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in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
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I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
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But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
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For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
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To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
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Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
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Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
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You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
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Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
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He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
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will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
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For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
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Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
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We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
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But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
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And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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Present Weakness and Resurrection Life
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
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Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
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The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
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For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
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For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
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But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
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We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
