Study Desk

You make it clear that you are a letter from the Messiah placed in our care, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on human hearts.

Such is the confidence we have through the Messiah toward God.

It is not that we are competent in ourselves to count anything as having come from us; on the contrary, our competence is from God.

God has shown us such mercy that we do not lose courage as we do the work he has given us.

Indeed, we refuse to make use of shameful underhanded methods, employing deception or distorting God's message. On the contrary, by making very clear what the truth is, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

They do not come to trust because the god of the ‘olam hazeh has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

For it is the God who once said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has made his light shine in our hearts, the light of the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of the Messiah Yeshua.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it will be evident that such overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.

All this is for your sakes, so that as grace flows out to more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to overflow and bring glory to God.

We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from God, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven.

Moreover, it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit.

So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are.

And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation,

which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, "Be reconciled to God!

God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God's righteousness."

On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities,

What agreement can there be between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God — as God said, "I will house myself in them, . . . and I will walk among you. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Therefore, my dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God.

But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the arrival of Titus!