2 Corinthians Chapter 4

Preaching Christ

¹ So, since we have this ministry, we don’t get discouraged because we’ve received mercy. ² We’ve set aside shameful secrets; we don’t indulge in trickery or pervert God’s message. But by showing what’s true, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in front of God. ³ If our good news is veiled, it’s veiled to people that perish. ⁴ The god of this world has blinded the minds of disbelievers so the glorious good news about Christ, the image of God, doesn’t enlighten them. ⁵ We don’t present ourselves; we present Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for his sake. ⁶ God said, “Light will shine out of darkness” [Gen 1:3; Is. 9:2]; he’s the One that will “shine” in our hearts and “enlighten” us with the knowledge of his glory that shines on the face of Jesus Christ.                                         

2 Cor 4:1-6

Endurance in Conflict

⁷ We have this treasure in clay jars so it’ll be obvious that the extraordinary power of the message does not come from us, but from God. ⁸ In every way we’re afflicted, but not crushed; puzzled, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; knocked down, but not destroyed, ¹⁰ always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus so his life will be obvious in our body as well. ¹¹ We who are alive keep getting delivered to death because of Jesus so his life can shine in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. ¹³ We have the same spirit of trust as the scripture says “I believed; so I spoke” [Ps 116:10]. We “believe” too; so we “speak” ¹⁴ because we know that the One who raised Jesus up will raise us up with him and present us along with you. ¹⁵ Everything’s for your sake so the grace that has spread out through an increasing number of people will increase the gratitude, to God’s glory.    

¹⁶ So we don’t get discouraged. Though our outer self wears out, our inner self renews daily. ¹⁷ Our temporary, light hardship produces for us more and more an eternal, weighty glory that’s beyond comparison. ¹⁸ We don’t look at what we can see, but what we can’t. What we can see is temporary; what we can’t see is eternal. ¹ We know that if our earthly “housing” perishes, we have one from God not made with hands, eternal in heaven. ² That’s what we wait for. [ ³ ] ⁴ While we’re in this tent, we groan with burdens. We don’t want to be “unhoused,” but fully housed so life can swallow up what’s mortal. ⁵ God has prepared us for that by giving us the Spirit as a pledge.                

2 Cor 4:7-5:5

Taking Courage in Christ

⁶ So we always take courage. We know that while we’re at home in the body we’re away from the Lord. ( ⁷ We operate by faith more than by sight.) ⁸ We have courage and prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we aim to please him, whether we’re at home or away. ¹⁰ We all have to appear at Christ’s judgment seat to receive pay for what we did in the body, good or bad.                                                                                   

¹¹ So, fearing the Lord, we persuade people. We’re open and obvious to God and, I hope, in your conscience too. ¹² We’re not trying to commend ourselves to you again; we’re giving you a chance to take pride in us so you can answer people that take pride in appearances instead of heart. ¹³ Whether we’re beside ourselves is for God to decide; whether we have a sound mind is for you to decide. ¹⁴ Christ’s love controls us because we’ve concluded that since One died for all, all had died. ¹⁵ He died for all so all the living would stop living for themselves and live for the One that died for them and resurrected.                                                                                         

2 Cor 5:6-15

Salvation as Reconciliation

            ¹⁶ So from now on, we don’t know anybody by what they look like. Even though we’ve known Christ that way, we don’t anymore. ¹⁷ So if anybody’s in Christ, they’re a new creation. The old things are gone; they’ve become new; ¹⁸ and they’ve come from God. He has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us a ministry about reconciliation: ¹⁹ that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not holding their trespasses against them, and putting in us the message about reconciliation. ²⁰ We’re ambassadors for Christ, and God is making his appeal to the world through us, “Please, for the sake of Christ, be reconciled to God.” ²¹ The One who hadn’t sinned God treated as sinful on our behalf so we could become sinless in him.