2 Corinthians 10:2 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

² I make this request so that I do not [have to] be bold when I am present [with you], and feel compelled to speak in an authoritative tone to some people [there] who think we are living by worldly standards.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

² but I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

² I entreat you when I do come [to you] that I may not [be driven to such] boldness as I intend to show toward those few who suspect us of acting according to the flesh [on the low level of worldly motives and as if invested with only human powers].

American Standard Version (1901)

² yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Common English Bible

² I beg you that when I’m with you in person, I won’t have to boss you around. I’m afraid that I may have to use that kind of behavior with those people who think we live by human standards.

Catholic Public Domain Version

² So I am petitioning you, lest I be bold, when present, with that bold confidence that I am considered to have by certain ones who judge us as if we were walking according to the flesh.

2 Corinthians 10:2 Cross References

Romans 8:1

Therefore, none of those who are in [fellowship with] Christ Jesus will be condemned.

Romans 8:4

so that the requirements of the law could be [considered] fulfilled in us, who do not live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, but according to [the promptings of] the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:5

For those people who are [controlled] by the flesh think about [i.e., desire] what the flesh wants; but those who are [controlled] by the Holy Spirit [desire] what the Holy Spirit wants.

2 Corinthians 1:17

So, when I made this decision, was I just vacillating [in uncertainty]? Or, do I make plans in a worldly way [i.e., just to suit my own fancy], so that my “yes” and “no” [do not really mean anything]?

2 Corinthians 11:21

I am ashamed to say that we were [too] weak to do such things. [Note: Paul is probably saying, sarcastically, “We are too ‘weak’ to take financial advantage of people and mistreat them the way those ‘super apostles’ there in Corinth were doing”]. Yet, in whatever [matters] anyone [there] dares to boast about, (now I am really speaking foolishly), I will dare to boast also.

2 Corinthians 13:10

This is the reason I am writing these things while away from you, so that I will not have to deal severely with you when I am there. For the Lord gave me authority to build people up [spiritually] and not to tear them down.

2 Corinthians 13:2

I told you the last time I was there, and now before returning, I [again] warn those who have sinned in the past as well as the rest, that if I come again I will not spare you [i.e., I will rebuke and discipline you],