2 Corinthians 12:6-21
12:6 For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I would be telling
the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may regard
me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me,
12:7 even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore,
so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble
me – so that I would not become arrogant.
12:8 I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me.
12:9 But
he said to me, “My grace is enough
for you, for my
power is made perfect
in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly
about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in
me.
12:10 Therefore I am content with
weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties
for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
The Signs of an Apostle
12:11 I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
12:12 Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds.
12:13 For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!
12:14 Look, for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, because I do not want your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
12:15 Now I will most gladly spend and be spent for your lives! If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
12:16 But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!
12:17 I have not taken advantage of you through anyone I have sent to you, have I?
12:18 I urged Titus to visit you and I sent our brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way?
12:19 Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.
12:20 For I am afraid that somehow when I come I will not find you what I wish, and you will find me not what you wish. I am afraid that somehow there may be quarreling, jealousy, intense anger, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
12:21 I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve for many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.