²² But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.

² You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.

2 I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.

²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ.^[a] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

¹⁷ “Friends,^[a] I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.

²⁴ But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

³ We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.

² No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said,