2 Corinthians 4:10–5:10

¹⁰We always carry around the death of Jesus in our bodies so that the life of Jesus is also shown in our bodies. ¹¹While we are alive, we are constantly handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus is also shown in our mortal nature. ¹²Death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 

¹³The following is written, “I believed; therefore, I spoke.” We have that same spirit of faith. We also believe; therefore, we also speak. ¹⁴We know that the one who brought the Lord Jesus back to life will also bring us back to life through Jesus. He will present us to God together with you. 

¹⁵All this is for your sake so that, as God’s kindness^aoverflows in the lives of many people, it will produce even more thanksgiving to the glory of God. ¹⁶That is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. ¹⁷Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine. ¹⁸We don’t look for things that can be seen but for things that can’t be seen. Things that can be seen are only temporary. But things that can’t be seen last forever. 

5TH CHAPTER

Faith Guides Our Lives

¹We know that if the life we live here on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house in heaven that isn’t made by human hands. ²In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven. ³After we have put it on,^awe won’t be naked. ⁴While we are in this tent, we sigh. We feel distressed because we don’t want to take off the tent, but we do want to put on the eternal house. Then ⸤eternal⸥ life will put an end to our mortal existence. ⁵God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit to guarantee it. 

⁶So we are always confident. We know that as long as we are living in these bodies, we are living away from the Lord. ⁷Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight. ⁸We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord. ⁹Whether we live in the body or move out of it, our goal is to be pleasing to him. ¹⁰All of us must appear in front of Christ’s judgment seat. Then all people will receive what they deserve for the good or evil they have done while living in their bodies.