Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.

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

as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.

just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.

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

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving according to human standards.

Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.

to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves,

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.

who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people,

because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely.

It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.