Even though I may seem to be boasting a little too much about our authority, I'm not embarrassed about it. The Lord gave this authority to us to build you up, not to knock you down.
I'm so sorry that we were too weak to do anything like that! But whatever people dare to boast about, I dare to do too. (Here I'm talking like a fool again.)
You'll recall that after having had much trouble and bad treatment at Philippi, with the help of God we still dared to share God's good news with you, despite the opposition we faced.