I am afraid that the next time I come my God will humiliate me in your presence, and I shall weep over many who sinned in the past and have not repented of the immoral things they have done---their lust and their sexual sins.

We are glad when we are weak but you are strong. And so we also pray that you will become perfect.

I call God as my witness---he knows my heart! It was in order to spare you that I decided not to go to Corinth.

We are not trying to dictate to you what you must believe; we know that you stand firm in the faith. Instead, we are working with you for your own happiness.

So I made up my mind not to come to you again to make you sad.

That is why I wrote that letter to you---I did not want to come to you and be made sad by the very people who should make me glad. For I am convinced that when I am happy, then all of you are happy too.

I beg you not to force me to be harsh when I come; for I am sure I can deal harshly with those who say that we act from worldly motives.

And after you have proved your complete loyalty, we will be ready to punish any act of disloyalty.

For I am not ashamed, even if I have boasted somewhat too much about the authority that the Lord has given us---authority to build you up, not to tear you down.

I do not want it to appear that I am trying to frighten you with my letters.

I want to tell those of you who have sinned in the past, and all the others; I said it before during my second visit to you, but I will say it again now that I am away: the next time I come nobody will escape punishment.

That is why I write this while I am away from you; it is so that when I arrive I will not have to deal harshly with you in using the authority that the Lord has given me---authority to build you up, not to tear you down.

Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you.

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power.

And even though I am far away from you in body, still I am there with you in spirit; and as though I were there with you, I have in the name of our Lord Jesus already passed judgment on the man who has done this terrible thing. As you meet together, and I meet with you in my spirit, by the power of our Lord Jesus present with us,

you are to hand this man over to Satan for his body to be destroyed, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.

For some people from Chloe's family have told me quite plainly, my friends, that there are quarrels among you.

because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?

When one of you says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos"---aren't you acting like worldly people?

For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, "Observe the proper rules." None of you should be proud of one person and despise another.

Do you already have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you.

The very fact that you have legal disputes among yourselves shows that you have failed completely. Would it not be better for you to be wronged? Would it not be better for you to be robbed?

Instead, you yourselves wrong one another and rob one another, even other believers!

But if anyone wants to argue about it, all I have to say is that neither we nor the churches of God have any other custom in worship.

In the first place, I have been told that there are opposing groups in your meetings; and this I believe is partly true.

Or could it be that the word of God came from you? Or are you the only ones to whom it came?

If anyone supposes he is God's messenger or has a spiritual gift, he must realize that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.

But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.

What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions;

they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.

We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.

Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.

Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

But if in your heart you are jealous, bitter, and selfish, don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom.

Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil.

Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you.

And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.

Don't think that there is no truth in the scripture that says, "The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires."

Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language.

All who hate me whisper to each other about me, they imagine the worst about me.

Gossip is spread by wicked people; they stir up trouble and break up friendships.

They are filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed, and vice; they are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deceit, and malice. They gossip

They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error.

These people are always grumbling and blaming others; they follow their own evil desires; they brag about themselves and flatter others in order to get their own way.