So since by the mercy of God I am engaged in this service, I never lose heart.

I am hard pressed on every side, but never cut off: perplexed, but not driven to despair;

never free from the danger of being put to death like Jesus, so that in my body the life of Jesus also may be seen.

So I never lose heart. Though my outer nature is wasting away, my inner is being renewed every day.

for if I do, I shall never find myself disembodied.

as the Scripture says, "He scatters his gifts to the poor; His uprightness will never be forgotten."

It is no strain for me to do this, as it might be for people who had never got so far, for I was the first to come all the way to you with the good news of the Christ.

and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over many who have kept on in their old sins and have never repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality in which they have indulged.