2 Corinthians 4:1-7

Living Bible

4 It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work of telling his Good News to others,^[a] and so we never give up. ² We do not try to trick people into believing—we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree.

³ If the Good News we preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to eternal death. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God.^{[b] 5} We don’t go around preaching about ourselves but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your slaves because of what Jesus has done for us. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us^[c]—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.