1Because of this, having this ministry, according as we received kindness, we do not faint, 2but renounced for ourselves the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor deceitfully using the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth recommending ourselves to every conscience of men, before God; 3and if our good news is also veiled, it is veiled in those perishing, 4in whom the god of this age blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that there does not shine forth to them the enlightening of the good news of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God; 5for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus—LORD, and [we are] ourselves your servants because of Jesus; 6because [it is] God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who shined in our hearts, for the enlightening of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7And we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us, 8being in tribulation in every [way], but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10at all times carrying around in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body, 11for we who are living are always delivered up to death because of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our dying flesh, 12so that, death indeed works in us, and life in you.

13And having the same spirit of faith, according to that which has been written: “I believed, therefore I spoke”; we also believe, therefore we also speak; 14knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus, will also raise us up through Jesus, and will present [us] with you, 15for all things [are] because of you, that the grace having been multiplied, because of the thanksgiving of the more, may abound to the glory of God;

16for this reason, we do not faint, but if our outward man also decays, yet the inward is renewed day by day; 17for the momentary light matter of our tribulation works out for us more and more an exceedingly continuous weight of glory— 18we [are] not looking to the things seen, but to the things not seen; for the things seen [are] temporary, but the things not seen [are] continuous.