Even if I am untrained in public speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge. Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything.
For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!
For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God #– #not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. ,
For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart #– #not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.
So my people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit.
‘How can you say, “I love you,” ’ she told him, ‘when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great! ’
Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, ,
by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. ,
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven #– #angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.
This is why I am writing these things while absent, so that when I am there I may not have to deal harshly with you, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.