For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but rather only for the truth. For we rejoice whenever we are weak, but you are strong, and we pray for this: your maturity. 10 Because of this, I am writing these things although I[a] am absent, in order that when I[b] am present I may not have to act severely according to the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 13:10 Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“am absent”) which is understood as concessive
  2. 2 Corinthians 13:10 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“am present”) which is understood as temporal