^2 (A)You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

A Pattern of Self-Denial

9 Am ^(A)I not an apostle? Am I not free? ^(B)Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? ^(C)Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are ^(D)the ^[a]seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

⁸ For from you the word of the Lord ^(A)has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also ^(B)in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.

⁷ just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.

Desire to Visit Rome

⁸ First, ^(A)I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that ^(B)your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

¹⁵ And I will very gladly spend and be spent ^(A)for your souls; though ^(B)the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

¹¹ Why? ^(A)Because I do not love you? God knows!

³ I do not say this to condemn; for ^(A)I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

^10 (A)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid ^(B)the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.