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But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.(A) We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.(B) 11 For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us but life in you.

13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak,(C) 14 because we know that the one who raised Jesus[a] will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence.(D) 15 Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Living by Faith

16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.(E) 17 For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,(F) 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.(G)

For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.(H)

Footnotes

  1. 4.14 Other ancient authorities read Lord Jesus