiving to God. |
Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. | Remember this: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, and if you sow generously, you will reap generously as well. |
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. | All this has been done by God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation. |
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” | Each person should give as much as he has decided in his heart, not with reluctance or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. |
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. | And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. |
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. | Such godly sorrow results in repentance that leads to salvation and causes no regret, whereas worldly sorrow produces death. |
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? | Do not associate with unbelievers. For what basis can there be for a partnership between righteousness and lawlessness? What do light and darkness have in common? |
As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them. | If anyone would boast, let him boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is really approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. |
That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | For this reason, I rejoice when I endure weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and distress for the sake of Christ. For it is when I am weak that I am strong. |
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. | In other words, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, and not holding people’s transgressions against them, and he committed to us the message of reconciliation. |
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. | And now, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways. Encourage one another. Be of one mind and live in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. |
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. | The one who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. |
Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. | Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile flesh or spirit, and thereby make our holiness perfect in the fear of God. |
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. | Now we know that if the earthly tent in which we live is destroyed, we have a dwelling prepared for us by God, a dwelling in the heavens, not made with human hands, that will be eternal. |