9. For I think that God has exhibited us, the apostles, last, as if we were sentenced to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
10. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised.
11. Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless.
12. We labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
13. Being slandered, we encourage. We are made as the filth of the world, and are the refuse of all things to this day.
14. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
15. For if you were to have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. In Christ Jesus I have become a father to you through the gospel.
16. So I implore you, be followers of me.
17. Therefore I have sent Timothy to you. He is my beloved son and is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
18. Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19. But I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills. And I will know not only what those who are arrogant are saying, but also their power.
20. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of meekness?