2 Corinthians 4-7

II Corinthians 4

¹For this reason, because we have been made servants of this new order, through the mercy given to us, we are strong:

²And we have given up the secret things of shame, not walking in false ways, and not making use of the word of God with deceit; but by the revelation of what is true, as before God, we have the approval of every man's sense of right and wrong.

³But if our good news is veiled, it is veiled from those who are on the way to destruction:

⁴Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.

⁵For our preaching is not about ourselves, but about Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants through Jesus.

⁶Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;

⁸Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

⁹We are cruelly attacked, but not without hope; we are made low, but we are not without help;

¹⁰In our bodies there is ever the mark of the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our bodies.

¹¹For, while living, we are still being given up to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our flesh, though it is under the power of death.

¹²So then, death is working in us, but life in you.

¹³But having the same spirit of faith, as it is said in the Writings, The words of my mouth came from the faith in my heart; in the same way, our words are the outcome of our faith;

¹⁴Because we are certain that he who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead, will do the same for us, and will give us a place in his glory with you.

¹⁵For we go through all things on account of you, because the greater the number to whom the grace is given, the greater is the praise to the glory of God.

¹⁶For which cause we do not give way to weariness; but though our outer man is getting feebler, our inner man is made new day by day.

¹⁷For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory;

¹⁸While our minds are not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

II Corinthians 5

¹For we are conscious that if this our tent of flesh is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in heaven.

²For in this we are crying in weariness, greatly desiring to be clothed with our house from heaven:

³So that our spirits may not be unclothed.

⁴For truly, we who are in this tent do give out cries of weariness, for the weight of care which is on us; not because we are desiring to be free from the body, but so that we may have our new body, and death may be overcome by life.

⁵Now he who has made us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a witness of what is to come.

⁶So, then, we are ever without fear, and though conscious that while we are in the body we are away from the Lord,

⁷(For we are walking by faith, not by seeing,)

⁸We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.

⁹For this reason we make it our purpose, in the body or away from it, to be well-pleasing to him.

¹⁰For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad.

¹¹Having in mind, then, the fear of the Lord, we put these things before men, but God sees our hearts; and it is my hope that we may seem right in your eyes.

¹²We are not again requesting your approval, but we are giving you the chance of taking pride in us, so that you may be able to give an answer to those whose glory is in seeming, and not in the heart.

¹³For if we are foolish, it is to God; or if we are serious, it is for you.

¹⁴For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

¹⁵And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.

¹⁶For this reason, from this time forward we have knowledge of no man after the flesh: even if we have had knowledge of Christ after the flesh, we have no longer any such knowledge.

¹⁷So if any man is in Christ, he is in a new world: the old things have come to an end; they have truly become new.

¹⁸But all things are of God, who has made us at peace with himself through Christ, and has given to us the work of making peace;

¹⁹That is, that God was in Christ making peace between the world and himself, not putting their sins to their account, and having given to us the preaching of this news of peace.

²⁰So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God.

²¹For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

II Corinthians 6

¹We then, working together with God, make our request to you not to take the grace of God to no purpose.

²(For he says, I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is the day of salvation):

³Giving no cause for trouble in anything, so that no one may be able to say anything against our work;

⁴But in everything making it clear that we are the servants of God, in quiet strength, in troubles, in need, in sorrow,

⁵In blows, in prisons, in attacks, in hard work, in watchings, in going without food;

⁶In a clean heart, in knowledge, in long waiting, in being kind, in the Holy Spirit, in true love,

⁷In the true word, in the power of God; with the arms of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

⁸By glory and by shame, by an evil name and a good name; as untrue, and still true;

⁹Unnoted, but still kept fully in mind; as near to death, but still living; as undergoing punishment, but not put to death;

¹⁰As full of sorrow, but ever glad; as poor, but giving wealth to others; as having nothing, but still having all things.

¹¹Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is wide.

¹²It is not our feelings to you which are narrow, but yours to us.

¹³Now to give me back payment of the same sort (I am talking as to my children), let your hearts be wide open to me.

¹⁴Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

¹⁵And what agreement is there between Christ and the Evil One? or what part has one who has faith with one who has not?

¹⁶And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹⁷For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,

¹⁸And will be a Father to you; and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord, the Ruler of all.

II Corinthians 7

¹Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

²Let your hearts be open to us: we have done no man wrong, no man has been damaged by us, we have made no profit out of any man,

³It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together.

⁴My words to you are without fear, I am full of pride on account of you: I have great comfort and joy in all our troubles.

⁵For even when we had come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; there were fightings outside and fears inside.

⁶But God who gives comfort to the poor in spirit gave us comfort by the coming of Titus;

⁷And not by his coming only, but by the comfort which he had in you, while he gave us word of your desire, your sorrow, your care for me; so that I was still more glad.

⁸For though my letter gave you pain, I have no regret for it now, though I had before; for I see that the letter gave you pain, but only for a time.

⁹Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

¹⁰For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.

¹¹For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

¹²So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.

¹³So we have been comforted: and we had the greater joy in our comfort because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit had been made glad by you all.

¹⁴For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

¹⁵And his love to you is the more increased by his memory of you all, how you gave way to his authority, and how you took him to your hearts with fear and honour.

¹⁶It gives me great joy to see you answering to my good opinion of you in every way.