2 Corinthians 11 | Day 31

2 Corinthians 11 (NIV 1984)

¹ I hope you will put up with a little foolishness from me. But you are already wise! In fact, you have already put up with me!
² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
⁵ I consider myself not in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”
⁶ I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
⁷ Was it a sin for me to humiliate myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you without charge?
⁸ I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.
⁹ And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.
¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
¹¹ And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
¹⁶ I repeat: Let no one think I am a fool. If I am, then I am foolish for Christ, but that makes me wise.
¹⁷ Since many are arrogant, I am not going to boast about being wise.
¹⁸ But I will boast about what I am showing in our arrogance, and that is the truth.
¹⁹ Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.
²⁰ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
²¹ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
²² Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
²³ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
²⁴ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
²⁵ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
²⁶ Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
²⁷ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
²⁸ The hardships I face—daily, the pressure on me of my concern for all the churches.
²⁹ Who is led into sin? I am not talking as one who is beaten down by sin, but as one who inwardly burns with passion for the churches.
³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
³² In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me.
³³ But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall, and slipped through his hands.