Monday, December 19, 2016
2 Corinthians 10 NIV
III.Polemical: Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (chs. 10-13)
- Paul's Defense of His Apostolic Authority and the Area of His Mission (ch. 10)
Paul Forced into Foolish Boasting (chs. 11-12)Final Warnings (13:1-10)Conclusion, Final Greetings and Benediction (13:11-14)
2 Corinthians 10 NIV
1 By the humility and gentleness of
Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but
“bold” toward you when away!
2 I beg you that when I come I may not
have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live
by the standards of this world.
3 For though we live in the world, we do
not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the
weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every
pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
6 And we will be ready to punish every act
of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7 You are judging by appearances. If
anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that
we belong to Christ just as much as they do.
8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about
the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you
down, I will not be ashamed of it.
9 I do not want to seem to be trying to
frighten you with my letters.
10 For some say, “His letters are weighty
and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to
nothing.”
11 Such people should realize that what we
are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are
present.
12 We do not dare to classify or compare
ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by
themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
13 We, however, will not boast beyond
proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God
himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.
14 We are not going too far in our
boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far
as you with the gospel of Christ.
15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by
boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to
grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand,
16so that we can preach the gospel in the
regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in
someone else’s territory.
17 But, “Let the one who boasts boast in
the Lord.”
18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is
approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
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