Dual Panel1YOU should look upon us as ministers of Christ, as trustees of the secrets of God.
2And it is a prime requisite in a trustee that he should prove worthy of his trust.
3But, as a matter of fact, it matters very little to me what you, or any man, thinks of meI don't even value my opinion of myself.
4For I might be quite ignorant of any fault in myselfbut that doesn't justify me before God. My only true judge is the Lord.
5The moral of this is that we should make no hasty or premature judgments. When the Lord comes he will bring into the light of day all that at present is hidden in darkness, and he will expose the secret motives of men's hearts. Then shall God himself give each man his share of praise.
6I have used myself and Apollos above as an illustration, so that you might learn from what I have said about us not to assess man above his value in God's sight, and may thus avoid the pride which comes from making one teacher more important than another.
7For who makes you different from anybody else, and what have you got that was not given to you? And if anything has been given to you, why boast of it as if you had achieved it yourself?
8Oh, I know you are rich and flourishing! You've been living like kings, haven't you, while we've been away? I would to God you were really kings in God's sight so that we might reign with you!
9I sometimes think that God means us, the messengers, to appear last in the procession of mankind, like the men who are to die in the arena. For indeed we are made a public spectacle before the angels of Heaven and the eyes of men.
10We are looked upon as fools, for Christ's sake, but you are wise in the Christian faith. We are considered weak, but you have become strong: you have found honour, we little but contempt.
11Up to this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, illclad, knocked about and practically homeless.
12We still have to work for our living by manual labour. Men curse us, but we return a blessing: they make our lives miserable but we take it patiently.
13They ruin our reputations but we go on trying to win them for God. We are the world's rubbish, the scum of the earth, yes, up to this very day.
14I don't write these things merely to make you feel uncomfortable, but that you may realize facts, as my dear children.
15After all, you may have ten thousand teachers in the Christian faith, but you cannot have many fathers! For in Christ Jesus I am your spiritual father through the gospel;
16that is why I implore you to follow the footsteps of me your father.
17I have sent Timothy to you to help you in this. For he himself is my muchloved and faithful son in the Lord, and he will remind you of those ways of living in Christ which I teach in every church to which I go.
18Some of you have apparently grown conceited since I did not visit you.
19But please God it will not be long before I do come to you in person. Then I shall be able to see what power, apart from their words, these pretentious ones among you really possess.
20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of a spate of words but of the power of Christian living.
21Now it's up to you to choose! Shall I come to you ready to chastise you, or in love and gentleness?