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among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

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.

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.

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 all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

to finish what you started, so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly, you can also complete it according to your means.

and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.

so that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).

Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.

how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?

But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective),

But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

Now when I arrived in Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened a door of opportunity for me,

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

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.