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)

⁵ I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”^[a](A)

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!

⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also,^(A) as to one abnormally born.

⁹ 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)

⁸ 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)

⁶ 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) 7} 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] 8} 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. ⁹ 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)

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

⁶ 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,

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)