And, indeed, you have already partly acknowledged it about us--that you have a right to be proud of us, as we shall be proud of you, on the Day of our Lord Jesus.

I have the utmost confidence in you; I am always boasting about you. I am full of encouragement and, in spite of all our troubles, my heart is overflowing with happiness.

Although I have been boasting a little to him about you, you did not put me to shame; but, just as every thing we had said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has also proved to be the truth.

If I must say anything about Titus, he is my intimate companion, and he shares my work for you; if it is our Brothers, they are delegates of the Churches, an honor to Christ.

Show them, therefore--so that the Churches may see it-- the proof of your affection, and the ground for our boasting to them about you.

So my reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

Even if I boast extravagantly about our authority--which the Lord gave us for building up your faith and not for overthrowing it--still I have no reason to be ashamed.

And, not to speak of other things, there is my daily burden of anxiety about all the Churches.

About such a man I will boast, but about myself I will not boast except as regards my weaknesses.

About this I three times entreated the Lord, praying that it might leave me.

Put yourselves to the proof, to see whether you are holding to the Faith. Test yourselves. Surely you recognize this fact about yourselves--that Jesus Christ is in you! Unless indeed you cannot stand the test!