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| 12 | 2 Corinthians |
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| 1 |
I AM OBLIGED TO BOAST. It does no good; but I shall go on to tell of visions and revelations granted by the Lord. | Visions and Revelations 2Cor.12.1-10 |
| 2 |
I know a Christian man who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of it, I do not know- God knows) was caught up as far as the third heaven. | |
| 3 |
And I know that this same man (whether in the body or out of it, I do not know—God knows) | |
| 4 |
was caught up into paradise, and heard words so secret that human lips may not repeat them. | |
| 5 |
About such a man as that I am ready to boast; but I will not boast on my own account, except of my weaknesses. | |
| 6 |
If I should choose to boast, it would not be the boast of a fool, for I should be speaking the truth. But I refrain, because I should not like anyone to form an estimate of me which goes beyond the evidence of his own eyes and ears. | |
| 7 |
And so, to keep me from being unduly elated by the magnificence of such revelations, I was given a sharp physical pain which came as Satan's messenger to bruise me; this was to save me from being unduly elated. | |
| 8 |
Three times I begged the Lord to rid me of it, | |
| 9 |
but his answer was: 'My grace is all you need; power comes to its full strength in weakness.' I shall therefore prefer to find my joy and pride in the very things that are my weakness; and then the power of Christ will come and rest upon me. | |
| 10 |
Hence I am well content, for Christ's sake, with weakness, contempt, persecution, hardship, and frustration; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
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| 11 |
I AM BEING VERY FOOLISH, but it was you who drove me to it; my credentials should have come from you. In no respect did I fall short of these superlative apostles, even if I am a nobody. | Paul's Concern for the Corinthian Church 2Cor.12.11-21 |
| 12 |
The marks of a true apostle were there, in the work I did among you, which called for such constant fortitude, and was attended by signs, marvels, and miracles. | |
| 13 |
Is there anything in which you were treated worse than the other congregations-except this, that I never sponged upon you? How unfair of me! I crave forgiveness.
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| 14 |
Here am I preparing to pay you a third visit; and I am not going to sponge upon you. It is you I want, not your money; parents should make provision for their children, not children for their parents. | |
| 15 |
As for me, I will gladly spend what I have for you—yes, and spend myself to the limit. If I love you overmuch, am I to be loved the less? | |
| 16 |
But, granted that I did not prove a burden to you, still I was unscrupulous enough, you say, to use a trick to catch you. | |
| 17 |
Who, of the men I have sent to you, was used by me to defraud you? | |
| 18 |
I begged Titus to visit you, and I sent our friend is with him. Did Titus defraud you? Have we not both been guided by the same Spirit, and followed the same course?
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| 19 |
Perhaps you think that all this time we have been addressing our defence to you. No; we are speaking in God's sight, and as Christian men. Our whole aim, my own dear people, is to build you up. | |
| 20 |
I fear that when I come I may perhaps find you different from what I wish you to be, and that you may find me also different from what you wish. I fear I may find quarrelling and jealousy, angry tempers and personal rivalries, backbiting and gossip, arrogance and general disorder. | |
| 21 |
I am afraid that, when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, that I may have tears to shed over many of those who have sinned in the past and have not repented of their unclean lives, their fornication and sensuality.
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