New Testament in a Year

11 Please endure a little foolishness on my part; you have come so far with me already. ² To be completely honest, I am extremely jealous for you; but it’s the same kind of jealousy God has for you. You see, like an attentive father, I have pledged your hand in marriage and promised to present you as a pure virgin to the One who would be your husband, the Anointed One. ³ But now I’m afraid that as that serpent tricked Eve with his wiles, so your hearts and minds will be tricked and you will stray from the single-minded love and pure devotion to Him. ⁴ So then, if someone comes along and presents you with a Jesus different from the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one gifted through our Lord Jesus, or even if you hear a gospel different from the one you heard through us; then you’re ready to go with it.

⁵ I consider myself in league with the so-called great emissaries; I lack nothing. ⁶ Even if I’m not the greatest speaker, I make up for it by what I know of God and have proved it time and again to you. ⁷ Was it a sin to humble myself and serve you so that you might be lifted up? Did I wrong you somehow by instructing you in the good news of God without charge? ⁸ In a sense, I robbed other churches by accepting their support just so I could serve you. ⁹ If any need arose while I was with you, I didn’t trouble anyone. When the brothers and sisters arrived from Macedonia, they covered all my needs so that I didn’t become a burden to any of you; and I plan on keeping it that way. ¹⁰ For I tell you, as the truth of the Anointed One lives in me, I will continue to boast about this all throughout Achaia. ¹¹ Why am I doing this? It’s not because I don’t love you—God knows I do— ^12-13 but I will continue doing what I am doing to cut off any opportunity—clearly some are looking for one—for these false emissaries, these low-down, untrustworthy preachers, these posers who act as emissaries of the Anointed, to claim that they work under the same terms that we do. ¹⁴ No wonder they are so good at it. Satan himself poses as a messenger of heavenly light, ¹⁵ so why should we expect less from his servants—plodding over the earth, pretending to be ministers of righteousness—but in the end, they’ll get what’s coming to them.