Paul Defends His Ministry

10 I, Paul, am begging you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. Some say that I am bold when I am writing you from a distance, but not when I am there with you. ² They think our motives for what we do are like those of the world. I plan to be very bold against those people when I come. I hope I will not need to use that same boldness with you. ³ We live in this world, but we don’t fight our battles in the same way the world does. ⁴ The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons have power from God and can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy people’s arguments, ⁵ and we tear down every proud idea that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We also capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ. ⁶ We are ready to punish anyone there who does not obey, but first we want you to be fully obedient.

⁷ You must look at the facts before you. If you feel sure you belong to Christ, you must remember that we belong to Christ the same as you do. ⁸ It may seem as though we boast too much about the authority the Lord gave us. But he gave us this authority to strengthen you, not to hurt you. So I will not be ashamed of whatever boasting we do. ⁹ I don’t want you to think that I am trying to scare you with my letters. ¹⁰ Some people say, “Paul’s letters are powerful and sound important, but when he is with us, he is weak and the worst speaker you have ever heard.” ¹¹ Those people should know this: When we are there with you, we will show the same power that we show now in our letters.

¹² We don’t dare put ourselves in the same class with those who think they are so important. We don’t compare ourselves to them. They use themselves to measure themselves, and they judge themselves by what they themselves are. This shows that they know nothing.

¹³ But we will not boast about anything outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our boasting to the work God gave us, but this work includes our work with you. ¹⁴ We would be boasting too much only if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News about Christ. ¹⁵ We limit our boasting to the work that is ours. We don’t boast about the work other people have done. We hope that your faith will continue to grow. We hope that you will help our work to grow much larger. ¹⁶ We want to tell the Good News in the areas beyond your city. We don’t want to boast about work that has already been done in someone else’s area. ¹⁷ “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”^{[a] 18} What people say about themselves means nothing. What counts is whether the Lord says they have done well.

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would be patient with me even when I am a little foolish. But you are already patient with me. ² I am jealous for you with a jealousy that comes from God. I promised to give you to Christ. He must be your only husband. I want to give you to Christ to be his pure bride.^{[b] 3} But I am afraid that your minds will be led away from your true and pure following of Christ. This could happen just as Eve was tricked by that snake with his clever lies. ⁴ You seem to be quite patient with anyone who comes to you and tells you about a Jesus that is different from the Jesus we told you about. You seem very willing to accept a spirit or a message that is different from the Spirit and message that you received from us.

⁵ I don’t think that those “super apostles” are any better than I am. ⁶ It is true that I am not a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have shown this to you clearly in every way.

⁷ I did the work of telling God’s Good News to you without pay. I humbled myself to make you important. Do you think that was wrong? ⁸ I accepted pay from other churches. I took their money so that I could serve you. ⁹ If I needed something when I was with you, I did not trouble any of you. The brothers who came from Macedonia gave me all that I needed. I did not allow myself to be a burden to you in any way. And I will never be a burden to you. ¹⁰ No one there in Achaia will stop me from boasting about that. I say this with the truth of Christ in me. ¹¹ And why do I not burden you? Do you think it is because I don’t love you? God knows that I love you.

¹² And I will continue doing what I am doing now, because I want to stop those people from having a reason to boast. They would like to say that the work they boast about is the same as ours. ¹³ They are false apostles, lying workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ That does not surprise us, because even Satan changes himself to look like an angel of light.^{[c] 15} So it does not surprise us if Satan’s servants make themselves look like servants who work for what is right. But in the end those people will get the punishment they deserve.

Paul Tells About His Sufferings

¹⁶ I tell you again: No one should think that I am a fool. But if you think I am a fool, then accept me as you would accept a fool. Then I can boast a little too. ¹⁷ But I am not talking the way the Lord would talk. I am boasting like a fool. ¹⁸ Others are boasting about their lives in the world. So I will boast too. ¹⁹ You are wise, so you will gladly be patient with fools! ²⁰ I say this because you are even patient with someone who forces you to do things and uses you. You are patient with those who trick you, or think they are better than you, or hit you in the face! ²¹ I am ashamed to say it, but we were too “weak” to do such things to you.

But if anyone dares to boast, I will too. (I am talking like a fool.) ²² Are those people Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites^[d]? So am I. Are they from Abraham’s family? So am I. ²³ Are they serving Christ? I am serving him more. (I am crazy to talk like this.) I have worked much harder than they have. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been near death many times.

²⁴ Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of 39 lashes with a whip. ²⁵ Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time I was almost killed with rocks. Three times I was in ships that were wrecked, and one of those times I spent the night and the next day in the sea. ²⁶ In my constant traveling I have been in danger from rivers, from thieves, from my own people, and from people who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places where no one lives, and on the sea. And I have been in danger from people who pretend to be believers but are not.

²⁷ I have done hard and tiring work, and many times I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. Many times I have been without food. I have been cold and without clothes. ²⁸ And there are many other problems. One of these is the care I have for all the churches. I worry about each group of believers every day. ²⁹ I feel weak every time another person is weak. I feel deeply upset every time another person is led into sin.

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show I am weak. ³¹ God knows that I am not lying. He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, and he is to be praised forever. ³² When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas wanted to arrest me, so he put guards around the city. ³³ But some friends put me in a basket. Then they put the basket through a hole in the wall and lowered me down. So I escaped from the governor.

A Special Blessing in Paul’s Life

12 There is more that I have to say about myself. It won’t help, but I will talk now about visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man^[e] in Christ who was taken up to the third heaven. This happened 14 years ago. I don’t know if the man was in his body or out of his body, but God knows. ^3-4 And I know that this man was taken up to paradise. I don’t know if he was in his body or away from his body, but he heard things that he is not able to explain. He heard things that no one is allowed to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself. I will boast only about my weaknesses.

⁶ But if I wanted to say more about myself, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t say any more, because I don’t want people to think more of me than what they see me do or hear me say.

⁷ But I must not be too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me. So a painful problem^[f] was given to me—an angel from Satan, sent to make me suffer, so that I would not think that I am better than anyone else. ⁸ I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. ⁹ But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. ¹⁰ Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.

Paul’s Love for the Believers in Corinth

¹¹ I have been talking like a fool, but you made me do it. You people are the ones who should say good things about me. I am worth nothing, but those “super apostles” are not worth any more than I am! ¹² When I was with you, I patiently did the things that prove I am an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles. ¹³ So you received everything that the other churches have received. Only one thing was different: I was not a burden to you. Forgive me for this!

¹⁴ I am now ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don’t want any of the things you own. I only want you. Children should not have to save things to give to their parents. Parents should save to give to their children. ¹⁵ So I am happy to give everything I have for you. I will even give myself for you. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶ It is clear that I was not a burden to you, but you think that I was tricky and used lies to catch you. ¹⁷ Did I cheat you by using any of the men I sent to you? You know I didn’t. ¹⁸ I asked Titus to go to you, and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not cheat you, did he? No, you know that his actions and his attitude were the same as ours.

¹⁹ Do you think that we have been defending ourselves to you all this time? No, we say these things in Christ and before God. You are our dear friends, and everything we do is to make you stronger. ²⁰ I do this because I am afraid that when I come, you will not be what I want you to be. And I am afraid that I will not be what you want me to be. I am afraid that I will find arguing, jealousy, anger, selfish fighting, evil talk, gossip, pride, and confusion there. ²¹ I am afraid that when I come to you again, my God will make me humble before you. I may have to cry over the loss of some who sinned before. Many of them have still not changed their hearts to be sorry for their evil lives, their sexual sins, and the shameful things they have done.

Final Warnings and Greetings

13 This will be my third time to visit you. And remember, “For every complaint there must be two or three people to say that they know it is true.”^{[g] 2} When I was with you the second time, I gave a warning to those who had sinned. I am not there now, but I am giving another warning to them and to anyone else who has sinned: When I come to you again, I will punish you. ³ You want proof that Christ is speaking through me. My proof is that he is not weak in dealing with you but is showing his power among you. ⁴ It is true that Christ was weak when he was killed on the cross, but he lives now by God’s power. It is also true that we share his weakness, but in dealing with you, we will be alive in him by God’s power.

⁵ Look closely at yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are living in the faith. Don’t you realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Of course, if you fail the test, he is not in you. ⁶ But I hope you will see that we have not failed the test. ⁷ We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Our concern here is not for people to see that we have passed the test in our work with you. Our main concern is that you do what is right, even if it looks as if we have failed the test. ⁸ We cannot do anything that is against the truth but only what promotes the truth. ⁹ We are happy to be weak if you are strong. And this is what we pray—that your lives will be made completely right again. ¹⁰ I’m writing this before I come so that when I am there I will not have to use my authority to punish you. The Lord gave me that authority to make you stronger, not to destroy you.

¹¹ Now, brothers and sisters, be filled with joy. Try to make everything right, and do what I have asked you to do. Agree with each other, and live in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹² Give each other the special greeting of God’s people.^[h] All of God’s holy people here send you their greetings.

¹³ I pray that you will enjoy the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship^[i] of the Holy Spirit.