The reason I am writing these things to you while I am absent is so that, when I am present, I will not need to be harsh in my use of authority, which the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Consider what earnestness this godly sorrow of yours has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what righting of wrong! In everything you have shown yourselves to be clear in the matter.