Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 4:16
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
16. be ye followers of me ] Literally, imitators. Vulgate, imitatores. St Paul’s was no spurious humility, such as has too often taken the place of real gospel humility in the Christian Church. He could venture to refer to his own example, where his conscience told him he had honestly striven to carry out his Master’s commands.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore – Since I am your spiritual father.
Be ye followers of me – Imitate me; copy my example; listen to my admonitions. Probably Paul had particularly in his eye their tendency to form parties; and here admonishes them that he had no disposition to form sects, and entreats them in this to imitate his example. A minister should always so live as that he can, without pride or ostentation, point to his own example; and entreat his people to imitate him. He should have such a confidence in his own integrity; he should lead such a blameless life; and he should be assured that his people have so much evidence of his integrity, that he can point them to his own example, and entreat them to live like himself. And to do this, he should live a life of piety, and should furnish such evidence of a pure conversation, that his people may have reason to regard him as a holy man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me.] It should rather be translated, Be ye imitators of me; , from which we have our word mimic, which, though now used only in a bad or ludicrous sense, simply signifies an imitator of another person, whether in speech, manner, habit, or otherwise. As children should imitate their parents in preference to all others, he calls on them to imitate him, as he claims them for his children. He lived for God and eternity, seeking not his own glory, emolument, or ease: those sowers of sedition among them were actuated by different motives. Here then the apostle compares himself with them: follow and imitate me, as I follow and imitate Christ: do not imitate them who, from their worldly pursuits, show themselves to be actuated with a worldly spirit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I might as a father command you, but I beseech you, be ye followers of me, in preserving the unity and promoting the holiness of the church. He expounds this, 1Co 11:1; Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ. Holiness of life and conversation is necessary to a true minister of Christ; for their people ought not only to be their hearers, but their followers; they are ensamples to the flock, 1Pe 5:3, and ought to be examples of believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, 1Ti 4:12; in all things showing themselves patterns of good works; in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, & c., Tit 2:7. Those who teach well and live ill, are no good ministers of Christ; they cannot say unto people: Be ye followers of me.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. be ye followers of meliterally,”imitators,” namely, in my ways, which be in Christ(1Co 4:17; 1Co 11:1),not in my crosses (1Co 4:8-13;Act 26:29; Gal 4:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore, I beseech you,…. Though he might have used the power and authority of a father, yet he chose rather to entreat and beseech them; saying,
be ye followers of me; for who should children follow, but their parents? The Vulgate Latin, adds, “as I am of Christ”; so Chrysostom in his time read it; and Beza says he found it so written in one Greek exemplar; and so it is in one of Stephens’s; it seems to have crept in from 1Co 11:1. However, though it might not be now expressed by the apostle, it is to be supposed; for he never desired any to follow him any more, or further than he followed Christ; particularly he was desirous that these his spiritual children would follow him, and abide by him in the doctrine of a crucified Christ, he had preached among them, and not the false apostles, who had represented his ministry as weak and foolish; and in his life and conversation, especially in his humble carriage and deportment among them, and in his tender love and affection for them; observing their growing pride, haughtiness, and vain opinion of themselves, and those unnatural divisions and animosities which were fomented among them; and also in bearing reproach and persecution cheerfully and patiently, for the Gospel of Christ; a detail of which he had given them in some preceding verses.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Be ye imitators of me ( ). “Keep on becoming (present middle imperative) imitators of me (objective genitive).” is an old word from , to copy, to mimic (). Paul stands for his rights as their spiritual father against the pretensions of the Judaizers who have turned them against him by the use of the names of Apollos and Cephas.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) ‘Wherefore I beseech you.” (parakalo oun humas) “therefore I beseech, exhort or call you compassionately alongside of me.” Paul desired that the Corinth brethren join him and other missionary companions in suffering, labor, and financial help in bearing the gospel to the lost.
2) “Be ye followers of me.” (Greek mametai mou ginesthe) “Become ye imitators of me.” In another instance he wrote “follow me as I follow Christ,” 1Co 11:1; Luk 9:23-24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. I exhort you. He now expresses also, in his own words, what he requires from them in his fatherly admonition — that, being his sons, they do not degenerate from their father. For what is more reasonable than that sons endeavor to be as like as possible to their father. (262) At the same time he gives up something in respect of his own right, when he exhorts them to this, by way of entreaty rather than of command. But to what extent he wishes them to be imitators of him, he shows elsewhere, when he adds, as he was of Christ (1Co 11:1.) This limitation must always be observed, so as not to follow any man, except in so far as he leads us to Christ. We know what he is here treating of. The Corinthians did not merely shun the abasement of the cross, but they also regarded their father with contempt, on this account, that, forgetting earthly glory, he gloried rather in reproaches for Christ; and they reckoned themselves and others fortunate in having nothing contemptible according to the flesh. He accordingly admonishes them to devote themselves, after his example, to the service of Christ, so as to endure all things patiently.
(262) “ Taschent a suyure les bonnes moeurs de lears peres;” — “Endeavor to follow the good manners of their fathers.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Wherefore.Because I stand in this relation I call you to preserve, as it were, in a moral sense, that family likeness which would naturally accompany such a relationship (Gal. 4:12; Eph. 5:1; Php. 3:17).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Followers Imitators, as of a model. Christianity is new; and what fashion of character it requires us to shape ourselves to needs not only an inspired instruction but a living pattern. It was a greatness in St. Paul, that, disclaiming all originality, and claiming to be like Christ, he could call the world to imitate himself. Notes on Act 20:17-38.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 4:16. Be ye followers of me. This he presses again, ch. 1Co 11:1 and it is not likely that he would have proposed himself over and again to them to be followed by them, had the question and contest among them been only whose name they should have borne, his,or their new teacher’s. His proposing himself therefore thus to be followed, must be understood in direct opposition to the false Apostle who misled them, and who was not to be suffered to have any credit or followers among them. See Locke.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 4:16 . ] since I am your father.
. . .] become imitators of me . Paul does not add any more precise definition as to the matter (“ in cura tutandae in ecclesia tum unitatis tum sanctitatis ,” Grotius thinks, but without warrant in the context); but the connection of the passage, after 1Co 4:6-13 , leaves no room for doubt that he has in view the discarding of conceit and self-seeking, and the putting on of humility and self-denial.
As regards the phrase . ., comp 1Co 11:1 ; 1Th 1:6 ; 1Th 2:14 ; Eph 5:1 ; Phi 3:17 ; and as regards the idea, Xen. Mem. i. 6. 3 : .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
Ver. 16. Be ye followers of me ] As dear children. A bove maiori discit arare minor. From the larger bull the smaller ones are taught to plough, (Ovid.) Constantine’s children resembled their father exactly, they put him wholly on, saith Eusebius, and were, as it were, very he, .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] , because I am your father .
, not only, nor perhaps chiefly, in the things just mentioned , 1Co 4:9-13 , but as 1Co 4:17 , in ., my manner of life and teaching . See reff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 4:16 . “I beseech you therefore (as your father), be imitators of me.” (pr [766] impr.) signifies, in moral exhortations, be in effect, show yourselves ( cf. Eph 4:32 ; Eph 5:17 ). demands, beyond , a character formed on the given model. Imitation is the law of the child’s life; cf. Eph 5:1 ; and for the highest illustration, Joh 5:17-20 . It is one thing to say “I am of Paul” (1Co 1:12 ), another to tread in Paul’s steps. The imitation would embrace, in effect, much of what was described in 1Co 4:9 ff.
[766] present tense.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Wherefore = On account of (App-104. 1Co 4:2) this.
beseech. Greek. parakaleo, as in 1Co 4:13.
be = become.
followers = imitators. Greek. mimetes. Elsewhere, 1Co 11:1. Eph 5:1. 1Th 1:6; 1Th 2:14. Heb 6:12. 1Pe 3:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] , because I am your father.
, not only, nor perhaps chiefly, in the things just mentioned, 1Co 4:9-13,-but as 1Co 4:17, in ., my manner of life and teaching. See reff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 4:16. , I exhort) A short exhortation after a long and true account of his own example is valuable.- , imitators of me) as sons. Having laid aside pride, cultivate that feeling even without the cross, which is fostered in us by means of the cross. He proposes the imitation of himself to those, with whom he had been, Gal 4:12; Php 3:17.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 4:16
1Co 4:16
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.-Here he asserts his fidelity to Christ, his nearness to them as their father, and so pleads with them for their own good as beloved children to imitate him in Christ, [in humility, self-denial, and faithfulness. To what extent he wished them to imitate him, he shows in these words: Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1Co 11:1).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
1Co 11:1, Joh 10:4, Joh 10:5, Phi 3:17, 1Th 1:6, 2Th 3:9, Heb 13:7, 1Pe 5:3
Reciprocal: 1Co 1:10 – I beseech Eph 4:1 – beseech 2Th 3:7 – how 3Jo 1:11 – follow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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1Co 4:16. Thayer defines the original for follower as “an imitator.” A son would do well to imitate the example set by a righteous father. If the Corinthians would do that in regard to the life of Paul, they would cease to be puffed up over the comparatively small matter of spiritual gifts.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 4:16. I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of mein preparedness to suffer for His name.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 16. A father has a right to expect that wellborn children follow his steps; hence the therefore. The apostle is thinking particularly of the absence of all self-seeking and self-satisfaction, of the abnegation and humility of which they had an example in him. The (1Co 4:14) referred especially to their past, and to all that was blameworthy in it; the applies to the future, and to the good which ought to appear among them. The word , become (be), reminds them how far they have gone astray.
To help them on the way of return to a new course, Paul sends them one of his most faithful fellow-labourers, whom he hopes soon to follow himself (1Co 4:17-21).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me. [Again, in the highest sense we can only be imitators of God (Eph 5:1); but in a secondary sense the Corinthians could imitate Paul–his humility, faithfulness, self-sacrifice and industry, as did the Thessalonians– 1Th 1:6]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
16. During Pauls absence of three years in Asia, much error had crept in. Many preachers had been with them, some all right, others not so. He prefers to correct the heresies and reform the apostasies at a distance, lest if he waited until his arrival he would have to enforce severe discipline.
Meanwhile he sent to them Timothy, his favorite preacher, who in point of humility, orthodoxy and plainness was almost a facsimile of Paul, whose wholesome teaching was just what they needed.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 16
Wherefore; on account of the peculiar relation which he sustained to the church as its spiritual father. We observe that the apostle does not rest his claim to be heard on his holding over them any official supremacy.–Be ye followers of me; that is, in attending to and obeying these instructions.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The Corinthians were to learn from Paul as a son learns by observing the example of his father. Contemporary Greek philosophers also provided moral examples for their followers to imitate, sometimes themselves. [Note: Keener, p. 45.] Paul was doing that here (cf. 1Co 11:1).
". . . Paul’s actual ethical instruction as it appears in his Epistles rarely uses the language of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospels; but on every page it reflects his example and his teaching . . ." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 187.]
For example, Paul never used the word "disciple" in his epistles. Instead he appealed to his readers as his children or his brethren. The metaphor of father and children to refer to a teacher and his disciples was also common in Judaism.