1 Now I myself, Paul, exhort you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who in person am lowly among you, but when absent am bold toward you;
2 and I beg that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence with which I intend to be daring against some who regard us as walking according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh;
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty before God for the pulling down of strongholds,
5 casting down reasonings and every high thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6 and being ready to avenge all disobedience, once your obedience is fulfilled.
7 Do you look at things according to outward appearance? If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that as he is Christ's, so also are we Christ's.
8 For even if I should boast somewhat more abundantly about our authority, which the Lord gave us for building up and not for your destruction, I will not be put to shame,
9 so that I may not seem as if I wanted to frighten you by my letters.
10 "For his letters," says one, "are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account."
11 Let such a person consider this: what we are in word by letters when absent, such we will also be in deed when present.
12 For we do not dare to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding.
13 But we will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the rule that God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
14 For we are not stretching ourselves beyond our measure, as though we did not reach you; for we came all the way to you in the gospel of Christ;
15 not boasting beyond measure in the labors of others, but having hope that, as your faith grows, we shall be greatly enlarged among you according to our rule,
16 so as to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another's rule about things already made ready.
17 But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.
18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.