4. The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people’s defenses, that is, their arguments
5. and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.
6. We are ready to punish every act of disobedience when you have become completely obedient.
7. Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident he belongs to Christ, he should take note that we also belong to Christ.
8. So, if I brag a little too much about the authority which the Lord gave us, I’m not ashamed. The Lord gave us this authority to help you, not to hurt you.
9. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to frighten you with my letters.
10. I know that someone is saying that my letters are powerful and strong, but that I’m a weakling and a terrible speaker.
11. The person who is saying those things should take note of this fact: When we are with you we will do the things that we wrote about in our letters when we weren’t with you.
12. We wouldn’t put ourselves in the same class with or compare ourselves to those who are bold enough to make their own recommendations. Certainly, when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves to themselves, they show how foolish they are.