“I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
“For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
“Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
“But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
“Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?
“I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
“Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.” |
