1 We know that these bodies we live in here in this world are like [MET] tents. They are like temporary living/dwelling places. So we should not be concerned about what happens to our bodies. We know that if we are killed {if someone kills us}, God will give us permanent living places. Those permanent living places [MET] will not be houses that people have made. They will be new bodies in which we will live forever in heaven. 2  While we are here on earth, we suffer. We often groan because we desire to go to heaven where God will give us our new bodies [MET]. 3 When God gives us(inc) our new bodies [MET], our spirits will have [LIT, MET] bodies to live in that will last forever.

4  It is true that while we are still living in these bodies [MET] that do not last forever, we often groan [DOU] because we desire to be free from them. We are not longing to be without a body. Instead, we groan because we desire to receive our new bodies [MET] in heaven. We long for this to happen so that these bodies that are going to die some day will suddenly be changed into bodies that will live forever. 5 It is God himself who has prepared us to receive these new bodies. He is also the one who has guaranteed/assured us (inc) that this will happen. He has guaranteed it by sending his Spirit to live inside us now.

6 So, because God's Spirit lives in us, we are always confident that God will give us new bodies. We know that as long as we live in our bodies here on earth, we are not yet living together with the Lord Jesus in heaven. 7 While we (exc) live here, we do not have our new bodies, but we are trusting that God will give them to us. 8  As I said, we (exc) are confident that he will give us new bodies. We (exc) would much prefer to leave these bodies in which we are now living, and be with the Lord Jesus in our home in heaven. 9 Because of all that, we always want to please Jesus in everything that we do. Whether we (exc) are still living here in these bodies or whether we have left them and are living in our home in heaven, we want to please him. 10  And we need to try hard to do that because each one of us believers must stand before Christ to be judged by him { when he will judge his people}. At that time he will reward each one of us according to what we have done while we lived in this world in these bodies. He will reward us according to whether we have done good or whether we have done evil.

11 It makes me fearful to think that some day I will stand before the Lord for him to judge me. So I do everything that I can to convince people that they should believe (OR, that I teach sincerely) God's message. God knows very well how I conduct my life and what I teach, and I really believe that you also know it, within yourselves. 12 Once again I say, as I write this, I am not just trying to make you think well/highly of me, as some people will probably say that I am. Instead, I am telling you in this letter why you have good reason to tell those who criticize me that you think highly of me. I am telling you this so that you will know what to say to those teachers of false doctrine among you. They are proud of what they have done, instead of making sure that their hearts are right with God and being pleased with that. 13  Some of them say that after God has enabled me to see visions, I talk like a crazy person. If that is so, I want you to realize that I talk that way in order to please God. On the other hand, if you think that I speak and act wisely, that is good. I want you to know that I do that in order to help you. 14  I speak and act the way I do because the love that Christ has for people influences me in everything that I say and do. When he died, he suffered the punishment for the sins of all people. So, we should all think of ourselves as having died with him, being as unresponsive to sinful desires as [MET] a corpse is. 15 When Christ died for the sake of all people, he died in order that we believers who are alive now should not conduct our lives in a way that will just please ourselves. Instead, we should conduct our lives in a way that will please him, because he is the one who died for us and was raised {whom God raised} to life again.

16 So, because I realize how much Christ loves all people, I no longer think about people in the way that those who do not believe in Christ think about them. Before I was a believer, I thought about Christ in the way that other non-believers did. But I do not think of him that way anymore. 17 The fact is that God makes every one of us who trusts in Christ to be completely different than we were before. Our old way of conducting our lives is gone. We now have a completely new way of conducting our lives. 18 This complete change in our lives is all something that God does. It is God who made it possible for us to have a peaceful relationship with him. He was able to do that because of what Christ did for us. Now God has sent me, and those who work with me, to tell people that they can have a peaceful relationship with him. 19 That is, he sent us(exc) to tell them that when Christ died, God was making it possible for all the people of [MTY] the world to have a peaceful relationship with him. He no longer keeps a record of the sinful things that we believers have done. The message that God has given to us to tell people is how we can have a peaceful relationship with him. 20 So, it is I and my companions who are Christ's representatives in this world. When we tell people the message about Christ, it is God himself who is pleading with them by means of what we say. So, as true representatives of Christ, we plead with you: Believe God's true message about Christ in order that you may be reconciled to {have a peaceful relationship with} him. 21  You must believe that even though Jesus never sinned, God punished him for all the sinful things that people do, just as if Jesus had done those sinful things himself. And because of our close relationship with Christ, God has erased the record of our sins/declared us no longer guilty for our sins.