6Therefore we never cease to be confident. We know that so long as we are at home in the body we are exiles from the Lord; 7faith is our guide, we do not see him. 8We are confident, I repeat, and would rather leave our home in the body and go to live with the Lord. 9We therefore make it our ambition, wherever we are, here or there, to be acceptable to him. 10For we must all have our lives laid open before the tribunal of Christ, where each must receive what is due to him for his conduct in the body, good or bad.
11WITH THIS FEAR of the Lord before our eyes we address our appeal to men. To God our lives lie open, as I hope they also lie open to you in your heart of hearts. 12This is not another attempt to recommend ourselves to you: we are rather giving you a chance to show yourselves proud of us; then you will have something to say to those whose pride is all in outward show and not in inward worth. 13It may be we are beside ourselves, but it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ leaves us no choice, when once we have reached the conclusion that one man died for all and therefore all mankind has died. 15His purpose in dying for all was that men, while still in life, should cease to live for themselves, and should live for him who for their sake died and was raised to life. 16With us therefore worldly standards have ceased to count in our estimate of any man; even if once they counted in our understanding of Christ, they do so now no longer. 17When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world; the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun.
18From first to last this has been the work of God. He has reconciled us men to himself through Christ, and he has enlisted us in this service of reconciliation. 19What I mean is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer holding men's misdeeds against them, and that he has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation. 20We come therefore as Christ's ambassadors. It is as if God were appealing to you through us: in Christ's name, we implore you, be reconciled to God! 21Christ was innocent of sin, and yet for our sake God made him one with the sinfulness of men, so that in him we might be made one with the goodness of God himself.
| << | 2Cor:5 | >> |
|---|