God

For however many promises God has made, they all find their “Yes” in connection with him; that is why it is through him that we say the “Amen” when we give glory to God.

Moreover, it is God who sets both us and you in firm union with the Messiah; he has anointed us,

I call God to witness — he knows what my life is like — that the reason I held back from coming to Corinth was out of consideration for you!

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,

But thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know him!

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.

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.

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.

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.

If we are insane, it is for God’s sake; and if we are sane, it is for your sake.

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.”

As God’s fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive his grace and then do nothing with it.

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

and truthfulness of speech; and by God’s power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it;