A verse-by-verse explanation of this section.
An overview of the principles and applications from this section.
Tying the section to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the section.
Zeroing the section in on daily life.
“Though he cannot hold strictly to the ways of others or match the ability of those he imitates, a prudent man must always tread the path of great men and imitate those who have excelled…at least he will achieve some semblance of it.”
Niccolo Machiavelli
In this chapter Paul closed his instructions on divisions within the church. He did so by affirming his authority as an apostle. The Corinthians may have had loyalties to other Christian leaders, but they should have listened to Paul with even greater regard because he was their spiritual father.
I do not know any statement a father can make that is more frustrating for a child than this: “I'm your father, that's why.” Dads have a habit of saying these words when their children keep asking, “Why?…Why?…But why?” When we just cannot think of anything else to say, we pull rank: “I'm your father, that's why.”
The hilarious thing about this response is that we hated it as children. It makes absolutely no sense at all to a child's way of thinking, especially in the teenage years. But as soon as we become parents ourselves, those words make so much sense that we can hardly keep from saying them to our own children.
Why do they make so much sense to us as parents? I think we all know why. Let us be frank. It is because we see how much we do for our children. We understand the sacrifices we make, the countless hours at work, long nights by the sickbed, food and clothing. In many ways our children owe their lives to us. So, we think to ourselves, The least they can do is to have some respect for our opinions and comply with a few simple wishes.
There is a lot of truth in these parental feelings. Children should appreciate what their parents do for them. As Paul tried to turn the Corinthians away from their quarrels and divisions, he appealed to them as their spiritual father. Many people had helped the church at Corinth, but only one person had brought them to life in Christ—Paul himself. So he asked them to remember that they were his spiritual children and to listen carefully to what he had to say.
Following the Apostles
MAIN IDEA: In the preceding chapter Paul explained the proper roles of Christian leaders. In this chapter he drew out some implications for the ways the Corinthians should respond to him as an apostle of Christ.
Obligations of Leaders (4:1–5)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Before he addressed the Corinthian congregation's responsibilities toward him as an apostle, Paul focused on the obligations of Christian leaders. He explained their roles in the church in the light of his discussion in the previous chapter.
4:1. The apostle concluded that the Corinthians should view him and other Christian leaders in two ways. First, Christian leaders should be viewed as servants of Christ. The term translated “servant” often denoted a domestic servant. Such persons served others in a variety of ways, but always exalted those whom they served. Paul and other leaders were servants of Christ who did his bidding with humility.
Second, Paul said that Christian leaders were stewards (those entrusted). Stewards were high-ranking servants entrusted with the oversight of households. They were especially responsible for the management and distribution of household resources. Paul used this office as an analogy for church leadership because both stewarded the secret things. The term mysteries describes the redemptive grace of God kept secret for a long time, but finally revealed in Christ. God commissions church leaders to bring this great treasure of revelation to the church.
4:2. What is required of stewards? Above all, they must prove faithful. The Corinthians valued eloquence and pretentious human wisdom. Paul rejected this standard for evaluating leaders. He and all leaders should be evaluated only by the standard of fidelity to Christ—their trustworthiness in handling the mysteries entrusted to them.
4:3. Paul opposed the standards of leadership the Corinthian church had endorsed. In response to their thoughts, Paul said he did not care if the Corinthians or any human court (literally, “day”) judged him. Only God could know how faithful Paul had been to the mysteries God had revealed to him; therefore, only God could properly evaluate Paul's performance. In fact, he reserved such a special place for Christ that he said, I do not even judge myself. Of course, he did not mean that he never evaluated his own life. He meant that he would not supplant Christ as his judge. Paul did not reject legitimate human criticisms with these words. Rather, he reminded his readers that there was only one authoritative judge and that the time for judgment had not yet come.
4:4. Paul admitted that his conscience was clear, but this did not support his own innocence. It did not matter if Paul thought he was blameless, just as it did not matter if the Corinthians thought he was blameworthy, because it is the Lord who judges. He did not reject the appropriate use of discernment between good and evil people. In fact, he went on to judge one of the Corinthians in the very next chapter (5:3) and to instruct the Corinthians to judge between matters within the church (5:12; 6:2). Rather, as the next verse makes clear, he spoke of the ultimate judgment of a person's life—the judgment of one's eternal destiny.
4:5. Paul drew a conclusion from the foregoing argument. Because God restrains final judgment until the day of the Lord, Christians should judge nothing before the appointed time. Instead, they should wait for the day when Christ will expose what is hidden, even the motives of men's hearts. In many passages, Paul affirmed his belief that Jesus’ return will be accompanied by a great judgment for all people. Not only will God judge actions, but he will also judge intentions and motives (Heb. 4:12). As a result, at this final judgment everyone will receive his praise from God (see Rom. 2:29). God will honor those who prove faithful to Christ.
Paul mentioned these facts about future judgment so the Corinthians would stop judging him. It seems evident from Paul's objections to the Corinthians’ behavior that they stood against Paul, judging him to be foolish and weak. For example, in their divisions, the Corinthians not only supported Apollos or Peter but opposed Paul. As the rest of the chapter would show, they evidently thought him low and foolish, preferring human wisdom to the wisdom he preached. Paul wanted them to stop judging him and to accept his authority as he addressed their problems.
The Responsibility of Followers (4:6–7)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul explained why he had spoken of himself and Apollos in this manner. He wanted the Corinthians to react appropriately to human leadership in the church, not by taking pride in some association with a leader, but by humbly serving others.
4:6. Paul began by explaining to his brothers why he had applied to himself and Apollos the principles of service to God and of belonging to Christ. Both he and Apollos had become occasions for pride among the Corinthians. Paul offered his outlook on leadership so they might not go beyond what is written. The expression “what is written” usually refers to the Old Testament (Matt. 2:5; 2 Cor. 4:13). Here the apostle indicated his own loyalty to the Old Testament and his interest in seeing the Corinthians live up to its guiding principles.
Paul had already alluded to the Old Testament several times in the preceding context (1 Cor. 1:19, 3:19). It is likely that he had these passages in mind as he wrote this instruction. If the Corinthians would live under the authority of the Scriptures, they would not take pride in one man over against another, damaging the fellowship by causing divisions.
4:7. Paul gave another reason for rejecting pride by asking several questions. Who makes one person (you is singular here) in the church different from anyone else? The expected answer was “no one” and “nothing.” Although the parties within the Corinthian church exalted themselves over one another, they really and obviously were not better than one another.
To prove his point Paul asked if they had anything that they had not receive[d]. The Corinthians had many good gifts in their church, but these gifts all came from the Holy Spirit. They had no basis for pride in their spiritual abilities because these were simply free gifts from God. To drive the point home, Paul asked why the Corinthians boasted as though they had not received what they possessed. Those who recognize that they have nothing apart from God's grace never raise themselves over others as the Corinthian factions were doing.
Sarcasm (4:8–13)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul was so confident of his criticisms against the pride of the Corinthians that he began to ridicule their practices.
4:8. Having reminded his readers that they had nothing in and of themselves, Paul accused them further. First, they behaved as if they already had all they wanted. The Corinthian believers involved in prideful factions behaved as if their gifts and wisdom were perfect and complete, though these were really temporary and incomplete (13:9–12).
Second, Paul chided them for acting as if they had already…become rich. The word rich probably has multiple meanings here. It may refer to the wealth of blessings that believers will receive at Christ's return when they begin to reign with him. It may also refer to actual wealth that some Corinthians had amassed since their conversions—the rich easily fail to see their spiritual poverty (Matt. 19:24). Or, “rich” may refer to the mature possession (1 Cor. 13:9–12) of spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Cor. 1:5–7).
Paul thought that those who divided the church through pretension and arrogance behaved, on the one hand, like self-assured rich people lacking humility, and, on the other, like Christians who had already received all their future blessings and took great pride in them.
Third, Paul accused them of behaving as if they had already become kings. Christians hope for the day when believers will reign with Christ over the new earth, but the divisive members of the church acted as if they had already reached this destiny. They behaved as if they had no flaws, no weaknesses, and no need to grow (1 Cor. 13:11–12). Paul admitted his wish that this were true. If it were, then he and the other apostles would be kings with the Corinthians because all Christians will begin their reigns simultaneously. Since the Corinthians clearly would not have considered Paul a king, they had no business acting like kings themselves.
Paul pointed out the Corinthians’ specific boasts so they would see themselves as he saw them. He wanted them to realize they had no basis for their high opinions of themselves. He also wanted them to abandon their arrogance, to be reconciled to one another, and to respect his authority.
4:9. Paul next explained why he wished he already reigned as a king with the Corinthians. He and other apostles suffered severely for the gospel. They were like those led in public procession to the arena to die. What more humiliating description of his service could Paul offer? He felt that he had been made a spectacle to the whole universe. Everyone, both angels and men, watched with glee at his painful suffering and humiliation. That the apostles suffered so greatly further emphasized to the Corinthians their error of thinking that they had already become kings.
4:10. To bring out the irony he saw in the Corinthians’ pride, Paul contrasted his experience of suffering with their attitudes. He had been a fool, weak, and dishonored, but they behaved as the wise, strong, and honored. From the Corinthians’ perspective, and from the world's, the Corinthians really were wise, strong, and honored, while Paul was foolish, weak, and dishonored. But God did not share such worldly perspectives. The Corinthians’ wisdom, strength, and honor stood only according to worldly principles that God did not recognize. If the Corinthians wanted true strength, wisdom, and honor, they would have to seek it by being weak, foolish, and dishonored like Paul.
This verse turned the tables on the Corinthians’ self-esteem. They needed to repent of the things in which they took pride, while those things they despised in Paul made him more worthy of their respect. They had no basis for their pride, and thus no basis for their divisions. In order to gain the things they thought they already had, they would have to become the kind of people who would have no reason to divide into factions.
4:11–13. Paul digressed to describe his apostolic experience even further. He and other apostles suffered terrible times to that very hour and moment. The list of experiences in 4:11 is striking: hungry and thirsty, in rags, brutally treated, and homeless. In 4:12–13 Paul indicated that he and other apostles work[ed] with their own hands, endure[d] when persecuted, and answer[ed] kindly when slandered. Paul then summarized his condition as the scum of the earth and the refuse of the world. The apostles did not err like the Corinthians. They did not behave as those who had already received their rewards.
This section points out that the apostles themselves—the very people over whom the Corinthians divided—did not live up to the Corinthians’ boasts. Did the Corinthians feel superior because they followed Peter? Peter was persecuted, and he rejoiced in his suffering (Acts 5:41). Did they follow Jesus? His suffering exceeded that of every apostle. They could not rightly claim to follow these leaders and also claim to be above suffering and persecution.
Paul's Purpose as a Spiritual Father (4:14–17)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul mentioned his own suffering for Christ to make the Corinthians aware of how inappropriate their pride and self-assurance were.
4:14. It would have been easy to misunderstand Paul's intentions here. He did not engage in sarcasm and mention his trials as an apostle to shame the Corinthians. Sensitive readers at Corinth were put to shame by the contrast between Paul's humility and their own pride. Yet, Paul's goal was not to shame them, but to warn or admonish them. That is, though he intended to shame them to some degree, their shame was not his ultimate goal. He employed shame as a tool for admonishing them, for inspiring them to reject their pride and repair their divisions. Paul wanted to help the Corinthian church imitate his own life, and thereby to help them avoid the consequences of the sin in their church. Love, not anger, motivated Paul to do this. He cared for the Corinthians as his dear children, and this affection guided his words.
4:15. Paul was justified in calling himself the father of the Corinthians. They may have had ten thousand guardians, various leaders and teachers in the church. Nevertheless, they had only one spiritual father. Paul became their father when he first brought them to faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. By this metaphor, Paul reminded them of several things.
First, he had authority over them, just as a father has authority over his children. Many Corinthians had rejected Paul's authority, but the fact that he had brought them to faith established that God approved of Paul's ministry, even if many Corinthians no longer did. Second, he reminded them of the example he provided for them, as a father provides for his children—a point he raised explicitly in verse 16. Third, he implied their obligation to obey him. Because he had brought them the gospel, they owed him their lives.
4:16. On the basis of his fatherly role in the Corinthian church, Paul urged his readers to imitate him, just as children are instructed to follow the example of their fathers. He told others to imitate him as well (Gal. 4:12; 2 Thess. 3:7). Here, he encouraged the Corinthians to forsake their pride and to gain the same kind of humility he demonstrated.
4:17. As a practical expression of his fatherly love, Paul planned to send Timothy, perhaps along with this letter. Paul loved Timothy as his dear son and trusted him in the work of ministry (Acts 17:15; 1 Thess. 3:1–3). So, Paul commended Timothy to the Corinthian believers as a man who was faithful in the Lord. Timothy had proven himself to be a loyal follower of Christ and a reliable leader of the church.
Paul assured his readers that Timothy could be trusted to remind them of Paul's way of life in Christ Jesus. That is, Timothy would tell them more of the sufferings and faithful service Paul had rendered as an apostle and of Paul's way of life when he had been in Corinth previously, both of which Paul would have the Corinthians imitate. Timothy's efforts would be reliable because he agreed with what Paul taught in every church —he would not vary from the apostle's true teachings. Paul sent Timothy as an act of love in the hope that the younger minister would be able to facilitate the restoration of the Corinthian fellowship.
Paul's Upcoming Visit (4:18–21)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul rounded off his discussion of the divisions in the Corinthian church by reaffirming his intention to visit. He warned those who had opposed him that his visit would prove who was right.
4:18–19a. Paul worried that some of his readers had become arrogant, thinking he would never return to Corinth. In Paul's absence, these members of the church had become bold in their stances. They had probably grown confident in their opposition to Paul, assuming he would never return to challenge them.
Even so, Paul warned them that he would come…very soon. Paul frequently revealed his keen desire to visit the churches of Christ throughout the world (Rom. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:18). This should have encouraged his opposition to rethink their attitudes and to correct their behavior, or else to prepare themselves to deal with one imbued not with mere words, but with power (1 Cor. 5:4). Although some people in the church did not believe it, Paul was determined to come to Corinth.
Still, he admitted that his desire was not ultimately the determining factor in his travel plans. He qualified his intention by saying, If the Lord is willing. Paul planned to spend the winter in Corinth after traveling through Macedonia (1 Cor. 16:5–7).
4:19b–20. Paul explained that upon his arrival he would find out two things. He would investigate how these arrogant people were talking. He would find out for himself exactly what they were saying and what power they had. He wanted to see if these proud leaders who opposed him had the gifts and demonstrations of the Holy Spirit to back up their theological claims. He wanted to demonstrate to them that their “gospel” lacked the power to mend lives and create unity. Paul mentioned the power of God on a number of occasions, having in mind God's works in the church (1:18; 6:14; 15:43).
The apostle then gave the reason for his focus on the power of the Spirit in his opponents. The kingdom of God does not consist of talk. It consists of power. Put simply, Paul said, “Talk is cheap.” Anyone can use words to persuade the naíve, but Paul would expose his opponents by showing that their ministries failed to display the work of the Holy Spirit.
4:21. Paul had spoken rather forcefully to the Corinthians. He closed this section with a pointed question: In coming to visit and test his readers, how should he treat them? Should he come like Jesus cleansing the temple (Mark 11:15), with a whip to drive out his opponents who refused to change their ways? Or, should he come to them with love and with a gentle spirit, they having heeded his warnings and changed their ways?
If the Corinthians continued to follow human pride by dividing the church into factions, Paul would rebuke them harshly on his arrival. If they recommitted themselves to the true humility that comes from the gospel, he would come peacefully. Paul offered this choice in the hope they would choose the latter.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: In the preceding chapter Paul explained the proper roles of Christian leaders. In this chapter he drew out some implications for the ways the Corinthians should respond to him as an apostle of Christ.
Paul realized that the first chapters of this epistle challenged the Corinthians in ways that were difficult to accept. Yet, he appealed to them to remember both his fatherly love for them and their need to honor him as their spiritual father. His teachings were not Paul's self-aggrandizement. They were difficult teachings, but they should have been accepted as Paul's good intent toward the Corinthian believers.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
Have you ever had a near stranger offer you serious criticism? It happens to most of us at one time or another. And what goes through our heads? “Who is this person? Why does she feel the right to criticize me?” “You don't even know who I am!”
Those thoughts are appropriate when a stranger judges us sternly, but we all know how different it is when a dear friend or loved one offers us criticism. It may hurt for a while, but in the back of our minds we remember something very important. “I know she cares about me.” “He has demonstrated love for me many times.” “I can take this from her.”
Paul hoped that the Corinthians remembered these kinds of things about him. He had made a great sacrifice to bring them the gospel. He demonstrated love for them time and again. He hoped they would take his criticism to heart because he loved them dearly.
Lord Jesus, we who are leaders cry out to be leaders like Paul was. We who are followers cry out for leaders who seek to imitate Paul's devotion to the cause of Christ, even to the point of suffering. We will give you great praise as you work in our hearts and lives. Amen.
A. Judge (4:3–5)
The words Paul used for “judge,” anakrino (4:3–4) and krino (4:5), have broad ranges of meaning. It is probably best not to make too much of their differences in the context of 1 Corinthians 4:3–5 because Paul appears to have used them synonymously here. If he intended any difference between them, anakrino may have meant “examine” and krino “render judgment,” but this is speculative because Paul also used anakrino in 1 Corinthians to mean “discern” (2:14–15) and “convict or call to account” (14:24).
Basileuo, translated “become kings,” may also mean “reign.” The Bible's hope is not that we will become kings, but rather that one Davidic king will reign over the restored community of the people of God (Ezek. 37:22; Luke 1:33). The New Testament also makes clear that believers will share in Christ's reign (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:6), but even in this, Christ's reign is preeminent. Thus, it seems better to translate basileuo as “reign” rather than “become king” in this particular instance.
C. Kingdom of God (4:20)
“The kingdom of God” is also known as “the kingdom of heaven,” “the kingdom of Christ,” and “the kingdom of the Lord.” It seems first to have taken the form “the kingdom of the LORD” in the post-exilic restoration literature of Chronicles, and to have been used as a term for the restored community of the people of God under David (1 Chr. 28:5; 2 Chr. 13:8). The New Testament authors greatly expanded the term's use, making it a central motif in their theology. In fact, the gospel itself is frequently called “the gospel of the kingdom” or the “good news of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; Mark 1:15).
In bringing the kingdom of God, Jesus began to fulfill the restoration promises of the Old Testament. He inaugurated the kingdom during his first coming, it continues now in his physical absence, and awaits its final consummation at his return.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION: “WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?”