Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
- KJV Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
- NKJV Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.
- NASB Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
- NLT Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because God has mercifully given Paul this glorious ministry, he does not lose heart. Mercy received sustains perseverance in ministry.
Overview
Having described the surpassing glory of the new covenant, Paul declares that this ministry, received by God's mercy, keeps him from giving up. His endurance flows not from his own strength but from the grace that called him. This frames the hardships he will describe as bearable because the ministry itself is a gift of mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Th 3:13But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.
- Gal 6:9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Eph 3:13So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
- Rev 2:3Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
- 2 Cor 4:16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
- Eph 3:7–8I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
- 2 Cor 3:12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
- Heb 12:3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
- 2 Cor 3:6And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
- 1 Cor 7:25Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
- 1 Pet 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- 2 Cor 5:18All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
- 1 Tim 1:13I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- Isa 40:30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
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In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.
How 2 Corinthians 4:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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