1I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness, and indeed, you are! 2Certainly, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: I betrothed you to one husband, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3But I am afraid that somehow, just as the serpent deceived Eve in his shrewd deceit, so your minds might likewise be corrupted from the simplicity1880 that is in Christ. 4Somehow, if someone comes along preaching another Jesus (not the one we preached), or if you receive a different spirit (not the one you [first] received), or a different Good News (which is not the one you accepted), you put up with it well enough. 5However, I do not consider myself inferior to the superlative apostles:1881 6although I am unskilled in speech, I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way, what we are has been revealed to you in all [these] things. 7Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s Good News to you free of charge? 8I ‘robbed’ other Churches, taking wages from them, so that I might serve you! 9When I was present with you and found myself in need, I was not a burden on anyone because when the brothers1882 came from Macedonia, they provided according to my need. In everything, I have refrained from being a burden to you, and I will continue to do so.
10As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11Why do I say this? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do! 12But what I do, I will keep doing, in order that those who wish to boast as we do may have no such occasion. 13As it is, such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, trying to pass themselves off as Christ’s apostles. 14And this is no wonder: even Satan presents himself as an angel of light. 15It is no great thing, then, if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, and their end will be according to their works.
Paul’s ‘boasting’
16I say it again: may you not think that I am fool! But if you do, receive me still as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. 17What I [now] speak, I do not speak according to the Lord, but in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. 18And since I see that many boast as humans do,1883 I will also boast. 19Yes, since you are wise, you bear with the foolish gladly! 20In fact, you put up with someone who brings you into slavery, devours you, takes you captive, exalts himself, or strikes you on the face. 21I say this to our shame: we were too weak for that! However, if anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold as well. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I! Are they Israelites? So am I! Are they Abraham’s seed? So am I! 23Are they Christ’s servants? I am even more so (I speak as a fool)! I was in far more labors, beaten countless times, far more often in prisons, and often close to death. 24Five times, I was beaten with stripes (forty times minus one) from the Jews. 25Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once, I received a stoning. Three times, I suffered shipwreck and was for a night and a day in the open sea. 26I have been in travels often, in danger from rivers, robbers, from my countrymen, from the Gentiles; in danger in the city, in the wilderness, at sea, among false brothers; 27in toil and hardship, in vigils often, in hunger and thirst, often fasting, and in cold and nakedness.
28Besides those things which are external, there is something that comes upon me daily: anxiety1884 for all the Churches. 29If anyone is weak, do I not feel weak too? If anyone stumbles, do I not burn with indignation? 30But if I must boast, I will boast about those things that have to do with my weakness. 31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed unto the ages, knows that I do not lie. 32In Damascus, the governor of King Aretas guarded the city, desiring to arrest me. 33But I was let down in a basket along the wall through a window, and this is how I escaped from his hands.
Visions and revelations—A thorn in the flesh
- CT adds “and purity”
- Or “chiefest apostles, super-apostles, most eminent apostles” (Greek u`perli,an avposto,lwn)
- Or “brethren”
- Literally “after the flesh, based on fleshly things”
- Or “care”
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
