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2 Corinthians 10
1Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of , I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
2Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
3For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,
5throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of ,
6and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full.
7Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that even as he is Christ’s, so we also are Christ’s.
8For even if I boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for casting you down, I will not be ashamed,
9that I may not seem as if I to terrify you by my letters.
10For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.”
11Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present.
12For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding.
13But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God appointed to us, which reach even to you.
14For we don’t stretch ourselves too much, as though we didn’t reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the Good News of ,
15not boasting beyond proper limits in other men’s labors, but having hope that as your grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence,
16so as to preach the Good News even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done.
17But “he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
18For it isn’t he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
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Questions this passage answers
What is repentance in the Bible?
Scripture describes repentance as turning: a change of mind about sin and about God that turns a person away from sin and toward God, and shows itself in what follows. It is more than regret, since Scripture distinguishes godly sorrow that leads to repentance from worldly sorrow that only produces death, and it is God's gift as well as our act.
What does the Bible say about money?
Scripture treats money as a real good that God provides and as a rival master that can own a person. It never calls money evil; it calls the love of money a root of all kinds of evil, warns that no one can serve both God and wealth, and directs the rich to generosity and everyone to contentment. Its main question about money is not how much you have but who you are serving with it.
Why does God allow suffering?
Scripture never gives one tidy reason for all suffering. It says that pain entered a good world through sin, that God is neither its author nor its prisoner, that he uses it without approving of it, and that he entered it himself in Christ rather than explaining it from a distance. The Bible answers the question with a person before it answers it with an argument.
What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is news, not advice. It is the announcement that God became man in Jesus Christ, lived the life we owed, died the death we deserved, rose bodily from the dead, and now freely forgives and reconciles everyone who turns from sin and trusts him. It is something done, reported to us, before it is anything asked of us.