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O that you were bearing with me a little of the folly, but you also bear with me:
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for I am zealous for you with zeal of God, for I betrothed you to one Husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ,
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and I fear, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve in his subtlety, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that [is] in the Christ;
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for if, indeed, he who is coming preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive another spirit which you did not receive, or other good news which you did not accept—well were you bearing [it],
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for I reckon that I have been nothing behind the very chiefest apostles,
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and even if a commoner in speech—yet not in knowledge, but in everything we were made evident in all things to you.
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Did I do sin—humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I freely proclaimed the good news of God to you?
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I robbed other assemblies, having taken wages, for your ministry;
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and being present with you, and having been in want, I was chargeable to no one, for the brothers supplied my lack—having come from Macedonia—and I kept myself burdenless to you in everything, and will keep.
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The truth of Christ is in me, because this boasting will not be stopped in regard to me in the regions of Achaia;
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for what reason? Because I do not love you? God has known!
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And what I do, I also will do, that I may cut off the occasion of those wishing an occasion, that in that which they boast they may be found according as we also;
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for those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ,
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and no wonder—for even Satan transforms himself into a messenger of light;
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[it is] no great thing, then, if his servants also transform themselves as servants of righteousness—whose end will be according to their works.
Paul’s Suffering and Service
(Colossians 1:24–29)
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Again I say, may no one think me to be a fool; and if otherwise, receive me even as a fool, that I also may boast a little.
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That which I speak, I do not speak according to the LORD, but as in foolishness, in this the confidence of boasting;
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since many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast:
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for you gladly bear with the fools—being wise,
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for you bear, if anyone is bringing you under bondage, if anyone devours, if anyone takes away, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone strikes you on the face;
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I speak in reference to dishonor, how that we were weak, and in whatever anyone is bold—in foolishness I say [it]—I also am bold.
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Are they Hebrews? I also! Are they Israelites? I also! Are they seed of Abraham? I also!
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Are they servants of Christ? As [if] beside myself I speak—I [am] more; in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths many times.
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Five times I received from Jews forty [stripes] except one;
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three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I have passed a night and a day in the deep;
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journeys many times, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from [my own] race, perils from nations, perils in city, perils in wilderness, perils in sea, perils among false brothers;
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in laboriousness and painfulness, many times in watchings, in hunger and thirst, many times in fastings, in cold and nakedness;
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apart from the things without—the crowding on me that is daily—the care of all the assemblies.
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Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not burned?
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If it is necessary to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness;
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the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—who is blessed for all ages—has known that I do not lie!
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In Damascus the governor [under] Aretas the king was watching the city of the Damascenes, wishing to seize me,
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and I was let down through a window in a rope basket, through the wall, and fled out of his hands.
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