Study Desk

For if I cause you pain, who is left to make me happy except the people I have pained?

Indeed, this is why I wrote as I did — so that when I came, I would not have to be pained by those who ought to be making me happy; for I had enough confidence in all of you to believe that unless I could be happy, none of you could be happy either.

For such a person the punishment already imposed on him by the majority is sufficient,

Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah

so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary — for we are quite aware of his schemes!

Now when I went to Troas to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah, since a door had been opened for me by the Lord,

For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost;

For we are not like a lot of folks who go about huckstering God's message for a fee; on the contrary, we speak out of a sincere heart, as people sent by God, standing in God's presence, living in union with the Messiah.

He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text but the Spirit. For the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

For if there was glory in what worked to declare people guilty, how much more must the glory abound in what works to declare people innocent!

For if there was glory in what faded away, how much more glory must there be in what lasts.

What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away.

For what we are proclaiming is not ourselves, but the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, with ourselves as slaves for you because of Yeshua.

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.

For we who are alive are always being handed over to death for Yeshua's sake, so that Yeshua's life also might be manifested in our mortal bodies.

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.

This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily.

For our light and transient troubles are achieving for us an everlasting glory whose weight is beyond description.

For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours.

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