It was because I was sure of this that I wanted to come to see you before going anywhere else, to give you a double pleasure;

For we must all appear in our true characters before the tribunal of the Christ, each to be repaid with good or evil for the life he has lived in the body.

I do not mean this as a reflection upon you, for as I said before, you will always have a place in my heart whether I live or die.

If I did express some pride in you to him, I have had no reason to be ashamed of it, but just as all I said to you was true, my boasting before Titus has also proved true.

So you must give proof to them before all the churches of your love, and justify my pride in you.

Have you been supposing all along that it is before you I have been defending myself? It is in the sight of God and as a follower of Christ that I have been speaking. But it is all to do you good, dear friends,

and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over many who have kept on in their old sins and have never repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality in which they have indulged.