²¹ What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick or with love in a spirit of gentleness?^(A)

² I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not be lenient—

¹⁰ So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.^(A)