1 Corinthians 4:10-21

English Standard Version

^10 (A)We are fools for Christ's sake, but ^(B)you are wise in Christ. ^(C)We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹ To the present hour ^(D)we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and ^(E)buffeted and ^(F)homeless, ¹² and we ^(G)labor, working with our own hands. ^(H)When reviled, we bless; ^(I)when persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when slandered, we entreat. ^(J)We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ^(K)the refuse of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(L)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(M)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(N)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(O)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(P)be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why ^(Q)I sent^[b] you Timothy, ^(R)my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^{[c] (S)}as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are ^(T)arrogant, ^(U)as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But ^(V)I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For ^(W)the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? ^(X)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?