But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you,

Therefore we do not despair, ¹  but even if our physical body ²  is wearing away, our inner person ³  is being renewed day by day.

because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak ¹  and his speech is of no account.” ² 

but now he has reconciled you ¹  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

For “physical exercise ¹  has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.”

who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent ¹  but by the power of an indestructible life.

and though my physical condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. ¹  Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, ²  as though I were Christ Jesus himself! ³ 

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you ¹  – not the washing off of physical dirt ²  but the pledge ³  of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,