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2 Corinthians · Catholic Public Domain Version

2 Corinthians 4 Catholic Public Domain Version

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About CPDV
  • Catholic
  • OT: Latin Vulgate
  • NT: Latin Vulgate
  • Catholic (73 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2009
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (3)

1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, and in as much as we have obtained mercy for ourselves, we are not inadequate. 2 For we renounce dishonorable and hidden acts, not walking by craftiness, nor by adulterating the Word of God. Instead, by the manifestation of truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of each man before God. 3 But if our Gospel is in some way hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing. 4 As for them, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, would not shine in them. 5 For we are not preaching about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ our Lord. We are merely your servants through Jesus. 6 For God, who told the light to shine out of darkness, has shined a light into our hearts, to illuminate the knowledge of the splendor of God, in the person of Christ Jesus. 7 But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, so that what is sublime may be of the power of God, and not of us. 8 In all things, we endure tribulation, yet we are not in anguish. We are constrained, yet we are not destitute. 9 We suffer persecution, yet we have not been abandoned. We are thrown down, yet we do not perish. 10 We ever carry around the mortification of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are ever handed over unto death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 Therefore, death is at work in us, and life is at work in you. 13 But we have the same Spirit of faith. And just as it is written, “I believed, and for that reason I spoke,” so we also believe, and for that reason, we also speak. 14 For we know that the One who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and will place us with you. 15 Thus, all is for you, so that grace, abounding through many in thanksgiving, may abound to the glory of God. 16 For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day. 17 For though our tribulation is, at the present time, brief and light, it accomplishes in us the weight of a sublime eternal glory, beyond measure. 18 And we are contemplating, not the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, whereas the things that are not seen are eternal.

Cross references (18)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 2 Thessalonians 3:13; Galatians 6:9; Ephesians 3:13; Revelation 2:3; Philippians 4:13
  2. 2 2 Corinthians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:3–5; 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; 1 Corinthians 4:5
  3. 3 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–11; 2 Corinthians 2:15–16; Matthew 11:25
  4. 4 John 12:40; 2 Corinthians 3:14; Acts 26:18; Isaiah 6:10; 1 John 5:19
  5. 5 1 Thessalonians 2:5–6; 2 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 5:13; 2 Corinthians 5:14–15
  6. 6 Isaiah 60:2; Genesis 1:3; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:19; Ephesians 5:8
  7. 7 2 Corinthians 3:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 2:8–9; 1 Corinthians 1:28; Colossians 2:3
  8. 8 James 1:2–4; Romans 8:35–37; 1 Peter 4:12–14; 2 Corinthians 12:10; Psalm 56:2–3
  9. 9 Isaiah 43:2; Micah 7:8; Psalm 37:24–25; Proverbs 24:16; Psalm 42:11
  10. 10 Romans 6:5; 2 Timothy 2:11; 1 Peter 4:13; Romans 6:8; Philippians 3:10–11
  11. 11 1 Corinthians 15:49; 1 Corinthians 15:53–54; Psalm 44:22; Romans 8:36; 1 Corinthians 15:31
  12. 12 2 Corinthians 13:9; 1 Corinthians 4:10; 1 John 3:16; Acts 20:24; Philippians 2:17
  13. 13 Psalm 116:10; Hebrews 11:1–40; 2 Corinthians 3:12; Proverbs 21:28; 1 Corinthians 12:9
  14. 14 Romans 8:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 6:14; John 11:25–26; Jude 24
  15. 15 Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:20–21; 2 Corinthians 9:11–12; Psalm 50:23; 2 Corinthians 1:11
  16. 16 Isaiah 40:31; Colossians 3:10; Isaiah 40:29; Romans 12:2; Psalm 73:26
  17. 17 Romans 8:18; 1 Peter 5:10; Romans 5:3–5; James 1:12; Hebrews 12:10–11
  18. 18 2 Corinthians 5:7; Romans 8:24–25; Hebrews 11:1; 1 John 2:16–17; 1 John 2:25

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Articles and answers on this site that cite 2 Corinthians 4.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Commentary 4:1 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians (Homily VIII)

    Seeing he had uttered great things and had set himself and all the faithful before Moses, aware of the height and greatness of what he had said, observe how he moderates his tone again.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)

  2. Quotes verse 4:4 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter VII)

    As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not," and maintaining that there is indeed one god of this world, but another who is beyond all principality, and beginning, and power, we are not to blame if they, …

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)

  3. Quotes verse 4:16 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XIII, Chapters 21–23)

    … contrary, it so thoroughly adopts it, that even while a man is alive, and body and soul are united, it calls each of them singly by the name "man," speaking of the soul as the "inward man," and of the body as the "outward man," as if there were two men, though both together are indeed but one.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)

  4. Quotes verse 4:17 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily XVI)

    Hear, for instance, how of those passions Paul is ashamed, even after his deliverance from them, saying, "For what fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed?" But virtue, even after his labor, he affirms to be light, calling the laboriousness of our affliction momentary and "light," and rejoicing in his sufferings, and glorying in his …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)

  5. Quotes verse 4:4 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture VI)

    For it is Paul who saith, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the Gospel should shine unto them." But Archelaus made a good retort, saying, "Read a little before: But if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)