14. And yet I would not speak harshly to you and condemn you, but I appeal to you as to children whom I love.
15. Am I your teacher? Am I not rather the father that begot you in the faith by the Gospel and is that not something more than a mere teacher — a man may have many tutors but only one father.
16. If that is our relationship then be like me, be imitative of me.
17. That is why I have sent you Timothy, my faithful, my beloved son in the Lord, to tell you of my bonds, of my life in Christ, and to remind you of what my teaching is and always has been in the Christ.
18. But because I have not come myself, there have arisen certain persons among you with an exaggerated opinion of their own importance.
19. And that being so, I shall, if the Lord so will, come to you myself and visit you, and when I come, it will not be with the dialectic of these self-assertive teachers, but with the word of power.
20. In that is the kingdom of God, not theory and contention but spiritual power.
21. What then? Shall I come to you as a master with rod and rule, or in the spirit of love and gentleness?