| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. | 1So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. |
| 2Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. | 2Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. |
| 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. | 3As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. |
| 4For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. | 4My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. |
| 5Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. | 5So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. |
| 6I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. | 6Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. |
| 7For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? | 7For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? |
| 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! | 8You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. |
| 9For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. | 9Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. |
| 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. | 10Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. |
| 11To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, | 11Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. |
| 12and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; | 12We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. |
| 13when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. | 13We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment. |
| 14I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. | 14I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. |
| 15For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. | 15For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. |
| 16I urge you, then, be imitators of me. | 16So I urge you to imitate me. |
| 17That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. | 17That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go. |
| 18Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. | 18Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. |
| 19But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. | 19But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. |
| 20For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. | 20For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. |
| 21What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? | 21Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit? |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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