2 Corinthians 10:11

11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.

2 Corinthians 10:11 in Other Translations

11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

11 Those people should realize that our actions when we arrive in person will be as forceful as what we say in our letters from far away.

11 Such talk won't survive scrutiny. What we write when away, we do when present. We're the exact same people, absent or present, in letter or in person.

11 Such a person should consider this: what we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.

2 Corinthians 10:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 10:11

Let such an one think this
The apostle seems to have in view some one particular person, though he does not choose to name him, who had more especially reproached him after this manner; and who was either one of the members of this church, or rather one of the false apostles: and so in the foregoing verse, instead of "say they", in which way both the Syriac and Vulgate Latin read, and is followed in our version, it is in the original text (fhsi) , "says he", or "he says"; and so a certain particular person seems designed in ( 2 Corinthians 11:4 ) whom the apostle would have to know and conclude with himself, and of which he might fully assure himself, that such as we are in word by letters, when we are absent, such will be also in deed, when we are present: he threatens the calumniator, that he should find him, to his sorrow, the same man present as absent; that what he sent by letters, should be found to be fact, when he came again; whose coming would not be with all that tenderness and gentleness, as when he first preached the Gospel to them, for which there was then a reason; since he and others had swerved from the truths of the Gospel, and the right ways of God, which would require the severity he threatened them with, and the execution of which might be depended upon.

2 Corinthians 10:11 In-Context

9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters.

10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”

11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.

12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.