2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 10 - CONTEMPORARY ALIGNED VERSION (SPIRITCODE)

1. I am appealing to you with all the meekness and gentleness of Christ, me, Paul, of whom it is said is of no account when he is with you, but who is strong and decisive when he writes from a distance.

2. So please hear me out so that I do not have to become too severe when I am with you with the sternness that I feel against those critical opponents of mine who accuse us of serving you out of our basic human self interest.

3. For even though we are mere human beings, we will not fight the enemy with mere human weaponry.

4. The weaponry we fight with is not flesh and blood, but it is fortified with the power of God to destroy any enemy fortress.

5. Demolishing all conceited man made agendas and any elevated philosophies that would create obstacles to a true understanding of the nature of God, so that peoples’ thinking is brought submissively into the territory of truth that is in Christ.

6. And I am still quite prepared to deal with any insubordination just as soon as I know you have given heed to what I am saying.

7. Are you only impressed with what looks good on the outside? If any person says he is of Christ, let him think that through, and what that really means, and he will realise that if he is truly sharing life with Jesus, then so are we.

8. Because even if I did say all that I could say if I wanted to about the authority that I have from the Lord, which he gave me to strengthen you and not to weaken you, I would feel quite alright about doing that.

9. So that it is clear that I am not just trying to frighten you with the letters I write to you.

10. For they say that my letters are forceful and strong but my being there is useless and my preaching is pathetic.

11. Let those people realise that what and who we are when we write to you is what and who we are when we are with you

12. We would never have the nerve to include ourselves with people like them, or compete with them, who speak so well of themselves. When they measure themselves by their own standards and compete amongst themselves they show they don’t understand anything.

13. But we are not going to make any claims on anything or anyone we have not been set on track to reach, but we stay within the designated boundaries set for us by God, and those boundaries include you.

14. For we are not going beyond what has been set for us, as if you were not included in that boundary, because we did come all this way to you to preach the message of a shared life with Christ.

15. We are not claiming anything or anyone beyond what has been set for us, that is, taking over who or what someone else has had set for them to reach. We would hope that when your faith has grown, that faith of yours would mean greater opportunities being set before us,

16. To preach the message into regions beyond you, but not to claim something for ourselves that has been set for someone else to do.

17. But if anyone would feel great about something let him feel great about pleasing the Lord.

18. For it is not the person who appoints himself who is a legitimate representative, but the one whom the Lord appoints.