8. Do you already have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you.
9. For it seems to me that God has given the very last place to us apostles, like people condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of humanity.
10. For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honoured!
11. To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place;
12. we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
13. when we are insulted, we answer with kind words. We are no more than this world's refuse; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!
14. I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.
15. For even if you have 10,000 guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you.
16. I beg you, then, to follow my example.
17. For this purpose I am sending to you Timothy, who is my own dear and faithful son in the Christian life. He will remind you of the principles which I follow in the new life in union with Christ Jesus and which I teach in all the churches everywhere.
18. Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you.
19. If the Lord is willing, however, I will come to you soon, and then I will find out for myself the power which these proud people have, and not just what they say.
20. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power.