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I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
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But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
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Paul Defends His Ministry
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—
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I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
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But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
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Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.
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Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
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And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.
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What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.
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To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.
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Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
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Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
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The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
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For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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Concern for the Corinthian Church
I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.
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Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
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Final Warnings
This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
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For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.