Entrusted with the Gospel

1For you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you was not in vain, 2but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much struggle. 3For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or [†]by way of deceit; 4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who [†]examines our hearts. 5For we never came with a flattering word, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— 6nor seeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we [†]could have been a burden to you. 7But we [†]proved to be [†]gentle [†]among you, as a nursing mother [†]tenderly cares for her own children. 8In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own [†]lives, because you had become beloved to us.

9For you remember, brothers, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we [†]behaved toward you [†]believers; 11just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and bearing witness to each one of you as a father would his own children, 12so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

13And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and [†]drove us out, and do not please God, and are hostile to all men, 16hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them [†]to the utmost.

17But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a [†]short while—in face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18[†]For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, [†]more than once—and yet Satan hindered us. 19For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His [†]coming? 20For you are our glory and joy.