Study Desk

Why am I in peril every hour?

When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.

So let no one despise him. Speed him on his way in peace, that he may return to me; for I am expecting him with the brethren.

I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overjoyed.

But I am sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold to you when I am away! --

I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of acting in worldly fashion.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superlative apostles.

Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

(What I am saying I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool, in this boastful confidence;

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever any one dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these superlative apostles, even though I am nothing.

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children.

I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less?

This is the third time I am coming to you. Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.