Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 173
10:12–11:12
2 C o ri n thia n s
161
Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these
other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of
measurement. How ignorant!
We will not boast about things done outside our area of authority. We
will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of the
work God has given us, which includes our working with you. We are not
reaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over you, as
if we had never visited you. For we were the first to travel all the way to
Corinth 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 our
work among you will be extended. Then we will be able to go and preach
the 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 in
someone else’s territory. As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast
only 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 with
me. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised
you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow
your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve
was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with
whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the
one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a
different 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 lacking
in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way.
Was I wrong when I humbled myself and honored you by preaching
God’s Good News to you without expecting anything in return? I “robbed”
other churches by accepting their contributions so I could serve you at no
cost. And when I was with you and didn’t have enough to live on, I did not
become a financial burden to anyone. For the brothers who came from
Macedonia brought me all that I needed. I have never been a burden to
you, and I never will be. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, no one
in all of Greece will ever stop me from boasting about this. Why? Because
I don’t love you? God knows that I do.
But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut
those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just
