Woe to you, Pharisees! For you love the first seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplace.
Arrogance precedes destruction. And the spirit is exalted before a fall.
But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace,
"Be cautious of the scribes, who choose to walk in long robes, and who love greetings in the marketplace, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and the first places at table during feasts,
loving one another with fraternal charity, surpassing one another in honor:
Let nothing be done by contention, nor in vain glory. Instead, in humility, let each of you esteem others to be better than himself.
As it happens, I had written to the church. But Diotrephes, who loves to bear the highest rank among them, would not accept us.