Revised Standard Version RSV
New International Version NIV
16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
16
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
17 Therefore I sent to 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.
17
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
18
Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.
19 But 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.
19
But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
21
What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.