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 11 NIV
1 I hope you will put up with me in a
little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!
2 I am jealous for you with a godly
jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you
as a pure virgin to him.
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was
deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from
your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4For if someone comes to you and preaches a
Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit
from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it easily enough.
5 I do not think I am in the least
inferior to those “super-apostles.”
6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker,
but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every
way.
7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in
order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?
8 I robbed other churches by receiving
support from them so as to serve you.
9 And when I was with you and needed
something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from
Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you
in any way, and will continue to do so.
10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in
me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.
11 Why? Because I do not love you? God
knows I do!
12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing
in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be
considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
13 For such people are false apostles,
deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself
masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is not surprising, then, if his
servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what
their actions deserve.
16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool.
But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a
little boasting.
17 In this self-confident boasting I am not
talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
18 Since many are boasting in the way the
world does, I too will boast.
19 You gladly put up with fools since you
are so wise!
20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who
enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps
you in the face.
21 To my shame I admit that we were too
weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a
fool—I also dare to boast about.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they
Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out
of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in
prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death
again and again.
24 Five times I received from the Jews the
forty lashes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once
I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a
day in the open sea,
26 I have been constantly on the move. I
have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my
fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.
27 I have labored and toiled and have often
gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without
food; I have been cold and naked.
28 Besides everything else, I face daily
the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who
is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the
things that show my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus,
who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
32 In Damascus the governor under King
Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.
33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall
and slipped through his hands.
2 Corinthians 12 NIV
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is
nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the
Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out
of the body I do not know—God knows.
3 And I know that this man—whether in the
body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—
4was caught up to paradise and heard
inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
5 I will boast about a man like that, but
I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
6 Even if I should choose to boast, I
would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so
no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,
7 or because of these surpassingly great
revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was
given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to
take it away from me.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may
rest on me.
10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
11 I have made a fool of myself, but you
drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the
least inferior to the “super-apostles,”even though I am nothing.
12 I persevered in demonstrating among you
the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles.
13 How were you inferior to the other
churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Now I am ready to visit you for the
third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your
possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their
parents, but parents for their children.
15 So I will very gladly spend for you
everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love
me less?
16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to
you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!
17 Did I exploit you through any of the men
I sent to you?
18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent
our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the
same footsteps by the same Spirit?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we
have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God
as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your
strengthening.
20 For I am afraid that when I come I may
not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be.
I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me
before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have
not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have
indulged.
