2 Corinthians 10
English Standard Version
Paul Defends His Ministry
10 (A)I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the (B)meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you (C)that when I am present I may not have to show (D)boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the (E)weapons of (F)our warfare are not of the flesh but have (G)divine power (H)to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and (I)every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to (J)obey Christ, 6 (K)being ready to punish every disobedience, (L)when your obedience is complete.
7 (M)Look at what is before your eyes. (N)If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as (O)he is Christ's, (P)so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of (Q)our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but (R)his bodily presence is weak, and (S)his speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or (T)compare ourselves with some of those who (U)are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are (V)without understanding.
13 But we will not boast (W)beyond limits, but will (X)boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, (Y)to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. (Z)For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that (AA)as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be (AB)greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. 17 “Let (AC)the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is (AD)not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one (AE)whom the Lord commends.
2 Corinthians 10
International Children’s Bible
Paul Defends His Ministry
10 I, Paul, am begging you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. Some people say that I am easy on you when I am with you and strict when I am away. 2 They think that we live in a worldly way. I plan to be very strict against them when I come. I beg you that when I come I will not need to use that same strictness with you. 3 We do live in the world. But we do not fight in the same way that the world fights. 4 We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses. Our weapons have power from God. These weapons can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy men’s arguments. 5 And we destroy every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We 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 obey fully.
7 You must look at the facts before you. If anyone feels sure that he belongs to Christ, then he must remember that we belong to Christ just as he does. 8 It is true that we brag freely 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 the bragging 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 his speaking is nothing.” 11 They should know this: We are not there with you now, so we say these things in letters. But when we are there with you, we will show the same authority that we show in our letters.
12 We do not dare to put ourselves in the same group with those who think that they are very important. We do not 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 brag about things outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our bragging to the work that God gave us. And this work includes our work with you. 14 We are not bragging too much. We would be bragging too much if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News of Christ. 15 We limit our bragging to the work that is ours. We do not brag in the work other men have done. We hope that your faith will continue to grow. And 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 do not want to brag about work that has already been done in another man’s area. 17 But, “If a person brags, he should brag only about the Lord.”[a] 18 It is not the one who says he is good who is accepted but the one that the Lord thinks is good.
Footnotes
- 10:17 “If a person . . . Lord.” Quotation from Jeremiah 9:24.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
