14. However, without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be out of compulsion, but from your own willingness.
15. For perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a little while, so that you would have him back eternally,
16. no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking and in the Lord.
17. Therefore if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.