2 Corinthians 10:8-16

8For even if 1I boast somewhat 2further about our 3authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, 94for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. 10For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his 5personal presence is 6unimpressive and 7his speech contemptible.” 11Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

12For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with 8some of those who 9commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. 13But we will not boast 10beyond our measure, but 1112within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for 13we were the first to come even as far as you in the 14gospel of Christ; 15not boasting 15beyond our measure, that is, in 16other men’s labors, but with the hope that as 17your faith grows, we will be, 18within our sphere, 19enlarged even more by you, 16so as to 20preach the gospel even to 21the regions beyond you, and not to boast 2223in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.