1 Corinthians 4:21
So which do you prefer? Do you want me to come to you and punish you because you have not changed your ways, or shall I come to you and act lovingly and gently toward you because you have done what I told you to do?
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
In Context
Cross References
2 Corinthians 1:23So now I will tell you why I changed my mind and did not visit you as I intended to do: God himself knows that what I am telling you is true. The reason that I did not return to Corinth was so that I might not have to speak to you severely about the wrong that you had done.
2 Corinthians 2:3So, instead of going to visit you at that time, I wrote a letter and sent it to you. I wrote it the way I did so that you would know what you should do. Then when I come to visit you, you will not make me unhappy when you should be causing me to rejoice. I was quite sure that all of you would do what I told you to do in that letter, and because of that I would be happy and you would be happy, too.
2 Corinthians 10:1Now I myself, Paul, appeal to you in a gentle and humble way, like Christ would. Certain people among you have falsely accused me by saying, “When Paul is with you, he is humble and speaks gently to you, but when he is away from you, in the letters he writes to you he threatens to punish you.” Those people claim that I do not have authority over you as an apostle.
2 Corinthians 10:8I say that because the authority that the Lord gave me as his apostle is to help you to become mature believers, not to cause you to stop trusting in Christ. So even if I were to boast a little more than I have already done (OR, proudly talk a little more than I have already talked about the authority the Lord gave me as his apostle), no one would be able to make me ashamed by proving that Jesus has not given me that authority.
2 Corinthians 13:2When I visited you the second time, I warned you that I was going to punish all the wrongdoers among you. And now I am warning you again while I am still away from you. When I visit you this third time, I will punish those who were sinning at the time when I visited you before and who are still sinning, and I will punish the others who have been sinning since then, if they have not stopped their sinful behavior.
1 Thessalonians 2:7although we could have demanded that you should honor/respect us, because we are apostles who represent (OR, speak for) Christ. On the contrary, we were gentle when we were among you, as a mother gently takes care of her own children [SIM].
Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 4:18-21
Paul's Affection and Authority. ( a. d. 57.) 17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. 18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21 What will ye? shall… Read the whole commentary →