Israel Exalted at Last

²² Thus says the Lord God:

⁶ So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight.^{(A) 8} Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. ¹⁰ For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.^(B)

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.^{(C) 12} We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.^{(D) 13} For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.^{(E) 14} For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.^{(F) 15} And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;^[a] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,^[b] we no longer know him in that way.^{(G) 17} So if anyone is in Christ, there^[c] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!^[d](H)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground^{(A) 27} and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸ The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”^(B)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?^{(C) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;^{(D) 34} he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(E)