1In the Scriptures it is stated that when one person accuses another of wrongdoing, you must not believe his accusation right away. First, you must listen to at least two or three people who actually saw what happened. So keep in mind that this will be the third time that I will visit you!

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.

3Because you have demanded that I prove to you that Christ is speaking to you when I speak to you, I will show you that I speak to you as his apostle. Christ does not approve of your sinful behavior. On the contrary, he will powerfully discipline you.

4It is true that Christ seemed to be weak when he was crucified {when people killed him by nailing him to the cross}. But it is also true that he now lives because God worked powerfully to bring him back to life. Similarly, as I serve God, I also am a weak human being as Christ was. But I also have a close relationship with Christ who is now alive again. And with his authority I will use God’s power to discipline you.

5Each of you should ask yourself: “Do I believe God’s message about Christ?” Each of you should examine yourselves to make sure that you truly do believe in Christ and so truly belong to him, and that his Spirit lives in you (pl). When you examine yourselves in that way, I am sure that you will [RHQ] say to me, “Yes, of course we belong to Christ.”

6I am also certain that you will know that I belong to Christ, just like you do.

7But because I do not want to have to punish you, I am praying to God that he will help you not to do anything evil that would cause me to have to punish you. I pray this, not in order that when people who say that I am not your apostle realize that my ministry among you has been very successful, they will have to agree that I do have authority from Christ. Instead, I pray this because I want you to do what is right, even though that might mean that my opponents would think that I do not have authority from Christ, since I would not have an opportunity to show my authority to discipline you.

8If you do what is right, I will not discipline you, because it would not be right for me to do that if you are conducting your lives the way you should, like God’s true message says that you should. What God asks me to do is to help people to know and obey his true message.

9I am happy whenever you are strongly trusting and obeying Christ, and because of that I do not have to use my authority to discipline you. It does not matter to me if that makes people think that I do not have any authority. Truly, what I am praying for is that God will help you to completely change your conduct.

10That is why I am writing these things while I am still away from you. What I want is that when I visit you, you will already be conducting your lives as God wants you to, and so I will not have to discipline you severely, as the Lord Jesus Christ gave me the authority to do. The authority that I have from the Lord is to help you to become spiritually mature believers, not to cause you to stop trusting in him.

I finish my letter with some advice. All of us here send you our greetings, and I pray that God will bless you.

11Finally, my fellow believers, I say to you, be joyful. Completely change how you conduct your lives, and do what I have urged you to do. Be united in what you think about the matters about which I have written to you. Live peacefully with each other. If you do those things, God, who enables you to love each other and be peaceful, will bless [MTY] you.

12Greet each other affectionately as fellow members of God’s family should.

13All God’s people here send you greetings.

14I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will act kindly toward all of you, in ways that you do not deserve, that God will show all of you how much he loves you, and that the Holy Spirit will cause you to have good fellowship with him and with each other.