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[1]Let us be so accounted of by you, as the servants of Messiah, and the stewards of the mysteries of God.
[2]Now it is required of stewards, that each be found faithful.
[3]But to me, it is a light matter to be judged of by you, or by any man whatever; nay, I am no judge of myself.
[4]-(For I am not conscious in myself of any thing [flagrant]; yet I am not by this justified; for the Lord is my judge.)
[5]Therefore pronounce not judgments before the time, [or] until the Lord come, who will pour light upon the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of [men's] hearts: and then will each one have [due] praise from God.
[6]These things, my Brethren, I have stated concerning the person of myself and of Apollos, for your sakes; that, in us, ye might learn not to think [of men], above what is written; and that no one might exalt himself in comparison with his fellow, on account of any person.
[7]For who exploreth thee? Or what hast thou, which thou didst not receive? And if thou receivedst it, why gloriest thou, as if thou didst not receive it?
[8]Now ye are yourselves full, and enriched; and, without us, are on thrones! And I wish ye were enthroned; that we also might reign with you.
[9]But I suppose, that God hath placed us legates the last, as for death; since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
[10]We are fools, on account of Messiah; but ye are wise in Messiah ! We are feeble; but ye are strong! Ye are lauded, we are contemned.
[11]Unto this hour, we hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no permanent home:
[12]and we toil, working with our own hands: they defame us, and we bless: they persecute us, and we endure it:
[13]they revile us, and we entreat them: we are as the filth of the world, and the expiation for all men, up to this time.
[14]I write these things, not to shame you; but I instruct you, as dear children.
[15]For though ye have a myriad of teachers in Messiah, yet not many fathers; for in Jesus Messiah, I have begotten you by preaching.
[16]I beseech you, therefore, that ye be like me.
[17]For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, that he might bring to your recollection my ways in Messiah, agreeably to what I teach in all the churches.
[18]Now some of you are inflated, as though I would not [dare] come to you.
[19]But I will come to you speedily, if God be willing: and I will know, not the speech of them who exalt themselves, but their power:
[20]for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
[21]What will ye? Shall I come to you with the rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?
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