Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
- BSB Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
- 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 ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
- Gal 6:9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
- Eph 3:13Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
- Rev 2:3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
- 2 Cor 4:16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
- Eph 3:7–8Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
- 2 Cor 3:12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
- Heb 12:3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- 2 Cor 3:6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
- 1 Cor 7:25Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
- 1 Pet 2:10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- 2 Cor 5:18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
- 1 Tim 1:13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- Isa 40:30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
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Christ at the center
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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