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?”
If I fought wild animals in Ephesus with nothing more than human hopes, then what did I gain by that? If the dead aren’t raised, “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we’ll die.”
Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I’ve planned many times to visit you. But until now, I’ve been kept from coming. My work has produced results among the other Gentiles, and in the same way, I want to see results among you.
People swear an oath by someone who’s greater than they are, and the oath guarantees that they’ll keep their promise. After that, nobody argues about whether the person really meant what they were saying.