Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. (A)Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that (B)Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when (C)we are weak and you are strong. Your (D)restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come (E)I may not have to be (F)severe in my use of (G)the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

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Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail.

We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. 10 This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down.

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