1 Corinthians 4:11-21 ▼

11 to the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are battered, and wander,

12 and labor, working with [our] own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;

13 being spoken evil of, we plead; we became as filth of the world—of all things an outcast—until now.

14 Not [as] putting you to shame do I write these things, but I admonish as my beloved children,

15 for if a myriad of child-conductors you may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I begot you;

16 I call on you, therefore, become followers of me;

17 because of this I sent to you Timotheus, who is my child, beloved and faithful in the LORD, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, according as everywhere in every assembly I teach.

18 And some were puffed up as if I were not coming to you;

19 but I will come quickly to you, if the LORD may will, and I will not know the word of those puffed up, but the power;

20 for not in word is the Kingdom of God, but in power.

21 What do you wish? Will I come to you with a rod, or in love, also with a spirit of meekness?