< 2 Corinthians 4 >
1 THEREFORE having this ministry, as we have obtained mercy, we faint not;
2 but have renounced all shameful secret practices, not conducting ourselves with artifice, nor deceitfully disguising the word of God, but by clear manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience as in the presence of God.
3 And if now our gospel be hid, it is hid from those who are lost:
4 among whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dart its bright beams upon them. (aiōn )
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, he hath shined into our hearts, to give illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the transcendent excellence of the power might be of God, and not of us.
8 We are afflicted on every side, yet not reduced to extremities; under difficulties, yet not in despair;
9 persecuted, yet not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 always bearing about in the body the death pangs of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who are yet alive are continually delivered up to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 Wherefore death indeed is working in us, but life in you.
13 Having then the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken, we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 knowing that he who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ, will raise up us also through Jesus, and present us together with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace, through the thanksgiving of more persons, may more abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we never faint; for though our outward man decay, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our momentary light affliction worketh for us a transcendently far more exceeding eternal weight of glory; (aiōnios )
18 whilst we direct our aim not to the things which are seen, but to the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. (aiōnios )
