Paul and the False Apostles

¹I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ²For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since nI betrothed you to one husband, oto present you pas a pure virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that qas the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts rwill be led astray from a ssincere and tpure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and uproclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept va different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵Indeed, I consider that wI am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ⁶xEven if I am unskilled in speaking, yI am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way zwe have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷Or adid I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because bI preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was cin need, dI did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia esupplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ffrom burdening you in any way. ¹⁰gAs the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine hwill not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? iBecause I do not love you? jGod knows I do!

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, kin order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³For such men are lfalse apostles, mdeceitful workmen, ndisguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as oan angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as pservants of righteousness. qTheir end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I repeat, rlet no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying swith this boastful confidence, tI say not as the Lord would1 but as a fool. ¹⁸Since umany boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, vbeing wise yourselves! ²⁰For you bear it if someone wmakes slaves of you, or xdevours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ystrikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, zwe were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? aSo am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they bservants of Christ? cI am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, dfar more imprisonments, ewith countless beatings, and foften near death. ²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the gforty lashes less one. ²⁵Three times I was hbeaten with rods. iOnce I was stoned. Three times I jwas shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, kdanger from my own people, ldanger from Gentiles, mdanger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷nin toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, oin hunger and thirst, often without food,2 in cold and exposure. ²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for pall the churches. ²⁹qWho is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰rIf I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹sThe God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the who is blessed forever, uknows that I am not lying. ³²At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas vwas guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ³³wbut I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.