Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.
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;
- 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,
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 you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well.
- Gal 6:9Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.
- Eph 3:13Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- Rev 2:3You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
- 2 Cor 4:16Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
- Eph 3:7–8of which I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
- 2 Cor 3:12Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
- Heb 12:3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
- 2 Cor 3:6who also made us sufficient as servants 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 concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.
- 1 Pet 2:10who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- 2 Cor 5:18But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
- 1 Tim 1:13although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- Isa 40:30Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men 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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