<p>13:10 <i>For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not when present with you deal sharply with you, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for casting down</i>- &quot;Deal sharply&quot; may be a technical term for a rebuke from the Holy Spirit; it is only elsewhere used in Tit. 1:13 &quot;rebuke them sharply&quot;. If they did not change, then Paul's Spirit power would have to be used to 'cast them down'. But the Spirit was given for their building up more than their casting down. We are surely correct to read in this ellipsis. 'Not A but B' doesn't have to mean 'not at all B'; but rather 'More for B than for A'.&nbsp;Paul was desperately hoping that they would change so that his visit would not result in judgment for them.&nbsp;</p>