HOLY BIBLE: 2 Corinthians 10 (original) (raw)

1 Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγὼ Παῦλος παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς διὰ τῆς πραΰτητος καὶ ἐπιεικείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς κατὰ πρόσωπον μὲν ταπεινὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀπὼν δὲ θαρρῶ εἰς ὑμᾶς: 2 δέομαι δὲ τὸ μὴ παρὼν θαρρῆσαι τῇ πεποιθήσει ᾗ λογίζομαι τολμῆσαι ἐπί τινας τοὺς λογιζομένους ἡμᾶς ὡς κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦντας. 3 ἐν σαρκὶ γὰρ περιπατοῦντες οὐ κατὰ σάρκα στρατευόμεθα 4 τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν οὐ σαρκικὰ ἀλλὰ δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ πρὸς καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων, λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες 5 καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 6 καὶ ἐν ἑτοίμῳ ἔχοντες ἐκδικῆσαι πᾶσαν παρακοήν, ὅταν πληρωθῇ ὑμῶν ἡ ὑπακοή.

1 And now, here is Paul, the man who is so diffident when he meets you face to face, and deals so boldly with you at a distance, making an appeal to you by the gentleness and the courtesy of Christ.[1] 2 What I ask is, that you will not force me to deal boldly with you when we meet. I have my own grounds for confidence, and with these I may well be counted a match for those who think we rely on merely human powers. 3 Human indeed we are, but it is in no human strength that we fight our battles. 4 The weapons we fight with are not human weapons; they are divinely powerful, ready to pull down strongholds. Yes, we can pull down the conceits of men, 5 every barrier of pride which sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; we make every mind surrender to Christ’s service, 6 and are prepared to punish rebellion from any quarter, once your own submission is complete.[2]

1 Ipse autem ego Paulus obsecro vos per mansuetudinem et modestiam Christi, qui in facie quidem humilis sum inter vos, absens autem confido in vos. 2 Rogo autem vos ne præsens audeam per eam confidentiam, qua existimor audere in quosdam, qui arbitrantur nos tamquam secundum carnem ambulemus. 3 In carne enim ambulantes, non secundum carnem militamus. 4 Nam arma militiæ nostræ non carnalia sunt, sed potentia Deo ad destructionem munitionum, consilia destruentes, 5 et omnem altitudinem extollentem se adversus scientiam Dei, et in captivitatem redigentes omnem intellectum in obsequium Christi, 6 et in promptu habentes ulcisci omnem inobedientiam, cum impleta fuerit vestra obedientia.

7 τὰ κατὰ πρόσωπον βλέπετε. εἴ τις πέποιθεν ἑαυτῷ Χριστοῦ εἶναι, τοῦτο λογιζέσθω πάλιν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ ὅτι καθὼς αὐτὸς Χριστοῦ οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς. 8 ἐάν τε γὰρ περισσότερόν τι καυχήσωμαι περὶ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἡμῶν, ἧς ἔδωκεν ὁ κύριος εἰς οἰκοδομὴν καὶ οὐκ εἰς καθαίρεσιν ὑμῶν, οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσομαι, 9 ἵνα μὴ δόξω ὡς ἂν ἐκφοβεῖν ὑμᾶς διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν: 10 ὅτι, αἱ ἐπιστολαὶ μέν, φησίν, βαρεῖαι καὶ ἰσχυραί, ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ σώματος ἀσθενὴς καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος. 11 τοῦτο λογιζέσθω ὁ τοιοῦτος, ὅτι οἷοί ἐσμεν τῷ λόγῳ δι' ἐπιστολῶν ἀπόντες, τοιοῦτοι καὶ παρόντες τῷ ἔργῳ. 12 οὐ γὰρ τολμῶμεν ἐγκρῖναι ἢ συγκρῖναι ἑαυτούς τισιν τῶν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστανόντων: ἀλλὰ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτοὺς μετροῦντες καὶ συγκρίνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἑαυτοῖς οὐ συνιᾶσιν. 13 ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα καυχησόμεθα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τοῦ κανόνος οὗ ἐμέρισεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς μέτρου, ἐφικέσθαι ἄχρι καὶ ὑμῶν. 14 οὐ γὰρ ὡς μὴ ἐφικνούμενοι εἰς ὑμᾶς ὑπερεκτείνομεν ἑαυτούς, ἄχρι γὰρ καὶ ὑμῶν ἐφθάσαμεν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ: 15 οὐκ εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα καυχώμενοι ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις κόποις, ἐλπίδα δὲ ἔχοντες αὐξανομένης τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν ἐν ὑμῖν μεγαλυνθῆναι κατὰ τὸν κανόνα ἡμῶν εἰς περισσείαν, 16 εἰς τὰ ὑπερέκεινα ὑμῶν εὐαγγελίσασθαι, οὐκ ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ κανόνι εἰς τὰ ἕτοιμα καυχήσασθαι. 17 ὁ δὲ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ καυχάσθω: 18 οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἑαυτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν δόκιμος, ἀλλὰ' ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησιν.

7 Wait and see what happens when we meet.[3] There may be someone who takes credit to himself for being the champion of Christ; if so, let him reflect further that we belong to Christ’s cause no less than himself; 8 and indeed, I might boast of the powers I have, powers which the Lord has given me so as to build up your faith, not so as to crush your spirits, and I should not be put in the wrong. 9 It must not be thought that I try to overawe you when I write. 10 His letters, some people say, are powerful and carry weight, but his presence in person lacks dignity, he is but a poor orator. 11 I warn those who speak thus that, when we visit you, our actions will not belie the impression which our letters make when we are at a distance. 12 It is not for us to intrude, or challenge comparison with others who claim credit for themselves; we are content to go by our own measure, to compare ourselves with our own standard of achievement.[4] 13 Yes, we may boast, but our boasting will not be disproportionate; it will be in proportion to the province which God has assigned to us, one which reaches as far as you. 14 Nobody can say that we are encroaching, that you lie beyond our orbit; our journeys in preaching Christ’s gospel took us all the way to you.[5] 15 Ours, then, is no disproportionate boasting, founded on other men’s labours; on the contrary, as your faith bears increase, we hope to attain still further vantage-points through you, without going beyond our province, 16 and preach the gospel further afield, without boasting of ready-made conquests in a province that belongs to another. 17 He who boasts, should make his boast in the Lord; 18 it is the man whom God accredits, not the man who takes credit to himself, that proves himself to be true metal.

7 Quæ secundum faciem sunt, videte. Si quis confidit sibi Christi se esse, hoc cogitet iterum apud se: quia sicut ipse Christi est, ita et nos. 8 Nam etsi amplius aliquid gloriatus fuero de potestate nostra, quam dedit nobis Dominus in ædificationem, et non in destructionem vestram, non erubescam. 9 Ut autem non existimer tamquam terrere vos per epistolas: 10 quoniam quidem epistolæ, inquiunt, graves sunt et fortes: præsentia autem corporis infirma, et sermo contemptibilis: 11 hoc cogitet qui ejusmodi est, quia quales sumus verbo per epistolas absentes, tales et præsentes in facto. 12 Non enim audemus inserere, aut comparare nos quibusdam, qui seipsos commendant: sed ipsi in nobis nosmetipsos metientes, et comparantes nosmetipsos nobis. 13 Nos autem non in immensum gloriabimur, sed secundum mensuram regulæ, qua mensus est nobis Deus, mensuram pertingendi usque ad vos. 14 Non enim quasi non pertingentes ad vos, superextendimus nos: usque ad vos enim pervenimus in Evangelio Christi. 15 Non in immensum gloriantes in alienis laboribus: spem autem habentes crescentis fidei vestræ, in vobis magnificari secundum regulam nostram in abundantiam, 16 etiam in illa, quæ ultra vos sunt, evangelizare, non in aliena regula in iis quæ præparata sunt gloriari. 17 Qui autem gloriatur, in Domino glorietur. 18 Non enim qui seipsum commendat, ille probatus est: sed quem Deus commendat.

[1] vv. 1 and following: In spite of the Apostle’s general satisfaction with the state of the Church at Corinth, there was evidently a party there still attached to certain teachers who opposed his influence; and the remaining chapters of the epistle shew that he means to combat them with all the power of his apostleship.

[2] He wishes to bring as many as possible of his critics to a better mind by reasoning, before he proceeds to punishment.

[3] ‘What happens when we meet’; literally, ‘the things that are face to face’, see verse 1 above. Some would translate ‘the obvious facts’, but this rendering does justice neither to the Greek nor to the context. The Greek may also be rendered ‘You think too much of appearances’. ‘Being the champion of Christ’; literally, ‘belonging to Christ’, cf. I Cor. 1.12.

[4] vv. 12 and following: Some Greek manuscripts read ‘take credit to themselves, content to take their own measure and compare themselves with their own standard of achievement. But as for us, we may boast’, etc. It seems clear from this and the following verses that St Paul, who was careful not to build on the foundation other men had laid (Rom. 15.20), felt hurt that some of the Corinthians should pay more attention to later missionaries than to himself (cf. I Cor. 4.15).

[5] ‘Took us all the way to you’; the Greek might also mean, ‘made us the first to reach you’.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd