⁶ Jesus *said to him, “I am ^(A)the way, and ^(B)the truth, and ^(C)the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

⁵ Make sure that your character is ^(A)free from the love of money, ^(B)being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “^(C)I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,” ⁶ so that we confidently say,

⁷ Remember ^(E)those who led you, who spoke ^(F)the word of God to you; and considering the ^[a]result of their way of life, ^(G)imitate their faith. ^8 (H)Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever. ^9 (I)Do not be misled by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to ^(J)be strengthened by grace, not by ^(K)foods, ^(L)through which those who ^[b]were so occupied were not benefited.

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s ^(A)rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s ^(B)run with ^(C)endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking only at Jesus, the ^[a](D)originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, ^(F)despising the shame, and has ^(G)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For ^(H)consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary ^[b](I)and lose heart.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(A)in Christ, this person is ^(B)a new ^[a]creation; ^(C)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now ^(D)all these things are from God, ^(E)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ^(F)ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that ^(G)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ^(H)not counting their wrongdoings against them, and ^[b]He has ^[c]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ^(I)ambassadors for Christ, ^(J)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be ^(K)reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who ^(L)knew no sin to be ^[d](M)sin in our behalf, so that we might become the ^(N)righteousness of God in Him.

^14 (A)But thanks be to God, who always ^(B)leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the ^(C)fragrance of the ^(D)knowledge of Him in every place. ¹⁵ For we are a ^(E)fragrance of Christ to God among ^(F)those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: ^16 (G)to the one an ^[a]aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is ^(H)adequate for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not like the many, ^[b](I)peddling the word of God, but ^(J)as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ ^(K)in the sight of God.

⁶ Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that ^(A)while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— ⁷ for ^(B)we walk by faith, not by ^[a]sight— ⁸ but we are of good courage and ^(C)prefer rather to be absent from the body and ^(D)to be at home with the Lord.