5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in,¹ is dismantled,² we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. 5:2 For in this earthly house³ we groan, because we desire to put on⁴ our heavenly dwelling, 5:3 so that after we have taken off our earthly house⁵ we will not be found naked. 5:4 For indeed we groan while we are in this tent,⁶ since we are weighed down,⁷ because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5:5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose⁸ is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.⁹ 5:6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth¹⁰ we are absent from the Lord— 5:7 for we live¹¹ by faith, not by sight. 5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away¹² from the body and at home with the Lord. 5:9 So then whether we are alive¹³ or away, we make it our ambition to please him.¹⁴ 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,¹⁵ so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.¹⁶

5:11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord,¹⁷ we try to persuade¹⁸ people,¹⁹ but we are well known²⁰ to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too. 5:12 We are not trying to commend²¹ ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us,²² so that you may be able to answer those who take pride²³ in outward appearance²⁴ and not in what is in the heart. 5:13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 5:14 For the love of Christ²⁵ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ²⁶ died for all; therefore all have died. 5:15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.²⁷ 5:16 So then from now on we acknowledge²⁸ no one from an outward human point of view.²⁹ Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view,³⁰ now we do not know him in that way any longer. 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away,³¹ see, what is new has come!³² 5:18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us³³ the message of reconciliation. 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea³⁴ through us. We plead with you³⁵ on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 5:21 God³⁶ made the one who did not know sin³⁷ to be sin for us, so that in him³⁸ we would become the righteousness of God.