Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, mid-argument (4:7–18), defending his ministry against those who read his suffering as evidence of failure.
The words — ἐγκακοῦμεν (egkakoumen), "we lose heart," compounds ἐν (in) + κακός (bad), literally "we do not remain in badness"—a state, not a single act of despair.
The thread — Colossians 3:10 repeats the same contrast: the old self is perishing while the new self "is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let visible decay settle the account; it demands that a reader weigh two simultaneous facts—body failing, self renewing—without collapsing one into the other.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
- Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- 2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
- Ephesians 3:16 I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,
- Romans 7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
- Titus 3:5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- Psalms 27:13 Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.