Do you say that this is self-recommendation once more? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

For He says, "At a time of welcome I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have succoured you." Now is the time of loving welcome! Now is the day of salvation!

Therefore, "'Come out from among them and separate yourselves,' says the Lord, 'and touch nothing impure; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you,

and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord the Ruler of all."

I do not say this to imply blame, for, as I have already said, you have such a place in our hearts that we would die with you or live with you.

for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we--not to say you yourselves--should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence.

For they say "His letters are authoritative and forcible, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and as for eloquence, he has none."

Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.

What I am now saying, I do not say by the Lord's command, but as a fool in his folly might, in this reckless boasting.

If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!