Now I, Paul, myself plead with you by the gentleness and forbearance of Christ—I who am humble when face-to-face with you, but courageous toward you when absent!
I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone,
But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a short while—in face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.