2 CorinthiansChapter 5

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¹We know that our body here on earth is like a tent. If this tent is taken down, we have a building from God. It is a house in heaven that lasts forever. Human hands did not build it. ²In this tent we groan. We long to put on our home in heaven like clothes. ³When we are dressed in it, we will not be found naked. ⁴While we live in this tent, we groan under our load. We don't want to take off our clothes. We want to put on new clothes. Then what dies will be swallowed up by life. ⁵It is God who made us for this very reason. He has given us the Spirit as a promise of what is coming. ⁶So we are always sure of ourselves. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. ⁷We live by faith, not by sight. ⁸We are sure of ourselves. We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So we want to please him most of all. That is true if we are at home in this body or away from it. ¹⁰We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each one will get what he should for the things he did in the body. They may be good or bad. ¹¹We know what it means to fear the Lord. So we try to win people over. God sees clearly what we are. And I hope your conscience sees it clearly too. ¹²We are not praising ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us. Then you can answer those who are proud of how things look on the outside, and not of what is in the heart. ¹³If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we are in our right minds, it is for you. ¹⁴Christ's love pushes us on. We are sure that One died for all. So all died. ¹⁵He died for all. He did this so that those who live would not live for themselves anymore. They would live for him, who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶So from now on we don't look at anyone the way the world does. We once looked at Christ that way. But we don't anymore. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone away. Look, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God. Through Christ, he made peace between himself and us. And he gave us the work of helping others make peace with him. ¹⁹Here is the message: In Christ, God was making peace between the world and himself. He was not counting people's sins against them. And he has given us this message of making peace. ²⁰So we are ambassadors who speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling out to you through us. We beg you for Christ's sake, make peace with God. ²¹Christ never knew sin. But God made him to be sin for us. He did this so that in Christ we could become the righteousness of God.a