Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Paul Defends His Ministry
1 I, Paul, make a personal appeal
to you—I who am said to
be meek and mild when I am with
you, but harsh with you when I am
away. By the gentleness and kindness
of Christ I beg you
2 not to force
me to be harsh when I come; for I
am sure I can deal harshly with
those who say that we act from
worldly motives.
3 It is true that we
live in the world, but we do not fight
from worldly motives.
4 The weapons
we use in our fight are not the
world's weapons but God's powerful
weapons, which we use to destroy
strongholds. We destroy false arguments;
5 we pull down every proud
obstacle that is raised against the
knowledge of God; we take every
thought captive and make it obey
Christ.
6 And after you have proved
your complete loyalty, we will be
ready to punish any act of disloyalty.
7 You are looking at the outward
appearance of things. Is there someone
there who reckons himself to belong
to Christ? Well, let him think
again about himself, because we belong
to Christ just as much as he
does.
8 For I am not ashamed, even if
I have boasted somewhat too much
about the authority that the Lord
has given us—authority to build you
up, not to tear you down.
9 I do not
want it to appear that I am trying to
frighten you with my letters.
10 Someone will say, “Paul's letters
are severe and strong, but when he
is with us in person, he is weak, and
his words are nothing!”
11 Such a
person must understand that there is
no difference between what we
write in our letters when we are
away and what we will do when we
are there with you.
12 Of course we would not dare
classify ourselves or compare ourselves
with those who rate themselves
so highly. How stupid they
are! They make up their own standards
to measure themselves by, and
they judge themselves by their own
standards!
13 As for us, however, our
boasting will not go beyond certain
limits; it will stay within the limits of
the work which God has set for us,
and this includes our work among
you.
14 And since you are within
those limits, we were not going beyond
them when we came to you,
bringing the Good News about
Christ.
15 So we do not boast about
the work that others have done beyond
the limits God set for us. Instead,
we hope that your faith may
grow and that we may be able to do
a much greater work among you, always
within the limits that God has
set.
16 Then we can preach the Good
News in other countries beyond you
and shall not have to boast about
work already done in another man's
field.
17 But as the scripture says, “Whoever
wants to boast must boast
about what the Lord has done.” note
18 For it is when the Lord thinks well
of a person that he is really approved,
and not when he thinks well
of himself.
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Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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