2 Corinthians 9

1 If I wrote any more on this relief offering for the poor Christians, I'd be repeating myself.2 I know you're on board and ready to go. I've been bragging about you all through Macedonia province, telling them, "Achaia province has been ready to go on this since last year." Your enthusiasm by now has spread to most of them.

3 Now I'm sending the brothers to make sure you're ready, as I said you would be, so my bragging won't turn out to be just so much hot air.4 If some Macedonians and I happened to drop in on you and found you weren't prepared, we'd all be pretty red-faced-you and us-for acting so sure of ourselves.5 So to make sure there will be no slipup, I've recruited these brothers as an advance team to get you and your promised offering all ready before I get there. I want you to have all the time you need to make this offering in your own way. I don't want anything forced or hurried at the last minute.

6 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.7 I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

8 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.9 As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.10 This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God,11 wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

12 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God.13 This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone.14 Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need.15 Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!

2 Corinthians 10

Tearing Down Barriers

1 And now a personal but most urgent matter; I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I hear that I'm being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I'm with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters.2 Please don't force me to take a hard line when I'm present with you. Don't think that I'll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I'm an unprincipled opportunist. Then they'll have to eat their words.

3 The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way-never have and never will.4 The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.5 We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.6 Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

7 You stare and stare at the obvious, but you can't see the forest for the trees. If you're looking for a clear example of someone on Christ's side, why do you so quickly cut me out? Believe me, I am quite sure of my standing with Christ.8 You may think I overstate the authority he gave me, but I'm not backing off. Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up, after all, not tearing you down.

9 And what's this talk about me bullying you with my letters?10 "His letters are brawny and potent, but in person he's a weakling and mumbles when he talks."11 Such talk won't survive scrutiny. What we write when away, we do when present. We're the exact same people, absent or present, in letter or in person.

12 We're not, understand, putting ourselves in a league with those who boast that they're our superiors. We wouldn't dare do that. But in all this comparing and grading and competing, they quite miss the point.

13 We aren't making outrageous claims here. We're sticking to the limits of what God has set for us. But there can be no question that those limits reach to and include you.14 We're not moving into someone else's "territory." We were already there with you, weren't we? We were the first ones to get there with the Message of Christ, right? So how can there be any question of overstepping our bounds by writing or visiting you?

15 We're not barging in on the rightful work of others, interfering with their ministries, demanding a place in the sun with them. What we're hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you'll play a part within our expanding work.16 And we'll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the Message in countries beyond Corinth. But we have no intention of moving in on what others have done and taking credit for it.17 "If you want to claim credit, claim it for God."18 What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference.

2 Corinthians 11

Pseudo-Servants of God

1 Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment.2 The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much-this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband.3 And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.

4 It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached-different spirit, different message-you put up with him quite nicely.5 But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are.6 It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything.

7 I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me?8 It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride.9 Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the Christians from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it.10 With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think.11 It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do.

12 I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us.13 They're a sorry bunch-pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers-posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core.14 And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light.15 So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Many a Long and Lonely Night

Many a Long and Lonely Night

16 Let me come back to where I started-and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little.17 I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ.18 Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days.19 Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along.20 You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down-even slap your face!

21 I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.22 Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match.

23 Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.)24 I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes,25 beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day.26 In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers.27 I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

28 And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.29 When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.

30 If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus.31 The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying.32 Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me?33 I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.