always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body.

And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows)

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord –

Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak and his speech is of no account.”

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.