[The two previous parts of this epistle have been mainly addressed to that portion of the congregation at Corinth which was loyal to the apostle. This third part, however, is especially addressed to his enemies, though he at times evidently speaks to his friends. The apostle in neither case formally... [ Continue Reading ]
yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh. [Hitherto the apostle had associated Timothy as a joint author of this letter, but as he now prepares to deal with his e... [ Continue Reading ]
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh... [ Continue Reading ]
(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds) ;... [ Continue Reading ]
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;... [ Continue Reading ]
and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full. [For though we are indeed human, we do not contend after a human or worldly fashion (for our weapons are not slander, detraction, misrepresentation, etc., which are the methods employed by the world in overcom... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye look at the things that are before your face. If any man trusteth in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ's, so also are we. [You false teachers who oppose me view things very shallowly and superficially, for ye deem yourselves to be Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
For though I should glory somewhat abundantly concerning our authority (which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down), I shall not be put to shame:... [ Continue Reading ]
that I may not seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.... [ Continue Reading ]
For, His letters, they say [a general expression, equivalent to "it is said"], _are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account_. [Now even if I boast most freely that my authority is greater than yours, my boasting will not bring shame upon me if you put me to... [ Continue Reading ]
Let such a one reckon this, that, what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present.... [ Continue Reading ]
For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. [Let all who thus accuse me of cowardice know assuredly that when I come my d... [ Continue Reading ]
But we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even unto you. [Paul got no false idea of his own stature by measuring himself with other men; but as the most apt measure for the point to be determined, viz.: h... [ Continue Reading ]
For we stretch not ourselves overmuch, as though we reached not unto you: for we came even as far as unto you in the gospel of Christ:... [ Continue Reading ]
not glorying beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors; but having hope that, as your faith groweth, we shall be magnified in you according to our province unto further abundance,... [ Continue Reading ]
so as to preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond you, and not to glory in another's province in regard of things ready to our hand. [Though God gave us so vast a bishopric, we indeed filled so much of it as to reach you. We were not so much smaller than this bishopric which God gave to us, that... [ Continue Reading ]
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. [Paul here gives the rule of boasting as condensed from Jeremiah 9:23-24. Paul's enemies had not observed this rule; he had. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 he ascribed all his power to God, and in 2 Corinthians 10:13 he shows that, vast as his work was, it was... [ Continue Reading ]
For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. [The self-commendation of a man rests on no higher evidence than the testimony of his own lips, but the commendation of God is shown by the works which he enables those to do whom he approves.]... [ Continue Reading ]