And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
But I plead with you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence with which I think to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
For I fear, that, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would like, and that I shall be found by you such as you would not like: lest there be debates, envying, wrath, strife, backbiting, whispering, pride, tumults:
Therefore I write these things being absent, so that being present I need not use severity, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification, and not for destruction.
I told you before, and tell you beforehand, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to those who previously have sinned, and to all others, that, if I come again, I will not spare: