Study Desk

We do not want you to have troubles while other people are at ease, but we want everything to be equal.

But I am sending the brothers to you so that our bragging about you in this will not be empty words. I want you to be ready, as I said you would be.

Remember this: The person who plants a little will have a small harvest, but the person who plants a lot will have a big harvest.

We do live in the world, but we do not fight in the same way the world fights.

We are ready to punish anyone there who does not obey, but first we want you to obey fully.

It is true that we brag freely about the authority the Lord gave us. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down. So I will not be ashamed.

Some people say, "Paul's letters are powerful and sound important, but when he is with us, he is weak. And his speaking is nothing."

They should know this: We are not there with you now, so we say these things in letters. But when we are there with you, we will show the same authority that we show in our letters.

But we will not brag about things outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our bragging to the work that God gave us, and this includes our work with you.

We are not bragging too much, as we would be if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News of Christ.

But, "If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord."

It is not those who say they are good who are accepted but those the Lord thinks are good.

I wish you would be patient with me even when I am a little foolish, but you are already doing that.

But I am afraid that your minds will be led away from your true and pure following of Christ just as Eve was tricked by the snake with his evil ways.

I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have shown this to you clearly in every way.

Such men are not true apostles but are workers who lie. They change themselves to look like apostles of Christ.

So it does not surprise us if Satan's servants also make themselves look like servants who work for what is right. But in the end they will be punished for what they do.

I tell you again: No one should think I am a fool. But if you think so, accept me as you would accept a fool. Then I can brag a little, too.

When I brag because I feel sure of myself, I am not talking as the Lord would talk but as a fool.

It is shameful to me to say this, but we were too "weak" to do those things to you! But if anyone else is brave enough to brag, then I also will be brave and brag. (I am talking as a fool.)