Paul and the False Apostles 1 UDB It is foolish for a person to praise himself, but that is what I am doing. Please allow me to continue a little. BSB BSB: I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.
3 UDB But as I think about you, I have become afraid that someone has tricked you, like the devil tricked Eve. I am afraid that someone has convinced you to stop loving Christ with an honest heart. BSB BSB: I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
4 UDB I say this because you do not seem to mind if someone else comes and tells you different things about Jesus than what we told you, or if he wants you to receive a different spirit from the Spirit of God or a different kind of good news. BSB BSB: For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.
5 UDB People call those teachers "super-apostles," but I do not think they are greater than I am. BSB BSB: I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
6 UDB It may be true that I never studied how to give wonderful speeches, but I certainly know many things about God, as you learned when I spoke to you. BSB BSB: Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.
7 UDB Was I wrong to serve you as a humble person in such a way that others praised you instead of me? Was I wrong to preach the good news to you without charging any money? BSB BSB: Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?
8 UDB Yes, I allowed believers in other churches to give me money so I could serve you. Maybe you will say that I was robbing them. But I asked you for nothing. BSB BSB: I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.
9 UDB There was a time when I was with you that I needed many things, but I did not ask you for any money at all. Instead, the brothers who came from Macedonia provided all I needed. I have done everything I could for you not to be burdened because of me, and this I will continue to do. BSB BSB: And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.
10 UDB I am telling the complete truth about Christ and how I have worked for him. So I will continue to let everyone in all the region of Achaia know about this. BSB BSB: As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
11 UDB You do not really think that I refused your money because I did not love you, do you? Far from it! God knows I love you. BSB BSB: Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 UDB I will continue to serve you in this same way, so that I stop those who say that they are equal to us. They will have no excuse to offer for how they boast. BSB BSB: But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.
13 UDB Such people are false apostles claiming that God has sent them. They are workers who always tell lies, and they are pretending to be apostles of Christ. BSB BSB: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14 UDB They should not surprise us. Even Satan pretends to be an angel shining with the light of God's presence. BSB BSB: And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15 UDB His servants also pretend to serve God; they pretend to be good. God will punish them as they deserve. BSB BSB: It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
Paul’s Suffering and Service (Colossians 1:24–29)
16 UDB No one should think that I am a fool. But if you really do think of me as a fool, then I will go ahead and continue to praise myself a little more. BSB BSB: I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
17 UDB When I speak in this way, this is not the way the Lord speaks of me; it is simply me speaking like a fool. BSB BSB: In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
18 UDB Many have been proud about who they are in this life. Well, I can be that way, too. BSB BSB: Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.
19 UDB You will certainly gladly put up with my foolishness, since you are so wise yourselves! BSB BSB: For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise.
20 UDB I say this because you have tolerated leaders who treated you like slaves. You followed those who created divisions among you, and you let your leaders take advantage of you. You permitted your leaders to imagine themselves to be better than others, and you permit them to slap you in the face, but you do nothing about it. And do you really call yourselves wise? BSB BSB: In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
21 UDB I could be ashamed because when we were with you, we were too timid to treat you like that. BSB BSB: To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.
22 UDB Are those people Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. BSB BSB: Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
23 UDB Are they servants of Christ?—I speak like a man who is out of his mind! I worked harder than any of them; I have been in more prisons than they; I have had more severe beatings than they have had, and I have faced death more times than they have. BSB BSB: Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.
24 UDB Five times the Jews punished me with the thirty-nine lashes, beating me each time until I nearly died. BSB BSB: Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
25 UDB Three times I was beaten by my captors with wooden rods. Once they threw stones at me to kill me. Three different ships I was on were lost to the storms, and I have spent a night and a day in the open ocean hoping for rescue. BSB BSB: Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
26 UDB I have been on many journeys, and I have known dangers in rivers; I have been in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in cities, in danger in the wilderness, in danger in the ocean, and in danger from false brothers who betrayed us. BSB BSB: In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,
27 UDB I have worked hard and I have been in hardship. I have often gone without sleep, and I have been hungry and thirsty with nothing to eat. I have been cold, and I have been without warm clothing. BSB BSB: in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.
28 UDB In addition to all that, I worry every day about how well the churches are doing. BSB BSB: Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
29 UDB There is no fellow believer who is weak without me being weak with him. There is no fellow believer who has led another person into sin without me being very angry about it. BSB BSB: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
30 UDB If I must boast, I will boast only about things like these, things that show how weak I am. BSB BSB: If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31 UDB The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ—may everyone and everything give him praise!—he knows I am not lying! BSB BSB: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying.
32 UDB At the city of Damascus, the governor under King Aretas put a guard around the city, hoping to arrest me. BSB BSB: In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.
33 UDB But my friends put me in a basket and let me down me out of the city through a window in the wall, and I escaped from him. BSB BSB: But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.