Catholic Evangelization Training Center
Training in the NEW Evangelization
2 Corinthians Chapter 4-7
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
2 We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.
5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11 For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believe, and so we speak,
14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.
17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Chapter: 5
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling,
3 so that by putting it on we may not be found naked.
4 For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who pride themselves on a man's position and not on his heart.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Chapter: 6
1 Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain.
2 For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
3 We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
5 beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger;
6 by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love,
7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11 Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide.
12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.
13 In return -- I speak as to children -- widen your hearts also.
14 Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What accord has Christ with Be'lial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Chapter: 7
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
2 Open your hearts to us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.
3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
4 I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overjoyed.
5 For even when we came into Macedo'nia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn -- fighting without and fear within.
6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
8 For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it), for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting; for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.
11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.
12 So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your zeal for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.
13 Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by you all.
14 For if I have expressed to him some pride in you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true.
15 And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, and the fear and trembling with which you received him.
16 I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you.