Add parallel Print Page Options

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

11 You have made me act like a fool. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these “super apostles,” even though I am nothing at all.

Read full chapter

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

11 I have made a fool of myself,(A) 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,”[a](B) even though I am nothing.(C)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 12:11 Or the most eminent apostles

But I don’t consider myself inferior in any way to these “super apostles” who teach such things.

Read full chapter

I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”[a](A)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 11:5 Or to the most eminent apostles

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me.

Read full chapter

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I hope you will put up with(A) me in a little foolishness.(B) Yes, please put up with me!

Read full chapter

Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

Read full chapter

and last of all he appeared to me also,(A) as to one abnormally born.

For I am the least of the apostles(B) and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted(C) the church of God.(D) 10 But by the grace(E) of God I am what I am, and his grace to me(F) was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them(G)—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.(H)

Read full chapter

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

Read full chapter

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people,(A) this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles(B) the boundless riches of Christ,(C)

Read full chapter

And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.

In fact, James, Peter,[a] and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. 10 Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.

Paul Confronts Peter

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:9 Greek Cephas; also in 2:11, 14.

As for those who were held in high esteem(A)—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism(B)—they added nothing to my message.(C) On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task(D) of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,[a](E) just as Peter(F) had been to the circumcised.[b] For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle(G) to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle(H) to the Gentiles. James,(I) Cephas[c](J) and John, those esteemed as pillars,(K) gave me and Barnabas(L) the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.(M) They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles,(N) and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor,(O) the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

Paul Opposes Cephas

11 When Cephas(P) came to Antioch,(Q) I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James,(R) he used to eat with the Gentiles.(S) But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.(T) 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas(U) was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,(V) I said to Cephas(W) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.(X) How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?(Y)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Galatians 2:7 That is, Gentiles
  2. Galatians 2:7 That is, Jews; also in verses 8 and 9
  3. Galatians 2:9 That is, Peter; also in verses 11 and 14

12 When I was with you, I certainly gave you proof that I am an apostle. For I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you.

Read full chapter

12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles.(A)

Read full chapter

If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,

Read full chapter

Even if I should choose to boast,(A) I would not be a fool,(B) 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,

Read full chapter

Paul’s Many Trials

16 Again I say, don’t think that I am a fool to talk like this. But even if you do, listen to me, as you would to a foolish person, while I also boast a little. 17 Such boasting is not from the Lord, but I am acting like a fool.

Read full chapter

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool.(A) 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,(B) but as a fool.(C)

Read full chapter

Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

Read full chapter

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation;(A) if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

Read full chapter

22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[a] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you,

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 3:22 Greek Cephas.

22 whether Paul or Apollos(A) or Cephas[a](B) or the world or life or death or the present or the future(C)—all are yours,

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 3:22 That is, Peter

When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

Read full chapter

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”(A) are you not mere human beings?

What, after all, is Apollos?(B) And what is Paul? Only servants,(C) through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed,(D) Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Read full chapter

10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

Read full chapter

10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”(A)

Read full chapter