2 Corinthians 4

1So, since we hold this ministry because God showed us mercy, we do not give up. 2We have refused the hidden ways that people are ashamed of. We do not act with trickery, and we do not dilute the word of God. Instead, we make the truth plain, and that is how we recommend ourselves to the conscience of every person, before God. 3If our gospel is veiled at all, it is veiled from those who are perishing. 4Among them the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, so that they cannot see the light that shines out from the gospel, the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach about ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus as Lord, and we speak of ourselves only as your servants, for Jesus’s sake. 6For the God who said, “Out of darkness light will shine,” is the one who shone in our hearts, to bring the light of the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory seen in the face of Christ.

7But we hold this treasure in pots made of clay, so that the power, great beyond measure, may be God’s and may not come from us. 8In every way we are under pressure, but not cornered; we are at a loss, but not utterly at a loss; 9we are hunted, but not deserted; we are thrown down, but not destroyed. 10Everywhere we go we carry the dying of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is doing its work in us, but life is doing its work in you.

13It is written, “I believed; that is why I spoke.” We have the same Spirit of faith as the one who wrote those words: we too believe, and that is why we too speak. 14For we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus, and will bring us, together with you, into his presence. 15Everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it spreads through more and more people, may make thanks to God overflow and bring glory to God.

16So we do not give up. Our outer self may be decaying, but our inner self is being made new day after day. 17Our troubles are light and last only a moment, and they are bringing about for us an eternal glory, weighty beyond all measure. 18All the while, we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. What can be seen lasts only a while; what cannot be seen is eternal.