4Verse 1Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not despair,Verse 2but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor falsifying the word of God, but by the disclosure of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God.Verse 3But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing,Verse 4among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine on them.Verse 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake.Verse 6Because it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Treasures in Jars of Clay
Verse 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the extraordinary character of the power may be of God and not of us;Verse 8in everything being oppressed, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;Verse 9persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed;Verse 10always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.Verse 11For we who are living are always handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body.Verse 12So then death is working in us, but life in you.Verse 13And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,Verse 14knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us through Jesus, and will present us together with you.Verse 15For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Seeing the Invisible
Verse 16Therefore we do not despair, but even if our outward man is decaying, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.Verse 17For our momentary light affliction is working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,Verse 18while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are for a season, but the things which are not seen last forever.