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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 4:8

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 4:8

Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

8 16. Contrast between the Corinthian Teachers and St Paul

8. Now ye are full, now ye are rich ] Here we have one of the sudden turns of feeling so remarkable in the Apostle’s style. Abruptly breaking off at the word ‘boast,’ he dashes off into an animated and ironical apostrophe. ‘I may well say ‘boast’ for boasting is your crying sin, but it is boasting in yourselves, not in God. All your wants spiritual and temporal now are satisfied, you have become rich, you are reigning like kings. But in your self-satisfaction you give not a thought to those whose labours have made you what you are. Would that it were really with you as you imagine it to be! Then we might hope for some remission of our trials, distresses, humiliations. But at present all the sorrow, suffering, shame is ours, while either in fact or in fancy you are enjoying all the good things given to Christians, immunity from suffering, quiet of conscience (Rom 8:1), wisdom, honour, inward satisfaction.’ The word translated full has the sense of being satiated with good things, (Vulgate, saturati). Some editors read the verse as a series of questions. But the affirmative form strengthens the irony of the passage.

without us ] Though St Paul had admitted the Corinthians into the same blessings as he enjoyed himself, he had no share in their blessings.

and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you ] The Apostle does not regard the persecutions and distresses he underwent as desirable for their own sake, but only as means to an end. The empire of evil is not to be destroyed without a conflict, and the sufferings endured by Christ’s servants are the evidences that it is going on. But the best of those who are thus contending for the truth may lawfully wish that the conflict were over and the reign of the saints begun. Such a wish, in fact, appears to be expressed by the words, ‘Thy kingdom come.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Now ye are full – It is generally agreed that this is spoken in irony, and that it is an indignant sarcasm uttered against the false and self-confident teachers in Corinth. The design is to contrast them with the apostles; to show how self-confident and vain the false teachers were, and how laborious and self-denying the apostles were; and to show to them how little claim they had to authority in the church, and the real claim which the apostles had from their self-denials and labors. The whole passage is an instance of most pungent and cutting sarcasm, and shows that there may be occasions when irony may be proper, though it should be rare. An instance of cutting irony occurs also in regard to the priests of Baal, in 1Ki 18:27. The word translated ye are full ( kekoresmenoi) occurs only here, and in Act 27:38, And when they had eaten enough. It is usually applied to a feast, and denotes those who are satiated or satisfied. So here it means, You think you have enough. You are satisfied with your conviction of your own knowledge, and do not feel your need of anything more.

Ye are rich – This is presenting the same idea in a different form. You esteem yourselves to be rich in spiritual gifts, and graces, so that you do not feel the necessity of any more.

Ye have reigned as kings – This is simply carrying forward the idea before stated; but in the form of a climax. The first metaphor is taken from persons filled with food; the second from those who are so rich that they do not feel their lack of more; the third from those who are raised to a throne, the highest elevation, where there was nothing further to be reached or desired. And the phrase means, that they had been fully satisfied with their condition and attainments, with their knowledge and power, that they lived like rich men and princes – revelling, as it were, on spiritual enjoyments, and disdaining all foreign influence, and instruction, and control.

Without us – Without our counsel and instruction. You have taken the whole management of matters on yourselves without any regard to our advice or authority. You did not feel your need of our aid; and you did not regard our authority. You supposed you could get along as well without us as with us.

And I would to God ye did reign – Many interpreters have understood this as if Paul had really expressed a wish that they were literal princes, that they might afford protection to him in his persecution and troubles. Thus, Grotius, Whitby, Locke, Rosemuller, and Doddridge. But the more probable interpretation is, that Paul here drops the irony, and addresses them in a sober, earnest manner. It is the expression of a wish that they were as truly happy and blessed as they thought themselves to be. I wish that you were so abundant in all spiritual improvements; I wish that you had made such advances that you could be represented as full, and as rich, and as princes, needing nothing, that when I came I might have nothing to do but to partake of your joy. So Calvin, Lightfoot, Bloomfield. It implies:

  1. A wish that they were truly happy and blessed;
  2. A doubt implied whether they were then so; and,
  3. A desire on the part of Paul to partake of their real and true joy, instead of being compelled to come to them with the language of rebuke and admonition; see 1Co 4:19, 1Co 4:21.

    4. Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

    1Co 4:8-13

    Now ye are full rich as kings.

    The difference between the counterfeit and the real Christian


    I    . The counterfeit–

    1. Is so replenished with Divine knowledge that he needs no teacher.

    2. Is so rich in grace that he exalts himself above the spiritually poor.

    3. Is so confident in himself that he would rule the consciences of others.


    II.     The real–

    1. Regards himself as the least (1Co 4:9-10).

    2. Submits willingly to toil and suffering for the sake of Christ.

    3. Recompenses evil with good. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

    The state of the Corinthians contrasted with that of the apostles


    I    . The state of the Corinthians. They were

    1. Full of the good things of this world.

    2. As kings, reigning.

    3. But their condition spiritually was such as to demand earnest prayer.


    II.     The state of the apostles.

    1. Poor in worldly things–rich in faith.

    2. A spectacle both to angels and to men; a sight of misery to men; a spectacle of sorrow to angels. But their reward is not far distant. (J. H. Tasson.)

    Apostolic irony


    I    . Exposes pride.

    1. It is empty, yet imagines itself full of wisdom.

    2. Poor, yet regards itself as rich in every good gift.

    3. Dependent, yet would reign as a king.


    II.     Condemns it–

    1. By an indirect assertion of its folly.

    2. By an implied consciousness of personal insufficiency. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

    Apostolic treatment of vanity

    Vanity is a state of mind at once the most prevalent and detestable, it is a plant that springs from self-ignorance, and is disgusting to the spectator in all its forms and fruits. The apostle treats it with–


    I.     Withering sarcasm. Now ye are full, &c. The Bible furnishes us with many instances of irony (1Ki 18:27; Job 12:2), but nowhere have we it more forceful than here. Here are three metaphors, the first taken from persons filled with food, the second from persons so rich that they required no more, the third from those who have reached the highest elevation, obtained a throne. Paul seems to say to these conceited teachers that they were so great that they did not require such services as his. We scarcely know of a more effective way of treating vanity than by sarcasm. Treat the vain, swaggering man before you not according to your judgment of him, but according to his estimate of himself. Speak to him as one as stupendous as he believes himself to be, and your irony will stab him to the quick. Sarcasm often becomes the instrument of a great manly soul roused into indignation.


    II.     A noble generosity. I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. Here the north wind of sarcasm gives way to the south breezes of love. What he means is a wish that they were as truly full, rich, and royal as they thought themselves to be. The irony of a Christly man, however pungent, is not malign, but generous. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

    For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.—

    Before the footlights

    1. A man may imagine it to be an easy matter to appear before an audience; but to stand before the footlights, when every turn of ones features are plainly to be seen, is a strain on the nerves which is hard to bear.

    2. The Christian life is, however, more trying than any performance on the stage. The actor appears before a few hundred spectators who are willing to be pleased, and he is under the glare of the footlights for only two or three hours at a time; but the Christian is a spectacle to his many neighbours and also to the angelic hosts, and his part continues for life.

    3. The apostle refers to the spectacles in the Colosseum at Rome. On some days, when about eighty thousand persons were assembled in its galleries, the first show in the arena would be men fighting with hungry lions and tigers, but in this performance the men were allowed to wear armour. In the pause after the first show, the vast crowd would refresh themselves with grapes, wine, and food, and then the second performance began, consisting of naked men fighting with each other, and without anything to defend themselves except their swords, the result being that the slightest touch of their weapons inflicted a gash. The most horrid regulation, however, was that he who preserved his own life should not be released but kept for slaughter another day. These men, therefore, that were actors in the last performance might well be called men appointed to death.

    4. Of course everybody in his senses when he appears before the footlights of life, that is, when other people can see him, does his best. It is only the drunkard, the insane, or the woman that has lost all sense of shame, who label their sins before the eyes of others like a sign-board stating what they are. If an ordinary man have something that is bad within him, he tries to hide it from his fellow-men. Let the spectacle of your life be–


    I.     An embodiment of mercy.


    II.     Exhibit the essence of truth. Learn to love the truth because it is the truth, and do it because it is right. Some people are not afraid to do wrong; all they are afraid of is being found out.


    III.     Embody charity in your deeds to your fellow–men. Follow the charity of God, who keeps open the gates of heaven day and night. (W. Birch.)

    A wonderful spectacle


    I    . The spectacle.

    1. The actors were Divinely called. They appeared on the stage in answer to the behest of the highest will, guided in the selection by perfect wisdom. He who called David from the flock to preside over Israel, called these men from their daily avocations to preside over the affairs of the kingdom of heaven.

    2. The actors were Divinely commissioned. The mission of apostolic life was special (2Co 5:18-20).

    3. The actors were subjected to intense sufferings, and to cruel death. This was not accidental, but a part of their mission. They suffered in the tragedy to enforce its lessons (Mat 10:16-18). It is almost certain that they all suffered martyrdom, except St. John.


    II.     The spectators.

    1. Angels. We cannot say how their pure minds were affected, or what emotions throbbed in their breast. It appears from Eph 3:10-11, that they gather lessons from the life of the Church militant.

    (1) They saw the power of truth in lifting man above circumstances. By this they discovered that he had a nobler nature than they had been wont to ascribe to him.

    (2) The apostles gloried in tribulation, and this went beyond their experience and joy. They returned from the theatre inflamed with a greater degree of devotion.

    (3) That spectacle had something to do with their final safety. They had often ministered to the apostles in their trials, which taught them more perfect submission, and warmer obedience. No part of the audience realised the spectacle better than the angels.

    2. Men. We have no difficulty in understanding the lessons which apostolic life teach us.

    (1) Entire consecration of life to the service of Christ. The apostles were not half-hearted or indifferent, but threw their heart and soul into the work. Can we look at this spectacle, and not be moved?

    (2) That the Christian life will surely vanquish difficulties. The boldness of faith is the same as that which encouraged the apostles to say–We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. (Weekly Pulpit.)

    A spectacle to angels

    In its widest reference the text teaches that our world is a theatre or arena, whereon men act their various parts, as in a drama–a spectacle to angels. And this thought is at one with all Bible testimony. It teaches that from the first our planet has been an object of absorbing interest to all spiritual beings.


    I.     The drama of human life has been cast in three great moral acts. And as displaying the Divine attributes, the angels are represented as bending down to study all of them.

    1. The first scene was one of blissful and holy human life. And endowed, as the first man was, with every power of perseverance in holiness, and plied with every motive to retain it, that first act in the drama of human life was fittingly a spectacle to angels.

    2. The second scene is a world apostate and accursed. An exhibition is now to be made of the terrible nature of sin, as seen alike in the malice of the tempter and the misery of the tempted. And when you consider the whole plot and progress of the drama–all the exhibitions of moral character under this fearful inspiration of sin, the whole wondrous development of redemption, from the first promise down through those ages of antediluvian depravity, through all those slowly evolving ritualisms to the tragic scene of Calvary, through all the gospels subsequent triumphs–then this second act seems not unworthily a spectacle to angels.

    3. But on this scene the curtain falls. And when it rises again, it will be upon an arena worthier angelic regard. Out of the wreck and ruin of the present system of things, as a platform fitted for the manifestation of triumphant holiness, shall come forth the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.


    II.     Its special and practical application to ourselves. It is a plain truth of revelation that these glorious beings are ever around us. They are represented not only as ministering unto the heirs of salvation, but as watchful of even their seemingly most trivial interests, bearing them up, lest they dash their foot against a stone. Let us consider this–

    1. For encouragement and consolation amid the trials of life. This is the application Paul gives it in the context. In a life wherein so few occasions are ours to do great things for God, and whose great law is suffering, it is blessed to think that it is especially when in sorrow, and agony, and death, we are a spectacle to angels. They come on their bright wings to our desolate homes, our sick-beds, our death-beds, and every whisper of submissive Christian love sounds out as a grand hallelujah to the Infinite Glory, and every gentle tear in the eye of faith flashes as a gem of immense price in the diadem of their God.

    2. As a ground of exhortation. We are all a spectacle to angels. And how are we acting?

    (1) You may be this day an impenitent man; and if so, the part you are acting is one solemn beyond all conception–the part of an imperilled man with an immortal soul to save! For just such acting is this life-stage fitted. Oh, what solemn scenery it arranges around you! Here Sinai with its fire, and there Calvary with its Cross. And now tell me, you that live as if there were no God, and no judgment, sporting with the soul and salvation, if you are acting well your part before this great cloud of witnesses! Hath it not been with gestures of astonishment and indignation they have watched you?

    (2) Or you may be a true child of God; and then the part you are acting, if less terrible, is scarcely less solemn; for it is that of a redeemed man in the service of the Redeemer. In reference to this thought, Paul speaks of the believer as having put on Christ–i e., as a tragedian assumes that of the hero he personates. Thus, to personate the Lord Jesus is the part you are to act, as a spectacle to angels. And for such acting, also, is the world-stage fitted. For it is the self-same world wherein He personally acted. The same sinful and suffering humanity is ever around you. The same realities of eternity rise in transparencies beyond you. And tell me, if you seem unto yourselves acting your magnificent part well?


    III.     As thus a spectacle to angels, it may be said, in one sense, we can choose the parts we are to act in their presence. There are some things common and certain to us all, and in regard of them we can choose at least our own style of acting.

    1. Take one set order–

    1. A death-scene! A darkened chamber. A company of heartbroken relatives keeping watch. The actor is a poor lover of pleasure, who put his eternity carefully away from him, living only for this world. Now witness his acting as it seems unto angels. Behold those feeble hands, lifted as to repel some shape of terror. Listen! That cry of anguish: Oh, do not let me die! I cannot die! I rejected the Saviour! I am lost, lost, lost!

    (2) The next is a judgment scene! And again this poor worldling appears upon the stage, a spectacle to angels. And see it–that look of hopeless anguish, as there falls on the shrinking sense the appalling sentence–Depart!–depart!

    (3) The last scene is in eternity! Go, ponder it as pictured in Gods solemn Book.

    2. This is one style of acting. Consider, in contrast, the other! The same stage; the same scenery; but all else different!

    (1) Again the death-scene! See the radiant fire in the eye! the rapturous smile on the lip! Hear those words, feeble, yet joyous in faith and love: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, &c. Behold that fixed look heavenward, as the ransomed spirit spreads wing for its place in the many mansions!

    (2) The same scene of judgment! Note that look of triumph, that cry of rapture, at the approving sentence: Come, ye blessed of My Father, &c.

    (3) Again, a scene laid in eternity! But here, stage, scenery, acting, all different. Such, shortly, are the two styles of human action on the great theatre of life. And for each of us, just behind this massive curtain, are stage and scenery being prepared! And we are here to choose, each for himself, the style of his performance. And now, tell me how you will act your solemn part–O immortal man! as a spectacle to angels. (C. Wadsworth.)

    Humanity watched by angels

    The word spectacle is from the Greek word theatron.


    I.     Implies the existence of angelic intelligences. No one who believes in the Bible can doubt this. Its pages are almost as full of angels as those of Homer are full of gods. They are represented as–

    1. Overwhelming in numbers of various orders and gradations, possessing life, power, intelligence, holiness, celerity, transcending all that is human.

    2. As the special ministers of the Great Monarch of the universe, executing His judgment and distributing His favours. They have eyes to mark my movements, ears to catch my words, hearts to sympathise with my lonely history, and power to lift me up, or to press me down.


    II.     Argues the importance of human life. Would those transcendent intelligences watch creatures of no or little worth?

    1. They may know the extraordinary relation of man to God. Not merely the creatures of His power, the subject of His government, but the redeemed of His Son. They see human nature in personal connection with Christ, uplifted to the centre of the universe. Thus they study God through man, and through man they have loftier views of the Infinite, than from a universe of blazing systems, and of unfallen intelligences.

    2. They may know the wonderful possibilities of his nature. What thoughts he can originate, what discoveries he can make, what works he can invent, what good he can accomplish, what evil he can effect.

    3. They may know the influence of his life. They may see the thoughts and words and deeds of his life, spreading in ever widening circles over the great world of spirits. They may see from one mans life many hells created and many heavens produced. To our fellow-men we are insignificant, but to angels we are of transcendent importance.


    III.     Urges circumspection in human conduct. Men are generally cautious in their conduct when they feel even a human eye upon them, especially if that eye be keen, intelligent, and pure. The unexpected glance of a child has paralysed the arm of a burglar before now. But who would not be circumspect if we felt that the eyes of angels were ever on us, on us in our most private chamber and in our public walks? (D. Thomas, D. D.)

    Man an object of angelic observation

    If the eye of such intelligences are constantly upon us, what are the practical conclusions?


    I.     That our conduct here concerns the universe. No man lives unto himself; each unit is a link in beings endless chain. His actions must tell banefully or beneficently on the creation; hence all loving and loyal intelligences direct their attention to him with deep and unabating interest. Besides, men and angels are offsprings of the same Father, participators of the same nature, subjects of the same moral government. No wonder they are so concerned.


    II.     That our part should be carefully played. It behoves every man to be cautious how he acts in the presence of his fellow-creatures, whether they are children or adults, plebeians or princes; but how much more cautious should he be when he knows that angels, whose pure natures loathe sin in all its forms, have their keenest gaze fastened ever on his life!


    III.     That there is no chance of concealing our sin. The attempt to cloak or dissemble our sins is absurdly futile. Whilst there is One who reads the heart, there may be millions who mark all our overt acts, whether in darkness or in light.


    IV.     That we may expect help in all holy endeavours. Those celestial spirits are sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. They helped Abraham on the plains of Mamre, and Lot in his flight towards Zoar; they freed the apostle from the prison; they bore the spirit of Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

    Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

    Verse 8. Now ye] Corinthians are full of secular wisdom; now ye are rich, both in wealth and spiritual gifts; (1Co 14:26🙂 ye have reigned as kings, flourishing in the enjoyment of these things, in all tranquillity and honour; without any want of us: and I would to God ye did reign, in deed, and not in conceit only, that we also, poor, persecuted, and despised apostles, might reign with you.-Whitby.

    Though this paraphrase appears natural, yet I am of opinion that the apostle here intends a strong irony; and one which, when taken in conjunction with what he had said before, must have stung them to the heart. It is not an unusual thing for many people to forget, if not despise, the men by whom they were brought to the knowledge of the truth; and take up with others to whom, in the things of God, they owe nothing. Reader, is this thy case?

    Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

    Now ye are full, now ye are rich; you that are the teachers at Corinth, or you that are the members of the church there, think yourselves full of knowledge and wisdom, so as you stand in need of no further learning or instruction.

    Ye have reigned as kings without us; ye think now you have got a kingdom, and are arrived at the top of felicity.

    And I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you; I am so far from envying you, that I wish it were so, and we might have a share with you. The apostle speaketh this ironically, not that he indeed thought they were so, but reflecting on their vain and too good an opinion of themselves.

    Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

    8. Irony. Translate, “Alreadyye 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”; yeact as if ye needed no more to “hunger and thirst afterrighteousness,” and as if already ye had reached the “kingdom”for which Christians have to strive and suffer. Ye are so puffed upwith your favorite teachers, and your own fancied spiritualattainments in knowledge through them, that ye feel like those”filled full” at a feast, or as a “rich” manpriding himself in his riches: so ye feel ye can now do “withoutus,” your first spiritual fathers (1Co4:15). 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;2Ti 2:11; 2Ti 2:12).They were like the self-complacent Laodiceans (Re3:17; compare Ho 12:8).Temporal fulness and riches doubtless tended in somecases at Corinth, to generate this spiritual self-sufficiency; thecontrast to the apostle’s literal “hunger and thirst” (1Co4:11) proves this.

    I would . . . ye didreignTranslate, “I would indeed,” &c. Iwould truly it were so, and that your kingdom had really begun.

    that we also might reign withyou (2Co 12:14). “Iseek not yours, but you.” Your spiritual prosperity wouldredound to that of us, your fathers in Christ (1Co9:23). When you reach the kingdom, you shall be our “crownof rejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus” (1Th2:19).

    Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Now ye are full,…. That is, in their own opinion: these words, and some following expressions, are an ironical concession. They were not full of God, and divine things; nor of Christ, and of grace out of his fulness; nor of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, as Stephen and Barnabas are said to be; nor of joy and peace in believing; nor of goodness and spiritual knowledge; but they were full of themselves, and were pulled up in their fleshly minds with an opinion of their abilities, learning, oratory, and eloquence, of their ministers, and of their own great improvements in knowledge under their ministrations. They fancied they had got to a perfection in knowledge and were brimful of it; and as the full stomach, from which the metaphor is taken, loathes the honeycomb, so these persons loathed the apostle’s ministry, and the pure preaching of the Gospel; imagining that they had attained to something above it, and stood in no need of it; when, alas! they were but babes, children in understanding, and needed milk instead of strong meat; so far were they from being what they thought themselves to be.

    Now ye are rich; not in faith; nor in good works; nor in spiritual gifts and knowledge, though some among them were; but that is not here intended: the meaning is, they were rich, and abounded in knowledge in their own account. Like the Laodiceans, they conceited themselves to be rich, and increased with goods, when they were poor, and wretched, and miserable.

    Ye have reigned as kings without us. The saints, in the best sense, are kings, made so by Christ; and have not only the name, and the ensigns of royalty, as crowns and thrones prepared for them, but kingdoms also: they have a kingdom of grace, which they enjoy now, and shall never be removed; in which they reign as kings under the influence of the Spirit of God, over the corruptions of their own hearts, which are laid under the restraints of mighty grace; and over the world, which they have under the feet; and over Satan, who is dethroned and cast out of them; and they shall inherit the kingdom of glory hereafter; but nothing of this kind is here intended. The sense of the words is, that these persons imagined that they had arrived to such a pitch of knowledge, as to be independent of the apostles; needed no instructions and directions from them, and were in great tranquillity and ease of mind, and attended with outward prosperity, so that they lived, as kings, the most happy life that could be desired; upon which the apostle expresses his hearty wish for them:

    and I would to God ye did reign; not in carnal security, and in affluence of worldly enjoyments, which the apostle was not desirous of for himself, and other his fellow ministers; nor in a spiritual sense, merely as believers in common, and as he then did; but with Christ in his kingdom state here on earth:

    that we also might reign with you; for all the saints will be together when Christ takes to himself his great power, and reigns; they will all reign with him on earth a thousand years; this is a faithful saying, nothing more true, or to be depended on, that those that suffer with him shall also reign with him; and not a part of his people only, but the whole body: hence the apostle wishes, that this reigning time for the church of Christ was come, then he and the rest of the apostles would reign also: but, alas! it was a plain case, from the condition they were in, of which the following words give a narrative, that this time was not yet.

    Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

    Already are ye filled? ( ?). Perfect passive indicative, state of completion, of , old Greek verb to satiate, to satisfy. The only other example in N.T. is Ac 27:38 which see. Paul may refer to Deut 31:20; Deut 32:15. But it is keen irony, even sarcasm. Westcott and Hort make it a question and the rest of the sentence also.

    Already ye are become rich ( ). Note change to ingressive aorist indicative of , old verb to be rich (cf. 2Co 8:9). “The aorists, used instead of perfects, imply indecent haste” (Lightfoot). “They have got a private millennium of their own” (Robertson Plummer) with all the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom (Luke 22:29 1Thess 2:12; 2Tim 2:12).

    Ye have reigned without us ( ). Withering sarcasm. Ye became kings without our company. Some think that Paul as in 3:21 is purposely employing Stoic phraseology though with his own meanings. If so, it is hardly consciously done. Paul was certainly familiar with much of the literature of his time, but it did not shape his ideas.

    I would that ye did reign ( ). More exactly, “And would at least that ye had come to reign (or become kings).” It is an unfulfilled wish about the past expressed by and the aorist indicative instead of and the aorist indicative (the ancient idiom). See Robertson, Grammar, p. 1003, for the construction with particle (an unaugmented second aorist form).

    That we also might reign with you ( ). Ironical contrast to , just before. Associative instrumental case of after –.

    Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

    Now ye are full [ ] . Rev., better, filled. Ironical contrast between their attitude and that of the apostle in vers. 3, 4. We are hungering for further revelations; ye are already filled without waiting for the Lord ‘s coming.

    Ye have reigned [] . American Rev., better, ye have come to reign; attained to dominion, that kingship which will be bestowed on Christians only at Christ ‘s coming.

    Without us. Though it is through us that you are Christians at all.

    Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

    1) “Now ye are full, now ye are rich.” (ede kekoresmenoi este) “at this moment ye are glutted; now ye became rich”. The Corinthians were gluttonous with material prosperity in a prosperous commercial trade center, rich with materialism.

    2) “Ye have reigned as kings without us.” (choris hemon ebasileusate) “apart from us and ye have reigned as kings.” The term “without” or “apart from us” seems to indicate that the Corinthians had lived like royalty, reigned like Gentile heathen rulers, but neglected to support the very missionaries who brought them to Christ, 1Co 4:11-15.

    3) “And I would to God ye did reign.” (kai ophelon ge ebasilusate) “and an advantage (it is that) ye reigned.” It is better to be a giver of charity than to be in poverty, an object of charity, if one’s prosperity and blessings be shared with others. Luk 6:38; Ecc 11:1-2; Gal 6:6; Act 20:35.

    4) “That we also might reign with you.” (hina kai hemeis humin sumbasileusomen) “in order that we might reign with you.” Paul desired that the Corinth church should share its reign of material prosperity with him and those missionary companions who had brought them to Christ and taught them in the faith, 1Co 9:11-15.

    Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

    8. Now ye are full Having in good earnest, and without the use of any figure, beat down their vain confidence, he now also ridicules it by way of irony, (230) because they are so self-complacent, as if they were the happiest persons in the world. He proceeds, too, step by step, in exposing their insolence. In the first place, he says, that they were full: this refers to the past. He then adds, Ye are rich: this applies to the future. Lastly, he says, that they had reigned as kings this is much more than either of those two. It is as though he had said, “ What will you attain to, when you appear to be not merely full for the present, but are also rich for the future — nay more, are kings ? ” At the same time, he tacitly upbraids them with ingratitude, because they had the audacity to despise him, or rather those, through means of whom they had obtained everything.

    Without us, says he. “For Apollos and I are now esteemed nothing by you, though it is by our instrumentality that the Lord has conferred everything upon you. What inhumanity there is in resting with self-complacency in the gifts of God, while in the meantime you despise those through whose instrumentality you obtained them!”

    And I would to God that ye did reign (231) Here he declares that he does not envy their felicity, (if indeed they have any,) and that from the beginning he has not sought to reign among them, but only to bring them to the kingdom of God. He intimates, however, on the other hand, that the kingdom in which they gloried was merely imaginary, and that their glorying was groundless and pernicious, (232) there being no true glorying but that which is enjoyed by all the sons of God in common, under Christ their Head, and every one of them according to the measure of the grace that has been given him.

    For by these words that ye also may reign with us, he means this — “You are so renowned in your own opinion that you do not hesitate to despise me, and those like me, but mark, how vain is your glorying. For you can have no glorying before God, in which we have not a share — for if honor redounds to you from having the gospel of God, how much more to us, by whose ministry it was conveyed to you! And assuredly, this is a madness (233) that is common to all the proud, that by drawing everything to themselves, they strip themselves of every blessing — nay more, they renounce the hope of everlasting salvation.”

    (230) “ Vsant d’ironie, c’est a dire, d’vne facon de parler qui sonne en mocquerie;” — “Making use of irony, that is to say, a form of speech that has a tone of mockery.”

    (231) “A bitter taunt,” says Lightfoot, “chastising the boasting of the Corinthians, who had forgot from whom they had first received those evangelical privileges, concerning which they now prided themselves. They were enriched with spiritual gifts; they reigned, themselves being judges, in the very top of the dignity and happiness of the gospel; and that, ‘ without us, ’ saith the Apostle, ‘as though ye owed nothing to us for these privileges,’ and, ‘O would to God ye did reign, and that it went so happily and well with you indeed, that we also might reign with you, and that we might partake of some happiness in this your promotion, and might be of some account among you!’” — Ed.

    (232) “ Fausse et dangereuse :” — “Groundless and dangerous.”

    (233) “ C’est vne folie, et bestise;” — “This is a folly and stupidity.”

    Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

    (8) Now ye are full.These three following sentences are ironical. The emphasis is on the word now. Ye are already (as distinct from us Apostles) full, rich, kings. You act as if you had already attained the crowning point in the Christian course. Piety is an insatiable thing, says Chrysostom on this passage, and it argues a childish mind to imagine from just the beginnings that you have attained the whole; and for men who are not even yet in the prelude of a matter to be highminded, as if they had laid hold of the end.

    Without us.The Apostle would have his converts be to him as his crown of rejoicing; but they now assume to have come into the kingdom without any connection with him who had won them to God.

    And I would to God.Here the irony is dropped, and these words are written with intense feeling and humility. The Apostle, reminded, as it were, by the word reign, that the time will come when the war and controversies of the Church militant shall end, expresses his deep longing for that blessed change. (See 1Co. 3:22; 1Co. 9:23, where similarly the Apostle shows that in rebuking the folly of the Corinthian Church he does not under-estimate their privileges.)

    Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

    8. Full St. Paul describes them, with a gentle irony, as they felt themselves. Full, implying a general self-satisfaction, as if they had all they could wish.

    Rich Referring to that secular wealth by which, in a rapidly growing city, many of the members may have grown suddenly rich.

    Have reigned kings Kings in royal fancy.

    Without us All this was in Paul’s absence; and although their power and true glory as a Church was due to him, their inflation had forgotten him and had only puffed up themselves.

    I would ye did reign As the righteous will reign in glory.

    With you For in the blessed reign of the glorified kingdom all the saints of God will reign together.

    Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    ‘Already you are filled, already you are become rich, you have reigned without us. Yes and I would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.’

    But that is what they have been doing, and such ideas have given them ideas above their station. Paul here speaks with deep irony and contrasts their view of their own position with that of the Apostles. They have come to such an exalted view of themselves that they see themselves as satiated with blessings, as filled with heavenly wisdom, as already fully having all that God can give them spiritually, as already being rich in great wisdom and in spiritual knowledge and blessing, even as reigning. And all without Paul and Apollos being included, thanks to their spiritual gifts. And yet meanwhile they have been disputing hotly with each other, and expressing their own superiority as against each other, to the detriment of the centrality of Christ crucified.

    It would seem that what they had received through their prophetic gifts, not wisely tested against Scripture, had given them the idea of their own great spirituality, and exaltation, so that felt that they could leave Paul and Apollos far behind. They seemingly saw themselves as in some way reigning in some supernatural way, possibly in view of earthly Messianic expectations (compare Luk 22:29-30). Unwise Christians can soon get such exalted ideas from unwise teachers in times when all is going well. Paul is sceptical. Sarcastically he says that he would that they did reign so that he and Apollos could reign with them! We are probably not to take this comment too literally, although if their ideas were connected with the Kingly Rule of God it may be that Paul nostalgically wished that it would indeed come.

    ‘Yes and I would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.’ Paul sarcastically wishes that they really reigned as truly spiritual Christians so that he and his fellow-workers, who were truly reigning in life (Rom 5:17; Rom 6:11-14; Rev 5:10), could rejoice and reign with them. Then they would be united as one instead of being divided.

    Alternately the idea (in view of what follows) might possibly be that he wishes that their doctrine of present Messianic blessing were true so that they could all share it together. But he goes on to point out that the fact that it was not true was demonstrated by what the Apostles were suffering.

    He wants them to know that all their claims were certainly in contrast with the Apostles’ expectations, for he goes on to demonstrate that  they  certainly do not enjoy such fullness, such riches, such reigning as the Corinthians claim. Rather they are paraded around, they are mocked, they go hungry and unclothed, they are beaten and have no home, they are treated as the filth of the world. So it should be clear that by their claims the Corinthians are claiming to be superior to the Apostles themselves! And yet in the remainder of his letter he will demonstrate that far from reigning they are revealing their continuing moral inadequacy.

    Corinth was a wealthy city, and many of the Corinthian Christians were thus seemingly well enough off to consider that this somehow demonstrated their spiritual superiority. Possibly they considered that they were enjoying these blessings because of what they saw as their spiritual status. Possibly they considered that they had entered into Messianic blessing. But sadly they were like the Laodicean church (Rev 3:17-18), poor and wretched, miserable, blind and naked. There are many today who equally tend to look on prosperity as a sign of their spiritual status. There are some who teach it, and they too might profitably consider these words, especially when there is such need all around and their Christian brothers are going hungry and suffering around the world.

    But the truth was that their spirituality was a show, a pretence. Their view of themselves based on their exercise of, and overindulgence in, spiritual gifts, was without regard to the quality of their lives. They did not really reign. They walked blindly. They stumbled and fell. They exalted personages, and debased those to whom they owed the most. They divided themselves into ‘wisdom schools’ arguing with each other over secondary matters, and criticising each other, while ignoring what should have been their central concern. They tolerated, and some even practised, immorality. They took each other to court. They criticised and attacked Paul and others like him. They treated idolatry lightly, even though it made others stumble. They grumbled at what God did. They were selfish and overlooked the good of others. Many got drunk at the Christian love feasts. Others failed to share their good things with their poorer brothers. They were inconsiderate, thoughtless and selfish. And yet they claimed to be reigning!

    This tendency to interpret the Scriptures in the light of particular circumstances is prevalent today. Christians in Western countries may interpret them in the light of their affluence, as the Corinthians did (although not all), while those in countries where they go hungry, and suffer, and have little opportunity, may see them very differently. The lesson Paul is giving here is that if doctrine does not fit in with all cases then it is not correct doctrine.

    Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

    The status of the heralds of salvation:

    v. 8. Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us; and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

    v. 9. For I think that God hath set forth us, the apostles, last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men.

    v. 10. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised.

    v. 11. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;

    v. 12. and labor, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;

    v. 13. being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

    The behavior of the Corinthians had resulted in a most unfortunate condition, namely, in this, that they believed themselves perfect in their congregational life and wanting in nothing. In scornful irony, Paul sets this fact before them, with an abruptness which shows the excitement that was agitating him: Thus soon you are glutted; thus soon you have grown rich; without our aid you have obtained your kingdom! The apostle brings out an intentional climax in deriding their false contentment, their vain self-sufficiency, their lofty bearing. They thought they knew it all in spiritual matters, that all further instruction was superfluous and therefore unwelcome. So soon did they have their fill, so fully instructed they believed themselves to be, so abounding in knowledge and understanding that they resented the idea of being told a further truth. So rich in spiritual talents and graces they felt themselves to be that any intimation of spiritual poverty was extremely distasteful to them; they had all the bearing of the newly rich, an ostentation of wealth which corrupted their spiritual possessions; for any one that is satisfied with his knowledge in spiritual matters shuts himself off from further gain. But the height of their complacent foolishness was reached in this, that some of the Corinthian Christians believed themselves to have attained to a state in which they fondly and fatuously considered themselves in full possession of the promised kingdom. They had not only outgrown Paul’s teaching, they not only resented the idea of his having anything more to impart to them. The disgrace of the foolish, the lowliness of the weak, the cross of the persecuted, no longer existed for them. For them the kingdom had begun, not in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, but in outward observation. Where both the unfathomable depths of sin and the unattainable heights of mercy’s glory are not understood, there shallow Christians, as in our days, deceive themselves and dream of a kingdom of Christ here on earth and of the earth which, in spite of all the beautiful Scripture-phrases with which it is praised, is essentially earthly and has nothing in common with the true kingdom of Christ. But Paul, in his great grief over the blindness of the Corinthians, calls out: And I would indeed that you had come into your kingdom! If only it were true, that we also might share your reign with you! If that time were only here, in order that we might be delivered from all the evil of the present persecutions and distresses!

    This bitter cry over the ingratitude of men Paul now substantiates: For in my opinion God has exhibited us, the apostles, as the last, as men appointed for death. Paul has in mind either a public procession on a great festival day, in which the condemned criminals on their way to the arena marched last, or he thinks of gladiators who, no matter how often they escaped death on one day or during one season, were always brought forth again and were thus doomed to die. That was the disgrace to which the apostles were subjected: they had become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. Just as far as the range of their labors extended, over the entire world then known, so far they were set forth to public contempt, both men here below and the invisible watchers around and above them marking the spectacle.

    The apostle now names some of the details in which some of the disgrace becomes apparent: We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ, v. 10. The ministers of Christ must pass for fools, because they preach Christ crucified, a message which in no way conforms with the wisdom of the world. But the Corinthians, and many of their followers at the present time, are wise, sensible, they are very careful about keeping on good terms with the world, the confession of Christ being kept discreetly in the background. Note that the apostle speaks in a tone of irony and scorn throughout. He continues: We are weak, but you are strong. The conduct of the Corinthians intimated that they did not think Paul had made use of the proper energy in his work, that the mere preaching of the Gospel was not sufficient in their learned city. In contrast with this weakness, they were determined to show the proper spirit and power, they proudly paraded a show of ability to do the work of the Lord after their own manner. And finally: You in honor, but we in dishonor. They were splendid, glorious; their ideas of world improvement were wonderful and inclusive and projected great things for the Church of God. In comparison with them the apostles were without all esteem, in shame and disgrace. Paul felt that he and his simple, foolish Gospel had no show at all where such wonderful plans were being matured.

    Purposely Paul continues in his strain of describing his own condition: To this very hour we both hunger and thirst and are ill-clad, v. 11. He shared the fate of the people poor in this world’s goods, as so many of his followers have since his time. And we are violently treated, the violence sometimes extending to physical mistreatment, to blows and fisticuffs. We have no definite home; Paul might always expect to be obliged to flee on account of persecutions. And we work hard, laboring with our own hands. All the work of his ministry was hard labor; but, in addition, Paul chose to support himself with manual labor, Act 18:3; Act 20:34. Note that the words of the apostle find their application to this very hour, in the midst of our so-called enlightened civilization, and that many a minister endures the same afflictions, even to the last, not from choice, but from necessity more’s the pity!

    With this sad condition, with the specific hardships which he had to endure, agreed the spirit which Paul was wont to show at all times: Reviled to our faces, deeply insulted, we bless. What the world believes to be an abject, cowardly spirit is the mark of the servants of Christ, and it takes more character to bear an insult in silence and reply with a blessing than to revile in return. Persecuted, we endure it; the servants of Christ use neither physical force to resist the evil, nor do they try to evade it by betraying their Lord; they put up with all such conditions patiently. Being slanderously spoken of, we entreat; for defaming speeches the ministers of Christ return dissuasions. In everything their aim is, if possible, to gain the enemy: they beg men not to be wicked, but to return to a better mind, to be converted to Christ. And now the apostle presents the very climax of degradation: As the rinsings of the world we have become, as the scraping of all things. He compares himself and the other ministers of Christ to the scum, the dregs, the last sediment in a dirty kettle that must be scraped off; and to the dirt which is scraped from the shoes after one has waded through filth and mire. That is what the faithful ministers of the Gospel are in the eyes of the world, like “the filth that one gets rid of through the sink and the gutter. ” And these terms, as here used, may have a further significance. For the words were used “especially of those condemned criminals of the lowest class who were sacrificed as expiatory offerings, as scapegoats in effect, because of their degraded life. It was the custom at Athens to reserve certain worthless persons who in case of plague, famine, or other visitations from heaven might be thrown into the sea, in the belief that they would ‘cleanse away,’ or ‘wipe off,’ the guilt of the nation. ” (Lightfoot.) Note: The temper of the world has changed but little since the time of Paul, although there is a veneer of kindness and toleration for the ministers of the Gospel. At the slightest supposed provocation and suspicion, however, the mask is withdrawn, and it is plainly shown that, as Luther says, they are regarded “as the world’s sweepings and everybody’s refuse and doormat.”

    Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

    1Co 4:8. Nowye have reigned, &c. This is a proverbial expression, used to signifythe most splendid and affluent circumstances; and some think, that when the Apostle adds I would to God ye did reign, he means, “I wish you had the authority of princes, that you might shelter and accommodate us, amidst all our distresses and afflictions.” But we can hardly conceive that he did wish each of them a prince, or that the civil power were in their hands. It seems much more probable, that as spiritual objects were familiar to his mind, he changes the idea, and alludes to the terms in the Jewish oeconomy; in reference to which Christians are called priests and kings, and a royal priesthood. See 1Pe 2:9. Rev 1:6 and Doddridge.

    Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

    1Co 4:8 . The discourse, already in 1Co 4:7 roused to a lively pitch, becomes now bitterly ironical, heaping stroke on stroke, even as the proud Corinthians, with their partisan conduct, needed a (1Co 4:14 ) to teach them humility. The transition, too, from the individualizing singular to the plural corresponds to the rising emotion. The interrogative way of taking the passage (Baumgarten) weakens it without reason; for the disapproval of such bitter derision (Stolz, Rckert) is, in the first place, over-hasty, since Paul could not but know best how he had to chastise the Corinthians; and, in the second, it fails to recognise the fact, that he, just in consequence of the purity of his conscience, could give rein to the indignant temper amply warranted in him by the actual position of things, without justifying the suspicion of self-seeking and thirst for power (this in opposition to Rckert).

    In . , ., and ., we have a vehement climax: Already sated are ye, already become rich are ye; without our help ye have attained to dominion ! The sarcastic force of this address, which shows the repulsive shape in which the inflated character and demeanour of the Corinthians presented itself, is intensified by the emphatically prefixed and : “ already ye have, what was only expected in the coming , fulness of satisfaction and of enrichment in Messianic blessings; without our help (mine and that of Apollos, 1Co 4:6 ) are ye arrived at the highest stage of Messianic power and glory, at the !” You have already reached such a pitch of Christian perfection, are become without us such mightily exalted and dominant personages, that there is presented in you an anticipation of the future Messianic satisfaction, of the Messianic fulness of possession and dominion. Ordinarily , . and . (comp Rev 3:17 ) have been taken as referring specially to Christian knowledge and other endowments (comp 1Co 1:5 ), and . either as referring likewise to knowledge, the highest degree of it being meant (Vater, Heydenreich), or to high prosperity and repute in general (Calvin, Justiniani, Lightfoot, Wetstein, Flatt, Pott), or to the quiet security in which kings live (Grotius), or to the “dominium et jus statuendi de rebus Christianis” (Semler), or to the domination of the one sect over the other (Estius), or of the teacher over his party (Billroth is undecided between these two views). But all these interpretations fail to do justice to the sarcastic method of expression , although they in part correctly enough describe the state of the case , which is here ironically presented. The right view may be seen in Hofmann also. In connection with the . left without being more precisely defined, nothing came so naturally and at once to the Christian consciousness as the thought of the Messianic . [653] And how well this idea corresponds to the wish which follows! If, however, . applies to the Messianic ruling (see on 1Co 3:22 ; Usteri, Lehrbegriff , p. 370), and consequently to the of 2Ti 2:12 , comp Rom 8:17 , then in that case . and . also, to preserve the symmetry of this ironical picture, must be understood in the sense of the Messianic consummation of all things, and must denote the being full and rich (namely, in the blessings of the Messianic salvation), which for the Christian consciousness did not need to be particularly specified. Comp Mat 5:6 ; 2Co 8:9 . The perfect brings before us the state , the aorists the fact of having entered upon the possession. See Khner, a [656] Xen. Mem. i. 1. 18. As to , i.e. now already , see on Joh 4:35 .

    ] without whose work, in fact, you would not be Christians at all!

    . . [657] ] and (the thought suddenly striking his mind) would that ye had indeed attained to dominion ! In the later Greek writers is used as a particle, and joined with the indicative, 2Co 11:1 ; Gal 5:12 . See Matthiae, p. 1162. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 185 [E. T. 214 f.]. strengthens the force of ; see Hartung, Partikell . I. p. 372 f.; Baeumlein, Partik. p. 55 f. The thought is: “Apart from this, that ye have without us become rulers, would that ye had at least ( ) become such !” Comp Klotz, a [659] Devar. p. 281 f.

    . . ] Ye would doubtless in that case, Paul deems, suffer us also to have some share (beside you) in your government! The subjunctive is quite according to rule (in opposition to Rckert), seeing that . denotes something completed from the speaker’s present point of view ( have become rulers ), and seeing that the design appears as one still subsisting in the present. See Klotz, a [660] Devar. p. 617 f.; Stallbaum, a [661] Plat. Crit. p. 43 B.

    Observe, we may add, how the sarcastic climax ends at last with . . [662] in a way fitted to put the readers deeply to shame . Comp Chrysostom.

    [653] So rightly also Schrader, Rckert, de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, Neander, Hofmann. Comp. Olshausen (who, however, gives a rationalizing view of the ruling).

    [656] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

    [657] . . . .

    [659] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

    [660] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

    [661] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

    [662] . . . .

    Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

    XVI

    THE REVOLT AGAINST PAUL’S APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY

    1Co 4:8-21 ; 1Co 9:1-27 .

    In the last chapter this question was asked, “Who questioned Paul’s authority?” And our answer was, “Visiting brethren from Jerusalem,” and we discussed the various grounds upon which they based their questionings. Paul’s reply is found in 1Co 4:8-21 ; 1Co 9:1-27 ; and three or four verses in 1Co 15 . We take two sections somewhat distant apart and put them together in order to put everything together that bears upon the discussion.

    The first charge was that he was not one of the original twelve. He admits the allegation, but denies the deduction. Jesus Christ had as much right to appoint an apostle after his resurrection as he had while in the flesh. It will be remembered that in Acts I, through the Spirit, Matthias, not one of the original twelve, was numbered with the twelve, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and became in every way a qualified apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was as truly appointed an apostle by the will of God as Peter was. There never was any more definite or important a transaction than his meeting the Lord on the way to Damascus at which time he was not only converted, but was specially called into the apostolic office. Over and over again in his letters and in his life are evidences that the Lord not only originally called him, but appeared to him many times in confirmation of that call. So he well says in commencing this letter, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God.”

    Then they charged that he had not seen Jesus in the flesh. He admits the fact, but he says it is altogether unimportant whether he had seen Jesus in the flesh or not. He had seen him after he rose from the dead, and that was the point upon which the apostleship rested. That he had seen the risen Lord constituted his qualification to be a witness as an apostle. They charged that he had not exercised his apostolic authority in vindicating himself by punitive judgments on those that questioned him. Peter had Ananias and Sapphira struck dead for telling a lie. It is said that Paul talked big enough, but did not act. To that Paul replies that on account of mercy he had refrained from vindicating, by punitive right, his power, but that he had a right and could exercise it, and when he got among them he would do it unless they repented of the wrongs that they had done.

    They charged that he had not exacted apostolic support for himself and wife. They argued that he, in his own conscience, did not feel entitled to it. His reply to that is superb, and is completely unanswerable. He commences with 1Co 9:1 , which is the chapter of the Bible on the scriptural grounds for ministerial support, by saying, “Am I not free?” This matter of support is a right, not a duty. “May I not waive the right ‘if I choose?” There are some things we can waive if we choose to do so.

    A certain man whom I knew, an exceedingly eccentric man, was, as a widower, paying his addresses to a widow. The lady said when he asked her to marry him, “I have some objections to marrying you.” He said, “I have a great many objections to marrying you, but I waive them.”

    Next, Paul gives the reasons why he waived the right. They were missionary reasons. If he had come there and made his first speech on their paying him a salary, nobody would have listened to him. It was not after the plan of God’s gospel that a missionary, reaching territory that had never been occupied, should lay great stress on the people’s paying him to preach to them. The next is, that his desires were for them, not for their money: “I coveted you for Christ, and not anything that you had.” Third, as a matter of fact it was not true, since in part he bad been supported while among them, through a contribution of the church. Next, that he labored with his own hands, not because an apostle had to do that, but because it was a necessity for an important lesson to them in that community. Tens of thousands of Corinthians were loafers. Paul wanted to be able to say, “You remember you people who won’t work that when I was among you I worked by night and preached to you by day. These hands ministered unto my support in order that you might understand that he who won’t work should not eat.” There is no sentimentality about Paul on the beggar question. They charged that he had exacted no pay for his preaching. He replied that that did not make him inferior, but made them inferior: “For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that ye were brought to Christ and established and built up by my ministry, and ye did not pay me a cent?” Then he said, “Forgive me this wrong. It was wrong for me to waive my right to a support that you should not be instructed to minister to those who minister to you.” Then he goes on to prove his right.

    To the end of time, 1Co 9 , will be the chapter in the New Testament on the subject of ministerial support. I once took as a text this scripture: “My defense to them that examine me is this.” They put him upon examination. He bases his answer, first, upon analogy from human conduct in other things, and cites three things: First, the soldier: “Who goeth forth to warfare at his own charges?” They objected to a preacher being supported for his ministry. On all sides these people could see soldiers. “Do they pay for their rations, their uniforms, their weapons, their hospital in which they stay, and the medicine which they take?” It would be impossible to have an army permanently without setting aside from some source adequate support for them. So applying that analogy to the preacher, why may he not have a right to a support? Paul might have gone further: Officers in the army are not merely provided for the field, but are educated at national expense, like Army cadets at West Point, or Naval cadets at Annapolis.

    My wife’s brother, Willie Harrison, is in the Navy. I remember well when he was just a boy he entered Annapolis as a cadet. He knew no more about a ship than he did about a balloon. He is now lieutenant on one of the great battleships, and has charge of a most responsible position in its navigation. I went to see him a few years ago and went all over the yards at Annapolis, Washington, and Baltimore. It became perfectly evident to me that no untrained man could be a naval officer. His training must commence very early. As protected those enormous guns, I realized that one slight mishap in the process of making defensive armor that take and the whole ship would blow up, and that the keenest, highest education was necessary in order to know how to handle those ships in time of war.

    Then he cites the case of the vine-dresser: “Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not the fruit thereof?” One cannot drag a man to a piece of ground, make him clear it, cultivate and gather the grapes, and not pay him anything. He asks: “Who feedeth the flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock.” Will a Texas cowboy take charge of a herd of cattle, watch by day and night, nearly kill himself avoiding a stampede, be burned in the sun, and do all for nothing? Hasn’t he a right to a piece of beef, to milk and butter? Or if it be sheep, to a piece of mutton, or to woolen clothes? That argument is perfectly unanswerable.

    Second, he appeals to the law of Moses. The Jews were questioning his right. He refers to their law, “Say I these things as a man? It is written in the law of Moses. Does the Mosaic law forbid a man to muzzle his ox that is threshing the grain?” In those days they threshed the grain by oxen treading on it continuously. That was their primitive way of threshing. “Now would you begrudge an ox his food if he stooped to get a bite of grain? The Mosaic law forbids you to muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. If it be a sin to muzzle an ox, is it not a greater sin to muzzle a man that brings the message of eternal life to the people? He brings not the bread of earth, but the bread of heaven. Certainly it applies more to men than to oxen.” He says, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? The preacher finds you in darkness under the power of Satan, lost; and in tears and love he pleads with you and you are led to Christ and find eternal life. The spiritual things to which he leads you are worth more than all the world. Is it then unreasonable that he should reap your carnal things?” In other words, a man who by the grace of God and through the ministry of a faithful preacher has been led to eternal life and made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints, who would grudge help in a carnal way to the one who had been the means of his salvation, would certainly throw a question over his salvation.

    Notice his next argument, viz.: their own conduct: “If there be those who are partakers of this power over you, are not we rather?” In other words, “The preachers you have had, you have paid for their services. You concede the right to Peter and others, and if this support is for them, why not Paul? Ask yourselves which one of these led you to salvation. Paul is the one that found you and led you out of darkness into light.” Then he passes to his next argument, still on the law of Moses, the Levites, and the priests: “Do you know that they who minister about the holy things of life, of the things in the Temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers of the altar? The tribe of Levi, which had no territory given to them, had become the Lord’s servants to do the Lord’s work and minister to the Lord’s sanctuary, and the Lord provides for their support.”

    He thus makes the application of these five distinct arguments: “Even so did the Lord ordain that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” It certainly is an important declaration. As a government maintains its soldiers, and when they get old and feeble, it provides hospitals and infirmaries, and when officers are retired they receive half pay, so “God hath ordained that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”

    When Christ sent out his apostles he commanded them to take no means of support, saying, “The laborer is worthy of his meat and his hire.” In other words, “I would be a very poor employer if I sent you out to confine your attention strictly to my work, and make you hustle to get your living from other things.” Wherever there is no adequate provision for ministerial support, and the preacher must do things for his living, run a farm or practice medicine, we may rest assured that he cannot give his undivided attention to the ministry, and that churches that receive that kind of ministry do not receive the full work of the ministry. The calamity in that case is on the church. Oftentimes it is downright covetousness that is the cause of it. Churches think we can get Brother So-and-so for fifty dollars a year, and we can just have preaching once a month. Can a church prosper on once a month’s preaching?

    I have always taken this position: If any preacher, truly called of God to preach, will implicitly trust, not the churches, but the Lord Jesus Christ to take care of him, and will consecrate his entire time to the work of the ministry, verily he shall be clothed and fed, or else the heavens will fall, and God’s word will not be so.

    I made that statement once and some of the brethren questioned it. I still stand on it.

    If I were a young man again, I would do just as I did then, burn all the bridges behind and push out on the promises of God, that perhaps not in my way, not in the church’s way, but in some way the Lord Jesus Christ would take care of my wife and children.

    I would say in my heart, “I am God’s man; I am to go out as his minister, to do his work, to do no other business; and sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I will trust the Lord and stick to my work.” I have tried trusting Jesus and he has never failed; I have had men to lie to me straight-out; I have had 1,000 promises to fail, coming from men, but never has any promise of God failed that he has ever made.

    An illustration on this point occurred at an early day in Waco. We had a very skeptical man there, Mr. Berry, whom Dr. Burleson invited to attend an association. He had no buggy, and so Dr. Burleson said, “You may ride with me.” When he saw Dr. Burleson’s shabby old buggy and rattletrap harness and lean, raw-boned horse, he said, “Dr. Burleson, you have faith that you will get there in that buggy, but I have not; I am going to get a buggy from the livery stable.” But Dr. Burleson beat him there just the same. I have known preachers to get there in ramshackle buggies and pieced-out harness, tied with shoe-strings. Once I saw a collar on a horse tied with a necktie, and the preacher had to preach without one, but “he got there just the same.”

    When Jesus gave the commission he said, “These things shall follow: If a serpent bite you, or you drink deadly poison, it will not hurt you.” They applied that to Paul and said, “We infer from your extraordinary afflictions the Roman lictors, the stripes and scourges of the Jews, and the thorn in your flesh, and that bad eyesight, that if you were an apostle of the Lord he would take care of you.” His reply to that is certainly great. It is in 1Co 4:9 : “I think God hath set us, the apostles, last of all, as men doomed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world ( kosmos ), both to angels and men. . . . Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked.” In other words, “You bring up that charge against me and I accent the facts, but it is worse than you know. You are rich from our labors; you are kings through our labors. We are weak and poor and suffering.” Just as Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering, these apostolic leaders were to share his suffering and fill up what remained, and to bear all things.

    A demonstration was needed upon this subject, and therefore he says, “I glory in it.” The word “spectacle” was taken from the custom of the amphitheater where from 50,000-200,000 people were gathered as many as could be gathered in the great Roman amphitheater and down below a gladiator was to fight a Numidian lion or a Bengal tiger. High upon the platform was the emperor and his suite, and all around in this semicircle thousands of the people were gathered, and that man was the spectacle. He fights the wild beast, and as his blood gushes out of his wounds he salutes the emperor and says, “Caesar, I salute thee,” and so Paul, about to make his exodus, ready to have his blood poured out as a libation, salutes the Emperor and says, “I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith; henceforth there ‘is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”

    Again he says, not to some Roman, Corinthian, or Athenian amphitheater, but to the kosmos to the universe of angels and men, that all the galleries of heaven are filled with the onlooking angels, and all the population of the earth have their eyes fixed upon these apostles, and they are in the arena appointed unto death. This is proof of their apostleship, as Jesus told him when he called him. If a man is going to turn his back on the ministry on account of the suffering, the sooner the ministry is rid of him the better. If he is only going to be a sunshine, fair-weather, daylight man, who, because the darkness comes, the march is long, or the battle is terrible, or the cold severe, or the watching is trying, or the wounds are painful if he is going to turn away from the ministry of Jesus Christ on that account let him go.

    His reply to their charges that he could not be an apostle because he was not exempt from suffering is one of the finest arguments in literature. Jesus Christ could not be Saviour according to that argument, for it was by his suffering he became Saviour.

    NOTE. The other charges given in Jas 2:1-26 are answered in 2Co 10:13 .

    QUESTIONS

    1. What the second ecclesiastical disorder, who raised the question, and what the scriptures containing his masterful reply?

    2. What Paul’s reply to the charge that he was not one of the original twelve, and had not seen Jesus in the flesh?

    3. What his reply to the charge that he bad not exercised his apostolic authority in punitive judgments?

    4. What his reply to the charge that he did not exact support for himself and wife?

    5. What the condition at Corinth that made it necessary for him to waive this right?

    6. What reflection on them does Paul show in his second letter that they had allowed him to waive his right in the matter of support?

    7. What good text on ministerial support cited?

    8. What three instances of human conduct does he cite in defense of ministerial support?

    9. What his argument from the law of Moses relating to the ox?

    10, What his argument from the benefit they received?

    11. What his argument from their own conduct?

    12. What his argument based on the support of the priests and Levites?

    13. What the general application of the five preceding distinctive arguments?

    14. What the teaching of Christ on this same line?

    15. What the result generally of a poorly paid ministry?

    16. What the author’s position with regard to the preacher and his support?

    17. What Paul’s reply to the charge that he had extraordinary afflictions?

    18. What the origin and application of the word “spectacle” as used here?

    19 What Paul’s reply to the charge that his was not the true gospel?

    20. What Paul’s reply to the charge that he did a great many foolish things?

    21. What Paul’s reply to the charge that he had bodily infirmities and weaknesses?

    22. What his reply to the charge that he was against the law of Moses?

    23. What his reply to the charge that he was a preacher to the Gentiles?

    NOTE: For answer to questions 19-23, study carefully the scriptures cited, and for continuation of the discussion of this subject see last chapter in this book.

    Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

    8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

    Ver. 8. Now ye are rich ] Crescit oratio, saith Piscator here. The apostle riseth in his expressions, and that all along by an ironic reprehension. These Corinthians had riches, and gifts, and learning; and carried aloft by these waxen wings, they domineered and despised others.

    Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

    8. ] The admonition becomes ironical: ‘You behave as if the trial were past, and the goal gained; as if hunger and thirst after righteousness were already filled, and the kingdom already brought in.’ , . Chrys. Hom. xii. p. 138. The emphases are on in the two first clauses, and in the third. The three verbs form a climax. Any interpretation which stops short of the full meaning of the words as applied to the triumphant final state (so Grot., Est., Calvin., Wetst., al., interpreting them of knowledge, of security, of the lordship of one sect over another ), misses the force of the irony, and the meaning of the latter part of the verse.

    ] ‘because we, as your fathers in Christ, have ever looked forward to present you , as our glory and joy, in that day.’ There is an exquisite delicacy of irony, which Chrys. has well caught: . . . . , . . , . . p. 99.

    The latter part of the verse is said bon fide and with solemnity: And I would indeed ( strengthens the wish; so , Eur. Iph. Aul. 70. Hartung, i. 373.

    is used in LXX and N. T. as a particle, with the indic.: also with optative. See, for both, reff.) that ye did reign (that the kingdom of the Lord was actually come, and ye reigning with Him), that we also might reign together with you (that we, though deposed from our proper place , might at least be vouchsafed a humble share in your kingly glory).

    Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

    1Co 4:8 depicts the unjustifiable “glorying” of the readers with an abruptness due to excited feeling ( cf. the asyndeton of 1Co 3:16 ): “How much you have received, and how you boast of it! So soon you are satiated!” etc. The three first clauses , , f1 . . . are exclamations rather than questions (W.H [703] ). Distinguish , jam, by this time; , nunc, at this time (1Co 3:2 , etc.); , in prsenti, modo, just now or then, at the moment (1Co 13:12 , etc.). ( , to glut, feed full; in cl [704] Gr [705] poetical, becoming prose in ; for tense-form, cf. 1Co 1:10 , .: “So soon you have had your fill (are quite satisfied)!” The Cor [706] reported themselves, in the Church Letter (?), so well fed by Paul’s successors, so furnished in talent and grace, that they desired nothing more. ( aor [707] , not pf. as before): “So soon you grew rich!” The Thanksgiving (1Co 1:5 ) and the list of charisms in 12. appear to justify this consciousness of wealth; but ostentation corrupted Cor [708] riches; spiritual satiety is a sign of arrested growth: contrast Phi 3:10-14 , and cf. Rev 3:17 , “Thou sayest , ”. The climax of this sad irony is ( aor [709] again), “Without us (without our help) you have come to your kingdom!” “Gradatio: saturi, divites, reges ” (Bg [710] ). Paul was given to understand, by some Cor [711] , that they had outgrown his teaching: “Then,” he says, “you have surely entered the promised kingdom and secured its treasures, if God’s stewards have nothing more to impart to you! I only wish you had! ” so he continues in the words . . ., “Ay, I would indeed that you had entered the kingdom, that we too might share it with you!” It is Paul’s sigh for the end. (see parls.) can only relate to the , the Messianic reign (1Co 4:20 , 1Co 6:9 f., 1Co 15:50 ; N.T. passim; cf. Luk 22:28 ff; Luk 6:2 f. below; the judicial assumptions of the Cor [712] , in 3 ff., square with this); and the aor [713] in vbs. of “state” is inceptive (Br. 41) not “you reigned,” but “became kings” ( ). This, of course, can only come about when Christ returns (see 1Co 1:7 ; 1Co 1:9 , and notes); then His saints will share His glory (2Ti 2:10 ). (losing its augm.) is in N.T. and later Gr [714] practically an adv [715] ; it marks, with following ind [716] past, an impracticable wish (Wr [717] , p. 377); ( to be sure ) accentuates the personal feeling. , remind us again of Stoic pretensions; see note, 1Co 3:22 .

    [703] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

    [704] classical.

    [705] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

    [706] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

    [707] aorist tense.

    [708] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

    [709] aorist tense.

    [710] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

    [711] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

    [712] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

    [713] aorist tense.

    [714] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

    [715] adverb

    [716] indicative mood.

    [717] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

    Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

    NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 4:8-13

    8You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. 9For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. 11To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 12and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

    1Co 4:8-13 This is shocking sarcasm!

    1Co 4:8

    NASB”You are already filled”

    NKJV”You are already full”

    NRSV”Already you have all you want”

    TEV”Do you already have everything you need”

    NJB”you have everything”

    The pronoun “you” is plural in 1Co 4:8; 1Co 4:10. This term “filled” is normally used of physical eating (cf. Act 27:38), but here is it a metaphor (cf. Mat 5:6) of spiritual pride. 1Co 4:8 can be three questions (cf. TEV) or three statements (cf. NASB, NKJV, RSV, and REB). These are a series of sarcastic statements or questions that reveal the pride of the Corinthian factious leaders. They thought they had arrived (i.e., perfect passive periphrastic). Paul wished they had, but it was not true; their actions revealed their maturity level (i.e., babies in Christ).

    “kings. . .reign” Paul is using eschatological imagery to jolt the leaders’ arrogant self-sufficiency. In Christ all believers will co-reign with King Jesus, but only after the Second Coming. These leaders considered themselves as already reigning, spiritually speaking.

    1Co 4:9 “God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death” This verse is an illustration taken from a Roman Triumphal March (cf. Col 2:15), where condemned prisoners (i.e., usually later killed in the Roman arena, cf. 1Co 15:32) were displayed last in a Roman victory parade.

    SPECIAL TOPIC: SEND (APOSTELL)

    “we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men” Paul is referring to the difficult task of preaching the gospel (cf. 2Co 4:7-12; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-30).

    The phrase “to angels” may be linked to Eph 2:7; Eph 3:10. God has revealed Himself to the angelic world by His actions towards humans (cf. 1Pe 1:12).

    1Co 4:10 “We are fools for Christ’s sake” God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world, even sometimes to arrogant Christians. For “fools” see note at 1Co 1:25 and Special Topic at 1Co 15:36.

    “but you are prudent in Christ. . .but you are strong; you are distinguished” This is biting sarcasm which continues from 1Co 4:7-9.

    “weak” See SPECIAL TOPIC: WEAKNESS at 2Co 12:9.

    1Co 4:11 “To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless” These verses reflect Paul’s own experience (cf. 2Co 4:7-12; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-30, also notice Heb 11:34-38). He wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus.

    1Co 4:12 “we toil, working with our own hands” This reflects the Jewish emphasis on the appropriateness of manual labor (cf. Act 18:3; Act 20:34; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8). It was depreciated by Greek culture, including the church at Corinth.

    “when we are reviled, we bless” Paul is reflecting the teachings of Jesus (cf. Mat 5:10-12; 1Pe 2:23). The term “reviled” (i.e., loidore) is also included in the list of sins in 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:10 (i.e., loidoros). Vincent, Word Studies, says this term refers to personal verbal abuse, while the term “slandered” (i.e., dusphme, cf. 1Co 4:13) means public defamation (cf. 1Co 4:13; 2Co 6:8). I have not been able to confirm this distinction. They both are part of a large number of Koine Greek terms used in the semantical category of “insult and slander” (cf. Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, vol. 1, pp. 433-434).

    Paul experienced verbal abuse from many false teachers, but it was the church at Corinth that must have wounded him the most. A group of people whom he personally led to Christ became his most vocal slanderers.

    1Co 4:13 “conciliate” See full note at 2Co 1:4-11.

    NASB”we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things”

    NKJV”we have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things”

    NRSV”we have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things”

    TEV”we are no more than the world’s garbage; we are the scum of the earth”

    NJB”we are treated even now as the dregs of the world, the very lowest scum”

    This paragraph (1Co 4:8-13) shows Paul’s personal pain involved in preaching the gospel. He felt humiliated and rejected not only by the unbelieving, but by these arrogant Corinthian leaders.

    The first phrase “scum of the world” referred to what was left over after the cleaning of kitchen utensils. It is literally “to cleanse all around on all sides.” In defining these rare synonyms the question of the origin of Paul’s metaphors is crucial.

    1. If he uses the OT background as expressed through the Greek translation, the Septuagint, this term is used of a thorough cleansing and thereby a ransoming (cf. Pro 21:18). Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker’s Greek/English Lexicon, p. 647, and A. T. Robertson’s Word Pictures, p. 108, suggest it could be understood as “scapegoat,” possibly from its use in Tob 5:19.

    2. If he is using Helenistic background the two terms in 1Co 4:13 are synonymous of that which is removed by a thorough cleaning.

    3. If he is using them metaphorically then they both simply refer to humility (cf. Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker’s Greek/English Lexicon, p. 653).

    The second phrase “dregs of all things” also refers to that which had been scraped out in the cleansing process. These two terms are synonymous. They are strong terms, but were used as metaphors or idioms. Possibly they are so strong and colorful to us because they are rare terms. They help intensify Paul’s sarcasm.

    Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

    Now = Already. Notice the Figure of speech Amplificatio (App-6).

    are full = have been filled. Greek. koremnumi. See Act 27:38.

    without = apart from. This is an instance of Irony (App-6).

    would to God. Greek. ophelon, from opheilo, to owe. Used to express a wish; also in 2Co 11:1. Gal 1:5, Gal 1:12. Rev 3:15.

    reign with. Greek. sumbasileuo. Only here and 2Ti 2:12.

    Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

    8.] The admonition becomes ironical: You behave as if the trial were past, and the goal gained; as if hunger and thirst after righteousness were already filled, and the kingdom already brought in. , . Chrys. Hom. xii. p. 138. The emphases are on in the two first clauses, and in the third. The three verbs form a climax. Any interpretation which stops short of the full meaning of the words as applied to the triumphant final state (so Grot., Est., Calvin., Wetst., al., interpreting them of knowledge, of security, of the lordship of one sect over another), misses the force of the irony, and the meaning of the latter part of the verse.

    ] because we, as your fathers in Christ, have ever looked forward to present you, as our glory and joy, in that day. There is an exquisite delicacy of irony, which Chrys. has well caught: . . . . , . . , . . p. 99.

    The latter part of the verse is said bon fide and with solemnity: And I would indeed ( strengthens the wish; so , Eur. Iph. Aul. 70. Hartung, i. 373.

    is used in LXX and N. T. as a particle, with the indic.: also with optative. See, for both, reff.) that ye did reign (that the kingdom of the Lord was actually come, and ye reigning with Him), that we also might reign together with you (that we, though deposed from our proper place, might at least be vouchsafed a humble share in your kingly glory).

    Fuente: The Greek Testament

    1Co 4:8. , now), in comparison with us. The words without us, which immediately after occur, agree with this.-, full) A gradation [ascending climax]: full, rich, kings. Its opposite is, we hunger, etc., 1Co 4:11-12. As the two epistles to the Corinthians exhibit great variety in mental feeling [, Append.], incomparable urbanity [asteismus, Append.], and abundant and playful acuteness, so the passage before us is to such a degree remarkable for these qualities, that it should be understood, in respect either of the Corinthians or of the apostles, concerning their internal or external condition, concerning the facts themselves or concerning the puffed-up opinion of the Corinthians. The spiritual condition of the Corinthians was truly flourishing-flourishing also was that of the apostles. This was right: but troubles [the cross] from without galled the apostles and prevented them from pleasing themselves on that account: the Corinthians, inasmuch as being in a flourishing state even in things external, were pleased with and were applauding themselves, which was wrong. Therefore, the Corinthians were imitating the conduct of sons, who, after they have become illustrious, care little for their humble parents: in consequence of fulness, they were fastidious; of opulence, they were insolent; of kingly power, they were proud.- , without us) A new and apt ambiguity; you have not us as your partners; consequently you have not had us as your assistants; you have forgotten us, as the saying expresses it, many pupils become superior to their teachers, .-, ye have reigned) ye have come to your kingdom. In this is implied the majesty of Christians.- , and I wish) i.e. I do not envy you, my only desire is, that it may really promote your best interests, 2Co 12:14-15.- , that we also) When you shall be perfected, the apostles will enjoy ease, and reach the end of all their troubles.-, we might reign together) This is modestly said: with you; comp. 1Co 9:23, 1Co 3:22.

    Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

    1Co 4:8

    1Co 4:8

    Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have come to reign without us:-In this he reproaches them for their assumption of worldly wisdom. They acted as though they were already filled of all the good things of earth, had become rich in spiritual things, and were reigning as kings without those from whom they had received all they had from Christ. [The strong irony in these expressions, taken in connection with what he had already said, must have stung them to the heart. For there is a striking contrast between the comfortable, full-fed, self-satisfied Corinthians and the depression and the scorn in the midst of which the apostles lived. It is not an unusual thing for many people to forget, if not despise, the men through whom they were brought to the knowledge of the truth; and take up others to whom, in things of God, they owe nothing.]

    yea and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.-He would have rejoiced at their reigning as real kings and priests of the Lord that those who had converted them and had bestowed on them all the real good they possessed might reign with them instead of suffering want and persecution as they were then suffering.

    Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

    Now ye are full

    Already are ye filled; already are ye become rich. Contra. 1Co 4:9-12; 1Pe 1:4.

    Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

    ye are full: 1Co 1:5, 1Co 3:1, 1Co 3:2, 1Co 5:6, Pro 13:7, Pro 25:14, Isa 5:21, Luk 1:51-53, Luk 6:25, Rom 12:3, Rom 12:16, Gal 6:3, Rev 3:17

    without: 1Co 4:18, Act 20:29, Act 20:30, Phi 1:27, Phi 2:12

    and I: Num 11:29, Act 26:29, 2Co 11:1

    ye did: Psa 122:5-9, Jer 28:6, Rom 12:15, 2Co 13:9, 1Th 2:19, 1Th 2:20, 1Th 3:6-9, 2Ti 2:11, 2Ti 2:12, Rev 5:10

    Reciprocal: Exo 16:3 – Would Deu 8:14 – thine heart 2Ki 5:3 – Would God Jer 2:31 – We are lords Luk 1:53 – and Luk 18:11 – God Rom 5:17 – shall reign 1Co 4:10 – are wise 2Co 1:8 – insomuch 2Co 12:15 – though Gal 4:17 – exclude you Jam 3:14 – glory Jam 4:16 – General

    Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    8

    1Co 4:8. Full is from KORENNUMI which Thayer defines, “to satiate, sate, satisfy.” Rich is from PLOUTEO and Thayer’s definition is, “to be richly supplied.” These are such excellent conditions that Paul would surely not seriously attribute them to these brethren after having just given them such a severe rebuke for their pride over gifts that had been bestowed upon them through no personal merit. The only conclusion, then, that we can reach, is that he used it in irony as a further reproof of them for their pride over the gifts. Reigned as kings without us (the apostles). Some more irony, referring to their feeling of self-sufficiency, to the extent that they did not feel the need of apostolic help. Would to God ye did reign is a serious phrase, expressing the unselfishness of the apostle. He would have rejoiced had the Corinthians been as strong as they felt, for in that case he also could share in the accomplishment, seeing he was the one who put them into the work to begin with.

    Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

    1Co 4:8. Now ye are filled, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: yea, and I would ye did reign, that we might reign with you. There is keen irony here: A fine time of it ye have had since ye were relieved of our presence; we stood in your way, we kept you in bondage, it seems; but now ye breathe more freely, and your Christianity is an easy-going thing; ye have got past the suffering, and have reached the reigning period. Would that it were so indeed, for then were it our time to reign along with you as your father in Christ; but alas, the reverse of all this we daily and bitterly feel.

    Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

    Section 5. (1Co 4:8-21.)

    Conditions of the way.

    We now come to the conditions of the path, conditions which the Corinthians were violating altogether. No connection can be plainer in the word of God than that between a present suffering with Christ and reigning with Him by and by. If they suffered, they would also reign; but was this then, in fact, their condition? It was quite otherwise. They were refusing the place of suffering, and taking the greatest pains to escape that which should have been their real glory. The apostle calls them back to the ways in Christ which they might have seen in him, and of which Timothy would remind them, -ways which were altogether in accordance with the doctrine that he taught. In fact, how much the ways, the heart, therefore, which is manifested in them, tends to produce the doctrine. It is thus, in fact, that all heresies come in; and with that great truth of the coming of the Lord even, which brings us so sharply to the judgment of God which will then take place upon all our ways; and that is how, plainly, the Lord Himself has emphasized that men say first of all in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth His coming.” The doctrine accordant with this is often not hard to make out, even from Scripture.

    1. This, then, was the condition of the Corinthians. They were full, they were rich, they had reigned as kings, “without us,” adds the apostle. It is plain that the apostles were not reigning. He would wish indeed that they did reign all together, but on the contrary, the apostles were in this respect the very last and lowest, instead of having a foremost place in the world; they were a spectacle to the world for their sufferings, nay, to angels also as well as men. How false a test, then, of a Christian’s condition, is what men would call his prosperity! As to the Church in general also, how false a test would this he! The Church indeed at large has followed. as we know, the Corinthians in this way. It is reigning far more than suffering. It has exhibited in the fullest way this prudence in Christ upon which the apostle remarks here, a prudence which was employed not to avoid what would be hindrances in the way of others, but difficulties in their own way. They were full, “sated” as the word is, but of necessity they were not then in communion with the apostles in this respect, and the same test remains for us and must remain. Are we or not in communion with the apostles? They remained, as we know, until their end in martyr deaths, for the most part, just in the condition the apostle describes here. We cannot reverse that record; and if communion is something more than merely with our own time and generation, if we are to bring it up to the apostolic standard, then what a test of our life and ways does this apostolic record become! We can see also by this, that the world would remain the world until the day of Christ. Man’s day would characterize it to the end. He expected no difference. He had no such doctrine as that Christianity was to be a leaven in the world, which was gradually to change the whole condition of things. On the contrary, the Christian’s course would always be one necessitating suffering. As the apostle says elsewhere: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” No doubt the general character of things will affect in measure this also, but as to the principle, it remains entirely untouched; and these instructors among the Corinthians, of whom he says that they were indeed not fathers, God had not set His seal to their work as He had to those who established that church at Corinth, -these instructors might find for themselves, also, an easy path in leading men in the way of their own wills and desires. He does not, as already said, even mention their names. He will not allow himself to be exposed even to jangle with them. God, as is implied here, was not with them, and that was enough. As a father to those whom he had begotten in Christ through the gospel, he could beseech them to be imitators of him.

    2. On this account, therefore, he was sending to them now Timotheus, himself fulfilling his name, one who faithfully “honored God,” and who would put them in mind, as they needed, of ways which were in Christ, -of the doctrine they had received, and he was giving to them nothing more than in this way: What he said was that they should develop in practice that which they had received. His ways he could boldly profess (and indeed it was evident) were according to the teaching which he had delivered to them. He was coming also himself. His heart plainly urged him to this, but if he came, the question which made him, we may say, hesitate, was that of the manner in which be would have to come to them. Was he to come to exercise apostolic authority and to deal with them with a rod, which God after all had given him, or was he to come as he desired, in love and in the spirit of meekness? They were puffed up, some at least, as if he would not come; but when he came it would not be the speech of those that were puffed up that would be seen, but what was the power; for the “kingdom of God,” he says, “is not in word, but in power.” Power must of necessity characterize a rule of God wherever it existed.

    Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

    These words are looked upon by interpreters as an ironical reproof given by St. Paul to the Corinthians, in which with an holy derision he rebukes the over-weening and high opinion which they had of their present attainments and spiritual perfections; Ye are full, &c.

    As if he had said, “Now you think yourselves so full and rich in all kinds of knowledge, that you despise your spiritual fathers, myself and Apollos, who first converted you to the faith; we are looked upon as dull fellows, not worthy to be named in the same day with your new admired teachers. You advance yourselves as much above us, as a king is above his own subjects. I wish with all my heart your happiness were real, that we might be sharers in it; but verily I fear that you are only puft up with notions: I fear ye have little except in conceit, and there you have a great deal too much.”

    Learn hence, That spiritual pride (that is, boasting of, and glorying in, the gifts, graces, or privileges, which are conferred upon us) is a sin which the devil strongly tempts, and professors are extremely prone, to the practice and commission of. Now ye are full, now ye are rich.

    Observe next, As the flourishing condition of the Corinthians is ironically described, so the afflicted and persecuted condition of the apostles is plainly declared: We are a spectacle to the world, and appointed to death. The original word is, We are set as upon a theatre or stage, in public view; heaven, earth, and hell, are spectators; God, angels, and men, wait to see the glorious triumphs of our faith and fortitude.

    What a great solemnity is there at the sufferings of a saint! Bloody persecutors are for making all the members, especially all the ministers of Christ, a spectacle to the world: an allusion to the Roman spectacles, who carried those persons about for a sight that were to fight with wild beasts; and if they escaped, were only reserved for slaughter against another day. Thus the apostles in their martyrdom conflicted with all sorts of misery, and with death itself at last.

    Observe lastly, How the false professors of Christianity branded the apostles with folly for exposing themselves thus to sufferings and death for the sake of Christ: We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; that is, in your account we are fools, because we run so many hazards for the sake of Christ; but you are wise in your profession of Christ, because you have an art to profess him, and yet enjoy outward prosperity with him. The wisdom of suffering Christians, in hazarding all for Christ, and laying down their lives in the cause of Christ, has been always accounted weakness and folly by the men of the world. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ.

    Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

    1Co 4:8. Now ye are full The Corinthians abounded with spiritual gifts; and so did the apostles. But the apostles, by continual want and sufferings, were preserved from self-complacency. The Corinthians suffered nothing; and having plenty of all things, were pleased with and applauded themselves. And they were like children who, being raised in the world, disregard their poor parents. Now ye are full, says the apostle, in a beautiful gradation; ye are rich; ye have reigned as kings A proverbial expression, denoting the most splendid and plentiful circumstances; without us That is, without any thought of us; or, by the ministry of your own teachers, without our help. And I would to God ye did reign In the best sense: I would ye had attained to an eminence of grace and holiness as well as of gifts; that we also might reign with you Might have no more sorrow on your account.

    Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Vv. 8. Now ye are full; now ye are rich; ye have reigned as kings without us; and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you!

    The asyndeton is a new evidence of emotion. The , now, placed foremost, repeated, and that in the same place in the second proposition, well expresses the movement of this whole passage: Now already! Paul and the other apostles are still in a world of suffering; but at Corinth the Church already lives in full triumph.

    The fulness denotes the imperturbable self-satisfaction which characterized the Corinthians. It is all over among them with that poverty of spirit, that hungering and thirsting after righteousness, those tears of repentance, which Jesus had made the permanent condition of life in Him (Mat 5:1-4). They are people who have nothing more to ask, all whose spiritual wants are satisfied; they have reached the perfect life!

    The expression, riches, no doubt, alludes to the abundance of spiritual gifts which distinguished this Church above all others, and which Paul himself had recognised in the outset (1Co 1:5; 1Co 1:7). The rebuke applies, not to the fact of their possession of gifts, but to the feeling of pride which accompanied it.

    The aorist is substituted for the perfect, because the fulness is a state which remains, while the acquisition of riches is the initial and momentary fact.

    The signifies, ye have become kings. The advent to royalty is expressed by the aorist; for the aorist of verbs in denotes, not the state, but entrance into the state. This royalty is, of course, that of the Messianic epoch, when the faithful are to reign with Christ. This condition of things glorious seems to have already begun at Corinth. No more obscurity, no more infirmity! The Church swims in full celestial state. Unspeakable delights, sublime illuminations, miraculous powers, captivating sermons: it lacks nothing.

    The words , without us, have been understood in the sense of in our absence, or without our co-operation; as if Paul would say: Grand things have passed at Corinth since we left you! But in this explanation it is forgotten that the regimen without us takes the place, in this third proposition, of the , already, which began the first two, and this leads to a meaning still more telling: Without our having part in the elevation which is granted to you. Ye are rich, ye are kings; we others are not so happy….We still drag out the miserable existence of this nether world! The without us paves the way for 1Co 4:9.

    The last words are thus easily explained: And would to God this grand news were true, that ye were really on the throne! For in that case, it is to be hoped that we should soon be seated with you. This , with, corresponds precisely to the , without us, in the preceding proposition.

    The , as always, is restrictive: If this one wish were realized, all the others would be satisfied. The restriction might also be understood in this sense: If at least it were enough to desire it to secure that it should be! This meaning seems to me less natural.

    The second aorist (for ), I owed, and hence it would need, is often used as a conjunction with the ellipsis of the following (if) to express utinam; the following verb is in the indicative, as dependent on the understood .

    Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

    Already ye are filled [with self-satisfaction], already ye are become rich [with intellectual pride], ye have come to reign without us [Ye have so exalted yourselves that we poor apostles have become quite needless to your lordly independence. The inflated self-esteem of the Corinthians was like that of the Laodiceans some twoscore years later– Rev 3:17-18]: yea and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. [Here, moved by his ardent affection, the apostle passes instantly from biting sarcasm to a divinely tender yearning for their welfare. He wishes that they possessed in reality that eminence which existed only in their conceit. How different, then, would be his own condition. Their true development was his joy, their real elevation his exaltation, and their final triumph in Christ his crown of glorying (1Th 2:19; 1Co 9:23). From the brilliant picture thus raised before his imagination, Paul turns to depict his true condition, in all its unenviable details.]

    Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

    Verse 8

    Now ye are full,&c.; in your own ideas and estimation–I would to God ye did reign; in reality and truth; that is, that their spiritual condition was as elevated and prosperous as they imagined. In this and the verses which follow, (1 Corinthians 4:8-13,) the apostle contrasts the condition of spiritual ease and satisfaction which some of the vain and self-conceited teachers of the Corinthian church appeared to enjoy, with the toils and hardships, and the humble self-denial, which characterized the lives of the true and devoted servants of Jesus.

    Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

    1Co 4:8. Having uncovered and rebuked the real root of the factions, Paul reveals its utter unseemliness by a bitter contrast of the conceit of his readers with the actual circumstances of himself and his colleagues.

    You are: to the church collectively, in contrast to the individual (cp. one on behalf of the other, 1Co 4:6) singled out in 1Co 4:7.

    Already, conspicuously placed and repeated, shows that the point of Paul’s irony is that their enrichment had come so early. And this suggests that he refers here to the fullness, wealth, and royalty, of God’s people in the world to come. Cp. Php 4:19; Rom 8:17 f; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 5:10; Mat 5:6; 2Co 8:9. They thought, spoke, and acted, as though they had already obtained the glory for which others were waiting, as though even now, before they have gone down into the grave or Christ has appeared, all their needs and yearnings had been satisfied, as though they had already received their share of the wealth of the City of God and had sat down upon the throne beside Christ.

    Apart from us: without our aid or participation. Although Paul had been the means of their spiritual life, he did not possess and therefore could not convey, such things as they boasted of.

    And would that etc.: sudden waking up from his dream of self-conceit. Would that your dreams were true, that also we might share the royalty you seem to fancy you have already obtained! In other words, if their self-estimate be true, they are much more fortunate than their teachers.

    Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

    4:8 {9} Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

    (9) He descends to a most grave mockery, to cause those glory-seeking men to blush, even though they did not want to.

    Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

    His readers were behaving as though they had already received their commendation at the judgment seat of Christ. This is an indication of their over-realized eschatology. They should have been conducting themselves as under-rowing servants and paying attention to managing God’s work faithfully (1Co 4:1). Ironically Paul said he wished the time for rewards had arrived so he could enjoy reigning with his readers. Unfortunately suffering must precede glory.

    "The irony is devastating: How they perceive themselves, masterfully overstated in 1Co 4:8; 1Co 4:10, is undoubtedly the way they think he ought to be. But the way he actually is, set forth in the rhetoric of 1Co 4:11-13, is the way they all ought to be." [Note: Ibid., p. 165.]

    Irony and sarcasm were popular modes of discourse in Greco-Roman antiquity (cf. 2Co 11:7). [Note: Keener, p. 45.]

    Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)