2 Corinthians 10

Now I, Paul, make this appeal to you myself, and I do it in the mild and gentle spirit of Christ. I am lowly when I am with you face to face, but bold toward you when I am far away.

1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

Note"Base" in 1611 English meant lowly or of low standing, with no suggestion of anything shameful. Paul is picking up the taunt his opponents make about him, that face to face he is unimpressive and yielding while his letters from a safe distance are forceful. "Meekness and gentleness" render two Greek words describing someone who does not throw his weight around and who is willing to give way rather than press his rights.

2I am asking you to make it unnecessary for me to be bold when I come. I expect to be bold toward certain people who assume that we live by merely human motives.

2But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Note"Walk" is a standard biblical idiom for the whole conduct of a life, not for physical walking. "Flesh" in Paul's letters usually means human nature working from its own resources and motives, so the charge against him is that he operates by ordinary self interest and ordinary methods.

3It is true that we live in ordinary human bodies, but we do not fight our battles the way the world fights.

3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

NoteThe Greek uses the same word twice for effect: we walk "in flesh," meaning we live as physical human beings, but we do not wage war "according to flesh," meaning by merely human methods. English has to split the one word two ways, which is what the rendering does.

4The weapons we fight with are not the world's weapons. They have power from God to tear down strongholds.

4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Note"Carnal" is 1611 English for "of the flesh," meaning merely human, and carries no sexual sense here. From this verse through verse 6 the picture is a military siege: an army breaking down the walls of a fortified town, leveling its high defenses, and marching the population off afterward.

5We tear down arguments and every proud claim that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Note"Imaginations" in 1611 English meant reasonings or arguments, not daydreams. "Every high thing" continues the siege picture, a high wall or tower that has to come down. "Bringing into captivity" is what a victorious army did with a conquered population: leading them away as prisoners of war.

6And we stand ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your own obedience is complete.

6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Note"Revenge" in 1611 English meant to impose justice or exact a penalty, without the modern sense of a private grudge. Paul is speaking of the disciplinary action he could take when he arrives.

7You are judging by what you see on the surface. If someone is sure that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does.

7Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

NoteThe Greek of the opening sentence can be read three ways, and translators divide over it: as a question ("Are you looking only at the surface?"), as a flat statement ("You are looking at the surface"), or as a command ("Look at what is plainly in front of you"). The rendering takes the second, but the other two remain possible.

8The Lord gave us authority to build you up, not to tear you down. So even if I boast about that authority a bit too much, I will not be put to shame.

8For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:

Note"Boast" translates a Greek word covering both taking pride in something and saying so out loud. It is not automatically a fault, and Paul uses it in both senses across this letter. "Edification" is literally "building up," a construction word that answers the demolition language of verse 4.

9I do not want to look like someone who is trying to scare you with his letters.

9That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

NoteLetters were read aloud to the whole congregation when they arrived, so a letter from Paul worked as a public speech delivered in his absence. That is why his critics can compare the letters directly with his performance in person.

10For some people say, "His letters are heavy and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive, and his speaking is worth nothing."

10For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

NoteIn the Greek and Roman world a public teacher was judged largely on delivery: voice, bearing, physical impressiveness, and trained rhetorical skill. "Weighty and powerful" was standard praise for an effective speaker, and "contemptible" here translates a dismissive phrase meaning worth nothing, the verdict a trained audience passed on an amateur.

11People who talk that way should realize this: what we are in our words by letter when we are away, we will also be in our actions when we are there.

11Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

12We would not dare to count ourselves among certain people who praise themselves, or to compare ourselves with them. When they measure themselves by their own standard and compare themselves with each other, they show they have no sense.

12For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

NoteCommending yourself, or carrying letters of recommendation from respected people, was the ordinary way a traveling teacher established his credentials. Paul is refusing to play that game. The Greek of the second half piles up forms of "themselves" over and over, so the sentence itself sounds like the closed circle it describes.

13We, on the other hand, will not boast beyond proper limits. We will keep to the limits of the area of work God assigned to us, an area that reaches all the way to you.

13But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

Note"Rule" translates the Greek word kanon, a measuring rod or surveyor's line, and by extension the marked out area assigned to someone. From here to verse 16 the image is of assigned territory with boundary lines, and Paul's claim is that Corinth falls inside the lines given to him.

14We are not overreaching, as if our work did not extend to you. We did in fact come all the way to you with the good news about Christ.

14For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

15We do not boast beyond our limits by taking credit for other people's work. Our hope is that as your faith grows, our own area of work among you will be greatly enlarged,

15Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

16so that we can preach the good news in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting about work already finished in someone else's territory.

16To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.

Note"Another man's line" is the surveying word again: the boundary of someone else's allotted district. "Things made ready to our hand" means work another person had already finished before Paul got there.

17Instead, whoever boasts should boast about the Lord.

17But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

NoteA loose quotation of Jeremiah 9:24. "Glorieth" and "glory" here translate the same Greek word the King James renders "boast" earlier in the chapter; the English varies but the word does not.

18For the person who is approved is not the one who praises himself, but the one the Lord praises.

18For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

Note"Approved" translates a word used of metal or coinage that has been tested and passed as genuine. "Commend" belongs to the language of formal recommendation, so the question in view is who has the standing to issue the credential.