¹⁵ For if you were to have countless ^(A)tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^(B)Christ Jesus I ^(C)became your father through the ^(D)gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I exhort you, be ^(E)imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I ^(F)have sent to you ^(G)Timothy, who is my ^(H)beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^(I)just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some have become ^(J)puffed up, as though I were not ^(K)coming to you. ¹⁹ But I ^(L)will come to you soon, ^(M)if the Lord wills, and I shall know, not the ^[a]words of those who are ^(N)puffed up but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does ^(O)not consist in ^[b]words but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? ^(P)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

⁶ nor ^(A)seeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as ^(B)apostles of Christ we ^[a]could have been a burden to you. ⁷ But we ^[b]proved to be ^[c](C)gentle ^[d]among you, ^(D)as a nursing mother ^[e]tenderly cares for her own children. ⁸ In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to ^(E)impart to you not only the ^(F)gospel of God but also our own ^[f]lives, because you had become beloved to us.

⁹ For you remember, brothers, our ^(G)labor and hardship, how ^(H)working night and day so as not to be a ^(I)burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the ^(J)gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is ^(K)God, of ^(L)how devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we ^[g]behaved toward you ^[h]believers; ¹¹ just as you know how we were ^(M)exhorting and encouraging and ^(N)bearing witness to each one of you as ^(O)a father would his own children, ¹² so that you would ^(P)walk in a manner worthy of the God who ^(Q)calls you into His own kingdom and ^(R)glory.

¹³ And for this reason we also ^(S)thank God without ceasing that when you received the ^(T)word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(U)not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, ^(V)which also is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴ For you, brothers, became ^(W)imitators of ^(X)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^(Y)in Judea, for ^(Z)you also suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen, ^(AA)even as they did from the Jews, ^15 (AB)who both killed the Lord Jesus and ^(AC)the prophets, and ^[i]drove us out, and do not please God, and are hostile to all men, ^16 (AD)hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^(AE)so that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^(AF)fill up the measure of their sins. But ^(AG)wrath has come upon them ^[j]to the utmost.

¹⁷ But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a ^[k]short while—^(AH)in face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire ^(AI)to see your face. ^18 [l]For ^(AJ)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ^[m](AK)more than once—and yet ^(AL)Satan ^(AM)hindered us. ¹⁹ For who is our hope or ^(AN)joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His ^[n](AO)coming? ²⁰ For you are ^(AP)our glory and joy.