2 Corinthians 10
Worldwide English (New Testament)
10 Now I, Paul, beg you to do something since you know that Christ was kind and gentle. You say I am weak when I am face to face with you, but when I am not with you, then I speak to you with hard words.
2 I beg you, do not force me to talk hard words when I come. I have made up my mind to talk hard words against some people. They think we are living for the things in this world.
3 Of course we are living in bodies made for this world. But we are not fighting for the things in this world.
4 We do not use the things of this world in our fighting, but we use the power of God. This power can break down the walls where the enemy hides.
5 We can break down what people think and every big idea that tries to stop people from knowing God. And we can make every thought a prisoner to obey Christ.
6 Only when you all obey, then we are ready to punish anyone who will not obey.
7 Surely you can see this. If one person is sure that he belongs to Christ, then he should see that we too belong to Christ just as he does.
8 The Lord gave us power to build you up, not to break you down. Maybe I talk about it too much. But I feel I am right in talking about it.
9 I do not want you to think that I am trying to make you afraid by my letters.
10 Some people say, `Paul's letters make us listen. They are strong. But he himself is weak and what he says is not worth listening to.'
11 People like that should know this. When we come we will do what we have said in our letters.
12 We do not want to be like those people who praise themselves. They measure themselves by their own ideas, and look at themselves to see how good they are. When they do that, they are foolish!
13 We will not talk of things we did not do. No, we will only be proud of those things which God has given us to do. And he has sent us even as far as you.
14 We are not going farther than we should when we come to you. We were the first to come all the way to you with the good news of Christ.
15 We will not be proud of other men's work which we did not do. We hope that you will believe more strongly, so that we can do more work among you, as God gives it to us.
16 Then we hope to tell the good news in places far beyond you. We will not be proud of the work given to someone else to do - work that was done before we got there.
17 The holy writings say that the person who is proud should be proud only of the Lord.
18 A man who praises himself is not a man who is good. The man who is really good is the man whom the Lord praises.
2 Corinthians 10
New King James Version
The Spiritual War
10 Now (A)I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—(B)who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you (C)that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 (D)For the weapons (E)of our warfare are not [a]carnal but (F)mighty in God (G)for pulling down strongholds, 5 (H)casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 (I)and being ready to punish all disobedience when (J)your obedience is fulfilled.
Reality of Paul’s Authority
7 (K)Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? (L)If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even [b]so (M)we are Christ’s. 8 For even if I should boast somewhat more (N)about our authority, which the Lord gave [c]us for [d]edification and not for your destruction, (O)I shall not be ashamed— 9 lest I seem to terrify you by letters. 10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but (P)his bodily presence is weak, and his (Q)speech contemptible.” 11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.
Limits of Paul’s Authority
12 (R)For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13 (S)We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), (T)for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, (U)in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.
17 But (V)“he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 18 For (W)not he who commends himself is approved, but (X)whom the Lord commends.
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 10:4 of the flesh
- 2 Corinthians 10:7 NU as we are.
- 2 Corinthians 10:8 NU omits us
- 2 Corinthians 10:8 building up
2 Corinthians 10
EasyEnglish Bible
Paul speaks about his work as Christ's servant
10 I, Paul, need to ask you something. Perhaps you think that I am only humble when I am present there with you. You think that I only speak strongly to you when I am far away! Now I am away from you. But I am still humble and kind, like Christ is. 2 So please listen to what I am asking you. Some people among you think that we live like people who belong to this world. When I come to visit you, I am sure that I will be brave enough to speak against those people. But I do not want to have to speak strongly like that against all of you.
3 It is true that we live in this world as humans. But we do not use our human ideas to fight against what is wrong. 4 It is like we are fighting in a war, but we do not use human weapons. Instead we use God's weapons. Those weapons are powerful enough to destroy the enemy's strong places. We use those weapons to destroy people's wrong ideas. 5 People may speak proud ideas that stop other people from knowing God. We show that those ideas are completely wrong. We change the way that people think, so that they want to obey Christ. 6 You must show that you are ready to obey completely. Then we will be ready to punish anyone who refuses to obey in any way.
7 Take a careful look at what is happening among you. If anyone is sure that he belongs to Christ, he should remember this: We also belong to Christ, just as he does. 8 You may think that I am too proud of my authority. But it is the Lord who has given that authority to us apostles. We have that authority so that we can help you become stronger as believers. We do not have it so that we can destroy you! So I am not ashamed to be proud of this.
9 When I write letters to you, I am not trying to frighten you. Please do not think that. 10 Some people say: ‘Paul's letters are powerful and they say strong things. But when he himself is here with us, he seems to be weak. And the words that he speaks have no value.’ 11 Anyone who says things like that should understand this: There is no difference between what we write and what we do. When we come to you, we will do what we have written in our letters.
12 Some people praise themselves. They say how clever they are. But we could never do that. We could not even try to be like those people. But they do not understand anything. They decide among themselves how good they are. They look at one another to see if they are better or worse. 13 As for us, we will only be proud of the work that God has given us to do. We will not be proud of anything more than that. And that includes our work among you. 14 We were the first people to come as far as Corinth and tell you the good news about Christ. That was part of the work that God has given to us to do. So it is right for us to tell you how proud we are.
15 We do not praise ourselves for the work that other people have done. That would not be right. But we hope that you will continue to believe more and more strongly. In that way our work among you will become even greater. But it will still be the work that God has given to us, and no more than that. 16 Then we want to tell God's good news to people in places beyond where you are. Those are not places where God has sent other people to work. Then we will not be praising ourselves for the work that anyone else has done. 17 The Bible says this:
‘If you want to be proud about something,
be proud of what the Lord has done.’
18 Who is really good? It is not the person who praises himself. It is the person that the Lord says is a good person.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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