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,

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift and not as something you feel forced to do.

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.

by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love,

For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.

since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak toward you but is powerful among you.

For I consider myself not at all inferior to those “super-apostles.”

We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair;

by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left,

For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it.

begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping the saints.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards,

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

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord –

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone,

I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of reverence for God.