Paul and the False Apostles

¹I would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly. Indeed, bear with me.[#2Co 5:13]

²For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.[#Isa 54:5; #Hos 2:19–20]

³But I fear that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve through his trickery, so your minds might be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ.[#Ge 3:4; Jn 8:44; 1Ti 2:13; Rev 12:9]

⁴For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might submit to it readily enough.[#Gal 1:6–8]

⁵For I think I am not in any way inferior to the most eminent of the apostles.

⁶Even though I am unpolished in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. All things about us have been thoroughly revealed to you.[#1Co 1:17; #Eph 3:4]

⁷Did I commit a sin in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God free of charge?[#2Co 12:13]

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting wages from them to serve you.

⁹Furthermore, when I was present with you and was lacking, I was a burden to no one. For the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I lacked. In all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself.[#1Th 2:6]

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.[#Ro 9:1; #Ac 18:12]

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows.[#2Co 12:15; #2Co 12:2–3]

¹²And I will continue doing what I am doing, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be found equal to us in what they boast about.[#1Co 9:12]

¹³For such are false apostles and deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.[#Gal 1:7; Rev 2:2]

¹⁴And no wonder! For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.[#Gal 1:8; Rev 12:9]

¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.[#2Co 3:9; #Php 3:19]

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I say again, let no one think that I am a fool. Otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, so that I also may boast a little.[#2Co 11:1; 12:6]

¹⁷What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.[#1Co 7:12; #2Co 9:4]

¹⁸Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.

¹⁹For you tolerate fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are wise.[#1Co 4:10]

²⁰For you permit it if a man brings you into bondage, if a man devours you, if a man takes from you, if a man exalts himself, or if a man strikes you on the face.[#Gal 2:4; 4:3]

²¹I say to my reproach that we were too weak for that.

But whenever anyone is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.[#Ro 11:1; Php 3:5]

²³Are they servants of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, often facing death.[#1Co 15:10; #2Co 6:4–5]

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep;[#Ac 14:19]

²⁶in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brothers;[#Ac 13:50; 14:5; 17:5]

²⁷in weariness and painfulness, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.[#2Co 6:5; Php 4:12; 1Th 2:9]

²⁸Beside the external things, the care of all the churches pressures me daily.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I am not distressed?[#1Co 9:22; #1Co 8:13]

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things which concern my weakness.[#1Co 2:3]

³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forevermore, knows that I am not lying.[#Ro 9:5; #Ro 9:1; Gal 1:20]

³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me.

³³But I was let down by the wall through a window in a basket and escaped his hands.[#Ac 9:25]