2 CorinthiansChapter 10
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1I, Paul, beg you by the gentle and kind ways of Christ. I am humble when I am with you face to face, but bold when I am away. 2I beg you, don't make me be bold when I come. I expect I will have to be bold with some people. They think we live the way the world does. 3We do live in the world. But we don't fight our war the way the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the world's weapons. Instead, they have God's power to tear down strong forts. 5We tear down arguments. We tear down every proud idea that stands against knowing God. We take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobeying. We will do this as soon as you have fully obeyed. 7You are looking only at the outside of things. Someone may be sure he belongs to Christ. If so, he should remember that we belong to Christ just as much as he does. 8The Lord gave us authority to build you up, not to tear you down. Even if I brag a little too much about it, I will not be ashamed. 9I don't want it to seem like I am trying to scare you with my letters. 10Some people say, "His letters are serious and strong. But in person he is weak, and his speaking is worth nothing." 11Those people should know this. When we are with you, we will act just like what we write in our letters when we are away. 12We don't dare to put ourselves in the same group as some who praise themselves. We don't compare ourselves with them. They measure themselves by themselves. They compare themselves with themselves. This shows they don't understand. 13But we will not brag beyond our limits. We will brag only about the area of work God gave us. That area reaches all the way to you. 14We are not going too far, as if we had not come to you. In fact, we were the first to come all the way to you with the good news of Christ. 15We do not brag beyond our limits about work others have done. But we hope that your faith will keep growing. Then our area of work among you will also grow much larger. 16Then we can preach the good news in places beyond you. We will not be bragging about work already done in another person's area. 17But, "Let the one who brags, brag about the Lord." 18It is not the one who praises himself who is approved. It is the one the Lord praises.