Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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TO THE CORINTHIANS. II.
-- --
WRITTEN PROBABLY DURING HIS STAY IN
MACEDONIA, IN THE COURSE OF HIS THIRD
MISSIONARY JOURNEY, ABOUT 55 A.D.
In the brief period that seems to have intervened between
the writing of St. Paul's two existing Letters to the Corinthians,
the Apostle appears to have paid a second visit to Corinth, of
which no account has come down to us (2 Cor. 12. 14; 13. 1.).
Apparently that visit failed of its object, and the reception given
to the Apostle was not such as he had the right to expect.
It seems that St. Paul, returning to Ephesus, wrote a strongly-worded
letter to his disloyal Corinthian converts, and that this
letter effected, as he afterwards learned, the purpose which
the visit had failed to effect. (That letter is generally thought
to have been lost, but it has been suggested, with some probability,
that part of it forms the last four chapters of this so-called
‘Second Letter’ to the Corinthians). A few months later, a
riot instigated by Demetrius, the silversmith, drove the Apostle
from Ephesus (Acts 19. 20; 2 Cor. 1. 8). Travelling northwards,
the Apostle went to the Troad, in the hope of meeting
Titus (who had been sent, possibly with the ‘Lost Letter,’ to
Corinth), and of receiving from him some re-assuring news as
to the position of matters in the Corinthian Church. But
Titus had not yet arrived, and, after waiting for him for some
time in vain, St. Paul, keenly disappointed (2 Cor. 2. 13), went
on into Macedonia. There he met Titus at Philippi; and to the
Apostle's great joy Titus was able to report that the Letter had
been well received, and promptly acted upon, by the majority of
the Corinthian Christians, and that they cherished a hearty
affection for St. Paul himself. On the other hand the Apostle
was greatly distressed to learn that there were members of the
Church who still stubbornly refused to submit to his authority,
and who attacked him with cruel and persistent slander. This
news, brought by Titus, may have been the occasion of the
present Letter. It is an outburst of passionate feeling, in
which the Apostle expresses his gratitude for the kindness and
obedience manifested towards him by the majority of the
Church, and defends his own personal character and apostolic
authority against the unscrupulous attacks of the minority.
-- --
TO THE CORINTHIANS. II.
I.—Introduction.
note
1 To the Church of God in Corinth, and to all
Christ's People throughout Greece,
From Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God,
And from Timothy, a Brother.
2 May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and
give you peace.
note
3 Blessed is the God and Father of Jesus Christ
our Lord, the all-merciful Father, the God ever
ready to console,
4 who consoles us in all our
troubles, so that we may be able to console those
who are in any trouble with the consolation that
we ourselves receive from him.
5 It is true that we have our full
share of the sufferings of the Christ, but through the Christ we
have also our full share of consolation.
6 If we meet with
trouble, it is for the sake of your consolation and salvation;
and, if we find consolation, it is for the sake of the consolation
that you will experience when you are called to endure the very
sufferings that we ourselves are enduring;
7 and our hope for
you remains unshaken. We know that, as you are sharing our
sufferings, you will also share our consolation. ⪆⪆
8 We
want you, Brothers, to know that, in the troubles which befel
us in Roman Asia, we were burdened altogether beyond
our strength, so much so that we even despaired of life.
9 Indeed, we had the presentiment that we must die, so that we
might rely, not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.
10 And from so imminent a death God delivered us, and will
deliver us again; for in him we have placed our hopes of future
deliverance, while you, also, help us by your prayers.
11 And
then many lips will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing
granted us in answer to many prayers.
-- --
II.—The Apostle's Relations with his Converts.
note
12 Indeed, our main ground for satisfaction is
this—Our conscience tell us that our conduct in the
world, and still more in our relations with you, was
marked by a purity of motive and a sincerity that were inspired
by God, and was based, not on worldly policy, but on the help
of God.
13 We never write anything to you other than what you
read in public and acknowledge. And my hope is that you
will acknowledge to the very end—and,
14 indeed, you have
already partly acknowledged it about us—that you have a
right to be proud of us, as we shall be proud of you, on the
Day of our Lord Jesus.
note
15 With this conviction in my mind, I planned to
come to see you first, so that your pleasure
16 might be doubled—to visit you both on my way to
Macedonia, and to come to you again on my return from
Macedonia, and then to get you to send me on my way into
Judaea.
17 As this was my plan, where, pray, did I show
any fickleness of purpose? Or do you think that my plans are
formed on mere impulse, so that in the same breath I say ‘Yes’
and ‘No’?
18 As God is true, the Message that we brought you
does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’!
19 The Son of God,
Christ Jesus, whom we—Silas, Timothy, and I—proclaimed
among you, never wavered between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ With him
it has always been ‘Yes.’
20 For, many as were the promises of
God, in Christ is the ‘Yes’ that fulfils them. Therefore,
through Christ again, let the ‘Amen’ rise, through us, to the glory
of God.
21 God who brings us, with you, into close union with
Christ,
22 and who consecrated us, also set his seal upon us, and
gave us his Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of future blessings.
23 But, as my life shall answer for it, I call God to witness that
it was to spare you that I deferred my visit to Corinth.
24 I do
not mean that we are to dictate to you with regard to your
faith; on the contrary, we work with you for your true happiness;
indeed, it is through your faith that you are standing
firm.
1 For my own sake, as well, I decided not to pay you
another painful visit.
2 If it is I who cause you pain, why, who
is there to cheer me, except the very person whom I am
paining?
3 So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I
should have been pained by those who ought to have made me
glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was
in every case yours also.
4 I wrote to you in sore trouble and
distress of heart and with many tears, not to give you pain, but
to let you see how intense a love I have for you.
5 Now whoever has caused the pain has not so much pained
me, as he has, to some extent—not to be too severe—pained
-- --
every one of you.
6 The man to whom I refer has been
sufficiently punished by the penalty inflicted by the majority
of you;
7 so that now you must take the opposite course, and
forgive and encourage him, or else he may be overwhelmed by
the intensity of his pain.
8 So I entreat you to assure him of
your love.
9 I had this further object, also, in what I wrote—
to ascertain whether you might be relied upon to be obedient
in everything.
10 When you forgive a man anything, I forgive
him, too. Indeed, for my part, whatever I have forgiven (if
I have had to forgive anything), I have forgiven for your sakes,
in the presence of Christ,
11 so as to prevent Satan from taking
advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
12 When I went to the district round Troas to tell the Good
News of the Christ, even though there was an opening for
serving the Master,
13 I could get no peace of mind because I
failed to find Titus, my Brother; so I took leave of the people
there, and went on to Macedonia. ⪆⪆
14 All thanks to God,
who, through our union with the Christ, leads us in one continual
triumph, and uses us to spread the sweet odour of the
knowledge of him in every place.
15 For we are the fragrance
of Christ ascending to God—both among those who are in the
path of Salvation and among those who are in the path to
Ruin.
16 To the latter we are an odour which arises from death
and tells of Death; to the former an odour which arises from
life and tells of Life.
17 But who is equal to such a task? Unlike
many people, we are not in the habit of making profit out of
God's Message; but in all sincerity, and bearing God's commission,
we speak before him in union with Christ.
note
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?
Or are we like some who need letters of commendation
to you, or from you?
2 You yourselves
are our letter—a letter written on our hearts, and
one which everybody can read and understand.
3 All can
see that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, a
letter written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living
God, not on ‘tablets of stone,’ but on ‘tablets of human
hearts.’
III.—The Ministry of the Apostles.
note
note
4 This, then, is the confidence in regard to God
that we have gained through the Christ.
5 I do not
mean that we are fit to form any judgement by
ourselves, as if on our own authority; our fitness
comes from God,
6 who himself made us fit to be
ministers of a New Covenant, of which the substance is, not a
-- --
written Law, but a Spirit. For the written Law means Death,
but the Spirit gives Life.
7 If the system of religion which involved Death, embodied
in a written Law and engraved on stones, began amid such
glory, that the Israelites were unable to gaze at the face
of Moses on account of its glory, though it was but a passing
glory,
8 will not the religion that confers the Spirit have still
greater glory?
9 For, if there was a glory in the religion that
involved condemnation, far greater is the glory of the religion
that confers righteousness!
10 Indeed, that which then had glory
has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it.
11 And,
if that which was to pass away was attended with glory, far
more will that which is to endure be surrounded with glory!
12 With such a hope as this, we speak with all plainness;
unlike Moses,
13 who covered his face with a veil, to prevent
the Israelites from gazing at the disappearance of what
was passing away.
14 But their minds were slow to learn.
Indeed, to this very day, at the public reading of the Old
Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted; only for those who
are in union with Christ does it pass away.
15 But, even to this
day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts.
16 ‘Yet,
whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.’ note
17 And
the ‘Lord’ is the Spirit, and, where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
18 And all of us, with faces from which the veil
is lifted, seeing, as if reflected in a mirror, the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into his likeness, from glory to glory,
as it is given by the Lord, the Spirit. note
1 Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in
this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 No, we have renounced the
secrecy prompted by shame, refusing to adopt crafty ways, or to
tamper with God's Message, and commending ourselves to every
man's conscience, in the sight, of God, by our exhibition of the
Truth.
3 And, even if the Good News that we bring is veiled, it is
veiled only in the case of those who are on the path to Ruin—
men whose minds have been blinded by the God of this Age,
4
unbelievers as they are, so that the light from the Good News
of the glory of the Christ, who is the very incarnation of God,
should not shine for them.
5 (For it is not ourselves that we
proclaim, but Christ Jesus, as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake.)
6 Indeed, the same God who said
‘Out of darkness light shall shine,’ has shone in upon our
hearts, so that we should bring out into the light the knowledge
of the glory of God, seen in the face of Christ.
note
7 This treasure we have in these earthen vessels,
that its all-prevailing power may be seen to come
from God, and not to be our own.
8 Though hard
pressed on every side, we are never hemmed in; though perplexed,
-- --
never driven to despair;
9 though pursued, never abandoned;
though struck down, never killed!
10 We always bear
on our bodies the marks of the death that Jesus died, so that
the Life also of Jesus may be exhibited in our bodies.
11 Indeed,
we who still live are continually being given over to death for
Jesus' sake, so that the Life also of Jesus may be exhibited
in our mortal nature.
12 And so, while death is at work within us,
Life is at work within you.
13 But, in the same spirit of faith as
that expressed in the words—‘I believed, and therefore I spoke,’
we, also, believe, and therefore speak. note
14 For we know that he
who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with him, and
will bring us, with you, into his presence.
15 For all this is for
your sakes, that the loving-kindness of God, spreading from
heart to heart, may cause yet more hearts to overflow with
thanksgiving, to his glory.
16 Therefore, as I said, we do not lose heart. No, even though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day.
17 The light burden of our momentary
trouble is preparing for us, in measure transcending thought,
a weight of imperishable glory;
18 we, all the while, gazing not
on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is
transient, but what is unseen is imperishable.
1 For we know
that if our tent—that earthly body which is now our home—is
taken down, we have a house of God's building, a home not
made by hands, imperishable, in Heaven.
2 Even while in our
present body we sigh, longing to put over it our heavenly
dwelling,
3 sure that, when we have put it on, we shall never be
found discarnate.
4 For we who are in this ‘tent’ sigh under
our burden, unwilling to take it off, yet wishing to put our
heavenly body over it, so that all that is mortal may be
absorbed in Life.
5 And he who has prepared us for this change
is God, who has also given us his Spirit as a pledge.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while our
home is in the body, we are absent from our home with the
Lord.
7 For we guide our lives by faith, and not by what we
see.
8 And in this confidence we would gladly leave our home
in the body, and make our home with the Lord.
9 Therefore,
whether in our home or absent from our home, our one ambition
is to please him.
10 For at the Bar of the Christ we must
all appear in our true characters, that each may reap the results
of the life which he has lived in the body, in accordance with
his actions—whether good or worthless.
note
11 Therefore, because we know the fear inspired
by the Lord, it is true that we are trying to win
men, but our motives are plain to God; and I
hope that in your inmost hearts they are plain to you also.
-- --
12 We are not “commending ourselves” again to you, but rather
are giving you cause for pride in us, so that you may have an
answer ready for those who pride themselves on appearances
and not on character.
13 For, if we were “beside ourselves,” it
was in God's service! If we are now in our senses, it is in
yours!
14 It is the love of the Christ which compels us, when we
reflect that, as one died for all, therefore all died;
15 and that he
died for all, so that the living should no longer live for themselves,
but for him who died and rose for them.
16 For ourselves, then, from this time forward, we refuse to
regard any one from the world's standpoint. Even if we once
thought of Christ from the standpoint of the world, yet now
we do so no longer.
17 Therefore, if any one is in union with
Christ, he is a new being! His old life has passed away; a
new life has begun! note
18 But all this is the work of God, who reconciled
us to himself through Christ, and gave us the Ministry of
Reconciliation—to proclaim that God,
19 in Christ, was reconciling
the world to himself, not reckoning men's offences
against them, and that he had entrusted us with the Message
of this reconciliation.
20 It is, then, on Christ's behalf that we are acting as
ambassadors, God, as it were, appealing to you through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf—Be reconciled to God.
21 Him who never knew sin God made to be Sin, on our
behalf; so that we, through union with him, might become
the Righteousness of God. ⪆⪆
1 Therefore, as God's fellow-workers,
we also appeal to you not to receive his loving-kindness
in vain.
2 For he says—
‘At the time for acceptance I listened to thee,
And on the day of deliverance I helped thee.’
Now is the time for acceptance! Now is the day of deliverance! note
3 Never do we put an obstacle in any one's way,
that no fault may be found with our ministry.
4 No, we are
trying to commend ourselves under all circumstances, as God's
ministers should—in many an hour of endurance, in troubles, in
hardships,
5 in difficulties, in floggings, in imprisonments, in
riots, in toils, in sleepless nights, in fastings;
6 by purity, by
knowledge, by patience, by kindliness, by holiness of spirit,
by unfeigned love;
7 by the Message of Truth, and by the
power of God; by the weapons of righteousness in the right
hand and in the left;
8 amid honour and disrepute, amid
slander and praise; regarded as deceivers, yet proved to be
true;
9 as unknown, yet well-known; as at death's door, yet,
see, we are living; note
10 as chastised, yet not killed; as saddened,
yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having
nothing, and yet possessing all things!
-- --
IV.—The Apostle and his Converts.
note
11 We have been speaking freely to you, men of
Corinth; note
12 we have opened our heart; there is
room there for you, yet there is not room, in your love, for us.
13 Can you not in return—I appeal to you as I should to children—
open your hearts to us?
note
14 Do not enter into inconsistent relations with
those who reject the Faith. For what partnership
can there be between righteousness and lawlessness?
or what has light to do with darkness?
15 What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial? or
what can those who accept the Faith have in common with
those who reject it?
16 What agreement can there be between
a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the
Living God. That is what God meant when he said—
‘I will dwell among them, and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17
Therefore “Come out from among the nations,
And separate yourselves from them,” says the Lord,
“And touch nothing impure;
And I will welcome you;
18
And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be my sons and daughters,”
Says the Lord, the Ruler of all.’ note
1 With these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that pollutes either body or spirit, and, in deepest
reverence for God, aim at perfect holiness.
note
2 Make room for us in your hearts. In no
instance have we ever wronged, or harmed, or
taken advantage of, any one.
3 I am not saying
this to condemn you. Indeed, I have already
said that you are in our very heart, to live and die together.
4 I
have the utmost confidence in you; I am always boasting
about you. I am full of encouragement and, in spite of all our
troubles, my heart is overflowing with happiness.
5 Ever since we reached Macedonia, we have had no rest in
body or mind; on every side there have been troubles—conflicts
without, anxieties within.
6 But God, who encourages the
downcast, has encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.
7 And it
is not only by his arrival that we are encouraged, but also by
the encouragement which he received from you; for he tells
us of your strong affection, your penitence, and your zeal on
my behalf—so that I am happier still.
8 For, though I caused
you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I were
-- --
inclined to regret it—for I see that my letter did cause you
sorrow though only for a time—I am glad now;
9 not because
of the sorrow it caused you, but because your sorrow brought
you to repentance. For it was God's will that you should feel
sorrow, in order that you should not suffer loss in any way at
our hands.
10 For, when sorrow is in accordance with God's
will, it results in a repentance leading to Salvation, and which
will never be regretted. The sure result of the sorrow that
the world knows is Death.
11 For see what results that other
sorrow—sorrow in accordance with God's will—has had in your
case. What earnestness it produced! what explanations! what
strong feeling! what alarm! what longing! what eagerness!
what readiness to punish! You have proved yourselves
altogether free from guilt in that matter.
12 So, then, even
though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrongdoer,
or of the man who was wronged, but to make you
conscious, in the sight of God, of your own earnest care for
us. And it is this that has encouraged us.
13 In addition to the encouragement that this gave us, we
were made far happier still by the happiness of Titus; for his
heart has been cheered by you all.
14 Although I have been
boasting a little to him about you, you did not put me to
shame; but, just as every thing we had said to you was true,
so our boasting to Titus about you has also proved to be the
truth.
15 And his affection for you is all the greater, as he
remembers the deference that you all showed him, and recalls
how you received him with anxious care. ⪆⪆
16 I am glad
that I can feel perfect confidence in you.
V.—The Palestine Famine Fund.
note
1 We would remind you, Brothers, of the love
that God has shown to the Churches in Macedonia
—how,
2 tried though they were by many a trouble,
their overflowing happiness, and even their deep
poverty, resulted in a flood of generosity.
3 I can bear witness
that to the full extent of their power, and even beyond their
power,
4 spontaneously, and with many an appeal to us for
permission, they showed their love, and contributed their share
towards the fund for their fellow-Christians.
5 And that, not only
in the way we had expected; but first they gave themselves to
the Lord, and to us also, in accordance with God's will.
6 And
this led us to urge upon Titus that, as he had started the work
for you, he should also see to the completion of this expression
of your love.
7 And, remembering how you excel in everything
—in faith, in teaching, in knowledge, in unfailing earnestness,
and in the affection that we have awakened in you—I ask you
to excel also in this expression of your love.
-- --
note
8 I am not laying a command upon you, but I
am making use of the earnestness shown by
others to test the genuineness of your affection.
9 For you do not forget the loving-kindness of our
Lord Jesus Christ—how that for your sakes, although he was
rich, he became poor, so that you also might become rich
through his poverty.
10 I am only making suggestions on this
matter; for this is the best course for you, since you were a
year before others, not only in taking action, but also in
showing your readiness to do so.
11 And now I want you to
complete the work, so that its completion may correspond with
your willing readiness—in proportion, of course, to your means.
12 For, where there is willingness, a man's gift is valued by its
comparison with what he has, and not with what he has not.
13 For our object is not to give relief to others and bring distress
on you,
14 but, by equalizing matters, to secure that, on the present
occasion, what you can spare may supply their need, so that
at another time what they can spare may supply your need,
and thus matters may be equalized.
15 As Scripture says—
‘The man who had much had nothing over, and the man
who had little did not lack!’ note
note
16 I thank God for inspiring Titus with the same
keen interest in your welfare that I have;
17 for
Titus has responded to my appeals and, in his
great earnestness, is starting to go to you of his own accord.
18 We are sending with him the Brother whose fame in the
service of the Good News has spread through all the Churches;
and not only that,
19 but he has been elected by the Churches to
accompany us on our journey, in connexion with this expression
of your love, which we are personally administering to the
honour of the Lord, and to show our deep interest.
20 What we are
specially guarding against is that any fault should be found
with us in regard to our administration of this charitable fund;
for we are trying to make arrangements which shall be right,
21
not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men. note
22 We are also sending with them another of our Brothers, whose
earnestness we have many a time proved in many ways, and
whom we now find made even more earnest by his great
confidence in you.
23 If I must say anything about Titus, he is
my intimate companion, and he shares my work for you; if it
is our Brothers, they are delegates of the Churches, an honour
to Christ. ⪆⪆
24 Show them, therefore—so that the Churches
may see it—the proof of your affection, and the ground for our
boasting to them about you.
1 With reference, indeed, to the Fund for your fellow-Christians,
it is quite superfluous for me to say anything to
you.
2 I know, of course, your willingness to help, and I am
-- --
always boasting of it to the Macedonians. I tell them that
you in Greece have been ready for a year past; and it was
really your zeal that stimulated most of them.
3 So my
reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said
about you from proving, in this particular matter, an
empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared
as I have been saying that you are.
4 Otherwise, if any Macedonians
were to come with me, and find you unprepared,
we—to say nothing of you—should feel ashamed of our
present confidence.
5 Therefore I think it necessary to urge
the Brothers to go to you in advance, and to complete the
arrangements for the gift, which you have already promised,
so that it may be ready, as a gift, before I come, and not look
as if it were being given under pressure.
note
6 Remember the saying—‘Scanty sowing, scanty
harvest; plentiful sowing, plentiful harvest.’
7 Let
every one give as he has determined beforehand,
not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves ‘a
cheerful giver.’ note
8 God has power to shower all kinds of
blessings upon you, so that, having, under all circumstances
and on all occasions, all that you can need, you may be able to
shower all kinds of benefits upon others.
9 (As Scripture says—
‘He scattered broadcast, he gave to the poor;
His righteousness continues for ever.’ note
10 And he who supplies ‘seed to the sower, and bread for eating,’
will supply you with seed, and cause it to increase, and will
multiply ‘the fruits of your righteousness’). note
11 Rich in all
things yourselves, you will be able to show liberality to all,
which, with our help, will cause thanksgiving to be offered to
God.
12 For the rendering of a public service such as this, not
only relieves the needs of your fellow-Christians, but also results
in the offering to God of many a thanksgiving.
13 Through the
evidence afforded by the service thus rendered, you cause men
to praise God for your fidelity to your profession of faith in the
Good News of the Christ, as well as for the liberality of your
contributions for them and for all others.
14 And they also, in their
prayers for you, express their longing to see you, because of
the surpassing love of God displayed toward you. ⪆⪆
15 All
thanks to God for his inestimable gift!
VI.—The Apostle's Claims and Authority.
note
1 Now, I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by
the meekness and gentleness of the Christ—I who,
“in your presence, am humble in my bearing
towards you, but, when absent, am bold in my
2 language to you”—I implore you not to drive me to “show
-- --
my boldness,” when I do come, by the confident tone which
I expect to have to adopt towards some of you, who are
expecting to find us influenced in our conduct by earthly
motives. ⪆⪆
3 For, though we live an earthly life, we do not
wage an earthly war.
4 The weapons for our warfare are not
earthly, but, under God, are powerful enough to pull down
strongholds.
5 We are engaged in confuting arguments and
pulling down every barrier raised against the knowledge of
God. We are taking captive every hostile thought, to bring
it into submission to the Christ,
6 and are fully prepared to
punish every act of rebellion, when once your submission is complete.
⪆⪆
7 You look at the outward appearance of things!
Let any one, who is confident that he belongs to Christ, reflect,
for himself, again upon the fact—that we belong to Christ no
less than he does.
8 Even if I boast extravagantly about our
authority—which the Lord gave us for building up your faith
and not for overthrowing it—still I have no reason to be
ashamed.
9 I say this, that it may not seem as if I were trying
to overawe you by my letters.
10 For people say “His letters are
impressive and vigorous, but his personal appearance is insignificant
and his speaking contemptible.”
11 Let such a man be
assured of this—that our words in our letters show us to be,
when absent, just what our deeds will show us to be, when
present. ⪆⪆
12 We have not indeed the audacity to class or
compare ourselves with some of those who indulge in self-commendation!
But, when such persons measure themselves
by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they
show a want of wisdom.
13 We, however, will not give way to
unlimited boasting, but will confine ourselves to the limits of
the sphere to which God limited us, when he permitted us to
come as far as Corinth.
14 For it is not the case, as it would be
if we were not in the habit of coming to you, that we are
exceeding our bounds! Why, we were the very first to reach
you with the Good News of the Christ!
15 Our boasting, therefore,
is not unlimited, nor does it extend to the labours of
others; but our hope is that, as your faith grows, our influence
among you may be very greatly increased—though still confined
16 to our sphere—so that we shall be able to tell the Good News in
the districts beyond you, without trespassing on the sphere
assigned to others, or boasting of what has been already
done. ⪆⪆
17 ‘Let him who boasts make his boast of the
Lord.’
18 For it is not the man who commends himself that
stands the test, but the man who is commended by the
Lord.
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