1 Corinthians 4:12-21

English Standard Version

¹² and we ^(A)labor, working with our own hands. ^(B)When reviled, we bless; ^(C)when persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when slandered, we entreat. ^(D)We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ^(E)the refuse of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(F)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(G)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(H)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(I)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(J)be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why ^(K)I sent^[b] you Timothy, ^(L)my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^{[c] (M)}as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are ^(N)arrogant, ^(O)as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But ^(P)I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For ^(Q)the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? ^(R)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?