2 Corinthians 10–13

Paul Defends His Ministry

10ⁱI, Paul, myself entreat you, by the ^jmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ²I beg of you ^kthat when I am present I may not have to show ^lboldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴For the ^mweapons of ⁿour warfare are not of the flesh but have ^odivine power ^pto destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and ^qevery lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to ^robey Christ, ^6sbeing ready to punish every disobedience, ^twhen your obedience is complete.

^7uLook at what is before your eyes. ^vIf anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as ^whe is Christ’s, ^xso also are we. ⁸For even if I boast a little too much of ^your authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. ⁹I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. ¹⁰For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but ^zhis bodily presence is weak, and ^ahis speech of no account.” ¹¹Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. ¹²Not that we dare to classify or ^bcompare ourselves with some of those who ^care commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are ^dwithout understanding.

¹³But we will not boast ^ebeyond limits, but will ^fboast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, ^gto reach even to you. ¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. ^hFor we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that ⁱas your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be ^jgreatly enlarged, ¹⁶so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. ¹⁷“Let ^kthe one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” ¹⁸For it is ^lnot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one ^mwhom the Lord commends.

Paul and the False Apostles

11I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ²For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since ⁿI betrothed you to one husband, ^oto present you ^pas a pure virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that ^qas the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts ^rwill be led astray from a ^ssincere and ^tpure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and ^uproclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept ^va different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵Indeed, I consider that ^wI am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ^6xEven if I am unskilled in speaking, ^yI am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way ^zwe have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷Or ^adid I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because ^bI preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was ^cin need, ^dI did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia ^esupplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ^ffrom burdening you in any way. ^10gAs the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine ^hwill not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? ⁱBecause I do not love you? ^jGod knows I do!

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, ^kin order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³For such men are ^lfalse apostles, ^mdeceitful workmen, ⁿdisguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^oan angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^pservants of righteousness. ^qTheir end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I repeat, ^rlet no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying ^swith this boastful confidence, ^tI say not as the Lord would¹ but as a fool. ¹⁸Since ^umany boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, ^vbeing wise yourselves! ²⁰For you bear it if someone ^wmakes slaves of you, or ^xdevours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^ystrikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, ^zwe were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? ^aSo am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ^bservants of Christ? ^cI am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^dfar more imprisonments, ^ewith countless beatings, and ^foften near death. ²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^gforty lashes less one. ²⁵Three times I was ^hbeaten with rods. ⁱOnce I was stoned. Three times I ^jwas shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^kdanger from my own people, ^ldanger from Gentiles, ^mdanger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ⁿin toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^oin hunger and thirst, often without food,² in cold and exposure. ²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^pall the churches. ^29qWho is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

^30rIf I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ^31sThe God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^the who is blessed forever, ^uknows that I am not lying. ³²At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^vwas guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ^33wbut I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

Paul’s Visions and His Thorn

12I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and ^xrevelations of the Lord. ²I know a man ^yin Christ who fourteen years ago was ^zcaught up to ^athe third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^bGod knows. ³And I know that this man was caught up into ^cparadise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^bGod knows— ⁴and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. ⁵On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, ^dexcept of my weaknesses— ⁶though if I should wish to boast, ^eI would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. ⁷So ^fto keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,^{1 g}a thorn was given me in the flesh, ^ha messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ⁱThree times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me, ^j“My grace is sufficient for you, for ^kmy power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that ^lthe power of Christ may rest upon me. ^10mFor the sake of Christ, then, ⁿI am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For ^owhen I am weak, then I am strong.

Concern for the Corinthian Church

^11pI have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was ^qnot at all inferior to these super-apostles, ^reven though I am nothing. ^12sThe signs of a true apostle were performed among you ^twith utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that ^uI myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here ^vfor the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for ^wI seek not what is yours but you. For ^xchildren are not obligated to save up for their parents, but ^yparents for their children. ^15zI will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If ^aI love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶But granting that ^bI myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you ^cthrough any of those whom I sent to you? ^18dI urged Titus to go, and sent ^ethe brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is ^fin the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and ^gall for your upbuilding, beloved. ²⁰For I fear that perhaps ^hwhen I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those ⁱwho sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, ^jsexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

Final Warnings

13^kThis is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established ^lby the evidence of two or three witnesses. ^2mI warned ⁿthose who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that ^oif I come again I will not spare them— ³since you seek proof that Christ ^pis speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but ^qis powerful among you. ⁴For ^rhe was crucified in weakness, but ^slives by the power of God. For ^twe also are weak in him, but in dealing with you ^uwe will live with him by the power…