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§10 God as the Only Real Judge (1 Cor. 4:1–5)

The thought and logic of this passage are clear, although in Greek much of Paul’s language is awkward. Any translation struggles to render Paul’s statements in a sensible and reliable way.

These verses begin by informing the Corinthians how they are to regard Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and all other early Christian workers. They are merely servants and stewards who are called to serve Christ as agents of the proclamation of the mysteries of God’s grace. A single quality must characterize stewards: trustworthiness. Or, more literally, they must prove faithful. God requires that Paul and the others be faithful executors of the trust that has been placed in them. In turn, Paul informs the Corinthians that what they think of him as God’s steward is of little or no importance. In fact, he says that his opinion of himself is irrelevant, because the Lord is the only one who judges. In a sense Paul is freed by the Lord’s being his sole judge, for he needs neither to worry about what others think nor to be obsessed with evaluating his own performance. Paul is free to strive to be faithful, for in the end Christ will judge him and all others. Then God will give whatever praise is appropriate.

4:1 / Paul looks back to the image of the apostles as servants (3:5–9), although he now shifts the metaphor slightly by focusing on their servanthood as that of stewardship (those entrusted) rather than in terms of their work as field hands (3:5–9). The plural forms of the words indicate that Paul has not only his own service but also that of others in mind. This point of view characterizes 4:1–2, but one should note that in 4:3–5 Paul shifts to the singular form and seems to be discussing only his own ministry.

The word “servant” in Greek refers to an assistant, indicating one responsible to manage the concerns of another. The Greek word behind “those entrusted” more literally means “stewards,” a now anachronistic designation that named the domestic servants who oversaw the operations of a household or an estate. In antiquity, both servants and stewards were most often slaves, although in many cases such slaves had enormous power despite their low social standing. Nevertheless, they worked under the authority and judgment of their masters. Thus, one issue for Paul in the use of these images is accountability, as is evident in the words those entrusted with the secret things of God. This concern comes through in the idea of judgment in the following verses. Moreover, as those verses will indicate, Paul employs the images of servants and stewards because implicit in such service was the matter of delegated authority, the secondary concern of Paul’s remarks in chapter 4.

4:2 / This verse follows closely on the preceding sentence, as is evident in the unusual, complex, awkward beginning in Greek, which literally says, “Here, moreover” or “In this connection, in addition” (hōde loipon). The phrase is an odd rhetorical indication that Paul intends to elaborate on the metaphor he established in 4:1, and so he does, literally: “One looks among stewards in order that someone be found faithful.” One looks for one thing in stewards, faithfulness. In the context of this discussion, Paul can only mean that stewards are to be faithful to the gospel, to the message of the cross, to the proclamation of Christ crucified.

By registering this solitary desideratum Paul denies that “eloquence” and “wisdom” (see 2:1) were necessary, perhaps even desirable, traits for God’s stewards. In saying that faithfulness to the trust is what God requires of his servants, Paul once again indirectly emphasizes God’s authority over the apostles and that the character of the gospel determines the shape and substance of the ministry to which the apostles are commissioned.

4:3 / Having established faithfulness as the standard for the evaluation of a steward, Paul reflects on the judgment of himself as the Lord’s steward. The shift of focus in 4:3–5 from God’s stewards to Paul alone leads interpreters to conclude that Paul is responding to criticisms of himself and his style of ministry. This concern in the situation Paul was facing in Corinth has already surfaced in Paul’s discussion (1:17; 2:1–5, 15; 3:1–4, 10), and the motif of judgment was prominent in 2:15 and 3:12–15.

As he takes up this matter Paul begins bluntly by stating, literally, “But it is of the least importance to me that I may be judged by you or by any human day.” The language is eschatological, contrasting judgment by humans on a “human day” with divine judgment by the Lord on “the Day” (3:13). The NIV agrees with most other translations in rendering the Greek word “day” as court, recognizing that “day” indicated a fixed time such as a court date for passing judgment. Nevertheless, one should not allow this shift in terminology to reduce the critical eschatological quality of these lines.

The motivation for Paul’s energetic disavowal is not immediately apparent, for in a sense he has inverted the logical progression of this thought in this section of the letter. Encountering this abrupt statement, one could conclude that Paul is indifferent to what others think of him, that he is arrogant or unconcerned; but that is not the case. Rather, when in 4:4b Paul says, “It is the Lord who judges me,” he reveals the reason for his disinterest in human opinions. Paul is the Lord’s steward, and the Lord judges Paul; therefore, all other opinions are of little or no consequence for accurate evaluation of Paul’s faithfulness. Paul thinks eschatologically, so that the Lord and the Lord’s future determine the value of his present activity. No human, including Paul (indeed, I do not even judge myself), is in a position to evaluate his faithfulness. Paul labored with others and among others, and he ministered to others; but he was the servant of the Lord and worked for the Lord alone.

4:4 / The initial portion of this verse explicates Paul’s eschatological freedom from concern with judgment. The NIV again fails to signal that Paul connects this statement to the preceding lines as a word of explanation by leaving the word “for” untranslated. Paul literally starts out, “For I am conscious of nothing against myself.” The statement registers a profound eschatological conviction, namely, that human consciousness (or “conscience”) is neither a valid nor an ultimate arbiter of divine truth. Even one who was attuned to the eschatological work of God in Christ was not in a position to allow conscience to pronounce a final verdict. Only the Lord can make the final judgment concerning the faithfulness of the steward.

As the NIV translates, a clean conscience does not make me innocent. While that rendering is accurate, it stops short of the full sense of Paul’s statement. The verb translated “make … innocent” is often rendered “to justify,” “to make righteous,” or “to put in a right relationship [with God]” (Gk. dikaioō). Paul at least means to say that having a clean conscience does not guarantee that he is right with God. Human opinion can never guarantee such a relationship. Only divine action achieves and ensures that humanity and God are in a right relationship. This theological conviction has stimulated Paul’s engagement with the Corinthians from the beginning of this letter, as he denied the value of their quest for human wisdom over against an absolute confidence in the work of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the best way to render this important verse is as follows: “For I am conscious of nothing against myself, but in this I am not made right with God—the one judging me is the Lord.”

Paul informs the Corinthians that he was accountable to the Lord for his faithfulness to the gospel. His point is clear, although as interpreters recognize, the identity of the Lord is not immediately apparent. Paul mentioned God in 4:1 and refers to God explicitly in 4:5, so that some commentators argue that the Lord is God. That conclusion seems ill-advised, however, for it is Paul’s normal pattern to use “the Lord” (without an identity specified) in reference to Jesus Christ. Moreover, in the following verse Paul writes of the coming of the Lord, a clear indication that one should understand “the Lord” in this section to refer to Christ. Thus, in 4:4 Paul informs the Corinthians that because Christ is his judge, he does not judge himself, for although he is not aware of failure in his faithfulness, his own opinion does not justify him in God’s sight.

4:5 / Paul draws to a close the metaphor that he began at 4:1. The emphatic character of his statement is evident from the beginning of the verse, Therefore. The words that follow are a single complex construction in Greek, as one sees in the three correlated sentences into which the NIV breaks the verse. These lines reiterate the thought of 3:10–15, where Paul used the metaphors of building and fire to call for “faithful” and appropriate construction on the foundation of Christ crucified.

Paul now applies the logic of the preceding lines to the Corinthians. Paul exhorts them, saying, Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. An overreading of the decree takes the statement to mean that they are to refrain from all evaluation, but Paul’s ensuing discussions in chapters 5–6 make that interpretation impossible. Moreover, in context Paul is discussing the Corinthians’ tendency to criticize and compare various stewards of God for the purposes of their own boasting. His command here should not be taken out of that context. Thus, “before the appointed time” refers to the predilection of the Corinthians to judge from a human perspective, a mistaken tendency not to think eschatologically in terms of God’s ultimate values. The Corinthians are disqualified from judging in the present matters over which the Lord alone has a final say; they are to wait till the Lord comes. Then judgment will take place.

The promise of judgment comes in striking form, in the language of apocalyptic eschatology. Paul expects the coming of Christ in the end, saying that his coming will create a separation of light and darkness, apocalyptic language for good and evil. Christ’s final judgment will be universal, disclosing and exposing all things, what is hidden in darkness, even the motives of [the] heart. Nothing can be or will be concealed from the Lord at the appointed time. In the end, the focus turns to God, who enacts the results of the judgment that Christ effected by giving each whatever praise is due. One should not miss this essentially positive conclusion to a discussion that was less than purely positive in tone. Despite present difficulties, Paul expects the Lord’s judgment to result in good things from God!