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.