I’ve made a fool of myself, but you forced me to. You should have been the ones to praise me. I’m not the least bit inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I’m nothing.
Even if I did decide to brag, that wouldn’t make me a fool, because I’d be telling the truth. But I don’t brag, so that no one will think more of me than they should based on what I say and do.
If we’re distressed, it’s so that you can be comforted and renewed. If we’re comforted, it’s so that you can be comforted. Then you’ll be able to endure the same suffering that we’ve gone through.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him, and if I have enough faith to move mountains, but I don’t have love, I’m nothing at all.