If anyone refuses to accept this teaching, they’re not rejecting a human being. They’re rejecting God, the very same God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
We also thank God constantly for the way you received his word when you heard it from us. You didn’t accept it as a human word, but for what it is, the word of God. And that word is truly at work in you who believe.
I’m using an example from everyday human life to help you understand. You used to offer yourselves as slaves to dirty habits, and you did more and more things that were wrong. Now offer yourselves as slaves to the right way of living. Then you will become holy.
But some people might be thinking about this in a human way and ask, “Doesn’t the fact that we’re wrong prove more clearly that God is right? So how is it fair for God to punish us?”