2 Corinthians 5
5
Faith Guides Our Lives
1We know that if the life we live here on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house in heaven that isn’t made by human hands. 2In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven. 3After we have put it on,#5:3 Some manuscripts and translations read “taken it off.” we won’t be naked. 4While we are in this tent, we sigh. We feel distressed because we don’t want to take off the tent, but we do want to put on the eternal house. Then ⌞eternal⌟ life will put an end to our mortal existence. 5God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit to guarantee it.
6So we are always confident. We know that as long as we are living in these bodies, we are living away from the Lord. 7Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord. 9Whether we live in the body or move out of it, our goal is to be pleasing to him. 10All of us must appear in front of Christ’s judgment seat. Then all people will receive what they deserve for the good or evil they have done while living in their bodies.
Christ’s Love Guides Us
11As people who know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. God already knows what we are, and I hope that you also know what we are. 12We are not trying to show you our qualifications again, but we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us. Then you can answer those who are proud of their appearance rather than their character. 13So if we were crazy, it was for God. If we are sane, it is for you. 14Clearly, Christ’s love guides us. We are convinced of the fact that one man has died for all people. Therefore, all people have died. 15He died for all people so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the man who died and was brought back to life for them.
16So from now on we don’t think of anyone from a human point of view. If we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t anymore. 17Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. 18God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. 19In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others. 20Therefore, we are Christ’s representatives, and through us God is calling you. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become reunited with God. 21God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God’s approval through him.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
2 Corinthians 5
5
Earthly Tents, Eternal Dwellings
1For we know that if the tent, our earthly home, is torn down, we have a building from God—a home not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens.
2For in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling—
3if indeed, after we have put it on, we will not be found naked.
4For we groan while we are in this tent—burdened because we don’t want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5Now the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Ruach as a pledge.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
7For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8We are confident, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.
9So whether at home or absent, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him.
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each one may receive what is due for the things he did while in the body—whether good or bad.
Ambassadors for Messiah
11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we are trying to persuade people, but what we are is known to God—and I hope it is known to your consciences as well.
12For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity for boasting about us, so that you may have something to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.
13For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14For the love of Messiah compels us, since we have concluded that One died for all; as a result all died.
15And He died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.
16So from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Messiah according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him this way.
17Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
19That is, in Messiah God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them; and He has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us.
20We are therefore ambassadors for Messiah, as though God were making His appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Messiah, be reconciled to God.
21He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
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