2 Corinthians 4:1 - 4:18 | ASV

< Previous Chapter | Full Chapter | Next Chapter >

¹Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not:

²but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:

⁴in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn `upon them'.

⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

⁶Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;

⁸`we are' pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;

⁹pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed;

¹⁰always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.

¹¹For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

¹²So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

¹³But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak;

¹⁴knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.

¹⁵For all things `are' for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.

¹⁶Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;

¹⁸while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

< Previous Chapter | Full Chapter | Next Chapter >