Paul Defends His Apostleship

11 I wish that you would ^(A)bear with me in a little ^(B)foolishness; but ^[a]indeed you are bearing with me. ² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I ^(C)betrothed you to one husband, to ^(D)present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that, as the ^(E)serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if ^[b]one comes and preaches ^(F)another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a ^(G)different spirit which you have not received, or a ^(H)different gospel which you have not accepted, this you ^(I)tolerate ^(J)very well! ⁵ For I consider myself ^(K)not in the least inferior to the ^[c]most eminent apostles. ⁶ But even if I am ^(L)unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in ^(M)knowledge; in fact, in every way we have ^(N)made this evident to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(O)did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the ^(P)gospel of God to you ^(Q)without charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by ^(R)taking wages from them to serve you; ⁹ and when I was present with you and was in need, I was ^(S)not a burden to anyone; for when ^(T)the brothers came from ^(U)Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from ^(V)being a burden to you, ^[d]and will continue to do so. ^10 (W)As the truth of Christ is in me, ^(X)this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of ^(Y)Achaia. ¹¹ Why? ^(Z)Because I do not love you? ^(AA)God knows that I do!

¹² But what I am doing I will also continue to do, ^(AB)so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be ^[e]regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. ¹³ For such men are ^(AC)false apostles, ^(AD)deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even ^(AE)Satan disguises himself as an ^(AF)angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, ^(AG)whose end will be according to their deeds.

^16 (AH)Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying, I am not saying ^[f](AI)as the Lord would, but as ^(AJ)in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸ Since ^(AK)many boast ^(AL)according to the flesh, I will boast also. ¹⁹ For you, ^(AM)being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. ²⁰ For you tolerate it if anyone ^(AN)enslaves you, if anyone ^(AO)devours you, if anyone ^(AP)takes advantage of you, if anyone ^(AQ)exalts himself, if anyone ^(AR)hits you in the face. ²¹ To my ^(AS)shame I must say that we have been ^(AT)weak by comparison.

But in whatever respect anyone else ^(AU)is bold—I am ^(AV)speaking in foolishness—I too am bold. ²² Are they ^(AW)Hebrews? ^(AX)So am I. Are they ^(AY)Israelites? ^(AZ)So am I. Are they ^[g](BA)descendants of Abraham? ^(BB)So am I. ²³ Are they ^(BC)servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in ^(BD)far more labors, in ^(BE)far more imprisonments, ^[h](BF)beaten times without number, often in danger of ^(BG)death. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews ^(BH)thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(BI)beaten with rods, once I was ^(BJ)stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. ²⁶ I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my ^(BK)countrymen, dangers from the ^(BL)Gentiles, dangers in the ^(BM)city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among ^(BN)false brothers; ²⁷ I have been in ^(BO)labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in ^(BP)hunger and thirst, often ^(BQ)without food, in cold and ^[i](BR)exposure. ²⁸ Apart from such ^[j]external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for ^(BS)all the churches. ²⁹ Who is ^(BT)weak without my being weak? Who is ^[k]led into sin ^[l]without my intense concern?

³⁰ If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my ^(BU)weakness. ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(BV)He who is blessed forever, ^(BW)knows that I am not lying. ³² In ^(BX)Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was ^(BY)guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, ³³ and I was let down in a basket ^(BZ)through a window ^[m]in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to ^(A)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, ^(B)letters of commendation to you or from you? ^2 (C)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, ³ revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Christ, ^[a](D)delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^(E)the living God, not on ^(F)tablets of stone but on ^(G)tablets of ^[b](H)human hearts.

⁴ Such is the ^(I)confidence we have toward God through Christ. ⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but ^(J)our adequacy is from God, ⁶ who also made us adequate as ^(K)servants of a ^(L)new covenant, not of ^(M)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but ^(N)the Spirit gives life.

⁷ But if the ^(O)ministry of death, engraved ^(P)in letters on stones, came ^[c]with glory ^(Q)so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? ⁹ For if ^(R)the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ^(S)ministry of righteousness excel in glory. ¹⁰ For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if that which fades away was ^[d]with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^12 (T)Therefore, having such a hope, ^(U)we use great boldness in our speech, ¹³ and we are not like Moses, ^(V)who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were ^(W)hardened; for until this very day at the ^(X)reading of ^(Y)the old covenant the same veil ^[e]remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ¹⁵ But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; ^16 (Z)but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(AA)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(AB)there is freedom. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled faces, ^(AC)looking as in a mirror at the ^(AD)glory of the Lord, are being ^(AE)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^(AF)the Lord, the Spirit.