| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign--and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world--right up to this moment. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit? |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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