1 ^vAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, ^wletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 ^xYou yourselves ^yare our letter of recommendation, written on our¹ hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on ^ztablets of stone but on ^atablets of ^bhuman hearts.²

4 Such is the ^cconfidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a ^dnew covenant, ^enot of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^fthe Spirit gives life.