The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 10 -

Now I, Paul, beg of you, and I am humble and gentle as I do so, because Messiah has made me that way: I, who was shy when I was in front of you, but forceful when I am writing you a letter from far away:

I beg of you that, when I come, I will not have to be harsh with you. I am afraid, however, that I will have to be, in order to speak against the people who think that we work with human standards.

For though we now are living in our physical bodies, we are fighting like armies fight.

And we are fighting with weapons, but these weapons are not designed by human beings, but by God. These weapons are powerful, so powerful that they can tear apart any false arguments.

In this way we can tear apart every false argument and all those who rise up against God. Those are the ones who try to keep people from knowing him. We keep and hold every thought that people have and we take those thoughts as our prisoners. God would work in those who did not obey him, and they will turn to him, and one day they will obey Messiah.

When you completely obey Messiah yourselves, we will be ready to punish any who remain disobedient to him.

You should look at the clear facts. If anyone has faith that he belongs to Messiah, remind him that just as he belongs to Messiah, so do we!

When I praised myself about our authority as apostles, that may have been too much for you. But the Lord gave that authority to me not to destroy you, but to help you and make you strong. So I am not ashamed of the authority the Lord gave me.

Though my letters seem strong when you read them, I do not want you to be afraid when you read them. That is not why I have written them to you.

Some people who know me and read my letters say, “We should take his letters seriously because they say powerful things, but when Paul is with us, he is physically weak and he is not worth listening to.”

Let those who criticize me know that what we write to you in our letters are the very things we do when we are with you.

We will not even try to compare ourselves with those who praise themselves. When they compare themselves to one another, it proves only that they are foolish.

We will praise ourselves only about what God has given us to do. And we will work only as he has told us to work; our work, however, includes you also.

When we reached out to you, we did not go beyond where God assigned us to work. He assigned your region to us, and we were the first to tell you the Good News about Messiah.

We are not boasting about the work God gave to others, as if we had done that work. Instead, we hope that you will trust God more and more, and that in the same way, God will assign us a larger region to work in.

We hope for this, in order that we may share the good news with people beyond where you live. We will not take credit for work that any other servants of God are doing, in their own regions where they serve him.

The scriptures say, “Let the one who is proud, be proud of the Lord.”

When a person praises himself for what he has done, God does not reward him for doing that. Instead, he rewards those whom he approves.

Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.

For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;

for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,

throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full.

Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that even as he is Christ’s, so we also are Christ’s.

For even if I boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for casting you down, I will not be ashamed,

that I may not seem as if I desire to terrify you by my letters.

For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.”

Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present.

For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding.

But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God appointed to us, which reach even to you.

For we don’t stretch ourselves too much, as though we didn’t reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the Good News of Christ,

not boasting beyond proper limits in other men’s labors, but having hope that as your faith grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence,

so as to preach the Good News even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done.

But “he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”(a)

For it isn’t he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

Footnotes

(a)10:17 ℘ Jeremiah 9:24