To my shame, I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold – I say it in foolishness – I am bold also.
Because they say, “His letters are truly weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech amounts to naught.”
I wish that you would bear with me in a little folly. But indeed, you are bearing with me.
What I speak, I speak not according to the Master, but as in foolishness, in this boldness of boasting.
For this reason I write this in my absence, so that, being present I should not use sharpness, according to the authority which the Master has given me for upbuilding and not for overthrowing.
through esteem and disrespect, through evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers, and yet true;