10:12–11:122 C o ri n thia n s161Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as theseother men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard ofmeasurement. How ignorant!We will not boast about things done outside our area of authority. Wewill boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of thework God has given us, which includes our working with you. We are notreaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over you, asif we had never visited you. For we were the first to travel all the way toCorinth with the Good News of Christ.Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done.Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of ourwork among you will be extended. Then we will be able to go and preachthe Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done insomeone else’s territory. As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boastonly about the Lord.”When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear withme. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promisedyou as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehowyour pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Evewas deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up withwhatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than theone we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or adifferent kind of gospel than the one you believed.But I don’t consider myself inferior in any way to these “super apostles”who teach such things. I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I’m not lackingin knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way.Was I wrong when I humbled myself and honored you by preachingGod’s Good News to you without expecting anything in return? I “robbed”other churches by accepting their contributions so I could serve you at nocost. And when I was with you and didn’t have enough to live on, I did notbecome a financial burden to anyone. For the brothers who came fromMacedonia brought me all that I needed. I have never been a burden toyou, and I never will be. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, no onein all of Greece will ever stop me from boasting about this. Why? BecauseI don’t love you? God knows that I do.But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercutthose who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just
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