Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present,<n id="1" /> there is freedom.

But <b><i>the one who boasts must boast in the Lordi>b>.<n id="1" />

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord,<n id="1" /> are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another,<n id="2" /> which is from<n id="3" /> the Lord, who is the Spirit.<n id="4" />p>

Grace and peace to you<n id="1" /> from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!p>

but when one<n id="1" /> turns to the Lord, <i>the veil is removedi>.<n id="2" />

For we are <i>concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before meni>.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">It is necessary to go on boasting.<n id="1" /> Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me.

Now when I arrived in Troas<n id="1" /> to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened<n id="2" /> a door of opportunity<n id="3" /> for me,

For we do not proclaim<n id="1" /> ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves<n id="2" /> for Jesus&#8217; sake.

We do so<n id="1" /> because we know that the one who raised up Jesus<n id="2" /> will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence.

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth<n id="1" /> we are absent from the Lord &#8211;

Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away<n id="1" /> from the body and at home with the Lord.

<i>and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughtersi>,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the All-Powerful Lord.<n id="2" />p>

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.p>

What I am saying with this boastful confidence<n id="1" /> I do not say the way the Lord would.<n id="2" /> Instead it is, as it were, foolishness.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Blessed is<n id="1" /> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours<n id="1" /> in the day of the Lord Jesus.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord,<n id="1" /> we try to persuade<n id="2" /> people,<n id="3" /> but we are well known<n id="4" /> to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.