1 Corinthians 4
July 30
Reading: 1 Corinthians 4
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Amid the various displays of arrogance in the Corinthian church came a disparaging view of Paul. In the fourth chapter Paul is responding to these people who are looking down on his leadership. We learn a little of what they are saying about him in 2 Corinthians 10:10.
For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account."
How would you feel?
So, Paul begins this chapter with patient instruction on how they ought to view him. In so doing he is showing that he understands exactly who he is under God and in relation to the Corinthian church. Paul is a servant of Christ, a steward of the Gospel (vs. 1), and a faithful father to them. (vss. 14-15) He is not interested in their judgment of him because the Lord is his judge. (vss. 2-5)
Apollos (vs. 6) is a young man with teaching gifts whom Paul is training for leadership. (Acts 18:24-28) At one point Apollos was in Corinth for a time. (Acts 19:1) Now, in 1 Corinthians 4:6-10 Paul is confronting their arrogance toward himself and Apollos with sarcasm. He is mocking them with their own view of themselves.
In contrast, Paul presents his own conduct in verses 11-13. He lives a self-sacrificial lifestyle marked by humility. You might think it prideful of Paul to point these things out to the Corinthian church, but it is not if he really lives this way. They need to know it. He is writing this way to show them the right way to behave. (vs. 14) For this reason Paul has sent them Timothy, because he too lives in the way that they ought to imitate. When Paul arrives, though some think he will not, he is going to deal with them as a father with his misbehaved children. (vss. 18-21)
We never want to see ourselves in the way that we see these Corinthian believers. We do not want anyone speaking to us in the way that Paul must speak to them. But honestly, there are times when we have it coming, when it would be good for us to hear rebukes like the ones Paul delivers. Pray for a soft heart, so that when you hear such rebukes you can respond as a spiritually mature and humble follower of Jesus.