| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ--I who am humble among you in person but bold toward you when absent. | 1Now I myself, Paul, plead with you with the gentleness and kindness of the Messiah —I who am humble when I am face to face with you but forceful toward you when I am away! |
| 2I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual way. | 2I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh. |
| 3For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, | 3Of course, we are living in the world, but we do not wage war in a world-like way. |
| 4since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments | 4For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments |
| 5and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. | 5and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah. |
| 6And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed. | 6Once your obedience is complete, we will be ready to reprimand every type of disobedience. |
| 7Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. | 7Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to the Messiah, so do we. |
| 8For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed. | 8So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it. |
| 9I don't want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters. | 9I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters. |
| 10For it is said, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable." | 10For someone is saying, "His letters are impressive and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." |
| 11Such a person should consider this: What we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present. | 11Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present! |
| 12For we don't dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding. | 12We would not dare put ourselves in the same class with, or compare ourselves to, those who recommend themselves. Whenever they measure themselves by their own standards or compare themselves among themselves, they show how foolish they are. |
| 13We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you. | 13We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you. |
| 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ. | 14For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah. |
| 15We are not bragging beyond measure about other people's labors. But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, | 15We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows. |
| 16so that we may proclaim the good news to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else's area of ministry. | 16Then we can preach the gospel in the regions far beyond you without boasting about things already accomplished by someone else. |
| 17So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord. | 17"The person who boasts should boast in the Lord." |
| 18For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. | 18It is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person whom the Lord commends. |
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