I Paul say to you, “Do not listen to those who say that I am afraid to rebuke you when I am with you and that I behave like people do who are not believers.”

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

10 Now I myself, Paul, appeal to you in a gentle and humble way, like Christ would. Certain people among you have falsely accused me by saying, “When Paul is with you, he is humble and speaks gently to you, but when he is away from you, in the letters he writes to you he threatens to punish you.” Those people claim that I do not have authority over you as an apostle. 2 I strongly plead with you, “Please do not listen to people who say things like that!” I strongly plead with you not to listen to them, so that when I am there with you I will not need to speak severely to you in the same severe way as I plan to speak to those people who think that I behave like people who are not believers. 3 Remember that although I am human like everyone else in the world, I do not fight against those who oppose me in the way that people who are not believers fight those who oppose them. 4 I will tell you what I mean by that: Just like soldiers use various weapons to fight their enemies [MET], I ◄fight against/oppose► those who oppose God’s message, but I do it in a different way. I do not use human arguments and clever/sweet talk, like unbelievers do. Instead, I fight against my opponents with the powerful means that God has given me. With that power I destroy their arguments against God’s message and against me, just like soldiers destroy [MET] the fortresses of their enemies. 5 Specifically, I show that the human arguments that they use to deceive people are completely wrong. When they proudly say things that keep other people from knowing God, I show them that they are completely wrong. I also enable people to change their ways of thinking so that they think about everything as Christ wants them to think. 6 I am also ready to discipline everyone among you who has not obeyed the things that Christ taught. I will do this as soon as you who truly want to obey Christ show me that you are going to obey him completely.