1 Corinthians 4:14-21 - Paul's Concern For The Corinthian Believers

¹⁴ I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. ¹⁶ I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰ For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. ²¹ What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?