Ministers of the New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?^(A)

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthian Church

¹¹ I have been a fool! You forced me to it. Indeed you should have been the ones commending me, for I am not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.^(A)

¹² We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.^(A)

¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.^(A)

²⁷ And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers,^(A)

³ And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? We are speaking in Christ before God. Everything we do, beloved, is for the sake of building you up.^(A)

⁸ Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.^(A)

¹⁷ For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many,^[a] but as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God, we are speaking in Christ before God.^(A)

³³ just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many, so that they may be saved.^(A)