Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

So We Don’t Lose Heart In This Ministry Or Its Reception; God Is Shining Through Us

4 For this reason, having this ministry even-as^[a] we received-mercy, we do not lose-heart. ² But we renounced the hidden things of ^[b] shame, not walking in craftiness^[c], nor handling-deceitfully^[d] the word of God, but by the open-disclosure of the truth, commending^[e] ourselves to every conscience of mankind^[f] in the sight of God. ³ And if indeed our good-news is veiled, it is veiled in the ones perishing, ⁴ in whose case the god of this age blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they might not see^[g] the illumination of the good-news of the glory of Christ— Who is the image of God. ⁵ For we are not proclaiming ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus, ⁶ because God, the One having said “Light will shine out of darkness”, is He Who shined in our hearts for^[h] the illumination of ^[i] the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God Is Making Life Known Through Clay Vessels Handed Over To Death

⁷ But^[j] we have this treasure in vessels made-of-clay, in order that the excess^[k] of the power may be God’s and not from us— ⁸ in every way being afflicted^[l] but not restrained^[m], being perplexed but not utterly-perplexed, ⁹ being persecuted but not forsaken, being struck down but not perishing; ¹⁰ at-all-times carrying-around in our body the dying^[n] of Jesus in order that the life of Jesus may also be made-evident^[o] in our body. ¹¹ For we the ones living are always being handed-over to death for the sake of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus may also be made-evident in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then, death is at-work in us, but life in you.