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2 Corinthians 10

1Now I, Paul, myself appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face among you, but bold toward you when away! 2I beg that when I am present I will not have to be bold with the confidence with which I consider daring to act against some who consider us as walking according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful for God, for the tearing down of strongholds. We tear down arguments 5and every high thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6and we are ready to punish every disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

7You look at what is before your face. If anyone is confident in himself that he belongs to Christ, let him consider this again for himself: that just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. 8For even if I boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be put to shame, 9so that I do not seem as if I were trying to frighten you by my letters. 10For someone says, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.” 11Let such a person consider this: what we are in word through letters when absent, that we are also in action when present.

12For we do not dare to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they do not understand. 13We, however, will not boast beyond limits, but according to the measure of the field that God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you, for we did reach even as far as you with the good news of Christ. 15We do not boast beyond limits in the labors of others, but we have hope that as your faith grows, we will be enlarged among you according to our field, to overflowing, 16so as to bring the good news to the regions beyond you, not to boast in another's field about things already done. 17“But let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Translation notes 8

10:1 — “Humble … but bold.” Paul quotes an accusation: face to face he is humble, meaning timid or servile, but from a distance he is bold. The word “humble” is the same as “lowly” in 7:6; the sarcasm is the letter's.

10:2 — “Consider.” One Greek verb for reckoning or counting recurs in verses 2, 7, and 11 and at 11:5 and 12:6; the draft keeps “consider.”

10:3–5 — “Walk in the flesh … not according to the flesh.” The distinction is between living in a human body and living by merely human standards. “Powerful for God” can mean divinely powerful or powerful in God's service. “Strongholds,” “arguments,” and “every high thing” are siege images; “thought” in verse 5 is the same word as “minds” in 3:14, 4:4, and 11:3.

10:7 — “You look at what is before your face.” The Greek can be a statement, a question, or a command (“Look at what is before your eyes!”). The draft prints a statement and keeps the face language of verse 1.

10:10 — “Someone says.” The Greek base has a singular impersonal verb; the sayings are those of critics at Corinth, whether one or several.

10:12 — “They do not understand.” The Greek base and every edition it compares include this clause and the following “we, however”; the fuller critical editions report a few early witnesses that omit the words, which changes the sentence's structure. See the study notes.

10:13–16 — “Field”; “measure.” The word rendered “field” means a measuring rod, a rule, or a boundary, here the sphere of work that God assigned. “Beyond limits” is literally “into the unmeasured.” Paul's point is that Corinth lies within the sphere God assigned him, since he actually reached it with the good news, and that he will not claim work others did; the verb in verse 14 means to reach or arrive, not to arrive first.

10:17 — Jeremiah 9:24. Quoted briefly, as in 1 Corinthians 1:31.