Study Desk

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No."

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in Him it has always been "Yes."

For all the promises of God are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him, our "Amen" is spoken to the glory of God.

Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us,

I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.

It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

And God has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.

Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.