Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Boasting in the Lord

¹² We wouldn’t dare, you see, to figure out where we belong on some scale or other, or compare ourselves with people who commend themselves. They measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another. That just shows how silly they are! ¹³ But when we boast, we don’t go off into flights of fancy; we boast according to the measure of the rule God has given us to measure ourselves by, and that rule includes our work with you! ¹⁴ We weren’t going beyond our assigned limits when we reached you; we were the first to get as far as you with the gospel of the Messiah. ¹⁵ We don’t boast without a measuring rule in the work someone else has done. This is what we hope for: that, as your faith increases, we will be given a much larger space for work, according to our rule, ¹⁶ which is to announce the gospel in the lands beyond you, not to boast in what has already been accomplished through the rule someone else has been given. ¹⁷ “Anyone who boasts should boast in the Lord!” ¹⁸ Who is it, after all, who gains approval? It isn’t the person who commends himself. It’s the person whom the Lord commends.