²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the^[a] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.^{(A) 21} For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.^{(B) 22} It has happened to them according to the true proverb,

and,

⁷ to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life,

The Postponement of Paul’s Visit

¹² Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with holiness^[a] and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you.^(A)

¹⁸ When they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,^{(A) 19} serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.