I, through my union with the Lord, am persuaded that you will learn to think with me. But the man who is disturbing your minds will have to bear his punishment, whoever he may be.
I implore you not to drive me to "show my boldness," when I do come, by the confident tone which I expect to have to adopt towards some of you, who are expecting to find us influenced in our conduct by earthly motives.
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 I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.
For ourselves, then, from this time forward, we refuse to regard any one from the world's standpoint. Even if we once thought of Christ from the standpoint of the world, yet now we do so no longer.
We are also sending with them another of our Brothers, whose earnestness we have many a time proved in many ways, and whom we now find made even more earnest by his great confidence in you.
Which is really no Good News at all. But then, I know that there are people who are harassing you, and who want to pervert the Good News of the Christ.
But, on account of the false Brothers who had stolen in, the men who had crept in to spy upon the liberty which we have through union with Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back to slavery--
Of those who are thought somewhat highly of--what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not recognize human distinctions--those, I say, who are thought highly of added nothing to my Message.
Yes, and the confidence that our union with the Lord enables us to place in you leads us to believe that you are doing, and will do, what we direct you.