For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others.

And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in spreading the gospel.

for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments

For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.

And even if I am unskilled in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way.

What I am saying with this boastful confidence I do not say the way the Lord would. Instead it is, as it were, foolishness.

On behalf of such an individual I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.

But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows,

for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer:

For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, about our coming to you – it has not proven to be purposeless.

The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders,

For the scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker deserves his pay.”

Similarly good works are also obvious, and the ones that are not cannot remain hidden.

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.