Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, ^(A)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying ^(B)with this boastful confidence, ^(C)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool.

⁶ though if I should wish to boast, ^(A)I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

Concern for the Corinthian Church

^11 (A)I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was ^(B)not at all inferior to these super-apostles, ^(C)even though I am nothing.