1 *See Rom. 12:1I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the *Zech. 9:9;Matt. 11:29;Phil. 2:7,8meekness 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 *ch. 13:2,10;1 Cor. 4:18,21that when I am present I may not have to show *ver. 6boldness 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 *ch. 6:7;[Eph. 6:11;1 Thess. 5:8] weapons of *See 1 Cor. 9:7our warfare are not of the flesh but have *ch. 13:3,4;See 1 Cor. 2:5divine power *Jer. 1:10to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and *[Isa. 2:11,12] every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to *ch. 9:13;[Rom. 5:19]obey Christ, 6 *See ver. 2being ready to punish every disobedience, *ch. 2:9;7:15when your obedience is complete.

7 *[ch. 5:12;John 7:24] Look at what is before your eyes. *[1 Cor. 1:12;14:37;1 John 4:6] If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as *1 Cor. 3:23he is Christ’s, *[ch. 11:23;1 Cor. 9:1;Gal. 1:12]so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of *ch. 13:10our 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 *ch. 11:21;[ch. 12:7] his bodily presence is weak, and *See 1 Cor. 1:17his 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 *1 Cor. 2:13compare ourselves with some of those who *ver. 18;ch. 3:1;12:6;[Prov. 27:2] are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are *[Prov. 26:12]without understanding.

13 But we will not boast *ver. 15beyond limits, but will *See Rom. 12:3boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, *[Rom. 15:20]to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. *1 Cor. 3:5;4:15;9:1For 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 *2 Thess. 1:3as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be *[Acts 5:13]greatly 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 *1 Cor. 1:31;[Jer. 9:23,24]the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 18 For it is *See ver. 12not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one *Rom. 2:29;1 Cor. 4:5whom the Lord commends.