World English Bible · Under Rome
2 Corinthians 11
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I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me. For I am over you with a godly . For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that somehow, as deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another whom we didn't preach, or if you receive a different which you didn't receive, or a different "" which you didn't accept, you put up with that well enough. For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best . But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been to you in all things. Or did I commit a in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you free of charge? I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might you. When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn't a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from , supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of . Why? Because I don't love you? knows. But what I do, that I will continue to do, that I may opportunity from those who an opportunity, that in which they boast, they may be recognized like us. For such men are false , deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ's . And no wonder, for even masquerades as of . It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of , whose end will be according to their works. I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little. That which I speak, I don't speak according to , but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast after , I will also boast. For you bear with the foolish gladly, being . For you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you , if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the . To my , I speak as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. Are they ? So am I. Are they ? So am I. Are they the of ? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often. Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the . Three times I was beaten with . Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the , perils in the city, perils in , perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and . Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily: anxiety for all the assemblies. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn with ? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness. The and of , he who is more, knows that I don't lie. In the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes' city, desiring to arrest me. I was let down in a basket through a window by the wall, and escaped his hands.
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.