1 Here is how people are to regard us: As trusted servants of the Messiah and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this regard, moreover, what is sought in stewards is that they prove to be trustworthy. 3 As far as I am concerned, it matters very little whether I am cross-examined by you, or by anyone else in a human day of judgment. In fact, I don’t even cross-examine my own self. 4 Though my conscience is clear, you see, that doesn’t mean I am judged to be in the right. The one who examines and understands the truth of my life, rather, is the Lord.

5 Don’t pass judgment, then, before the appointed time; refrain until the coming of the Lord. He will bring to light what is presently hidden in darkness and disclose people’s innermost thoughts and motives; at that time praise will be given to each person by God.

6 Now these things, brothers and sisters, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that by our example you may understand what it means to “act sensibly in keeping with what is written,” so that none of you will be prideful about which person you prefer most. 7 In exactly whose judgment, after all, are ˢyou so exceptional? What do ˢyou have that you didn’t freely receive? And if ˢyou did in fact receive it as a gift, how can you sing your own praises as though you didn’t? 8 ᵖYou have already eaten all the food you want, have you? You have already become rich, have you? Without us you have begun to reign! How I wish that you really had begun to reign, so that we, too, could together with ᵖyou reign as kings! 9 For it seems to me that God, when it comes to us apostles, has assigned us to the least important place of all, at the very back of the victor’s procession, utterly humiliated in front of everyone like men sentenced to die in the arena; we have become for the world, for both angels and men alike, a spectacle. 10 We are fools for the sake of the Messiah. You, though, are so wise in union with the Messiah! We are weak. You, however, are strong! You are held in high esteem! We, however, are dishonored. 11 Up to this moment we are hungry and thirsty and in rags and beaten and homeless 12 and hard at work, toiling with our own hands. When insulted we bless, when persecuted we endure, 13 when slandered we answer kindly. We have become the very refuse of the world—the scum, up to the present moment, of all mankind. 14 It is not to make you feel ashamed that I am writing these things, but to warn you as my dearly loved children. 15 For even if you were to have in union with the Messiah thousands and thousands of guardians, you have only one father. In union with Messiah Jesus, you see, through the gospel, it was I who became your father. 16 In light of that, I beg you: Follow my example. 17 That is the reason why I have sent you Timothy, my dearly loved and trustworthy son in union with the Lord; you he will remind about my way of life in union with the Messiah, which agrees with what I teach everywhere, in every assembly.

18 Now, thinking that I won’t make a return visit to you, some have become proud and arrogant. 19 I will come to you soon, however, if the Lord wills, and I will find out for myself not only what kind of fancy words these arrogant people are using, but whether they have God’s power. 20 The Kingdom of God is a matter not of found-sounding rhetoric, you see, but of power. 21 Which do ᵖyou prefer? Is it with a rod of discipline that I should come to you, or with love and a gentle spirit?