This is my reason for writing as I am now doing, while I am away from you, so that, when I am with you, I may not act harshly in the exercise of the authority which the Lord gave me--and gave me for building up and not for pulling down.
So, then, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer, or of the man who was wronged, but to make you conscious, in the sight of God, of your own earnest care for us. And it is this that has encouraged us.
And, indeed, I am justified in feeling thus about you all; because you have a warm place in my heart--you who all, both in my imprisonment and in the work of defending and establishing the Good News, shared my privilege with me.
In our strong affection for you, that seemed to us the best way of sharing with you, not only God's Good news, but our very lives as well--so dear had you become to us.