Power made perfect in weakness: Paul defends his ministry in 2 Corinthians 10-13

10Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away. ²I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh. ³For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. ⁴The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete. ⁷You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does. ⁸For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed. ⁹I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters. ¹⁰For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.” ¹¹Such people should consider that what we are in our letters when absent, we will be in our actions when present. ¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance. ¹³We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us—a field that reaches even to you. ¹⁴We are not overstepping our bounds, as if we had not come to you. Indeed, we were the first to reach you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵Neither do we boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. But we hope that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you will greatly increase as well, ¹⁶so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory. ¹⁷Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” ¹⁸For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

11I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that. ²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily. ⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.” ⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible. ⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so. ¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! ¹²But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions. ¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool. ¹⁸Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise. ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, ²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief? ³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying. ³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me. ³³But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

12I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. ³And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— ⁴was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell. ⁵I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself, except in my weaknesses. ⁶Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. ¹²The true marks of an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance. ¹³In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! ¹⁴See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less? ¹⁶Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery. ¹⁷Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps? ¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. ²⁰For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. ²¹I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

13This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” ²I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone, ³since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. ⁴For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you. ⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you actually fail the test? ⁶And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test. ⁷Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹In fact, we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong, and our prayer is for your perfection. ¹⁰This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down. ¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³All the saints send you greetings. ¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.