1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 I feel a divine jealousy for you, forn[Hos. 2:19, 20] I betrothed you to one husband,oCol. 1:22, 28 to present youpEph. 5:27; Rev. 14:4 as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid thatqGen. 3:4; 1 Tim. 2:14; [John 8:44; 1 Thess. 3:5] as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughtsrCol. 2:4, 8 will be led astray from as[Eph. 6:5] sincere andtch. 6:6 pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes andu[1 Cor. 3:11] proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you acceptvGal. 1:6 a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 I consider thatwch. 12:11; Gal. 2:6 I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 xSee 1 Cor. 1:17 Even if I am unskilled in speaking,y[Eph. 3:4] I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every wayzch. 4:2; 5:11; 12:12 we have made this plain to you in all things.
7 Ora[ch. 12:13] did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, becausebSee Acts 18:3 I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and wascPhil. 4:12 in need,dch. 12:13, 14 I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedoniae[1 Cor. 16:17; Phil. 4:15, 16] supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrainfch. 12:16; 1 Thess. 2:6 from burdening you in any way. 10 gSee Rom. 1:9; 9:1 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mineh1 Cor. 9:15 will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why?iSee ch. 6:11 Because I do not love you?jver. 31; ch. 12:2, 3 God knows I do!
12 And what I do I will continue to do,k[1 Cor. 9:12] in 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. 13 For such men arelRev. 2:2; [Gal. 1:7; 2:4; 6:12; Phil. 1:15; 3:18; Titus 1:10, 12; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1] false apostles,m[Phil. 3:2] deceitful workmen,nver. 14, 15 disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself asoGal. 1:8 an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves aspch. 3:9 servants of righteousness.qPhil. 3:19 Their end will correspond to their deeds.
16 I repeat,rch. 12:6 let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am sayingsch. 9:4 with this boastful confidence,t[1 Cor. 7:12] I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool. 18 SinceuPhil. 3:3, 4 many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools,v1 Cor. 4:10 being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someonewGal. 2:4; [Gal. 4:3, 9; 5:1] makes slaves of you, orx[ch. 7:2] devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, ory1 Cor. 4:11 strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say,zch. 10:10 we 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. 22 Are they Hebrews?aRom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5 So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are theybSee ch. 3:6; 10:7 servants of Christ?cSee 1 Cor. 15:10 I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors,dch. 6:5 far more imprisonments,eActs 16:23 with countless beatings, andfch. 1:9, 10; 4:11; 6:9; Rom. 8:36; 1 Cor. 15:30-32 often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews thegDeut. 25:3 forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I washActs 16:22 beaten with rods.iActs 14:19 Once I was stoned. Three times Ij[Acts 27:41] was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers,kActs 9:23; 13:50; 14:5; 17:5; 1 Thess. 2:15; [Acts 18:12; 20:3, 19; 21:27; 23:10, 12; 25:3] danger from my own people,lActs 14:5; [Acts 19:23; 27:42] danger from Gentiles,mActs 21:31 danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 n1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night,o1 Cor. 4:11; Phil. 4:12 in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety forpSee 1 Cor. 7:17 all the churches. 29 qSee 1 Cor. 8:13; 9:22 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
30 rch. 10:10; 12:5, 9; See 1 Cor. 2:3 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 sSee Rom. 15:6 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus,tSee Rom. 9:5 he who is blessed forever,uver. 11 knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King AretasvActs 9:24 was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 wActs 9:25 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.