8. Yes, that is your state in Christ, yet has the Kingdom still to be striven for, you cannot yet call these things your own, and boast of them as such; whilst the world still rules, whilst we apostles are like arena criminals condemned to make a spectacle for others, whilst we are defenceless and weak, will you boast of your victory, will you be strong and self-sufficient?
9. Whilst the world and angels and man unite to watch our struggles and efforts, are you reigning at peace with the saints in Christ?
10. Whilst we are fools, are you wise in Christ? Whilst we are dishonoured, have you the safety and the glory of the truth? Yes, all that is true, yet I would have you not to glory over it, but to remember the condition of us who taught you.
11. We are still hungering and thirsty, we are still naked and buffeted and amazed,
12. we still work with our hands to gain a living. We are reviled and we bless, we are persecuted and we endure,
13. we are cursed and we turn it aside. Up to the present moment, the very moment that I write to you, we are the outcasts and pariahs of society, its very dregs and offscourings. Think of this when you are tempted to become wise and self-sufficient in your own eyes, to set one man's teaching above another's, and make the Christ a matter of vain-glorious disputation and theory.
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?