Servants of Christ

1Let a man so esteeme of vs, as the ministers of Christe, and disposers of the secretes of God. 2Furthermore, it is required of the disposers that a man be founde faythfull. 3With me it is but a very small thyng that I shoulde be iudged of you, either of mans iudgement: No, I iudge not mine owne selfe. 4For I knowe nothing by my selfe, yet am I not thereby iustified: but he that iudgeth me is the Lorde. 5Therefore iudge nothyng before the tyme, vntyll the Lorde come, who wyl lyghten thynges that are hyd in darkenesse, & open the counsels of the heartes, and then shall euery man haue prayse of God.

6And these thynges brethren, I haue figuratiuely applied vnto my selfe, and to Apollos, for your sakes, that ye might learne by vs, that no man conceaue in mynde aboue that whiche is written, that one swell not agaynst another for any mans cause. 7For who seperateth thee? And what hast thou, that thou hast not receaued? If thou haue receaued it, why reioycest thou, as though thou haddest not receaued it?

8Nowe ye are full, nowe ye are made ryche, ye raigne as kynges without vs, and I woulde to God ye dyd raigne, that we also myght raigne with you. 9For me thynketh, that God hath set foorth vs, whiche are the last apostles, as it were men appoynted to death. For we are made a gasyng stocke vnto the worlde, and to the angels, and to men. 10We are fooles for Christes sake, but ye are wyse in Christe. We are weake, but ye are stronge. Ye are honorable, but we are despised. 11Euen vnto this time we both hunger and thirste, and are naked, and are buffeted, and haue no certaine dwellyng place. 12And labour, working with our owne handes. We are reuyled, and we blesse. We are persecuted, and suffer it. 13We are euyll spoken of, and we praye: we are made as the fylthynesse of the worlde, the ofscowryng of all thynges vnto this day.

Paul’s Fatherly Warning

14I write not these thynges to shame you, but as my beloued sonnes I warne you. 15For though ye haue ten thousande instructours in Christ, yet haue ye not many fathers: For in Christe Iesu I haue begotten you through the Gospell. 16Wherfore, I desire you, be ye folowers of me. 17For this cause haue I sent vnto you Timotheus, whiche is my beloued sonne, & faythfull in the Lorde, which shall put you in remembraunce of my wayes which be in Christe, as I teache euery where in all Churches. 18Some swel as though I would come no more at you: 19But I wyll come to you shortly, if the Lorde wyll, & wyll knowe, not the wordes of the which swell, but the power. 20For the kyngdome of God is not in worde, but in power. 21What wyl ye? Shal I come vnto you with a rodde, or in loue and in the spirite of mekenesse?