New King James Version  
Chapter 9
Administering the Gift
1Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you;
2for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority.
3Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready;
4lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
5Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
The Cheerful Giver
6But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9As it is written:
“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”
10Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
12For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
13while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
14and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.
15Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Chapter 10
The Spiritual War
1Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ— who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
2But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Reality of Paul's Authority
7Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ's, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ's, even so we are Christ's.
8For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—
9lest I seem to terrify you by letters.
10“For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”
11Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.
Limits of Paul's Authority
12For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
13We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.
14For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ;
15not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere,
16to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment.
17But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
18For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
Chapter 11
Concern for Their Faithfulness
1Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me.
2For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Paul and False Apostles
5For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.
6Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.
7Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?
8I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you.
9And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.
10As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows!
12But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.
13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
14And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Reluctant Boasting
16I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little.
17What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
18Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.
19For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise!
20For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face.
21To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.
Suffering for Christ
22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
23Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
24From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
28besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.
29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.
31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
32In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me;
33but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

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