Dual Panel1We know that if the earthly frame that houses us today is demolished, we possess a building which God has provided -- a house not made by human hands, eternal and in heaven.
2In this present body we groan, yearning to be covered by our heavenly habitation put on over this one,
3in the hope that, being thus clothed, we shall not find ourselves naked.
4We groan indeed, we who are enclosed within this earthly frame; we are oppressed because we do not want to have the old body stripped off. What we want is to be covered by the new body put on over it, so that our mortality may be absorbed into life immortal.
5It is for this destiny that God himself has been shaping us; and as a pledge of it he has given us the Spirit.
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, not sight.
8We are confident, I say, and would rather be exiled from the body and make our home with the Lord.
9That is why it is our ambition, wherever we are, at home or in exile, 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.
The message of reconciliation
11WITH this fear of the Lord before our eyes we address our appeal to men and women. To God our lives lie open, and I hope that in your heart of hearts they lie open to you also.
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.
13If these are mad words, take them as addressed to God; if sound sense, as addressed to you.
14For the love of Christ controls us once we have reached the conclusion that one man died for all and therefore all mankind has died.
15He died for all so that those who live 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 anyone; even if once they counted in our understanding of Christ, they do so now no longer.
17For anyone united to Christ, there is a new creation: the old order has gone; a new order has already begun.
18All this has been the work of God. He has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has enlisted us in this ministry of reconciliation:
19God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer holding people's misdeeds against them, and has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation.
20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. It is as if God were appealing to you through us: we implore you in Christ's name, be reconciled to God!
21Christ was innocent of sin, and yet for our sake God made him one with human sinfulness, so that in him we might be made one with the righteousness of God.