¹⁴ I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn and advise you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For even if you were to have ten thousand teachers [to guide you] in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers [who led you to Christ and assumed responsibility for you], for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the good news [of salvation]. ¹⁶ So I urge you, be imitators of me [just as a child imitates his father]. ¹⁷ For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my way of life in Christ [my conduct and my precepts for godly living], just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some of you have become arrogant and pretentious, as though I were not coming to see you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not just the talk of these arrogant people, but [evaluate] their [spiritual] power [whether they live up to their own claims]. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God is not based on talk but on power. ²¹ Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod [of discipline and correction], or with love and a gentle spirit?