14. I am not trying to make you feel ashamed, but I am writing this to counsel you as my own dear children.
15. You may have ten thousand teachers in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus.
16. So I beg you to be like me.
17. That is why I am sending Timothy to you. He is my son in the Lord. I love him and trust him. He will help you remember the way I live in Christ Jesus—a way of life that I teach in every meeting of the church wherever I am.
18. Some of you are acting so proud, it seems as though you think I won’t be coming there again.
19. But I will come to you very soon, the Lord willing. Then I will see if these proud talkers have the power to do anything more than talk.
20. God’s kingdom is not seen in talk but in power.
21. Which do you want: that I come to you with punishment, or that I come with love and gentleness?