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

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.

was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.

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!

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.

I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them.

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

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, because they think they can cause trouble for me in my imprisonment.

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,

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance.

I do not say this because I am seeking a gift. Rather, I seek the credit that abounds to your account.

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

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.