1 Corinthians 4

1Co 4:1-21.

TRUE

VIEW OF

MINISTERS:

THE

JUDGMENT

IS

NOT TO

BE

FORESTALLED;

MEANWHILE THE

APOSTLES'

LOW

STATE

CONTRASTS WITH THE

CORINTHIANS'

PARTY

PRIDE,

NOT

THAT

PAUL

WOULD

SHAME

THEM, BUT AS A

FATHER

WARN

THEM; FOR

WHICH

END

HE

SENT

TIMOTHY, AND

WILL

SOON

COME

HIMSELF.

1. account . . . us--Paul and Apollos.

ministers of Christ--not heads of the Church in whom ye are severally

to glory

(1Co 1:12);

the headship belongs to Christ alone; we are but His servants

ministering to you

(1Co 1:13; 3:5, 22).

stewards--

(Lu 12:42;

1Pe 4:10).

Not the depositories of grace, but dispensers of it ("rightly dividing"

or dispensing it), so far as God gives us it, to others. The

chazan, or "overseer," in the synagogue answered to the

bishop or "angel" of the Church, who called seven of the

synagogue to read the law every sabbath, and oversaw them. The

parnasin of the synagogue, like the ancient "deacon" of the

Church, took care of the poor

(Ac 6:1-7)

and subsequently preached in subordination to the presbyters or

bishops, as Stephen and Philip did. The Church is not the appendage to

the priesthood; but the minister is the steward of God to the Church.

Man shrinks from too close contact with God; hence he willingly puts a

priesthood between, and would serve God by deputy. The pagan (like the

modern Romish) priest was rather to conceal than to explain "the

mysteries of God." The minister's office is to "preach" (literally,

"proclaim as a herald,"

Mt 10:27)

the deep truths of God ("mysteries," heavenly truths, only known by

revelation), so far as they have been revealed, and so far as his

hearers are disposed to receive them. JOSEPHUS

says that the Jewish religion made known to all the people the

mysteries of their religion, while the pagans concealed from all but

the "initiated" few, the mysteries of theirs.

2. Moreover--The oldest manuscripts read, "Moreover here" (that is,

on earth). The contrast thus is between man's usage as to stewards

(1Co 4:2),

and God's way

(1Co 4:3).

Though here below, in the case of stewards, inquiry is made,

that one man be found (that is, proved to be) faithful; yet God's

steward awaits no such judgment of man, in man's day, but the

Lord's judgment in His great day. Another argument against the

Corinthians for their partial preferences of certain teachers for their

gifts: whereas what God requires in His stewards is faithfulness

(1Sa 3:20,

Margin;

Heb 3:5);

as indeed is required in earthly stewards, but with this difference

(1Co 4:3),

that God's stewards await not man's judgment to test them, but the

testing which shall be in the day of the Lord.

3. it is a very small thing--literally, "it amounts to a very small

matter"; not that I despise your judgment, but as compared with

God's, it almost comes to nothing.

judged . . . of man's judgment--literally, "man's day," contrasted

with the day

(1Co 3:13)

of the Lord

(1Co 4:5;

1Th 5:4).

"The day of man" is here put before us as a person [WAHL]. All days previous to the day of the Lord are

man's days. EMESTI translates the thrice

recurring Greek for "judged . . . judge

. . . judgeth"

(1Co 4:4),

thus: To me for my part (though capable of being found faithful) it is

a very small matter that I should be approved of by man's

judgment; yea, I do not even assume the right of judgment and

approving myself--but He that has the right, and is able to

judge on my case (the Dijudicator), is the Lord.

4. by myself--Translate, "I am conscious to myself of no (ministerial)

unfaithfulness." BENGEL explains the Greek compound,

"to decide in judgments on one in relation to others," not simply to

judge.

am I not hereby justified--Therefore conscience is not an infallible

guide. Paul did not consider his so. This verse is directly against the

judicial power claimed by the priests of Rome.

5. Disproving the judicial power claimed by the Romish priesthood in

the confessional.

Therefore--as the Lord is the sole Decider or Dijudicator.

judge--not the same Greek word as in

1Co 4:3, 4,

where the meaning is to approve of or decide on, the

merits of one's case. Here all judgments in general are

forbidden, which would, on our part, presumptuously forestall God's

prerogative of final judgment.

Lord--Jesus Christ, whose "ministers" we are

(1Co 4:1),

and who is to be the judge

(Joh 5:22, 27;

Ac 10:42; 17:31).

manifest . . . hearts--Our judgments now (as those of

the Corinthians respecting their teachers) are necessarily defective;

as we only see the outward act, we cannot see the motives

of "hearts." "Faithfulness"

(1Co 4:2)

will hereby be estimated, and the "Lord" will "justify," or the reverse

(1Co 4:4),

according to the state of the heart.

then shall every man have praise--

(1Co 3:8;

1Sa 26:23;

Mt 25:21, 23, 28).

Rather, "his due praise," not exaggerated praise, such as the

Corinthians heaped on favorite teachers; "the praise" (so the

Greek) due for acts estimated by the motives. "Then," not

before: therefore wait till then

(Jas 5:7).

6. And--"Now," marking transition.

in a figure transferred to myself--that is, I have represented under

the persons of Apollos and myself what really holds good of all

teachers, making us two a figure or type of all the others. I

have mentioned us two, whose names have been used as a party cry; but

under our names I mean others to be understood, whom I do not name, in

order not to shame you [ESTIUS].

not to think, &c.--The best manuscripts omit "think." Translate,

"That in us (as your example) ye might learn (this), not (to go) beyond

what is written." Revere the silence of Holy Writ, as much as its

declarations: so you will less dogmatize on what is not expressly

revealed

(De 29:29).

puffed up for one--namely, "for one (favorite minister) against

another." The Greek indicative implies, "That ye be not puffed up

as ye are."

7. Translate, "Who distinguisheth thee (above another)?" Not thyself,

but God.

glory, as if thou hadst not received it--as if it was to thyself, not

to God, thou owest the receiving of it.

8. Irony. Translate, "Already ye are filled full (with spiritual

food), already ye are rich, ye have seated yourselves upon your

throne as kings, without us." The emphasis is on "already" and "without

us"; ye act as if ye needed no more to "hunger and thirst after

righteousness," and as if already ye had reached the "kingdom" for which

Christians have to strive and suffer. Ye are so puffed up with your

favorite teachers, and your own fancied spiritual attainments in

knowledge through them, that ye feel like those "filled full" at a

feast, or as a "rich" man priding himself in his riches: so ye feel ye

can now do "without us," your first spiritual fathers

(1Co 4:15).

They forgot that before the "kingdom" and the "fulness of joy,"

at the marriage feast of the Lamb, must come the cross, and suffering,

to every true believer

(2Ti 2:5, 11, 12).

They were like the self-complacent Laodiceans

(Re 3:17;

compare

Ho 12:8).

Temporal fulness and riches doubtless tended in some

cases at Corinth, to generate this spiritual self-sufficiency; the

contrast to the apostle's literal "hunger and thirst"

(1Co 4:11)

proves this.

I would . . . ye did reign--Translate, "I would indeed," &c. I

would truly it were so, and that your kingdom had really begun.

that we also might reign with you--

(2Co 12:14).

"I seek not yours, but you." Your spiritual prosperity would redound to

that of us, your fathers in Christ

(1Co 9:23).

When you reach the kingdom, you shall be our "crown of rejoicing, in

the presence of our Lord Jesus"

(1Th 2:19).

9. For--assigning the reason for desiring that the "reign" of himself

and his fellow apostles with the Corinthians were come; namely, the

present afflictions of the former.

I think--The Corinthians

(1Co 3:18)

"seemed" to (literally, as here, "thought") themselves "wise in this

world." Paul, in contrast, "thinks" that God has sent forth him and his

fellow ministers "last," that is, the lowest in this world. The

apostles fared worse than even the prophets, who, though sometimes

afflicted, were often honored

(2Ki 1:10; 5:9; 8:9, 12).

set forth--as a spectacle or gazing-stock.

us the apostles--Paul includes Apollos with the apostles, in the

broader sense of the word; so

Ro 16:7;

2Co 8:23

(Greek for "messengers," apostles).

as it were appointed to death--as criminals condemned to die.

made a spectacle--literally, "a theatrical spectacle." So the

Greek in

Heb 10:33,

"made a gazing-stock by reproaches and afflictions." Criminals

"condemned to die," in Paul's time, were exhibited as a gazing-stock to

amuse the populace in the amphitheater. They were "set forth last" in

the show, to fight with wild beasts. This explains the imagery of Paul

here. (Compare TERTULLIAN [On Modesty,

14]).

the world--to the whole world, including "both angels and men"; "the

whole family in heaven and earth"

(Eph 3:15).

As Jesus was "seen of angels"

(1Ti 3:16),

so His followers are a spectacle to the holy angels who take a deep

interest in all the progressive steps of redemption

(Eph 3:10;

1Pe 1:12).

Paul tacitly implies that though "last" and lowest in the world's

judgment, Christ's servants are deemed by angels a spectacle worthy of

their most intense regard [CHRYSOSTOM]. However,

since "the world" is a comprehensive expression, and is applied in this

Epistle to the evil especially

(1Co 1:27, 28),

and since the spectators (in the image drawn from the amphitheater)

gaze at the show with savage delight, rather than with sympathy for the

sufferers, I think bad angels are included, besides good

angels. ESTIUS makes the bad alone to be

meant. But the generality of the term "angels," and its frequent use in

a good sense, as well as

Eph 3:10;

1Pe 1:12,

incline me to include good as well as bad angels, though,

for the reasons stated above, the bad may be principally meant.

10. Irony. How much your lot (supposing it real) is to be envied,

and ours to be pitied.

fools--

(1Co 1:21; 3:18;

compare

Ac 17:18; 26:24).

for Christ's sake . . . in Christ--Our connection with Christ only

entails on us the lowest ignominy, "ON ACCOUNT OF," or,

"FOR THE SAKE OF" Him, as "fools";

yours gives you full fellowship IN Him as "wise"

(that is, supposing you really are all you seem,

1Co 3:18).

we . . . weak . . . ye . . . strong--

(1Co 2:3;

2Co 13:9).

we . . . despised--

(2Co 10:10)

because of our "weakness," and our not using worldly philosophy and

rhetoric, on account of which ye Corinthians and your teachers are

(seemingly) so "honorable." Contrast with "despised" the "ye

(Galatians) despised not my temptation . . . in my

flesh"

(Ga 4:14).

11.

(2Co 11:23-27).

naked--that is, insufficiently clad

(Ro 8:35).

buffeted--as a slave

(1Pe 2:20),

the reverse of the state of the Corinthians, "reigning as kings"

(Ac 23:2).

So Paul's master before him was "buffeted" as a slave, when about to

die a slave's death

(Mt 26:67).

12. working with our own hands--namely, "even unto this present hour"

(1Co 4:11).

This is not stated in the narrative of Paul's proceedings at

Ephesus, from which city he wrote this Epistle (though it is

expressly stated of him at Corinth, compare

Ac 18:3, 19).

But in his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus

(Ac 20:34),

he says, "Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my

necessities," &c. The undesignedness of the coincidence thus indirectly

brought out is incompatible with forgery.

13. defamed, we entreat--namely, God for our defamers, as Christ

enjoined

(Mt 5:10, 44)

[GROTIUS]. We reply gently

[ESTIUS].

filth--"the refuse" [CONYBEARE and

HOWSON], the sweepings or

rubbish thrown out after a cleaning.

of all things--not of the "World" only.

14. warn--rather, "admonish" as a father uses "admonition" to "beloved

sons," not provoking them to wrath

(Eph 6:4).

The Corinthians might well be "ashamed" at the disparity of state

between the father, Paul, and his spiritual children themselves.

15. ten thousand--implying that the Corinthians had more of them than

was desirable.

instructors--tutors who had the care of rearing, but had not the

rights, or peculiar affection, of the father, who alone had begotten

them spiritually.

in Christ--Paul admits that these "instructors" were not mere

legalists, but evangelical teachers. He uses, however, a stronger

phrase of himself in begetting them spiritually, "In Christ Jesus,"

implying both the Saviour's office and person. As Paul was the means

of spiritually regenerating them, and yet "baptized none of them

save Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas," regeneration

cannot be inseparably in and by baptism

(1Co 1:14-17).

16. be ye followers of me--literally, "imitators," namely, in my ways,

which be in Christ

(1Co 4:17;

1Co 11:1),

not in my crosses

(1Co 4:8-13;

Ac 26:29;

Ga 4:12).

17. For this came--that ye may the better "be followers of me"

(1Co 4:16),

through his admonitions.

sent . . . Timotheus--

(1Co 16:10;

Ac 19:21, 22).

"Paul purposed . . . when he had passed through Macedonia and

Achaia, to go to Jerusalem. So he sent into Macedonia Timotheus

and Erastus." Here it is not expressly said that he sent Timothy into

Achaia (of which Corinth was the capital), but it is implied,

for he sent him with Erastus before him. As he therefore

purposed to go into Achaia himself, there is every probability they

were to go thither also. They are said only to have been sent into

Macedonia, because it was the country to which they went immediately

from Ephesus. The undesignedness of the coincidence establishes the

genuineness of both the Epistle and the history. In both, Timothy's

journey is closely connected with Paul's own (compare

1Co 4:19).

Erastus is not specified in the Epistle, probably because it was

Timothy who was charged with Paul's orders, and possibly Erastus was a

Corinthian, who, in accompanying Timothy, was only returning home. The

seeming discrepancy at least shows that the passages were not taken

from one another [PALEY, Horæ

Paulinæ].

son--that is, converted by me (compare

1Co 4:14, 15;

Ac 14:6, 7;

with Ac 16:1, 2;

1Ti 1:2, 18;

2Ti 1:2).

Translate, "My son, beloved and faithful in the Lord."

bring you into remembrance--Timothy, from his spiritual connection

with Paul, as converted by him, was best suited to remind them of

the apostle's walk and teaching

(2Ti 3:10),

which they in some respects, though not altogether

(1Co 11:2),

had forgotten.

as I teach . . . in every church--an argument implying

that what the Spirit directed Paul to teach "everywhere" else, must be

necessary at Corinth also

(1Co 7:17).

18. some . . . as though I would not come--He guards against some

misconstruing (as by the Spirit he foresees they will, when his letter

shall have arrived) his sending Timothy, "as though" he "would not come"

(or, "were not coming") himself. A puffed-up spirit was the besetting

sin of the Corinthians (compare

1Co 1:11; 5:2).

19. ALFORD translates, "But come I will"; an emphatical negation of

their supposition

(1Co 4:18).

shortly--after Pentecost

(1Co 16:8).

if the Lord will--a wise proviso

(Jas 4:15).

He does not seem to have been able to go as soon as he intended.

and will know--take cognizance of.

but the power--I care not for their high-sounding "speech," "but" what

I desire to know is "their power," whether they be really powerful in

the Spirit, or not. The predominant feature of Grecian character, a love

for power of discourse, rather than that of godliness, showed itself

at Corinth.

20. kingdom of God is not in word--Translate, as in

1Co 4:19,

to which the reference is "speech." Not empty "speeches," but the

manifest "power" of the Spirit attests the presence of "the kingdom of

God" (the reign of the Gospel spiritually), in a church or in an

individual (compare

1Co 2:1, 4;

1Th 1:5).

21. with a rod, or in love--The Greek preposition is used in both

clauses; must I come IN displeasure to exercise the rod, or

IN love,

and the Spirit of meekness

(Isa 11:4;

2Co 13:3)?