A man said to a friend, “I hear you dismissed your pastor. What was wrong?” The friend said, “Well, he kept telling us we’re all going to hell.”

The first man then asked, “What does the new pastor say?” The friend replied, “The new pastor says we’re going to hell, too.”

“So what’s the difference?” asked the first man. “Well,” said the friend, “the difference is that when the previous pastor said it, he sounded like he was glad about it; but when the new man says it, he sounds like it is breaking his heart.”

That is what Paul is saying in this passage. It is breaking his heart that he has to say harsh things to and about nonbelievers, especially those among his fellow Jews.