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. | Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war 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 the 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 the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. |
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. | So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature 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! | So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything 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, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. |
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. | For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in 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. | For if the eagerness is there, the gift is 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! | For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. |
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, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing 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. | You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us. |
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. | The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. |
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 is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us 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 of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly 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 provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. |
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. | For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief 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 be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? |
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. | “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those 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. | Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then 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. | That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. |
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. | Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and 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. | He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing 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 every defilement of body and of spirit, making 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. | For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. |