111 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness ; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy ; for I betrothed you to one husband , so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin . 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness , your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ . 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached , or you receive a different spirit which you have not received , or a different gospel which you have not accepted , you bear this beautifully .

5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles . 6 But even if I am unskilled in speech , yet I am not so in knowledge ; in fact , in every way we have made this evident to you in all things . 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted , because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge ? 8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need , I was not a burden to anyone ; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need , and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine e will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia . 11 Why e ? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 But what I am doing I will continue to do , so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting . 13 For such men are false apostles , deceitful workers , disguising themselves as apostles of Christ . 14 No wonder , for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light . 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness , whose end will be according to their deeds .

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

16 Again I say , let no one think me foolish ; but if you do, receive me even as foolish , so that I also may boast a little . 17 What I am saying , I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness , in this confidence of boasting . 18 Since many boast according to the flesh , I will boast also . 19 For you, being so wise , tolerate the foolish gladly . 20 For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face . 21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever e respect anyone else is bold -I speak in foolishness -I am just as bold myself .

22 Are they Hebrews ? So am I. Are they Israelites ? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham ? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ ?-I speak as if insane -I more so ; in far more labors , in far more imprisonments , beaten times without number , often in danger of death . 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine e e lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods , once I was stoned , three times I was shipwrecked , a night and a day I have spent in the deep . 26 I have been on frequent journeys , in dangers from rivers , dangers from robbers , dangers from my countrymen , dangers from the Gentiles , dangers in the city , dangers in the wilderness , dangers on the sea , dangers among false brethren ; 27 I have been in labor and hardship , through many sleepless nights , in hunger and thirst , often without food , in cold and exposure . 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily e pressure on me of concern for all the churches . 29 Who is weak without e my being weak ? Who is led into sin without e my intense concern ? 30 If I have to boast , I will boast of what pertains to my weakness . 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus , He who is blessed forever , knows that I am not lying . 32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, 33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall , and so escaped his hands .

Ministers of the New Covenant

31 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again ? Or do we need , as some , letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter , written in our hearts , known and read by all men ; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ , cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God , not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts . 4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God . 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves , but our adequacy is from God ,

6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant , not of the letter but of the Spirit ; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life . 7 But if the ministry of death , in letters engraved on stones , came with glory , so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face , fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory ? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory , much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory . 10 For indeed what had glory , in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory , much more that which remains is in glory .

12 Therefore having such a hope , we use great boldness in our speech , 13 and are not like Moses , who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away . 14 But their minds were hardened ; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted , because it is removed in Christ . 15 But to this day whenever e Moses is read , a veil lies over their heart ; 16 but whenever e a person turns to the Lord , the veil is taken away . 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty . 18 But we all , with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord , are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory , just as from the Lord , the Spirit .