| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away. | 1Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ—though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only when I write from far away. |
| 2I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh. | 2Well, I am begging you now so that when I come I won’t have to be bold with those who think we act from human motives. |
| 3For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. | 3We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. |
| 4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. | 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. |
| 5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. | 5We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. |
| 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete. | 6And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient. |
| 7You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does. | 7Look at the obvious facts. Those who say they belong to Christ must recognize that we belong to Christ as much as they do. |
| 8For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed. | 8I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But our authority builds you up; it doesn’t tear you down. So I will not be ashamed of using my authority. |
| 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters. | 9I’m not trying to frighten you by my letters. |
| 10For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.” | 10For some say, “Paul’s letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are worthless!” |
| 11Such people should consider that what we are in our letters when absent, we will be in our actions when present. | 11Those people should realize that our actions when we arrive in person will be as forceful as what we say in our letters from far away. |
| 12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance. | 12Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant! |
| 13We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us—a field that reaches even to you. | 13We will not boast about things done outside our area of authority. We will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of the work God has given us, which includes our working with you. |
| 14We are not overstepping our bounds, as if we had not come to you. Indeed, we were the first to reach you with the gospel of Christ. | 14We are not reaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over you, as if we had never visited you. For we were the first to travel all the way to Corinth with the Good News of Christ. |
| 15Neither do we boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. But we hope that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you will greatly increase as well, | 15Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. |
| 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory. | 16Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done in someone else’s territory. |
| 17Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” | 17As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” |
| 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. | 18When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them. |
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