2 Corinthians 10

1I, Paul, make this appeal to you myself, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I am the one who is humble when I am with you in person, but bold with you when I am at a distance. 2I beg you not to make me show boldness when I am with you, the confidence that I count on using against some people, those who count us as living by merely human standards. 3We do live as human beings, but we do not fight our battles by merely human standards. 4Our weapons in this fight are not merely human; they have power from God to tear down strongholds, and so we tear down arguments 5and every proud tower raised against the knowledge of God. We capture every thought and lead it away to obey Christ. 6We are prepared to punish all disobedience, once you yourselves have fully obeyed.

7Look at what is right in front of you. Anyone who is confident of belonging to Christ should think again and consider this: just as that person belongs to Christ, so do we. 8Suppose I boast rather more than I should about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down: I will not be put to shame. 9I would not want it to look as though I were out to terrify you by letter. 10For someone says, “His letters are weighty and strong, but when he is here in person he is weak, and the way he speaks is contemptible.” 11Anyone who says this should understand that we are the same in action when we are with you as we are in the words of our letters when we are away.

12We would not dare to put ourselves in the same class as some of those who recommend themselves, or to set ourselves beside them. They use themselves as the measuring stick and compare themselves with themselves, and that shows how little they understand. 13But we will not boast of things outside our measure. We will boast only within the measure of the field that God has measured out to us as ours, and it reaches even as far as you. 14We are not overstretching ourselves, as we would be if our field did not reach you; we did reach you, bringing the gospel of Christ. 15We do not boast of things outside our measure, in work that others have done. We hope instead that as your faith grows, we will be given far more room among you, still within our field, 16so that we can carry the gospel to the lands beyond you, without boasting of ground someone else has already prepared.

17But, as Scripture says, “Whoever boasts should boast in the Lord.” 18The person who stands approved is not the one who recommends themselves, but the one the Lord recommends.