The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (197 page)

Generosity in Giving

9
  
Now it is superfluous
 
*
for me to write to you about the offering for the saints,
²
for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Acha'ia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them.
³
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;
⁴
lest if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.
⁵
So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift.

6
 The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also
reap bountifully
.
⁷
Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for
God loves a cheerful giver
.
⁸
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.
⁹
As it is written,

  
"
He scatters abroad
, he gives to the poor;

  
his righteousness
^k
endures for ever."

¹⁰
He who
supplies seed
to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources
^l
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
^k
11
You will be enriched
in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God;
¹²
for the rendering of this service not only supplies the wants of the saints but also overflows in
many thanksgivings
to God.
¹³
Under the test of this service, you
^m
will glorify God by your obedience in acknowledging the gospel of Christ, and by the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others;
¹⁴
while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God in you.
¹⁵
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Paul Defends His Ministry

10
  
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!
 
*
—
²
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.
³
For though we live in the world
we are not carrying on a worldly war,
⁴
for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
⁵
We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
⁶
being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

7
 Look at what is before your eyes. If any one is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that as he is Christ's, so are we.
⁸
For even if I boast a little too much of
our authority
, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame.
⁹
I would not seem to be frightening you with letters.
For they say, "
His letters
are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account."
¹¹
Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.
¹²
Not that we venture to class or
compare ourselves
with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

13
 
But we will
not
boast beyond limit
, but will keep to the limits God has apportioned us, to reach even to you.
¹⁴
For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you; we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ.
¹⁵
We do not boast beyond limit, in other men's labors; but our hope is that as your faith increases, our field among you may be greatly enlarged,
¹⁶
so that we may preach the gospel in
lands beyond you
, without boasting of work already done in another's field.
¹⁷
"Let him who boasts,
boast of the Lord
."
¹⁸
For it is not the man who commends himself that is accepted, but the man whom the Lord commends.

Paul and the False Apostles

11
 
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do
bear with me
!
²
I feel a divine jealousy for you, for
I betrothed you to Christ
to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.
³
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.
⁴
For if some one comes and preaches
another Jesus
than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.
⁵
I think that I am not in the least inferior to these
superlative apostles
.
⁶
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.

7
 
Did I commit a sin in abasing myself
so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel without cost to you?
⁸
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
⁹
And when I was with you and was in want, I did not burden any one, for my needs were supplied by the brethren who came
from Macedonia
. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
¹⁰
As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Acha'ia.
¹¹
And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

12
 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.
¹³
For such men are
false apostles
, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
¹⁴
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as
an angel of light
.
¹⁵
So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
Their end
will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

16
 I repeat, let no one think me foolish; but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
¹⁷
(What I am saying I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool, in this boastful confidence;
¹⁸
since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast.)
¹⁹
For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!
²⁰
For you bear it
if a man makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.
²¹
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.
²²
Are they
Hebrews
? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
²³
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.
²⁴
Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the
forty lashes less one
.
²⁵
Three times I have been
beaten with rods
; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea;
²⁶
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from
false brethren
;
²⁷
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
²⁸
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.
²⁹
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

30
 If I must boast,
I will boast
of the things that show my weakness.
³¹
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for ever, knows that I do not lie.
³²
At
Damascus
, the governor under King Ar'etas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me,
³³
but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands.

Paul's Visions and Revelations

12
  
I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and
revelations
of the Lord.
²
I know a man
in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.
³
And I know that this man was caught up into
Paradise
—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
⁴
and he heard things that
cannot be told
, which man may not utter.
⁵
On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.
⁶
Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
⁷
And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations,
a thorn
 
*
was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.
⁸
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it should leave me;
⁹
but he said to me, "
My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
¹⁰
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.

Paul's Concern for the Corinthian Church

11
 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been
commended by you
. For I am not at all inferior to these superlative apostles, even though I am nothing.
¹²
The
signs of a true apostle
were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.
¹³
For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
 
*

14
 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.
¹⁵
I will most gladly
spend and be spent
for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less?
¹⁶
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was
crafty, you say
, and got the better of you by guile.
¹⁷
Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?
¹⁸
I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?