Letters to the Churches

So while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life.

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

Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

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.

We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart.

If we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;

in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;

in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;