2Cor 10 | ESV | STEP | I , Paul , myself entreat you , by the meekness and gentleness of Christ —I who am humble when face to face with you , but bold toward you when I am away !

2 Corinthians 10

Paul Defends His Ministry

1 ^aI, Paul, myself entreat you, by the ^bmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you ^cthat when I am present I may not have to show ^dboldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the ^eweapons of ^four warfare are not of the flesh but have ^gdivine power ^hto destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and ⁱevery lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to ^jobey Christ, 6 ^kbeing ready to punish every disobedience, ^lwhen your obedience is complete.

7 ^mLook at what is before your eyes. ⁿIf anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as ^ohe is Christ’s, ^pso also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of ^qour authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but ^rhis bodily presence is weak, and ^shis speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or ^tcompare ourselves with some of those who ^uare commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are ^vwithout understanding.

13 But we will not boast ^wbeyond limits, but will ^xboast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, ^yto reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. ^zFor we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that ^aaas your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be ^abgreatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 “Let ^acthe one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is ^adnot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one ^aewhom the Lord commends.