2 Corinthians 10:2

¹⁰For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

²I have warned previously, and I warn again, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, I write to those who have sinned before now and to all the rest that if I come again, I will not spare,

¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,^23[+] gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. ³We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

¹³For what is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, unless it is that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I seek not your possessions, but you. For the children ought not to save up for the parents, but the parents for the children. ¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less? ¹⁶Even so, I myself didn’t burden you. But you might say that being crafty, I caught you with deception. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you by anyone of those whom I have sent to you? ¹⁸I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit? Didn’t we walk in the same steps?

¹⁹Again, do you think that we are excusing ourselves to you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying. ²⁰For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire, that perhaps there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, or riots,

¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. ²¹What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

⁹When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.

¹²But what I do, that I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity, that in which they boast, they may be recognized just like us. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.

⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

¹There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.