2 Corinthians 10

¹Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away.

²I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh.

³For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.

⁴The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

⁵We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete.

⁷You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does.

⁸For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.

⁹I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters.

¹⁰For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.”

¹¹Such people should consider that what we are in our letters when absent, we will be in our actions when present.

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.