2 Corinthians 4

1Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

2Instead, we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in cunning nor falsifying the word of God, but by the open display of the truth commending ourselves to every human conscience before God.

3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing,

4In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.

5For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Messiah Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

6For God, who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah.

7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from us.

8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair.

9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed,

10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

11For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be revealed in our mortal flesh.

12So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

13But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe; therefore we also speak,

14because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you.

15For all things are for your sake, so that as grace increases through more and more people, thanksgiving may overflow to the glory of God.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. But even if our outer man is wasting away, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

17For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.