1But I, Paul, beg of you by the serenity and gentleness of The Messiah, although when we are present, I am gentle with you, but when I am distant, I am bold toward you; 2But I beg of you that when I come it is not necessary for me by the boldness that I have to dare to give counsel against those persons who regard us as if we walk in the flesh. 3For even if we do walk in the flesh, on the other hand, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4The weapons of our warfare are not according to the flesh, but of the power of God, and by it we subdue rebellious fortresses, 5And we pull down reasonings and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and we take all minds prisoner to the obedience of The Messiah. 6But we are prepared to execute the punishment of those who do not obey when your obedience is fulfilled.

7Do you look upon appearances? If a man trusts upon himself that he is of The Messiah, let him know this from his soul, that as he is of The Messiah, so also are we. 8For if I boast somewhat more of the authority that our Lord gives to me, I am not ashamed, because he gave it to us for your edification and not for your destruction. 9But I avoid it, lest it be supposed that I terrify you with my epistle, 10Because there are many people who say, “The letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.” 11But let him who speaks in this way consider this, that as we are in the message of our epistles when we are absent, so we are also in deeds when we are present.

12For we dare not value or compare ourselves against those who flaunt themselves, for those among them who compare themselves are not wise. 13But we do not boast beyond our size, but by the measure of the limits that God has distributed to us, to reach also as far as to you. 14For it was not as if we did not arrive unto you, for we joined ourselves as far as unto you. We arrived with The Gospel of The Messiah. 15And we do not glory beyond our measure in the labor of others. We have hope that when your faith increases we shall be magnified by you according to our measure, and we shall abound. 16We shall boast also to preach The Gospel beyond you, not by measure of others whom we have already won. 17But he who boasts, let him boast in THE LORD JEHOVAH. 18For it is not he who praises himself who is approved, but he whom THE LORD JEHOVAH shall praise.