Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 4:1
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1. Let a man so account of us ] ‘Of the things of which we have spoken this is the sum.’ We are not to be regarded for any qualifications we may have of our own, but simply as ‘the servants of the Most High God.’
and stewards of the mysteries of God ] Literally, house-ruler, or house feeder. Cf. German Hauswalter from walten to rule, and the English house-keeper. What a steward’s office is, we learn from St Mat 24:45. And he is appointed to dispense the mysteries of the Gospel. This word is derived from a word signifying to close, to shut, and was in the old Greek civilization used to denote those rites which were only permitted to the initiated, and were kept a strict secret from the outside world. Of such a kind were the well-known Eleusinian mysteries, which were kept every fifth year at Eleusis in Attica, the rites of the Bona Dea, which were observed at Rome, and those of Isis and Mithras, which were of Egyptian and Persian origin. (See Article “Mysteria” in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.) The word is used in Scripture in two senses, (1) for things hidden from the ordinary understanding, (2) of things formerly concealed in the counsels of God but revealed to those who believe the Gospel. We have examples of the former meaning in ch. 1Co 13:2 and 1Co 14:2 of this Epistle, in 2Th 2:7, and in Rev 1:20. The latter sense is met with in Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9; Col 1:26, &c. The present passage appears to include both meanings. The ministers of Christ are to nourish their people on the knowledge of the truths of His Gospel, a knowledge (ch. 1Co 2:10-16) revealed only to the spiritual. No instance of the word in its more modern Greek sense of Sacraments is to be found in Holy Scripture. In the Septuagint it is frequently found in the Apocrypha (as in Tob 12:7 ; Tob 12:11 ), but the only instances of its occurrence in the Canonical books are in the Septuagint translation of the book of Daniel, ch. Dan 2:18-19; Dan 2:27-30; Dan 2:47, ch. 1Co 4:9 (where it is the translation of a Chaldaic word signifying “a thing hidden,” which in our Authorized Version is translated secret) and in Isa 24:16, where, however, the translators, as those of the Vulgate, appear to have been misled by the similarity of the Chaldee word to a Hebrew one. Luther, Ewald, and the English version translate the word by ‘leanness.’ It is also found in some editions in the Greek of Pro 20:19. Cf. for similar sentiments to the above passage, Tit 1:7, and 1Pe 4:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. 1Co 4:1-7. The true estimation of Christ’s ministers and the true criterion of their work
After having pointed out the light in which the teachers of Christianity should be regarded, the Apostle in this chapter goes on to point out the practical difference between those who preach themselves and those who preach Christ, and urges all to a life like His, that He may have no need of rebukes when He comes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let a man – Let all; let this be the estimate formed of us by each one of you.
So account of us – So think of us, the apostles.
As the ministers of Christ – As the servants of Christ. Let them form a true estimate of us and our office – not as the head of a faction; not as designing to form parties, but as unitedly and entirely the servants of Christ; see 1Co 3:5.
And stewards – Stewards were those who presided over the affairs of a family, and made provision for it, etc.; see the note at Luk 16:1. It was an office of much responsibility; and the apostle by using the term here seems to have designed to elevate those whom he seemed to have depreciated in 1Co 3:5.
Of the mysteries of God – Of the gospel; see the note at 1Co 2:7. The office of steward was to provide those things which were necessary for the use of a family. And so the office of a minister of the gospel, and a steward of its mysteries, is to dispense such instructions, guidance, counsel, etc., as may be requisite to build up the church of Christ; to make known those sublime truths which are contained in the gospel, but which had not been made known before the revelation of Jesus Christ, and which are, therefore, called mysteries. It is implied in this verse:
(1) That the office of a minister is one that is subordinate to Christ – they are his servants.
(2) That those in the office should not attempt to be the head of sect or party in the church.
(3) That the office is honorable as that of a steward is; and,
(4) That Christians should endeavor to form and cherish just ideas of ministers; to give them their TRUE honor; but not to overrate their importance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 4:1-5
Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
The ministry
So keenly alive is Paul to the danger and folly of party-spirit, that he has still one more word of rebuke to utter.
I. Paul and the rest were servants and stewards.
1. The question therefore was, were they faithful? not, were they eloquent or philosophical? Criticism no preacher need expect to escape. Sometimes one might suppose sermons were of no other use than to furnish material for discussion. But who shall say which style is most edifying to the Church and which teacher is most faithfully serving his Master?
2. With him who is conscious that he must give account to his Master, it is a very small thing to be judged of mans judgment, whether for applause or condemnation. A teacher who thinks for himself is compelled to utter truths which he knows will be misunderstood by many; but so long as he is conscious of his fidelity this does not trouble him. And, on the other hand, the applause of men comes to him only as a reminder that there is no finality in mans judgment, and that it is only Christs approval which avails to give permanent satisfaction.
II. Great difficulty has always been experienced in tracing the similarities and distinctions between the apostles and the ordinary ministry, and had Paul been writing in our own day he would have spoken more definitely. For what makes union hopeless in Christendom at present is not that parties are formed round individual leaders, but that Churches are based on diametrically opposed opinions regarding the ministry itself.
1. As in the State a prince, though legitimate, does not succeed to the throne without formal coronation, so in the Church there is needed a formal recognition of the title which any one claims to office.
2. It would therefore seem to be every ones duty to inquire, before he gives himself to another profession or business, whether Christ is not claiming him to serve in His Church.
III. Paul concludes this portion of his Epistle with a pathetic comparison of his condition as an apostle with the condition of those in Corinth who were glorying in this or that teacher (1Co 4:8). With the frothy spirit of young converts, they are full of a triumph which they despise Paul for not inculcating. While they thus triumphed, he who had begotten them in Christ was being treated as the offscouring and filth of the world.
1. Paul can only compare himself and the other apostles to those gladiators who came into the arena last, after the spectators had been sated with bloodless performances (1Co 4:9). While others sat comfortably looking on, they were in the arena, exposed to ill-usage and death. Life became no easier, the world no kinder, to Paul as time went on (1Co 4:11). Here is the finest mind, the noblest spirit, on earth; and this is how he is treated. And yet he goes on with his work, and lets nothing interrupt that (1Co 4:12-13). Nay, it is a life which he is so far from giving up himself, that he will call to it the easy-going Christians of Corinth (1Co 4:16).
2. And if the contrast between Pauls self-sacrificing life and the luxurious life of the Corinthians might be expected to shame them into Christian service, a similar contrast should accomplish some good results in us. Already the Corinthians were accepting that pernicious conception of Christianity which looks upon it as merely a new luxury. They recognised how happy a thing it is to be forgiven, to be at peace with God, to have a sure hope of life everlasting. As yet they had not caught a glimpse of what is involved in becoming holy as Christ is holy. Are there none still who listen to Christianity rather as a voice soothing their fears than as a bugle summoning them to conflict? Paul does not summon the Church to be outcast from all joy; but when he says, Be ye followers of me, he means that there is not one standard of duty for him and another for us. All is wrong with us until we are made somehow to recognise that we have no right to selfishly aggrandise while Paul is driven through life with scarcely one days bread provided. If we be Christs, as Paul was, it must inevitably come to this with us: that we cordially yield to Him all we are and have. If our hearts be His, this is inevitable and delightful; unless they be so, it is impossible, and seems extravagant.
3. It was Christs own self-sacrifice that threw such a spell over the apostles and gave them so new a feeling towards their fellow-men and so new an estimate of their deepest needs. After seeing how Christ lived, they could never again justify themselves in living for self. And it is because we are so sunk in self-seeking and worldliness that we continue so unapostolic.
4. It might encourage us to bring our life more nearly into the line of Pauls were we to see clearly that the cause he served is really inclusive of all that is worth working for. We can scarcely apprehend this with any clearness without feeling some enthusiasm for it. You have seen men become so enamoured of a cause that they will literally sell all they have to forward it, and when such a cause is worthy the men who adopt it seem to lead the only lives which have some semblance of glory in them. Our Lord, by claiming our service, gives us the opportunity of sinking our selfishness, which is in the last analysis our sin, and of living for a worthier object than our own pleasure or our own careful preservation. When He tells us to live for Him and to seek the things that are His, He but tells us in other words and in a more attractive and practical form to seek the common good. We seek the things that are Christs when we act as Christ would act were He in our place. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The true estimate of the Christian ministry
I. Its undue glorification. The Christian minister may be made an idol of–
1. By party worship of the man. This was the particular danger here. Let us take the cases the apostle selects (1Co 4:6) as specimens of all.
(1) Paul and Apollos each taught a truth that had taken possession of his soul, and so with modern teachers. Well, this truth commends itself to kindred spirits; it expresses their difficulties, it is a flood of light on many a dark passage of their history. No wonder that they view with gratitude and enthusiasm the messenger of this blessedness. And no wonder that the truth thus taught becomes at last the chief, almost the sole, truth proclaimed by him. Because–
(a) Every man has but one mind, and must, therefore, repeat himself.
(b) That which has won attachment from his congregation can scarcely be made subordinate in subsequent teaching without losing that attachment; so that ministers and congregations often narrow into a party, and hold one truth especially.
And so far they do well; but when they hold that truth to the exclusion of all other truths it is not well; and then, when with bitter and jealous antagonism, party-men watch all other religious factions but their own, the sectarian work is done: the minister is at once the idol and the slave of the party.
(2) Now St. Paul meets this with his usual delicacy (1Co 4:6). Think you that he knew nothing of that which is so dear to many a minister in our day–the power of gaining the confidence of his people, the power of having his every word accepted as infallible? Yet hear him–I am a minister, a steward only. I dare not be a party leader, for I am the servant of Him who came to make all one.
2. By attributing supernatural powers and imaginary gifts to the office. When one claiming the power of the keys, and pretending to the power of miraculous conveyance of grace in the sacraments; or, declaring that he has an especial power to receive confession and to forgive sins; then, grave men, who would turn contemptuously from the tricks of the mere preacher, are sometimes subdued before those of the priest. And yet this is but the same thing in another form; for pride and vanity sometimes appear in the very guise of humility. Who would not depreciate himself if, by magnifying his office, he obtained the power he loved? Bernard, professing to be unsecular, yet ruled the secular affairs of the world, and many others have reigned in their sackcloth with a power which the imperial purple never gave.
II. Its depreciation.
1. There is a way common enough in which the minister is viewed simply as a very useful regulation, on a par with the magistracy and the police. In this light his chief duty is to lecture the poor, and of all the texts which bear on politics to preach from only two, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; to be the treasurer of charitable institutions, and to bless the rich mans banquet. Thus the office is simply considered a profession, a living for the younger branches of noble houses, and an advance for the sons of those of a lower grade. In this view a degrading compact is made between the minister and society. If he will not interfere with abuses and only echo current conventionalisms, then shall there be shown to him the condescending patronage which comes from men who stand by the Church as they would stand by any other old time-honoured institution; who would think it ill-bred to take Gods name in vain in the presence of a clergyman, and unmanly to insult a man whose profession prevents his resenting indignities. Now it is enough to quote the apostles view (1Co 4:1), and at once you are in a different atmosphere of thought.
2. The other way is to measure, as the Corinthians did, teachers by their gifts, and in proportion to their acceptability to them. Men seem to look on the ministry as an institution intended for their comfort, for their gratification, nay, even for their pastime. In this way the preaching of the gospel seems to be something like a lecture, professional or popular; a free arena for light discussion and flippant criticism. Now St. Paul (1Co 4:3) simply refuses to submit his authority to any judgment; and this you will say, perchance, was priestly pride. It was profound humility; he was to be judged before a tribunal far more awful than Corinthian society. Fidelity is the chief excellence in a steward, and fidelity is precisely that which men cannot judge (1Co 4:4-5). Another Eye had seen, and He could tell how far the sentence was framed for mans applause; how far the unpleasant truth was softened, not for loves sake, but simply from cowardice; how far independence was only another name for stubbornness; how far even avoidance of sectarianism is merely a proud resolve not to interfere with any other mans ministry, or to allow any man to interfere with his.
Conclusion: Learn–
1. Not to judge, for we do not know the secrets of the heart. We judge men by gifts, or by a correspondence with our own peculiarities; but God judges by fidelity. Many a dull sermon is the result of humble powers, honestly cultivated, whilst many a brilliant discourse arises merely from a love of display. Many a diligent and active ministry proceeds from the love of power.
2. To be neither depressed unduly by blame nor to be too much exalted by praise. Mans judgment will not last, but Gods will. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The character of gospel ministers
I. The character of gospel ministers.
1. They are ministers of Christ.
(1) They derive their commission from Christ (1Ti 1:12; Eph 4:8-13; Mat 28:20).
(2) They are under Christs direction and command. They ought not to go until He sends them, and they ought to go whenever and wherever His providence and the voice of His Church call them.
(3) They are employed in Christs service, to act under His authority, to publish and enforce His law and His gospel, to keep the ordinances of His house, and by all appointed means to subserve His work of grace and holiness and the interests of His kingdom and glory in the world.
(4) Christ Himself is the great subject of their ministrations. They are to preach Christ Jesus the Lord; and all the lines of their ministry are one way or another to centre in Him.
(5) They receive their furniture for Christs work, and their assistance in it, from Him.
(a) As to their temporal concerns, that they may be subsisted in His service, He has ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And He takes care, in His providence, to protect them from the rage of their enemies, so long as He has any work to do by them (Act 18:9-10).
(b) And as to their gifts and graces, He is exalted to fill the officers of His Church with such supplies as are necessary for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:7); He distributes His gifts with great variety for different administrations by His Spirit (1Co 12:11); and is with them alway to the end of the world.
(6) All the success and reward of their ministry proceeds from Christ. They can speak only to the ear, but He speaks to the heart, and adds such energy to their words as turns them into spirit and life.
2. They are stewards of the mysteries of God.
(1) What their stewardship relates to. The mysteries of God. The doctrines of the gospel may be called the mysteries of God on various accounts.
(a) They were secret in God till He revealed them, first more obscurely under the Old Testament and afterwards more clearly under the New (Rom 16:25-26).
(b) And even after these things are revealed in New Testament light there are mysteries in them still, especially with relation to the manner of their existence or of their operation (1Ti 3:16; Joh 3:8).
(c) After all the revelation which is made of them unrenewed souls do not see their excellence and beauty till Christ opens their understandings to understand the Scriptures, and they come to view them in the transforming light of the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:14).
(2) Their stewardship itself.
(a) They are not lords of the affairs which are under their management. A steward is but a servant to his Lord, and under Him; and so are all the ministers of Christ (Mat 23:10). They are not authors of the mysteries they dispense, but are to preach only that gospel which they have received from Him.
(b) Their stewardship intimates that what they are concerned in is committed to them as a trust, which they must give an account of to God (1Co 9:16-17; 2Ti 1:13-14).
(c) Their stewardship intimates that faithfulness, care, and diligence are to be used in discharging their trust (1Co 4:2). They must be faithful to Christ, to truth, and to their own and others souls.
II. The regard that is to be shown to gospel ministers. Let a man so account of us, &c. You should consider them all–
1. As servants and stewards, that you may not raise them too high in your account of them.
2. As the servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, that you may not sink them too low in your account of them. (J. Guyse, D. D.)
A true and a false estimate of genuine ministers of the gospel
Here we have–
I. A true estimate.
1. They are servants of Christ. There are some who regard them as servants of their Church. The Churches guarantee their stipend, and they require that their dogmas shall be propounded and their laws obeyed. He who yields to such an expectation degrades his position. The true servant of Christ will feel and act as the moral leader and commander of the people. Obey them that have the rule over you, &c. There is no office on this earth so dignified and royal as this.
2. As servants of Christ they are responsible. Stewards of the mysteries of God. The gospel is a mystery not in the sense of incomprehensibility, but in the sense of progressive unfoldment. It is a mystery to the man who at first begins its study, but as he gets on it becomes more and mere clear. The true minister is to translate these mysteries into intelligible ideas, and dispense them to the people. As a steward of such things his position is one of transcendent responsibility.
3. As servants of Christ they are faithful–
(1) To their trust; not abuse it, but use it according to the directions of its Owner.
(2) To their hearers; seeking no mans applause, fearing no mans frown, commending himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God.
4. As servants of Christ they are independent (1Co 4:3). Whilst no true minister will despise the favour or court the contempt of men, they will not be concerned about their judgment so long as they are faithful to God Paul indicates three reasons for this independency.
(1) His own consciousness of faithfulness (1Co 4:5). Others may accuse me, but I am not conscious of that which should condemn me, or render me unworthy of this office.
(2) His confidence in the judgment of God. But He that judgeth me is the Lord. I am content to abide by His judgment.
(3) His belief in a full revelation of that judgment (1Co 4:5). Do not let us judge one another; do not let us even trust too much to our own judgment of ourselves. Let us await heavens judgment.
(a) There is a period appointed for that judgment.
(b) At that period there will be a full revelation of our characters.
(c) At that period, too, every man shall have his due.
II. A false estimate (1Co 4:6). Paul speaks of himself and Apollos to show the impropriety of one minister being pitted against another. The Corinthians seemed to estimate ministers–
1. In proportion as they met their views and feelings. Every true preacher preaches the gospel as it has passed through his own mind, and as it passes through his own mind, it will, of course, be more interesting to the minds most in harmony with his own. Hence, in the Corinthian Church those who preferred Peters preaching thought no one was like Peter, &c. It is so now. Thus it is that some of the most inferior preachers are over-rated, and the most devoted degraded; whereas all true ministers are servants of Christ, the stewards of the mysteries of God, and as such should be honoured.
2. According to the greatness of their natural endowments (1Co 4:7). Between the natural endowments of Paul, Apollos, and Peter there was a great difference, and, indeed, between all ministers of the gospel. But what of that? There is nothing in those for boasting, for they all came from God. No man or angel deserves credit on account of natural abilities. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The ministerial trust
A party in the Church at Corinth said they were of Christ. They pretended to be so much under His immediate influence that they had no need of other teachers. What, said they, is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas to us? We are of Christ. For the reproof and instruction of such, as thus undervalued, as well as for the reproof and instruction of the other parties who were disposed to exalt the ministers of Christ, the apostle says, Let a man, &c.
I. Stewards fill an honourable but subordinate office.
1. A steward is set over a certain household for the purpose of superintending its affairs. Sustaining, then, the character of rulers in Gods house, and representatives of the majesty of heaven, the office with which ministers of the gospel are clothed must be an honourable one. The apostle, humble as he was, magnified his office, and enjoined that it should be respected and esteemed by others.
2. But the office is no less subordinate; it is held under him who is the lord of the steward. In correspondence with this, ministers are but servants of Christ. Sovereignty in the holy hill of Zion is that glory which He will not give to another. From Him they receive their appointment and all those qualifications which are necessary for the effectual discharge of their office. He, too, allots them their respective fields of labour, and assigns the measure of their success.
II. Stewards have a trust committed to them. The office of a steward is to take charge of the estate of his lord. Agreeably to this, ministers of the gospel have a trust of all others the most important. Time, talents, opportunities, and spheres of usefulness are a portion of the goods committed to their charge. But the trust delivered to them is the mysteries of God, the whole of Divine truth contained in the Scriptures.
1. The gospel is denominated a mystery (Mar 4:11; Rom 16:25; 1Co 2:7; Col 1:26). Because–
(1) Its gracious doctrines would have remained hid-in the mind of God had it not pleased Him to have made a revelation of them to man.
(2) It was but obscurely and partially revealed under the Old Testament economy.
(3) It can only be properly understood through the teaching of the Spirit of God. In the gospel there is a variety of mysteries, and accordingly the word is used in the plural number. There are mysteries–
(a) Which, though disclosed in Scripture as to their existence and reality, are not level to, but far above the comprehension of a finite mind. Such are the doctrines of the Trinity.
(b) Which, having been revealed, may in some measure be understood and explained. Such are the doctrines of the fall, the atonement, justification, &c., &c.
(c) Which, though not at present comprehended by the believer, will be fully disclosed to him in heaven, to which, At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Now we see through a glass darkly, &c.
2. Of these mysteries ministers are the stewards. In making known the mysteries of the gospel, they are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.
III. Stewards are required to be faithful to their trust (1Co 4:2).
1. They are not his own, but his lords goods that a steward has in his custody, and therefore he must be careful not to embezzle or squander them, but to lay out the whole to the best advantage. In agreement with this, it is required from ministers to be found faithful.
2. No such thing as faithfulness could be displayed by a worldly steward had he no correct knowledge of the estate, or of the goods that were consigned to his care. In like manner, it is impossible that those stewards of the mysteries of God can be faithful to their trust who do not give all diligence in perusing the Scriptures, to become scribes well instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
3. It is the duty of a worldly steward to provide food for, and to distribute it among the members of the house over which he is set. In correspondence with this, it is the duty of those who are stewards of the mysteries of God to be attentive to the spiritual wants of those among whom they labour, and to make careful provision of what is requisite for the supplyment of these. Fidelity also requires an impartial distribution of the Word of Life. Saints and sinners are alike to have the Word of Truth rightly divided among them. The former need to be comforted and assisted; the latter to be cautioned and directed by it.
4. It is the duty of a worldly steward vigilantly to watch, and anxiously to protect from spoliation the property which his lord has committed to his trust. In like manner it is the duty of the stewards of Divine mysteries to watch over them, and to guard them against the attacks of their enemies.
5. The steward of the mysteries of God who is faithful to his trust must be decidedly a man of God.
IV. Stewards are accountable for the trust that has been committed to them. Both just and unjust stewards may look forward with certainty to a day of reckoning. In agreement with this, ministers of the gospel are accountable for the solemn trust which has been committed to them. An account will be demanded from them of their time, how it was spent by them–of their gifts, how they improved them–of the gospel, how they preached it–and of precious souls as to the concern manifested, and the efforts made by them for their salvation. Conclusion: Who is sufficient for these things? None, in their own strength. Your sufficiency is only of God. (J. Duncan.)
Ministers and stewards
Ministers here means under-rowers, as pulling together in one galley where Christ sits at the helm, the vessel being the Church, and the passengers the members of the Church. Not only is disunion in the crew fatal to progress and a thing tending to shipwreck, but the fact of Christs presidency and magisterium should exalt high above petty partisanship, especially when the supreme owner of the sacred galley is God. Here the house-stewards of God and dispensers of His mysteries are said to be strictly such, as being servants or underlings of Christ; for between the Father of the household or Church and the distributors of the spiritual goods stands the Son In fact the image is again a stair of three steps. The Father delivers the Divine decrees or eternal ideas, elsewhere called the hidden wisdom of God, to the Incarnate Son. He in turn communicates them to His apostles, selected by Himself to dispense and apportion with wise judgment these secret counsels or mysteries of God to the members of the household. The house of God, an idea latent in the word household, denotes the Christian theocracy (1Ti 3:16) of which Christ is the nearer Head, God (the Head of Christ) the more remote. It appears certain from some of the deeper texts of Scripture that all that has taken place in the world through all the ages is but the historical evolution in time of the manifold and marvellous counsel of Triune Deity, willed in a remote eternity. These archetypal ideas, both of creation and redemption, were in part only and by degrees revealed to Paul, and of that part he himself has communicated to the Church a part only: for that he knew more than he wrote is clear enough from his occasional ejaculations of wonder, followed by no elucidations: to such an inspired mind teeming with supernatural mysteries, no marvel that all human science pales and waxes dim before a single ray of Divine wisdom! (Canon Evans.)
The steward of Gods mysteries
The Church at Corinth were divided into rival factions, arrayed under party leaders; and unprofitable controversies and unbecoming tempers were the natural results. The idea of the Christian ministry as a Divine institution was lost sight of, while the man who held the office was invested with undue importance. St. Paul endeavours to correct this state of things by showing that the office was distinct from any qualities or attractions which might belong to the man. The apostle himself was both learned and eloquent, but this did not constitute him a minister of Christ. So far as the man was concerned, he was satisfied to be esteemed the least, and even the servant of all, but when the office was brought into view it was a different matter. A hundred men in any county, may write a better hand than the county clerk, and yet his hand and seal are indispensable for the validity of certain acts. Shall so much depend on office, in worldly things, and can it be supposed that the Divine Head of the Church has taken less precaution to secure the interests of the soul?
I. Ministers of Christ.
1. Derive their commission from Him (Joh 20:21). The apostles went forth in His name, and never pleaded any authority for what they said, or did, but His. As an ambassador is duly authorised to make and ratify treaties in his kings name and to act concerning measures involving the weal or woe of millions, so is Christs ambassador clothed with power to proclaim the terms of reconciliation with God.
2. Are rulers in Gods kingdom. All power was given unto the Saviour in heaven and earth, and this authority He dispenses to His servants, who are sent forth to execute His will. They are to awe men into obedience, not by implements of temporal dominion, but by weapons from Gods own armoury.
3. They become the comforters of the sorrowing, and physicians of the broken-hearted.
4. Intercede with God for His people. All Christians of course discharge this duty (Jam 5:16), but more especially those who are commissioned by the Most High to serve at His altar.
II. Stewards of the mysteries of God.
1. They are conservators, expounders, and dispensers of all those things once hidden, but now revealed.
2. They are the dispensers of His grace through the ordinances of the gospel.
3. As such it is required of them to be faithful–
(1) To their heavenly Master, not following ways agreeable to themselves, but meekly receiving their Lords instructions and doing their utmost to carry them into effect. Worldly hopes and fears must not influence them, and all they say and do should have reference to their final account.
(2) To their fellow-servants. Gospel ministers, says Bishop Hall, should not only be like dials on watches, or mite-stones upon the road, but like clocks and larums, to sound the alarm to sinners. Aaron wore bells as well as pomegranates, and the prophets were commanded to lift up their voice like a trumpet. A sleeping sentinel may be the loss of the city. A dying nobleman once sent for his minister, and said to him, You know that I have been living a very wicked life, and yet you have never warned me of my danger. Yes, my lord, was the constrained and sickening response, your manner of living was not unknown to me; but great personal kindness to me made me unwilling to offend you bywords of reproof. Oh, how wicked! how cruel in you! cried the dying man. The provision which I made for you and your family ought to have prompted care and fidelity. You neglected to warn and instruct me; and now, my soul is lost!
Conclusion: Christians–
1. Be thankful for the provision which has been made for your instruction and guidance.
2. Be careful to improve it. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Man a steward
Note–
I. The trust implied. Of what are we stewards? All, in fact, that we are and have, but sin. Health, reason, property, influence, &c., &c. All things, O Lord, come of Thee, &c., &c. This trust is–
1. Undeniable. The moral reason of humanity binds man to acknowledge that all he has he holds in trust. He is not the proprietor, but the trustee.
2. Ever-increasing. Mercies increase every hour, and with the increase obligation accumulates.
II. The trust discharged.
1. A good man uses all under a sense of his responsibility to God.
2. In the right discharge of this trust man–
(1) Blesses himself.
(2) Serves his generation.
(3) Wins the approbation of his God.
III. The trust abused. We read of some–
1. That waste their Lords goods.
2. That are unprofitable servants. Many will say unto Me in that day. (J. Harding, M. A.)
Clergy and laity
Consider–
I. What the clergy are.
1. Ministers.
(1) The word in the original signifies an under-rower. Our Lord is the Pilot of the vessel of His Church, and the clergy are the rowers under His command. He from heaven still guides his Church below; but, under His guidance, and by His own appointment, a distinct share of the work is allotted to His ministers.
(2) Strictly speaking, the clergy are not the ministers of the congregation, and it is not their primary duty to try and please the people. They are ministers of Christ; and they must count it a very small thing that they should be judged of mans judgment, remembering that He that judgeth them is the Lord.
2. Stewards. A steward is one who is appointed by an owner of estates to deal on his behalf with his tenants, manage his property, rule in his absence, dispense his bounty. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the owner of the estate of His Church, and the clergy are the officers appointed by Him to represent Him in matters affecting His people. As the power of a steward is not inherent, but only delegated, so the authority of the stewards of the mysteries of God has its origin in, and depends for its continuance on, the will of Christ their Lord. Now it is obvious that a steward–
(1) Must receive some external appointment, and must be able to produce his credentials. It is not enough that a man should call himself a steward. No man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God.
(2) Must have somewhat committed to his charge, some official acts to perform, and some bounty to dispense. And to the clergy, as stewards, are committed the mysteries of God. It is their business to defend and promulgate the truth as it is in Jesus, not preaching themselves–i.e., their own theories and fancies–but the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
(3) Is not only representative of his master to the tenants, but that equally is he representative of the tenants to his master. And so it is the high privilege of the clergy as stewards, to become intimately acquainted with the circumstances, needs, perplexities, and sorrows of Christs people; it is their duty to find out all about them and then, on their behalf, to go to the throne of grace and intercede. Certainly if the dignity of the ministers of Christ is great their responsibility is greater still.
II. How the laity should regard them–Account of them, &c. And if you do so you will–
1. Esteem them very highly, not for their own, but for their works sake. Lose sight of the man in the office, and prove your esteem by receiving at his hands the mysteries of the kingdom of God, for thus you will–
2. Encourage them. And probably there is no class of men who more greatly need encouragement. Recognising their difficulties, and wishing to encourage them, you will be led–
3. To pray for them.
(1) That the words spoken by them may have success.
(2) That they may be preserved from all the dangers peculiar to the position which they hold.
(3) Lest that by any means when they have preached to others they themselves should be castaways! (J. Beeby.)
The mysteries of God
There can be no doubt that this word mystery rouses a certain feeling of mental discomfort, almost amounting to suspicion and dislike, in the mind of an ordinary Englishman when he first hears it. In the ordinary use of language, too, the word has got into bad odour by the force of bad association. A mystery is frequently understood to mean something that will not bear the light; something that is wanting in the qualities of straightforwardness and explicitness; something that belongs to the region of charlatanism, intrigue, ignorance, superstition. It would be curious to ascertain the idea which the word mystery suggests to the first five men whom we meet in the street. One man would probably say, I mean by mystery something confused and unintelligible; and another, Something involving a plain contradiction; and another, A statement which is chiefly distinguished by its defiance of reason; and another, Some physical or even moral impossibility; and another, That which is believed to be true because there is no real reason for disbelieving it. And if these, or anything like these, are the ideas which are associated by us with the word mystery, what wonder that the word is regarded with a certain dislike and suspicion when we find it in the region of religious truth? What, then, let us ask, is the true account of this word mystery. The word mystery in the Bible is a purely Greek word, the termination only being changed. In Greece for many centuries it meant a religious or sacred secret into which, after due preparation, men were initiated by solemn rites. At Eleusis, near Athens, to give only one of the most famous examples, there were for centuries mysteries of this description, and there has been much controversy in the learned world as to their exact origin and object, the most probable account of them being that they were designed to preserve and hand on certain truths which formed part of the earliest religion of Greece, and which were lost sight of or denied, or denounced by the popular religion of a later day. A tenet thus concealed and thus disclosed was called a mystery, because, after disclosure, it was still concealed from the general public, because it had been concealed even from the initiated up to the moment of initiation, and because, probably, it was of a character to suggest that, however much truth it might convey, there was more to which it pointed, but which still remained unknown. This was the general sense which the word had acquired at the time when the New Testament was written. Now the apostles of Christ, in order to make their Divine message to the souls of men as clear as might be, took the words in common use which most nearly answered their purpose–did the best they could with them, giving them, so to speak, a new turn, inspiring them with a new and a higher significance. What, then, is the meaning of the word mystery in the New Testament? It is used to describe not a fancy, not a contradiction, not an impossibility, but always a truth, yet a truth which has been or which is more or less hidden. There are some truths on which the minds eye rests directly, just as the bodily eye rests on the sun in a cloudless sky; and there are other truths of the reality of which the mind is assured by seeing something else which satisfies it that they are there, just as the bodily eye sees the strong ray which pours forth in a stream of brilliancy from behind a cloud and reports to the understanding that if only the cloud were to be removed the sun would itself be seen. Now mysteries in religion, as we commonly use the word, are of this description; we see enough to know that there is more which we do not see, and, in this state of existence, which we shall not directly see. We see the ray which implies the sun behind the cloud. And thus to look upon apparent truth, which certainly implies truth which is not apparent, is to be in the presence of mystery. Why, it is asked, should there be in religion this element of mystery? Why should there be this outlying, this transcendental margin traced round the doctrines and the rites of Christianity–this margin within which the Church whispers of mystery, but which seems to provide a natural home for illusion? This is probably what Toland, by no means the least capable of the English deists, thought when he undertook at the beginning of the last century the somewhat desperate enterprise of showing that Christianity is not mysterious. To strip Christianity of mystery was to do it, he conceived, an essential service–to bring it, in the phraseology of his day, within the conditions of nature, within the rules of that world of sensible experience in which we live. Is it, then, the case that the natural world around us is so entirely free from that element of mystery which attaches so closely to the doctrines and the rites of Christianity? Before long spring will be here again, and probably some of you will try in some sort to keep step with the expansions of its beautiful life even here in London by putting a hyacinth bulb into a glass jar of water, and watching day by day the leaves and the bud unfold above, and the roots develop below, as the days get warmer and brighter, until at last, about Easter-time, it bursts into full and beautiful bloom. Why should the bulb thus break out into flower, and leaf, and root, before your eyes? Why, some one says, they always do. Yes, but why do they? What is the motive power at work which thus breaks up the bulb, and which almost violently issues into a flower of such beauty, in perfect conformity to a general type, and yet with a variety that is all its own? You say it is the law of growth; yes, but what do you mean by the law of growth? You do not explain it by merely labelling it–you explain neither what it is in itself, nor why it should be at work here, or under these conditions. You cannot deny its existence, and yet the moment you endeavour to penetrate below the surface it altogether eludes you. What is this but to have ascertained that here is a fact, a truth, hidden behind the cloud that is formed by the surface aspect of nature? What is this but to be in the presence of mystery? The philosopher Locke laid down the doctrine which has been often quoted since his time, that we cannot acquiesce in any proposition unless we fully understand all that is conveyed by each of its terms, and hence he inferred that when a man tells us that any mystery is true, he is stating that to which we cannot assent, because a mystery, from its nature, is said to be a hidden, and, therefore, uncomprehended truth. This, at first, seems plausible enough; but in fact we may, and do, assent reasonably enough to a great many propositions respecting the terms of which we have only an obscure or an incomplete idea. A man born blind may, I take it, reasonably assent to the descriptions of objects which we who have the blessing of sight see with our eyes, although probably no description could possibly give him an adequate impression of the reality. Locke himself, like the strong thinker that he was, admitted, could not but admit, the infinite divisibility of matter; yet had he, has any man, an adequate conception of what this means? It, too, belongs to the sphere of mystery. To treat nature as not mysterious is to mistake that superficial, thoughtless familiarity with nature for a knowledge based on observation and reflection. And the mysterious creed of Christendom corresponds with nature, which is thus constantly mysterious, while both are only what we should expect in revelation. And nature, too, in its way, is a revelation of the infinite God. Suppose, if you can, that a religion claiming to come from God were wholly divested of this element of mystery; suppose that it spoke of a God whose attributes we could understand as perfectly as the character of our next-door neighbour; and of a government of the world which presented no more difficulties than the administration of a small joint-stock company; and of prayer, and rules of worship, which meant no more than the conventional usages and ceremonies of human society. Should we not say–you and I–Certainly this is very intelligible; it is wholly free from the infection of mystery; but is it really a message from a higher world? Is it not too obviously an accommodation to our poor, dwarfed conceptions? Does it not somewhere in its system carry the trade mark of a human manufactory? After all, we may dislike and resent mystery in our lower and captious, as distinct from our better and thoughtful, moods; but we know on reflection that it is the inevitable robe of a real revelation of the Infinite Being, and that, if the great truths and ordinances of Christianity shade off, as they do, into regions where we cannot hope to follow them, this is only what was to be expected if Christianity is what it claims to be. (Canon Liddon.)
It is required in stewards that a mall be found faithful.—
Ministerial stewardship
I. Ministers the stewards of God.
1. Divinely commissioned. A call to the ministry is a call from God, or it has in it no worth or authority. Let a man possess the consciousness of this commission, then he will go forth with authority and power. Without it his lips will falter and his heart fail.
2. Divinely qualified. There must be–
(1) Mental fitness. A minister must be apt to teach.
(2) Moral fitness. The first condition is conversion of heart; the next, holiness of life. How lifeless and barren a ministry without this!
3. Divinely sustained. With all the help and happiness of such outward encouragements as it is the duty of Churches to give, ministers feel that they need Divine strength.
II. As ministers, we are entrusted with the gospel. It is our duty–
1. To expound it. Expository preaching has not received sufficient attention.
2. To apply it. It is not sufficient to elucidate the principles of the gospel, they must be enforced. The gospel–
(1) Makes known the pardon which has been provided for sinners; and it is incumbent on the stewards of God to beseech them to be reconciled to God.
(2) Is a trumpet-call to Christian perfection. To transform men we must be persuasive–intensely practical.
3. To defend it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Christian ministry
I. The account given in the text of the nature of our office as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1. The ministry of the word is in all essential points the same ever since it was ordained as an employment. At the same time it is plain that several circumstances attending it are considerably varied. The ordinary call to the office, which now takes place, is very different from the miraculous mission by which men were consecrated to it in former times. Their vocation was more immediate, more striking, attended with more ample powers, as well as more splendid effects. The pastors of the Christian Church, in these later ages, are neither possessed of the immediate inspiration nor of the power of working miracles enjoyed by the apostles. They are now men in all respects like yourselves. When we speak of a faithful minister we speak of the rare and happy union of ability and attention, of zeal and knowledge, of meekness and firmness, in the same character; for all these are necessary to sustain the office with propriety. And are these qualities to be attained with a slight degree of application?
2. But you are not to imagine that while such high obligations are laid on the ministers of the gospel, no duties are, on the ether hand, required of you towards those who hold that station.
(1) The same authority which lays such arduous obligations on your pastors, requires of you to entertain a spirit of equity and candour towards them.
(2) This rule of equity and candour is transgressed in a still higher degree when you expect of us to preach doctrines accommodated to your passions, or to refrain from delivering those truths which are unacceptable or alarming.
II. You are requirer to entertain a just esteem for the office and character which we bear. We claim no obsequious homage, we arrogate no dominion over your faith; but we expect that no man should despise us.
III. Make a proper improvement of the truths which we deliver. (R. Walker.)
Faithful stewardship
Consider–
I. The station which is occupied. The station of a steward–one who has a delegated authority–who acts in subserviency to another–and who is required to account for the manner in which he has conducted himself while holding that responsible station. The term applies originally to the ministers of the gospel; yet we may safely found upon them a general argument and appeal. You have each of you received various gifts, which you are to hold as stewards of God, and for which you have to render a final account.
1. Intellectual faculties.
2. Temporal blessings, such as–
(1) Property, and opulence, and rank, and those things which give men such influence in the sphere in which they move.
(2) National distinction.
(3) Civil and religious liberty.
3. Spiritual mercies.
(1) The Scriptures.
(2) Holy ordinances.
(3) The ministry of the gospel.
(4) The gift of the Spirit to convince, convert, sanctify, &c.
Every Christian attainment, hope, enjoyment, makes the person who possesses it steward, and involves the highest responsibility.
II. The character by which the occupation of this station should be attended. The steward is called upon to be faithful to his Masters property, and whatever is committed to his trust.
1. Abundant facts prove that men are generally reckless in regard to all the privileges enumerated.
2. Consider, then, in what this fidelity consists. The great basis of all duty is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, &c. Now, in order to answer to the character described in the text, there must be sincere repentance, an entire reliance on the one only foundation of hope, and an earnest striving for the salvation of the immortal soul by the diligent use of the means prescribed. It is your duty–
(1) To work out your salvation with fear and trembling. There must be employed for this every natural and intellectual power: for this Sabbaths were hallowed, the Book of God given, the ministry instituted, &c.
(2) To attend to what pertains to the Divine honour and glory in the world in which we live. While we attend diligently to the common business of life we must not forget what we owe to God, on whose bounty we live, in whose presence we stand, and before whom we must soon appear.
(3) This part of the subject may be applied–
(a) To those who occupy private stations in the Church of Christ. What have you done in the way of desire, in the way of effort, in the way of prayer?
(b) To ministers.
III. The solemn considerations by which the exhibition of such a character may be enforced. A steward must reckon on a day of final account. This will be a day of reckoning–
1. For rewards of glory.
2. For punishment also. (J. Parsons.)
Faithfulness
St. Paul accepted the full responsibility of his office. God has nowhere placed on the human heart such a high trust as the ministry of the gospel. We do not think lightly of the responsibilities of the statesman, the warrior, the philanthropist, the teacher; but the ambassador of the Cross stands in the Saviours place, and speaks in His name. On his office depends the salvation of mankind. The minister must feel the responsibility of his office, and so must those to whom he ministers. The congregation that demands topics and forms to gratify taste or emotion cannot be sensible of the fact that God speaks, and not man. Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. The man who helps sinners to build on a false foundation is a source of greater danger than the company of evildoers.
I. Let us do what we can.
1. It is possible to fancy what mighty things we would do had we the opportunity. Some thoughts of this nature must have crossed the mind of the man who received only one talent. Exchange these grated probabilities for actual possibilities. God has given us to do what we can, and expects us to do it.
2. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, &c. Look into every department of life, and see that he who has faithfully filled the humbler situation, has both fitted himself for, and been promoted to a higher. Joseph the slave became the premier of Egypt. The captive Hebrew youths were made presidents of Chaldea. The history of those men is not more marvellous than From Log Cabin to White House, or from the shoemakers bench to the mission-field of India. Seeing that the Church of Christ is burdened with duties, we long to see the day when every Christian shall be an active worker.
II. Let us do every work in its own time.
1. To-morrow will not have a moment to spare for duties that are neglected to-day. Duty says–Now or never. Nature, the lives of men of mark, and our own experience are decisive as to this. Procrastination is the thief of time. To put off duty to a more convenient season is done with impunity. Boast not thyself of to-morrow, &c. Every hour has its duty, and every duty its pleasure.
2. To further enforce diligence in this matter, observe that our very safety in time to come is secured by fidelity to present trust. Negligence is a preparation for temptation (2Pe 1:10). The path of duty is the path of safety.
III. Let us do over work in the right spirit. It is impossible to be faithful considering the difficulties in the way, without willingness and love. To be forced to work for Jesus by fear is to destroy the greatest condition of success.
IV. Let our work be done under a sense of responsibility. The work is not ours. We do not supply the materials. We are all responsible to God. The day of account is coming. Shall we meet it with joy, or with grief? (Weekly Pulpit.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER IV.
Ministers should be esteemed by their flocks as the stewards of
God, whose duty and interest it is to be faithful, 1, 2.
Precipitate and premature judgments condemned, 3-5.
The apostle’s caution to give the Corinthians no offence, 6.
We have no good but what we receive from God, 7.
The worldly mindedness of the Corinthians, 8.
The enumeration of the hardships, trials, and sufferings of the
apostles, 9-13.
For what purpose St. Paul mentions these things, 14-16.
He promises to send Timothy to them, 17.
And to come himself shortly, to examine and correct the abuses
that had crept in among them, 18-21.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV.
Verse 1. Let a man so account of us] This is a continuation of the subject in the preceding chapter; and should not have been divided from it. The fourth chapter would have begun better at 1Co 4:6, and the third should have ended with the fifth verse. 1Co 4:5
As of the ministers of Christ] . The word means an under-rower, or one, who, in the trireme, quadrireme, or quinquereme galleys, rowed in one of the undermost benches; but it means also, as used by the Greek writers, any inferior officer or assistant. By the term here the apostle shows the Corinthians that, far from being heads and chiefs, he and his fellow apostles considered themselves only as inferior officers, employed under Christ from whom alone they received their appointment their work, and their recompense.
Stewards of the mysteries of God.] , Economists of the Divine mysteries. See the explanation of the word steward in Clarke’s note on “Mt 24:45“; Lu 8:3; Lu 12:42.
The steward, or oikonomos, was the master’s deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at the proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master. The mysteries, the doctrines of God, relative to the salvation of the world by the passion and death of Christ; and the inspiration, illumination, and purification of the soul by the Spirit of Christ, constituted a principal part of the Divine treasure intrusted to the hands of the stewards by their heavenly Master; as the food that was to be dispensed at proper times, seasons, and in proper proportions to the children and domestics of the Church, which is the house of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The apostle here gives us the right notion of the preachers of the gospel; they are but ministers, that is, servants, so as the honour that is proper to their Master, for a principal efficiency in the conversion and building up of souls, belongeth not to them; they are ministers of Christ, so have their primary relation to him, and only a secondary relation to the church to which they are ministers; they are ministers of Christ and so in that ministration can only execute what are originally his commands, though those commands of Christ may also be enforced by men: ministers of the gospel, not of the law, upon whom lies a primary obligation to preach Christ and his gospel unto people. They are also
stewards of the mysteries of God, such to whom God hath committed his word and sacraments to dispense out unto his church. The word mystery signifieth any thing that is secret, but more especially it signifieth a Divine secret, represented by signs and figures; or a religious secret, not obvious to every capacity or understanding. Thus we read of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 13:11; the mystery of godliness, 1Ti 3:16; the mystery of Christ, Eph 3:4. The wisdom of God, Col 2:2; the incarnation of Christ, 1Ti 3:16; the calling of the Gentiles, Eph 3:4; the resurrection from the dead, 1Co 15:21; Christs mystical union and communion with his church, Eph 5:32; the sublime counsels of God, 1Co 13:2, are all called mysteries. Ministers are the stewards of the mysterious doctrines and institutions of Christ, which we usually comprehend under the terms of the word and sacraments.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. account . . . usPaul andApollos.
ministers of Christnotheads of the Church in whom ye are severally to glory (1Co1:12); the headship belongs to Christ alone; we are but Hisservants ministering to you (1Co 1:13;1Co 3:5; 1Co 3:22).
stewards (Luk 12:42;1Pe 4:10). Not the depositoriesof grace, but dispensers of it (“rightly dividing” ordispensing it), so far as God gives us it, to others. Thechazan, or “overseer,” in the synagogue answered tothe bishop or “angel” of the Church, who calledseven of the synagogue to read the law every sabbath, and oversawthem. The parnasin of the synagogue, like the ancient “deacon”of the Church, took care of the poor (Ac6:1-7) and subsequently preached in subordination to thepresbyters or bishops, as Stephen and Philip did. The Church is notthe appendage to the priesthood; but the minister is the steward ofGod to the Church. Man shrinks from too close contact with God; hencehe willingly puts a priesthood between, and would serve God bydeputy. The pagan (like the modern Romish) priest was rather toconceal than to explain “the mysteries of God.” Theminister’s office is to “preach” (literally, “proclaimas a herald,” Mt 10:27)the deep truths of God (“mysteries,” heavenly truths, onlyknown by revelation), so far as they have been revealed, and so faras his hearers are disposed to receive them. JOSEPHUSsays that the Jewish religion made known to all the people themysteries of their religion, while the pagans concealed from all butthe “initiated” few, the mysteries of theirs.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let a man so account of us,…. Though the apostle had before said that he, and other ministers of the Gospel, were not any thing with respect to God, and, with regard to the churches, were theirs, for their use and advantage; yet they were not to be trampled upon, and treated with contempt, but to be known, esteemed, and honoured for their works’ sake, and in their respective places, stations, and characters; and though they were but men, yet were not to be considered as private men, and in a private capacity, but as in public office, and as public preachers of the word; and though they were not to be regarded as lords and masters over God’s heritage, but as servants, yet not as everyone’s, or as any sort of servants, but
as the ministers, or servants, of Christ; as qualified, called, and sent forth by him to preach his Gospel; as ambassadors in his name, standing in his place and stead, and representing him, and therefore for his sake to be respected and esteemed; and as such who make him the subject of their ministry, preach him and him only, exalt him in his person, offices, blood, righteousness and sacrifice, and direct souls to him alone for life and salvation:
and stewards of the mysteries of God; though they are not to be looked upon as masters of the household, that have power to dispose of things in the family at their own pleasure; yet they are to be regarded as stewards, the highest officers in the house of God; to whose care are committed the secret and hidden things of God; whose business it is to dispense, and make known, the mysteries of divine grace; such as respect the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, the union of the two natures, divine and human, in his person, the church’s union to him, and communion with him, with many other things contained in the Gospel they are intrusted with.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Stewardship of the Apostles. | A. D. 57. |
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
Here, I. The apostle challenges the respect due to him on account of his character and office, in which many among them had at least very much failed: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God (v. 1), though possibly others might have valued them too highly, by setting him up as the head of a party, and professing to be his disciples. In our opinion of ministers, as well as all other things, we should be careful to avoid extremes. Apostles themselves were, 1. Not to be overvalued, for they were ministers, not masters; stewards, not lords. They were servants of Christ, and no more, though they were servants of the highest rank, that had the care of his household, that were to provide food for the rest, and appoint and direct their work. Note, It is a very great abuse of their power, and highly criminal in common ministers, to lord it over their fellow-servants, and challenge authority over their faith or practice. For even apostles were but servants of Christ, employed in his work, and sent on his errand, and dispensers of the mysteries of God, or those truths which had been hidden from the world in ages and generations past. They had no authority to propagate their own fancies, but to spread Christian faith. 2. Apostles were not to be undervalued; for, though they were ministers, they were ministers of Christ. The character and dignity of their master put an honour on them. Though they are but stewards, they are not stewards of the common things of the world, but of divine mysteries. They had a great trust, and for that reason had an honourable office. They were stewards of God’s household, high-stewards in his kingdom of grace. They did not set up for masters, but they deserved respect and esteem in this honourable service. Especially,
II. When they did their duty in it, and approved themselves faithful: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful (v. 2), trustworthy. The stewards in Christ’s family must appoint what he hath appointed. They must not set their fellow-servants to work for themselves. They must not require any thing from them without their Master’s warrant. They must not feed them with the chaff of their own inventions, instead of the wholesome food of Christian doctrine and truth. They must teach what he hath commanded, and not the doctrines and commandments of men. They must be true to the interest of their Lord, and consult his honour. Note, The ministers of Christ should make it their hearty and continual endeavour to approve themselves trustworthy; and when they have the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of their Master, they must slight the opinions and censures of their fellow-servants: But with me, saith the apostle, it is a small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment, v. 3. Indeed, reputation and esteem among men are a good step towards usefulness in the ministry; and Paul’s whole argument upon this head shows he had a just concern for his own reputation. But he that would make it his chief endeavour to please men would hardly approve himself a faithful servant of Christ, Gal. i. 10. He that would be faithful to Christ must despise the censures of men for his sake. He must look upon it as a very little thing (if his Lord approves him) what judgment men form of him. They may think very meanly or very hardly of him, while he is doing his duty; but it is not by their judgment that he must stand or fall. And happy is it for faithful ministers that they have a more just and candid judge than their fellow-servants; one who knows and pities their imperfections, though he has none of his own. It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. The best of men are too apt to judge rashly, and harshly, and unjustly; but his judgment is always according to truth. It is a comfort that men are not to be our final judges. Nay, we are not thus to judge ourselves: “Yea, I judge not myself. For though I know nothing by myself, cannot charge myself with unfaithfulness, yet I am not thereby justified, this will not clear me of the charge; but he that judgeth me is the Lord. It is his judgment that must determine me. By his sentence I must abide. Such I am as he shall find and judge me to be.” Note, It is not judging well of ourselves, justifying ourselves, that will prove us safe and happy. Nothing will do this but the acceptance and approbation of our sovereign Judge. Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth, 2 Cor. x. 18.
III. The apostle takes occasion hence to caution the Corinthians against censoriousness–the forward and severe judging of others: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, v. 5. It is judging out of season, and judging at an adventure. He is not to be understood of judging by persons in authority, within the verge of their office, nor of private judging concerning facts that are notorious; but of judging persons’ future state, or the secret springs and principles of their actions, or about facts doubtful in themselves. To judge in these cases, and give decisive sentence, is to assume the seat of God and challenge his prerogative. Note, How bold a sinner is the forward and severe censurer! How ill-timed and arrogant are his censures! But there is one who will judge the censurer, and those he censures, without prejudice, passion, or partiality. And there is a time coming when men cannot fail judging aright concerning themselves and others, by following his judgment. This should make them now cautious of judging others, and careful in judging themselves. There is a time coming when the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts–deeds of darkness that are now done in secret, and all the secret inclinations, purposes, and intentions, of the hidden man of the heart. Note, There is a day coming that will dispel the darkness and lay open the face of the deep, will fetch men’s secret sins into open day and discover the secrets of their hearts: The day shall declare it. The judge will bring these things to light. The Lord Jesus Christ will manifest the counsels of the heart, of all hearts. Note, The Lord Jesus Christ must have the knowledge of the counsels of the heart, else he could not make them manifest. This is a divine prerogative (Jer. xvii. 10), and yet it is what our Saviour challenges to himself in a very peculiar manner (Rev. ii. 23): All the churches shall know that I am HE who searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works. Note, We should be very careful how we censure others, when we have to do with a Judge from whom we cannot conceal ourselves. Others do not lie open to our notice, but we lie all open to his: and, when he shall come to judge, every man shall have praise of God. Every man, that is, every one qualified for it, every one who has done well. Though none of God’s servants can deserve any thing from him, though there be much that is blamable even in their best services, yet shall their fidelity be commended and crowned by him; and should they be condemned, reproached, or vilified, by their fellow-servants, he will roll away all such unjust censures and reproaches, and show them in their own amiable light. Note, Christians may well be patient under unjust censures, when they know such a day as this is coming, especially when they have their consciences testifying to their integrity. But how fearful should they be of loading any with reproaches now whom their common Judge shall hereafter commend.
IV. The apostle here lets us into the reason why he had used his own name and that of Apollos in this discourse of his. He had done it in a figure, and he had done it for their sakes. He chose rather to mention his own name, and the name of a faithful fellow-labourer, than the names of any heads of factions among them, that hereby he might avoid what would provoke, and so procure for his advice the greater regard. Note, Ministers should use prudence in their advices and admonitions, but especially in their reproofs, lest they lose their end. The advice the apostle would by this means inculcate was that they might learn not to think of men above what is written (above what he had been writing), nor be puffed up for one against another (v. 6). Apostles were not to be esteemed other than planters or waterers in God’s husbandry, master-builders in his building, stewards of his mysteries, and servants of Christ. And common ministers cannot bear these characters in the same sense that apostles did. Note, We must be very careful not to transfer the honour and authority of the Master to his servant. We must call no man Master on earth; one is our Master, even Christ,Mat 23:8; Mat 23:10. We must not think of them above what is written. Note, The word of God is the best rule by which to judge concerning men. And again, judging rightly concerning men, and not judging more highly of them than is fit, is one way to prevent quarrels and contentions in the churches. Pride commonly lies at the bottom of these quarrels. Self-conceit contributes very much to our immoderate esteem of our teachers, as well as ourselves. Our commendation of our own taste and judgment commonly goes along with our unreasonable applause, and always with a factious adherence to one teacher, in opposition to others that may be equally faithful and well qualified. But to think modestly of ourselves, and not above what is written of our teachers, is the most effectual means to prevent quarrels and contests, sidings and parties, in the church. We shall not be puffed up for one against another if we remember that they are all instruments employed by God in his husbandry and building, and endowed by him with their various talents and qualifications.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Ministers of Christ ( ). Paul and all ministers () of the New Covenant (1Co 3:5) are under-rowers, subordinate rowers of Christ, only here in Paul’s Epistles, though in the Gospels (Lu 4:20 the attendant in the synagogue) and the Acts (Ac 13:5) of John Mark. The
so () gathers up the preceding argument (3:5-23) and applies it directly by the
as () that follows.
Stewards of the mysteries of God ( ). The steward or house manager (, house, , to manage, old word) was a slave () under his lord (, Lu 12:42), but a master (Lu 16:1) over the other slaves in the house (menservants , maidservants Lu 12:45), an overseer () over the rest (Mt 20:8). Hence the under-rower () of Christ has a position of great dignity as steward () of the mysteries of God. Jesus had expressly explained that the mysteries of the kingdom were open to the disciples (Mt 13:11). They were entrusted with the knowledge of some of God’s secrets though the disciples were not such apt pupils as they claimed to be (Matt 13:51; Matt 16:8-12). As stewards Paul and other ministers are entrusted with the mysteries (see on 1Co 2:7 for this word) of God and are expected to teach them. “The church is the (1Ti 3:15), God the (Mt 13:52), the members the (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19)” (Lightfoot). Paul had a vivid sense of the dignity of this stewardship () of God given to him (Col 1:25; Eph 1:10). The ministry is more than a mere profession or trade. It is a calling from God for stewardship.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ministers [] . See on officer, Mt 5:25. Only here in Paul ‘s epistles.
Stewards. See on Luk 16:1.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
OUR JUDGMENT IS NOT OF MEN
1) “Let a man so account of us.” (Greek houtos hemas lo logizesthe anthropos) “Thus let any man reckon, calculate, or consider us” – Paul expresses a desire that he and his missionary companions, in the light of the foolishness of worldly wisdom, be evaluated as follows:
2) “As of the ministers of Christ.” (Greek hos huperetas christou) “as attendants, ministers or helpers of Christ.” This attitude identifies Paul and his missionary companions as men of humility and dedication to Jesus Christ – not to the striving for position and power Mat 20:25-26.
3) “And stewards of the mysteries of God.” (Kai oikonomous) “and stewards or house-keepers” – this refers to the church of Jesus Christ, as in Mar 13:34-37; 1Ti 3:15. (Greek musterion theou) “of the mysteries of God,” as housekeepers or stewards of the mysteries of God these missionaries sought to make Jesus Christ known, through the church, among the nations, Eph 3:8-10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Let a man so account of us As it was a matter of no little importance to see the Church in this manner torn by corrupt factions, from the likings or dislikings that were entertained towards individuals, he enters into a still more lengthened discussion as to the ministry of the word. Here there are three things to be considered in their order. In the first place, Paul describes the office of a pastor of the Church. Secondly, he shows, that it is not enough for any one to produce a title, or even to undertake the duty — a faithful administration of the office being requisite. Thirdly, as the judgment formed of him by the Corinthians was preposterous, (207) he calls both himself and them to the judgment-seat of Christ. In the first place, then, he teaches in what estimation every teacher in the Church ought to be held. In this department he modifies his discourse in such a manner as neither, on the one hand, to lower the credit of the ministry, nor, on the other, to assign to man more than is expedient. For both of these things are exceedingly dangerous, because, when ministers are lowered, contempt of the word arises, (208) while, on the other hand, if they are extolled beyond measure, they abuse liberty, and become “wanton against the Lord.” (1Ti 5:11.) Now the medium observed by Paul consists in this, that he calls them ministers of Christ; by which he intimates, that they ought to apply themselves not to their own work but to that of the Lord, who has hired them as his servants, and that they are not appointed to bear rule in an authoritative manner in the Church, but are subject to Christ’s authority (209) — in short, that they are servants, not masters.
As to what he adds — stewards of the mysteries of God, he expresses hereby the kind of service. By this he intimates, that their office extends no farther than this, that they are stewards of the mysteries of God In other words, what the Lord has committed to their charge they deliver over to men from hand to hand — as the expression is (210) — not what they themselves might choose. “For this purpose has God chosen them as ministers of his Son, that he might through them communicate to men his heavenly wisdom, and hence they ought not to move a step beyond this.” He appears, at the same time, to give a stroke indirectly to the Corinthians, who, leaving in the background the heavenly mysteries, had begun to hunt with excessive eagerness after strange inventions, and hence they valued their teachers for nothing but profane learning. It is an honorable distinction that he confers upon the gospel when he terms its contents the mysteries of God. But as the sacraments are connected with these mysteries as appendages, it follows, that those who have the charge of administering the word are the authorized stewards of them also.
(207) “ Pource que les Corinthiens iugeoyent de luy d’vne mauuaise sorte, et bien inconsidereement;” — “As the Corinthians judged of him in an unfavorable way, and very rashly.”
(208) “ Facilement on viendra a mespriser la parole de Dieu;” — “They will readily come to despise the word of God.”
(209) “ Ils sont eux-mesmes comme les autres sous la domination de Christ;” — “They are themselves, in common with others, under the dominion of Christ.”
(210) Our Author makes use of the same expression when commenting on 1 Corinthians 11:23, and 1 Corinthians 15:3. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
1Co. 4:1. So.Choose between (a) a forward reference to as (e.g. with Stanley), and (b) a backward reference (with, e.g., Evans, in Speaker, and Beet) to 1Co. 3:21-22; meaning: Let a man account of us as Christs servants, having moreover the greater thought also present in his thinking, and governing his estimate of us, that we are thus the house stewards in Christs household for the very purpose of dispensing to him and his brethren these all things which belong to him, because he belongs to Christ. Servants.Good note in Trench, Syn., ix., on the four New Testament words for servant. See and together in Mat. 20:26-28. [Mat. 22:2-14, where Trench points out that the servants who bring in the guests are men, and can be , but the executioners of the sentence of the Host are angels, who are only .] See and (the word here) together in Joh. 18:18. The [slave, bondservant] is bound to a person; the does some service to a person, whether as his slave or a freeman, whether for the once, or frequently and customarily; the is a man charged with a special task, and to the task, rather than to the person who enjoins it, the word points; the is, so to speak, an attendant charged with the duty of an office. Our word may be studied in Act. 13:5; Mat. 5:25; Luk. 4:20; Joh. 7:32; Joh. 18:18; Act. 5:22. Must not overpress the derivational sensethe under-rower in a galley; the ship being the Church, Christ sitting at the helm, the passengers being the members of the Church. Stewards.Might be slaves, though in positions of important trust. Joseph, e.g. was so. Here the thought is only that their business is to administer the household of their Master, and particularly to deal out the stores of soul-feeding mysteries to their fellow-servants of other offices and orders (Tit. 1:7; well expounded in 1Pe. 4:1, and 1Co. 2:1; Eph. 3:2). For mysteries, see 1Co. 2:1; certainly not the sacramenta, which word in ecclesiastical Latin, through the Vulgate, has become the equivalent of mysteries.
1Co. 4:2.Notice here, by a change of reading. Stanley (alone) joins the word with the preceding sentence. A maxim true of all stewardships in ordinary human affairs.
1Co. 4:3. Judge.Examine, as if dealing with a man on his defence in a court of justice. So 1Co. 9:3. Judgment.Lit. day; parallel to the day of Gods judgment in 1Co. 3:13. (See Separate Homily on that passage for general treatment of the subject.)
1Co. 4:4. Know nothing by myself.Not at all to be taken as: I have no knowledge of Divine things but such as is a gift of the grace of God. Simply a piece of old-fashioned English, still lingering in the provincialisms of some counties. A Lincolnshire peasant, e.g., will say, What do you think by it? instead of think of it, or think about it. Paul only means, of course, I am not conscious to myself of anything. He does not say evil; that is so generally, however, the issue of any examination and judgment of oneself that almost of necessity it is suggested by his language. Cf. 1Jn. 3:20. The Lord.Pauls largely predominant usage makes this almost certainly Christ. This is confirmed by 1Co. 4:5. It is always Christ who comes, and who will act as Judge. Yet ultimately, and supremely, though the judgment and sentence is Christs, the reward is Gods praise. Note his praise (giving the force of the article) in R.V.
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS1Co. 4:1-5
Theme: Judgment.
I. The ministers own judgment of himself.
II. Other mens judgment of him.
III. The masters judgment.
I. The preceding sentences of the letter (chap. 1Co. 3:18-23) have been concerned with the Corinthian habit of over-valuing themselves, and with the party idolatry of their (eponymic) leaders. As for Paul he wishes neither to be over-estimated nor to be under-estimated. [There is no virtue in undervaluation of oneself; such over-depreciation is not infrequently not humility at all, but pridea subtle pride which is hungry to be told that it is too humble and that the self-asserted value is too low. For the sake of the Masters work, a man may well desire to know what he is worth, and what he is fit for, and to what he is adequate.] Paul would be judged according to truth (Rom. 2:2). To what court shall he go for Justice and for Truth? To the court of Conscience, perpetually sitting within his own spirit? This has its value, and its supporting power to him, as he avows (2Co. 1:17, where see). A man walking in the favour of God, his spirit continually illumined with the light of the Spirit of God, may know himself. He will guard against self-deception. The grace which is in him will keep him awake to the danger of such self-deception. And whilst there will always be ministers [and workers of every order] whose danger will be an undue, morbid self-depreciation and self-condemnation; just as there will also always be those whose danger lies quite at the opposite pole; in many more the healthy conscience will give them the sustaining force of the knowledge that their aim is as right as they know how to keep it, and their discharge of duty faithful, at any rate up to the measure of their ability and knowledge. Woe to the man who goes about his work without the approval of even his own conscience! Who is unfaithful, and knows that he is! Mans judgment may not condemn him. He may hit exactly the taste, he may meet exactly the desire, of those to whom he ministers; he may give them exactly the only teaching they will welcome, and do neither less nor more in his ruling of the flock than is agreeable to the sheep; he may be personally popular, therefore; he may have the applause of the public as a successful man, the pastor of a successful Church. Yet, if all the while the Spirit of God will not suffer him to approve himself, but will keep his sense of right so far alive that not only can he not forget the meaning of the ministry as a stewardship, or the high ideal of faithfulness to God with which he began his work, but that a voice and verdict within him will ever persistently condemn, he is of all men most miserable. Wretched he who cannot even stand the judgment of himself upon himself.
II. It were folly to pretend to be literally indifferent to the judgment of others. Sometimes, when a conscience has been lulled, or drugged to sleep, or silenced by long neglect; when a man without the guard, or the goad, within him has sunk, not only far beneath the Masters standard of requirement as to faithfulness in His stewards, but even beneath what was once his own; then the rebuke and condemnation of outsiders may do the man a service. It may make for him an objective conscience, and compel him to hear again from others what he used to hear from himself. He has broken or made dull the mirror within him; then the condemnation of mans judgment may confront him with his own image in the mirror of Truth in their hand. It would be both foolish and false to pretend to be indifferent to the good opinion of others. If the faithfulness of the steward chance to secure the approval and esteem of other men, he will take it as a grace and a gift from his Lord, to be used, in its turn, like any and every other gift, for the advantage of his Lords work. The goodwill and esteem of his people are a help to the minister towards doing the people good. Wise and loving fidelity may accomplish somethingit musteven where its sharp rebuke or unwelcome dealing puts a strain upon the pleasant relationships between man and man; it will not utterly fail to do good, even when it does its work in the face of indifference or dislike. But where goodwill and affection, and a true estimate of the meaning of the ministers work and office, prepare for, and co-operate with, his fidelity, there it will have free course. The design of the whole Divine ordinance of stewardships for the dispensing of the mysteries of God will be then most perfectly fulfilled. However indifferent Paul may have been to the judgment of men, his sympathetic, affectionate nature prized highly the love of those for whom he spent himself even to the spending of himself out (2Co. 12:15).
III. Yet none of these courts is that of Final Appeal. No absolute and unchallengeable acquittal [or condemnation] can be given even from the bench where Judge Conscience sits, and still less from that other tribunal where Man holds the day of his assize. Says Paul: I desire greatly the approval of my own conscience; I believe I have it; as to my stewardship and my fidelity as a steward, I cannot charge myself with any wrong. I do not forget a legitimate regard for the manifestation of myself in your consciences (2Co. 5:11). As a matter of fact, I know that many of you do not give me a very approving verdict. Yet I dare not trim my sails to catch the breeze of your applause. I hold it, indeed, a matter of the smallest moment that you should approve or condemn, in comparison of the one greater, final, absolutely true and just verdict of the Lord. Man is so often to himself a problem utterly perplexing, that he knows not how to hold a just balance in his estimate of himself; he fears to approve too easily, he fears to acquit too readily, whilst, rightly enough, he does not desire to harass himself by condemning without reason. A Christian man is so conscious of the blinding effect of a biassed heart upon the clear vision of his judgment, that even if in the court within he be held clear, he will still report the verdict to the Higher Judge for His endorsement or revision. A faithful, honest worker will be so sensitive to the ensnaring power of too nice a consideration of mans favour or mans frown; he will be so conscious of the deflecting power of an anxiety what man will think or say or do, upon the compass-needle of his conscience; that he will never trust the steering of his course to anything lower than the judgment of his Lord. Up above earthly influences and bias, stable amidst all the revolutions and vagaries of mans opinions and judgments, there it shows, the Divine Pole Star of his direction. He will not disregard, as we have seen, the commendation of his fellows, but he will not lay himself out to win it. If they give him condemnation, then he will appeal unto the Greater than Csar. Against mans judgment, and from mans day; whatever also be the judgment of his conscience in its day of inquiry and sentence; the matter is carried up to the Great Judge and forward to His day and its Great Assize. For that, amongst other reasons, do Christs people love His appearing (2Ti. 4:1; 2Ti. 4:8). It was said of Dr. Pusey that the deepest note of thankfulness in all his Te Deum was this, We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge. We praise Thee, O Christ! In that day all the clamour and conflict of the varying and uncertain verdicts of man will be hushed into silence, whilst He speaks. Even now it is no small comfort to a true-hearted steward to remember that He knows all about him and his work. All that under-life of motive and aim, which works its way to the surface and becomes obnoxious to mans judgment, only after struggling, as it were, through an overlying medium of imperfect knowledge and of many another limiting disability, is always, and altogether, in His clear view. It may be that He knows the man even better that the man knows himself; that He may judge him now and again more favourably than he judges himself. In any case, He will always be profoundly reasonable in what He expects from the steward of the mysteries; no prejudice, or favour, with Him; profoundly reasonable, and utterly and simply just. Let mefor the sentence as well as for its executionfall into the hands of, not man, but Christ. Moreover, the full and final verdict can only be pronounced when the coming of the Day of the Lord shall have completed the facts and evidence on which it most justly rest. So, then, Paul will pronounce no final verdict upon his own fidelity in the discharge of his office. Let it stand over until He comes. The passing, temporary, human judgment may well go for little with him in the expectation of that other judgment. Indeed, he suggests not obscurely that his opponents and detractors at Corinth may have more reason for apprehension in view of it than he has. When hidden things of darkness and the counsels of the hearts are dragged forth, some men, some apostles, may have praise of God, but some may have[How nearly without exception are all our judgments of men and conduct judgments before the right time! How often have even the lapse of a few years or months and the addition of even a single new fact caused an entire revision of some unfavourable judgment on men and actions, till we have stood ashamed at the bar of our own conscience that we judged so hastily, on such imperfect data, and so harshly, and perhaps gave in our words or bearing such unfair and unchristian effect to our hasty prejudice! Wait till the Lord comes! Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth at the door (Jas. 5:9). How often a little more knowledge has shown us that the very confident verdicts of our righteous indignation were after all at the best wasted words, and at the worst were so hasty and uncharitable, as to have been sins against the Spirit of Christ! Therefore judge nothing before the time.] And how precious and glorious a compensation for all the unfair, hasty, or even evil-hearted judgments of men will be His praise! In a moment, all the past swallowed up and forgotten, all the pain gone, all the temporary disadvantages past. Nor is it anything but a laudable motive that a man should make the winning of praise in that day an object for which he cultivates fidelity to his trust. If He says, Well done, good and faithful, he surely does not intend, or expect, that we should be faithful for bare fidelitys sake. His Well done is in itself an object to be worked for. Finally, if praise is not for ability only, or chiefly, or for success, but for faithfulness, all may win that! [The Pounds, Luke 19, exhibits graduated reward according to graduated results from equal ability and endowment. The Talents, Matthew 25, exhibits equal praise for unequal ability and endowment, because of equal fidelity. Both are true principles of the judgment.] [Said Bishop Thirlwall, writing to a friend, The law of Gods kingdom is He that is faithful in a few things shall be made ruler over many things. But how little it matters whether there are many or few, so long as there is the faithfulness which makes the most of the few, and can do no more with the many.] [Robertson, Expos. Lectures, in loco, says: Learn not to judge, for we do not know the hearts secrets. We judge men by gifts, or by a correspondence with our own peculiarities; but God judges by fidelity. Many a dull sermon is the result of humble powers, honestly cultivated, whilst many a brilliant discourse arises merely from a love of display. Many a diligent and active ministry proceeds from the love of power. Learn to be neither depressed unduly by blame, nor, on the other side, to be too much exalted by praise. Lifes experience should teach us this. And our own individual experience should teach us how little men know us! How often, when we have been most praised and loved, have we been conscious of another motive actuating than that which the world has given us credit for; and we have been blamed, perhaps disgraced, when if all the circumstances were known we should have been covered with honour. Therefore let us strive to be tranquil; smile when men sneer; be humble when they praise, patient when they blame. Their judgment will not last; mans day is only for a time, but Gods is for Eternity.]
SEPARATE HOMILIES
1Co. 4:1-2. The Stewardship of the Minister.
I. The office.
1. No great Fact in Gods order is simple. It is only in the elementary stages of His work that we find what is not complex, many-sided in its aspects and relationships. The permanent, developed ministry of the Church was in even Apostolic times becoming a many-sided fact, needing many analogies to set it forth. Each one [as in all cases of teaching by analogy] has its strong point of teaching and applicability; often with its many weaker, where it does not bear pressing, or using at all. There it is supplemented by another, strong where it is weak, but needing in its turn the strength of the first to be its complement in exhibiting the whole round of the truth. The men are here called ministers (see Critical Notes); they are Shepherds (Eph. 4:11, etc.) who bear rule (Heb. 13:17) with whatever of authority a Shepherd must of necessity have over the Flock. They are Teachers (Eph. as above, etc.). They are Presbyters or Elders (e.g. Act. 20:28), and indeed, like those of Ephesus, are Overseers or Bishops. They claim whatever respect and weight of influence is needful to enable them to watch over souls (cf. Ezekiel 3; Ezekiel 33) as they that must give account (Heb. as above). This last clause completes the circle of ideas by inserting into its round the link of the thought found in the word Stewards.
2. Stewards, not priests.This name is never given to any order of men selected out of the general body of the Christian community. [Even as they are ministers of the Mediator, and not themselves mediators.] The priesthood of the Old Covenant order is, like every other essential, fundamental, basic idea of that order, brought forward into the new. There is a priesthood still. The essential lines which govern the representation of the office and function are still there, plain enough to establish the identity, the continuity. But they are modified; touched here, filled up in more detail there, emphasised in a third point; and, above all, are now found in complete exposition in the Man Christ Jesus, and only in Him. [Moses spoke of the coming Prophetic Order in Deu. 18:15; the prophets, every one, in anticipatory, suggestive, partial presentation embodied Gods Idea, which was by-and-by to be fulfilled in the One Prophet. Of Him pre-eminently did Moses speak (Act. 3:22; Act. 7:37). Similarly he might have said, A Priest shall the Lord your God raise up, etc. Indeed, the fulfilment of such a saying would already have begun in the Priestly Order which had been established. Also remember how the Idea of Priesthood in its highest function more and more clearly stood out to mens apprehension, until the very phrase High Priest, unknown at first, became a necessity of religious thought and expression.] The complete, two-sided significance of Mediatorship is exhibited in Him who is the Apostlesent out from God to manand the High Priestgoing in from man to Godof our profession (Heb. 3:1). And the offering of a sacrifice which made atonement for sin, the culminating point of the priests office, to which everything else was only sequential and subsidiary, is now restricted to Him. In that sense Christianity knows only the one priest. The steward is no priest. The many, mortal priests, themselves sinners needing atonement, have yielded up their office and honour to the undying, holy OneThe Son, consecrated for evermore (Heb. 7:23-28). And if indeed anything of the hierophantic office of the priesthoods of the Gentiles seem to cling to the work of the man who has to deal with the mysteries of God, yet there is manifest and vital difference. The hierophant took ininto the penetralia of the building as well as of the doctrinesthe few favoured ones, the esoteric circle, the illuminandi; took them in as a favour from himself, which he had the right to withhold, as well as to confer. The steward does impart mysteries indeed. But he has no right to withhold them; he has no right to make them the possession of a favoured few; their disclosure is his duty, he must bring them out to all. Must bring them out also. The figure must not be overpressed; but he is not the priest leading some into an inner darkness and secrecy; he is a steward bringing out from the store-chamber what is to be given freely to all waiting outside who need what he brings.
3. Stewards, not proprietors.They have no controlling rights over the disclosure of the truth. They are only the ministers of Christ in the matter, passing on, giving round, to the hungry multitudes what He has blessed, and what has only been given into their hands that it may be given away widely by their hand. [So exactly means, All things are yours, 1Co. 3:22; cf. 2Co. 4:15.] They are not to indulge in the selfish indolence of the man who sits in his study, reading, reading, reading, thinking, learning, acquiring, but only slightly if at all attempting to enrich his people with the fruit of his growing knowledge of the mysteries. They have it, they are entrusted with it, to pass it on. The apostles, no doubt, might and did satisfy their own hunger with the marvellous bread, but the fainting five thousand had the prior claim. Etymologically stewardship is economy. But the ecclesiastical economy in the disclosure of truth has travelled a long and aberrant way from the idea of stewardship. It is one thing to see to it that the babes have only their milk, whilst the men of full age are fed with their meat (Heb. 5:12-13); it is another thing in fear, or with dishonest tact, to suppress or modify truth, in the presumed interests of truth, or in the interests of a Church or an order of men, or for the security of some conciliar or personal dogma. Whatever is the truth of God should all be told to all. He can be trusted to take care that its widest disclosure works no real, no lasting mischief. Better the risk of mischief than of manipulation by not too honest stewards. The Bible Society is an organised expression of the stewardship of the mysteries entrusted to the Church of Christ in the gift of the Word of God. It is given to the Church to be given by the stewards with world-wide liberality of distribution. They may not even detain it in the store cupboard!
4. Stewards, not discoverers.God is the Fountain of all the knowledge they impart. The Son is the Revealer of it all; He has drawn back, so far as it is drawn back at all, the veil under which lay hidden what the time has now come to disclose. [Cf. Has brought to light Life and Immortality (2Ti. 1:10). They are not new things; they were facts before; they were there all along; but they were under a covering (? Isa. 25:7).] His stewards do but publish widely what He has been Himself taught, and is commissioned to disclose. [He may take as bis own the words of Balaam, Num. 24:13.] Nothing else lies within the four corners of a stewards commission; anything else is ultra vires. He may not devise a Gospel, he may not add to the Gospel speculations of his own, not fairly deducible, or to be proved, from the definite instructions and disclosures given to him (Gal. 1:8-9). An original thinker in the ministry of the Church has properly his only originality in the analysis, and the fresher or clearer or more profitable presentation of the original corpus of mysteries, and in the skill and fulness of knowledge with which he is able to bring from all quarters what may be laid under contribution for the illustration of their meaning and their message to men. He stands before his people as simply, by natural gifts, by special study, and by special training, an expert in their exposition.
[The mysteries are dealt with under 1Co. 2:1, 1Co. 15:51.]
II. The fidelity expected of the steward.There is
(1) fidelity, with responsibility, to the Lord Himself; and
(2) fidelity to the matter of the mystery and to the persons designed to be benefited by its disclosure; in these senses, partly accommodations of the idea of fidelity, the responsibility is still, and only, to the Lord Himself. Beginning with
(2). Paul has his own illustration, from the innkeeper who adulterates his wine (2Co. 2:17). [The converse is suggested, under the connotation of another figure (1Pe. 2:2).] There must be no tampering with the mysteries. The fashion in such wine may change; the public palate may be perverted; it may demand the produce of another vineyard; but he at least will only supply this, of the best and purest he knows how to procure. He will spare no cost of pains and prayer to get this, that he may have it to offer. But he dares nothe desires notto offer anything else. He may have the pain, and be put to the test of fidelity, of seeing those whom he desires to supply, leave him, to turn aside to the man who will give them a more popular vintage. But, for one thing, that old Gospel [not to press the figure too far] saved him, and still comforts and sustains him. In faithfulness to the mystery whose revelation has blessed him, and many ten thousands more, he will still dispense that. It is his presumed function and office to preach and present the mysteries of God in their Divine, unmingled simplicity. He is a living falsehood if. whilst he is presumed to do that, and whilst the people expect that of him, he offers something of merely human devising or imagining; or the mystery, indeed, but so overlaid with rhetoric, or the speculative supplements of undisciplined or uncurbed reasoning, that it is hidden and neutralised, put in such a form as never fed or saved anybody. He owes some fidelity to this very message, to the matter which has been disclosed by God, and of which he is a steward. Also, he must be faithful to his people. Indeed, if they are wise, they will wish him, and help him, to be faithful. If fidelity in a steward be needful anywhere, it is in dealing with Divine truth. By these mysteries men live (Isa. 38:16). These are not merely gains to knowledge, however accurate, enlarging, ennobling. They are mens life. It is of urgent necessity to them to possess in its unadulterated purity and in unstinted quantity the truth in the mysteries. It is Bread of Life for dying souls. They are a foolish people who will only ask for, and will only tolerate, what truth is pleasant or conventionally correct; for their own sakes they will covet, and will honour, and will thank and love the man who will only deal honestly with them as a faithful steward, who will give them the whole message of God, and will not in fear or in wicked complaisance spare themselves. He is not accountable to them (1Co. 4:3) indeed; yet his relation to them is one which demands of him fidelity as the truest kindness. [Such kindness to them as that of the Dishonest Steward (Luk. 16:1-8) may serve his dishonest turn for a moment, but will not carry him or them very far!] But, above all,
(1) he will be faithful as a matter of responsibility to his Master, and to God whose mysteries he holds in trust for distribution as every man has need. [The following verses, separately dealt with, give the noble portrait of a steward who is sustained under misconception, misrepresentation, detraction, malicious depreciation; or in the face of angry people, offended at the whole truth; by a sense of the approval of Christ, vouchsafed to him by One who knows how pure and direct his aim has been, how reverent and careful his handling of the disclosure of the mysteries.] The Master praises; what are men? But does the Master praise? That is ever his main question. His every days duty will be planned under his Great Taskmasters eye, and will be discharged with constant reference to His judgment. Motives are so intermingled in our life, the tangle so often passes all our own power of unravelling, that he will not spend overmuch time upon self-analysis. His mingled aimsright after all in their main drift and objectwill be simply laid before his Master en bloc, for His analysis and judgment and smile of reward. If He is satisfied, the rest matter little!
III. The peoples estimate of the office and of the minister.Two dangers threaten: an undue exaltation, or an under-valuing of the office; or, in another alternative, a party worship of the man, as at Corinth, or a superstitious estimate of the office.
1. The under-valuing of the office is a very real danger. The minister must not be simply the chief, and perhaps the only paid, officer of an organisation called a Church, which keeps a minister, as some in the congregation keep a clerk or a manager in their business. He must not simply be the chairman of their meetings; or the president of their social gatherings; or the intellectual leader of their speculations, or of the literary or artistic activity of the young life of the Church; or their deputy on whom they devolve all the initiative of religious and philanthropic agencies which the public expect from them. He may, happily and usefully, be all these. But these are the secondary things of his office. His first and essential dutythe Hamlet-part in the play, without which all is miserably incompleteis to be a steward, blessedly made familiar with the mysteries of God, by close intercourse with God, their Giver, and coming forth from the holy intercourse to dispense them with a wisdom of adaptation to the needs of his people which is itself not a small gift and honour from God. If he only bring to his peopleif his people only expect from himspoken leading articles on topics of the week or of the time, perfect in literary finish; if they are satisfied with brief theses on half-secular themes, full of satirical, or sympathetic, or poetic power; if they are content with brief, admirable, but natural, ethical prelections which do not lift up duty into any organic connection with religion, its motives, its power, its sanctions; if he never bring to their ears, and to their hunger, any of the revealed secrets of the heart and will of God,he is not fulfilling his ministry, nor discharging his stewardship. If they have no hunger of heart, and do not definitely desire to be fed; and even resent the earnestness of the man who would gladly be to them a steward of Gods mysteries, bringing them forth for the supply of their heart and conscience; they misunderstand and under-value the office. Desire him to be, pray for him that he may be, by sympathy with his aims and by grateful recognition of his work, help him to be, a steward and a faithful one! Not less than a steward!
2. On the other hand, not more than a steward. Do not think of him, do not accept of him, as a priest or an exclusive mediator with God. If he boast never so loudly of ordination by any special order of ministers, and claim to be of any special order himself; if he will thrust himself between God and the soul, as in any sense a necessary and indispensable intermediary; if he will claim over the judgment and conscience an authority which of old belonged to a prophet, and now belongs only to Christ, as represented by His Spirit, in the administration of redemption; if he will claim, in any sense, to offer a sacrifice which stands in any necessary relation to the forgiveness of sins or the maintenance of the spiritual life; if he claim priesthood in any sense which belongs exclusively to Christ, or in any sense which does not belong equally to every member of the holy priesthood (1Pe. 2:5),then to acquiesce in such pretensions is to over-exalt the man and his office. Allow no priesthood; hear of nothing, think of nothing, but of Ministry and Stewardship. Pray for him, listen to him, use him, as a steward, not less nor more. And if a man, credentialled no matter by whom, assume to be the way to God, say to him: Thou art in the way! Stand out of my way! Christ is my Way. Let me come direct through Him to God. Let a man so account of us. A true minister asks no more.
1Co. 4:2. Faithful Stewardship.
I. If in the ordinary transactions of time it is imperative that those who are concerned in the management of temporal concerns should be faithful, how much more, in matters which relate to the soul and eternity, is it imperative that the stewards of Gods mysteries should be faithful! The consequences of infidelity or dishonesty in the charge of the affairs of this life may be disastrous; but who can measure the ruin which follows when there is a want of fidelity in dealing with the things of the next life? In such case the ruin is irretrievable, the loss of the soul will stand no comparison with even the gain of the world.
II. Easy to perceive the fidelity required of the minister of Christ.
1. Personal fidelity. If a man has not experienced for himself the grace of God in convincing, converting, and sanctifying his own heart, how can he tell others of the change which is implied in all these workings of the Spirit?
2. Consistency of life and conversation. Even supposing that the doctrine preached is in accordance with Gods Word, an inconsistent life will wither the power of the message and frustrate the ends of its delivery. Not only this; but
3. There must be fidelity in the declaration of the whole revealed truth of inspiration. It is not allowed to the ambassador to deliver only a part of his message; he must proclaim the whole revealed counsel of God. He is to preach the truth in all its integrity, keeping back nothing which is plainly revealed; but as a wise householder he must bring forth things new and old, in order that he may be faithful to Him who hath called him and invested him with such lofty responsibilities. [It is written. It is written again.]
III. There are lessons which all professing Christians may derive.
1. Of all our earthly possessions we are stewards, not proprietors. There is in the ordinary arrangements of Divine providence a vast employment of second causes, and many of the things we acquire appear to come in the course of our own efforts and as the effect of our own industry or skill; hence arises the idea of ownership, and forgetfulness that all things come of God, and that we have not a fraction to which we can lay claim as an independent possession, which we have a right to employ without reference to Him who gave it. But in truth all the secondary means are gifts from God, and derive their efficacy from His imparted power or beneficence. So that, in the most literal sense, all things come of Him, e.g., gifts of intellect which qualify for conspicuous usefulness to others, gifts of wealth or power for influencing largely our fellow-creatures. The point to be remembered is that all these bestowments are entrusted to the keeping of those who possess them to be employed by them as stewards in trust for Gods service. Have you, then, consecrated large possessions and the gain of them to the Lord, and your substance to the Lord of the whole earth? Is the talent which belongs to authority over others employed for God, for upholding Gods honour, for promoting the temporal and spiritual well-being of all within the range of your influence?
2. Our fidelity must originate in personal piety.
(1) The root of Scriptural obedience consists in a right apprehension of the relationship in which we stand to God. We are His creatures, every faculty we possess is His gift, and we are bound to consecrate all we have and are to His glory.
(2) More than this, God has yet a stronger claim. If we constantly remembered the wonderful love of God in the gift of His Son, we should never lose sight of the obligations under which we lie, to consecrate our souls and bodies to His service, to act as stewards who are bound to be faithful in His sight.
(3) And what a motive for fidelity is supplied when we call to mind the shortness of our allotted period of service, and the near approach of the time when Christ will reappear to reckon with all His professing servants. Stewardship always implies a time of reckoning. It may be near or distant, but then there will be no escape or evasion. With what joy will Christs true and faithful servants hear the welcome, Ye have been faithful over a few things, etc. How terrible, then, the condition of those who, though they were stewards, have not been found faithful; the measure of their privileges will be the measure of their fearful condemnation.
(4) Let us then bear in mind the lesson which this days Epistle [Third Sunday in Advent] delivers for our direction. Knowing beforehand the strictness of the account which we must each one render, let us aim at dependence upon Divine grace to overcome every temptation, to conquer every difficulty, which opposes our progress in sanctification, and so to abound unto every good work that in the end we may attain to the recompense and the reward which in the last day awaits every one who shall be found to have been faithful to the stewardship confided to his keeping.Abridged from Bishop Bickersteth, Clerical World, i. 172.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Butlers Comments
SECTION 1
Partiality (1Co. 4:1-5)
4 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.
1Co. 4:1-4 Cause: The Corinthian Christians were showing partiality toward their favorite apostles and other leaders of the church. Partiality has no place in the kingdom of God. Partiality is defined: To show favor to a person because of his external possessions, position or privilege; or, to accept the person instead of the cause. In the Old Testament the Hebrew words nasha panim are translated partiality and mean literally, face-taking (i.e. to judge on the basis of appearance). The Greek words prosopolempsia and prosopolemptes (sometimes translated, respect of person) also mean literally, face-taking (see Act. 10:34; Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3:25; Jas. 2:1; Jas. 2:9). Partiality is severely condemned in the Old Testament (see Lev. 19:15; Deu. 1:17; Deu. 16:19-20; Job. 13:10; Pro. 24:23; Pro. 28:21; Mal. 2:9). Jesus clearly taught that it was not to be a part of the character of the kingdom-citizen (Mat. 5:43-48). The epistles speak severely against partiality (see Col. 3:22-25; Col. 4:1; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6; Eph. 6:9; 1Ti. 5:21; Jas. 2:9).
Partiality creates discord (Mat. 20:24; Mar. 9:34; Luk. 9:46 f; Luk. 22:24-27; Act. 6:1-6; I Cor. ch. 1114); it causes denigration of God (Jer. 18:13 ff.; Rom. 2:24; Gal. 2:11 ff.); it defiles the conscience; it destroys the soul.
The cause for the display of partiality among the Corinthian brethren is evident to Paul. They were not evaluating apostles and other leaders by the one and only God-approved standard which is faithfulness. Paul uses two Greek words by which he categorizes all Christians whether they be leaders or followers. The word servant in Greek (huperetas) is the word from a mariners vocabulary designating the under-rower in the ancient galley ships of the Mediterranean Sea. It came to mean under-servant or underling and was applied to anyone who took orders from someone higher. The second word, steward, in Greek is oikonomos, literally, law of the house, meaning house manager. Barclay calls the oikonomos, the major domo. The point Paul is stressing here is no matter what a Christians place in the church, he is a servant. All Christians are underlings and take orders from Christ. All Christians are merely stewards taking care of the Masters goods. All Christians are to be evaluated only as to whether they have faithfully accepted this position as servant or not. We are not to compare one anothers relationship to the Lord on the basis of skills, talents, accomplishments or any other quantitative measurement. When Jesus told the parable of the pounds (Luk. 19:11-27) it is noteworthy that the nobleman did not condemn the man who had been given five pounds and came back with only five pounds more. If quantitative measurements are the criteria of Gods judgments, the servant given five pounds should have been condemned for not returning ten more like the first servant. The only servant condemned was the third one who was unfaithful and distrusted the noblemans faithfulness and fairness, (see comments, The Gospel of Luke, pages 420425, by Butler, pub. College Press).
Christians must always think of apostles or other brethren in places of leadership as servants. To think otherwise produces favoritism and partiality and, ultimately, destructive division. Paul was emphatic! He insisted that the Corinthian Christians should regard the apostles as no more than underlings and stewards. The Greek word translated regard is logizestho. It is a word from the Greek world of business and finance. It means to enter a calculation on a ledger. He wants it calculated and written down that apostles are merely servants. They are not Masters! The church must not enter one apostle on the ledger as of more account than others. The church must not show favoritism toward any church leaderthey are all servants. Human judgments are always on the basis of appearances, seniority, popularity, or the like. Paul said the only thing that counted was trustworthiness.
The apostles were merely the first stewards commissioned by the Lord to dispense the mysteries of God. The apostles were specially gifted dispensers, to be true, but nothing more than dispensers. The Greek word musterion, translated mystery is used in the New Testament of Gods redemptive program. The word musterion is often used by the pagan religions of the first century for doctrines and rites known by the members of their cults but kept secret from the uninitiated. The writers of the New Testament gave a new meaning to the word. Gods redemptive program was symbolized and prophesied progressively but dimly in the Old Testament (Rom. 3:21; Heb. 1:1). Redemption was fully accomplished and revealed in the incarnate work of Christ and through the apostolic message which explains it and applies it.
Verse two begins with an unusual Greek phrase; ho de loipon zeteitai en tois oikonomois. Literally it would be translated, As for the remaining, it is sought among stewards. . . . What Paul means is that a certain character is sought after in all servants. That character is faithfulness (Gr. pistos). It is not simply sought forit is required! The Greek word zeteitai is often translated required, demanded (see Luk. 11:50-51; Luk. 12:48). J. B. Phillips paraphrases, And it is a prime requisite in a trustee that he should prove worthy of his trust. Faithfulness is dependability and reliability. All servants of Christ (and that includes apostles) are evaluated not on the basis of giftedness but of dependability and reliability. Because some Christians may have been given miraculous powers in the first century, or even the calling as an apostle, does not mean they are to be set apart from other servants who never received miraculous gifts. Each servant is required only to be reliable and dependable with as much as Christ has given him. Jesus described the faithful and wise steward in Luk. 12:42-43. Some classic examples of men who were faithful to earthly masters are Joseph to Potiphar, Daniel to King Darius (Dan. 6:4), and Hananiah (Neh. 7:2).
The apostles have come down to us in history as men of greatness, not because of their educational attainments or political achievements but because they were faithful to Christ. Being the servants of all, they became the greatest of all (see Mat. 20:20-28).
The Corinthian Christians had a problem with judging! Paul had to warn them again in his second letter that they were comparing themselves with one another and, in so doing, were without understanding (see 2Co. 10:12). Jesus evidently anticipated that all citizens of the kingdom of God would have a problem with judging. He devoted the last one-third of his Sermon on the Mount to the problems of making proper judgments (see Mat. 7:1-27). Christians are supposed to make certain judgments:
a.
Christians must judge that some are swine and some are dogs and not cast pearls before them (Mat. 7:6).
b.
Christians must judge what they would wish others to do to them so they may do the same to others (Mat. 7:12).
c.
Christians must judge which is the narrow gate and which is the broad way (Mat. 7:13).
d.
Christians must judge who are false prophets by the doctrines they teach and by the fruits they produce in their teachings (Mat. 7:15-20).
e.
Christians must judge that doing the will of God is of primary importance (Mat. 7:21-23).
f.
Christians must judge the proper place to build their lives (Mat. 7:24-27).
g.
Christians must not judge by appearances, but with righteousness and justice (Joh. 7:24).
h.
Christians ought to be able to make fair and honest judgments between themselves when one has a grievance against another (1Co. 6:1-8).
i.
Christians are to test everything for its evil-quotient and abstain from every form of evil (1Th. 5:21), especially in the matter of religious teaching (see 1Co. 14:29; 1Jn. 4:1-6).
j.
Christians must be able to judge when a brother is living in idleness (2Th. 3:6-15).
k.
Christians must be able to judge when a brother is overtaken in any trespass and restore him in a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1 ff.; Jas. 5:19-20, etc.).
There are many judgments Christians must make about people and situations. Why then did Paul say, But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court? Literally, the Greek phrase is: de eis elachiston estin hina huph humon anakritho e hupo anthropines hemeras; But unto a little it is that by you I have been judged, or by the agency of a mans day. The context makes it clear Paul is saying human beings, even Christians, should not be arrogating to themselves the prerogatives of selecting the best apostle to follow. Christ chose the apostles. Christ alone has authority to distinguish one above another. So Paul is telling these divisive minded people that what they are doing is of no significance whatever, except that it is ruining the Christian fellowship there. Their decisions that one apostle or leader is better than another is ridiculous. If they were trying to decide whether Paul were actually an apostle or a false apostle, they had every right and obligation to do so. That could be decided, and should be decided, on the basis of the signs of an apostle (see 2Co. 12:12). But deciding as to which apostle or leader was better than the other, and then using such a decision to form divisions and opposing sides within the church was utterly pointless. It was worse than that! It was assuming prerogatives which belonged only to Christ.
The phrase, or by the agency of a mans day, is an idiomatic statement referring to the indisputable limitations of the human experience to make eternal judgments. Human life is bounded by too narrow an horizon to make such judgments. The word day in all languages and idioms signifies judgments. The word diet to designate a legislative or judicial body comes from the Latin word dies, the word for day. The word daysman means an arbitrator. The RSV has translated the phrase to give its idiomatic meaning. There is no human diet (or court) with sufficient authority or expertise to divide the church over human leaders. What Paul has said here condemns all division in the body of Christ, and especially that division which is perpetuated by and in favor of religious leadership. Modern denominationalism with its proclivity to perpetuate the distinguishing of one Christian from another by elevation of human religious leaders (dead or alive) stands under this apostolic censure! All a Christian needs to know about a spiritual teacher and leader is whether he is faithful to the Lords Word and the Lords way of life. All Christians manifesting honest effort to be dependably and reliably following Christ are to love, cherish and honor one another and unite their hearts and minds in singleness of praise and service to Christ alone.
Continuing to expose the cause of so much favoritism and division, Paul implies that part of it may be the tendency of the Corinthians to misevaluate themselves. The way Paul makes this inference is to say that he does not even critique (judge) himself. Every man is predisposed to evaluate himself too highly (Rom. 12:3; Php. 2:3). No human being can trust self-evaluation because the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt (see Jer. 17:9). Only the word of God is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the human heart correctly (cf. Heb. 4:12-13). The Greeks placed great emphasis on the adage, Know thyself. That is good advice if a man has in his possession the revealed word of God, the Creator, and if he will saturate his mind with that word surrendering to its divine judgments and evaluations. But by himself no man can know himself for he did not create himself! When men reject Gods word for their own opinions, they overlook their faults and are always able to find someone else more wicked than they. Consider Jesus parable of the two men who went to the temple to prayone a Pharisee the other a tax collector (Luk. 18:9-14), or consider the Jewish rulers estimate of the common people (Joh. 7:49).
We think J. B. Phillips has captured the essence of Pauls statement here in his paraphrase, I dont even value my opinion of myself. For I might be quite ignorant of any fault in myselfbut that doesnt justify me before God. My only true judge is the Lord. When Paul said he knew nothing against himself he was not claiming that he had never sinned. He was well aware of his failings (see Rom. 7:13-25; 1Ti. 1:15, etc.). Paul is simply speaking hypothetically. He is saying, For the sake of illustration, let us presume that I cant think of any wrong doing or wickedness against myselfthat still does not prove infallibly there isnt any! All it would prove is that Paul could not think of any. But what about the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God? Before God all men are sinnerseven apostles! Before God all men saved are men saved by grace through faith.
1Co. 4:5 Cure: In the final analysis, the judgment of God is the only infallible and absolute judgment. God alone knows all the circumstances, secret thoughts, intentions and motives behind mans actions. Much that the world thinks is goodness may have been done from very wicked and self-serving motives. So Paul advocates as the cure for the problem of favoritism and conceit an awareness that honoring one Christian servant above another must be left to the judgment of God. Paul exhorts these Corinthian Christians to cease their favoritism and partiality toward spiritual servants. When Paul says, Therefore do not pronounce judgment . . . he uses the Greek verb krinete, in the imperative mood, which means Paul is commanding them to stop making such superficial judgments. Christians must not pronounce final verdicts on any person who is evidently trying to the best of his ability (and is not causing divisions in the church) to be faithful to the Lord. Christians must wait upon the Lords return for final rewards and honors to be handed out to his servants. The Lord alone has the prerogative to hand out final commendations or condemnations. Some of these Corinthian church members were usurping the Lords prerogative and honoring one servant of the Lord over another by their fallible, schismatic standards when they said, I am of Paul or, I am of Apollos. Some of them, causing division and disorder in the church by jealousy and selfish ambition (see Jas. 3:13-16), were collaborating with the demons of hell! One would think the elders of the Corinthian church would have recognized such schismatic persons as false teachers by the fruits (division and disorder) of their teachings (see Mat. 7:16; Act. 20:29-30).
Appleburys Comments
Attitude Toward the Apostles (15)
Text
1Co. 4:1-5. Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.
Commentary
Let a man account of us.This chapter brings to a close the discussion of the subject of division which had been reported to Paul by members of the household of Chloe. Up to this point, Paul has mentioned the problem of wisdom in contrast to the word of the cross which was the revealed wisdom of God. He has shown the correct view of men in relation to the church as a means of overcoming the party spirit that lay at the root of the problem of division. He has raised the appreciation of all for the things of God by reminding them that they were the temple of God and that the Spirit of God was dwelling in them.
He now pleads for a correct view of the apostles as the ones through whom the Corinthians had believed and who had continued to instruct them in the Christian life.
He uses a significant word with which all were familiar in presenting this plea. Account suggests the bookkeepers term for entries in his ledger. Paul is suggesting that they enter this in their ledger to his credit. They are to set it down in their minds so as to make the accounts balance. He is asking them to look upon the apostles in their relation to this problem in a way that will bring to bear all that has been said by him upon the subject of division. The use of the plural pronoun does take in all the inspired teachers, apostles in particular, as the ones through whom God carried out the project of building the church and caring for it as one would cultivate his field.
as of ministers of Christ.The apostles are Christs servants; they are not to be thought of as ones to divide the body of Christ. In chapter 1Co. 3:21-23, Paul has explained that he and Apollos and the other leaders really belong to the church as their servants. There is a sense, however, in which they also belong to Christ. This is of primary importance in the solution of the problem before them. They were ministers (literally, deacons) who were to perform a service for the church under the direction of the Lord. He uses another word that is translated minister in this context. It means a subordinate or an attendant. Originally, it referred to the galley slave who was chained to his oar. But this idea is not to be read into the New Testament usage. There it refers to the one who has a subordinate position that requires absolute devotion to his superior. It is the word that describes the temple guards who were subordinates of the ruling body of the Jews. Paul considered himself as such a servant of Christ. He is a subordinate whose sole duty is to please the Lord Jesus Christ. Since the church is Christs and the appointed servants are Christs, there is no reason for dividing the church over loyalty to any man. Christ demands absolute priority in the lives not only of teachers but also of all other members of His body, the church. See Col. 1:18.
and stewards.This important word also enforces the lesson of relationship between teachers and Christ. It means household servant. Joseph was such a slave in the house of Potiphar. His task was to manage the affairs of his master and to look after his property. He was strictly accountable to the master for the proper discharge of his duties. This accurately describes the inspired apostles relation to Christ. They were not appointed by men and not accountable to them. Christ appointed them and equipped them to do the task He had for them, and He held them accountable as stewards who were watching over the mysteries of God.
the mysteries of God.Arndt and Gingrich in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament define mystery as a secret. See my comment on 1Co. 2:6-9. These are not mystical things or mysterious things. They are those things in Gods plan to save the believer in Christ that would have remained forever hidden to man had not God revealed them through the inspired apostles and prophets. Essentially then, the term refers to the Bible as the revealed will of God. The apostles were to watch over, guard, and protect that which belonged to God. Pauls appeal to Timothy emphasizes this important truth: O Timothy, guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith (1Ti. 6:20-21).
that a man be found faithful.This seems to be the most important qualification of a stewardfaithfulness to his master. Jesus story of the steward who was accused of wasting his masters goods illustrates the attitude toward unfaithful servants (Luk. 16:1-20). So far as the apostles were concerned, their responsibility was that they be faithful to Christ. They were not to gather men about them for their own glory and thereby divide and destroy the church. Thus the descriptive terms that refer to the apostles and the necessity remaining faithful to the Lord all show the wickedness of the divided state of the church.
that I should be judged of you.Having laid down the basic principles that govern his relation to the church and to the Lord, Paul proceeds to state that it is an inconsequential matter that some of them were presuming to pass on his qualifications to be an apostle. The word for judge in this context means to examine ones qualifications for office. See comment on 1Co. 2:14-15. The one who is spiritual (the inspired apostle) is judged (examined as to his fitness for the task) by no man. Man didnt appoint the apostles of Christ; He did. No man, therefore, has the right to pass on their fitness for the work Christ had for them to do. Why then should one say, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Cephas? Who were they to approve one apostle above another? This is the party spirit that was causing splits in the church at Corinth. Paul let them know that it was a very small thing to him that some were attempting to disqualify him as an apostle of Christ by appealing to human standards or verdicts handed down by men.
I judge not mine own self.That is, Paul did not pass on his own qualifications to be an apostle, and surely the Corinthians were less qualified to do so. Judge in this context is still the word for passing on ones qualifications for office.
I know nothing against myself.This remark, like everything else, must be taken in the light of its context. Paul is saying that he did not know anything against himself that would disqualify him as an apostle. Of course, he knew that at one time he had been a persecutor of the church. By his conduct, he had insulted God. See 1Ti. 1:12-13. He had even consented to the death of Stephen. But this did not prevent his being appointed to Gods service for by Gods grace he had obtained mercy because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus who appeared to him on the Damascus way appointed him a minister and witness both in the things he had seen and in the things that would be shown to him (Act. 26:16). He sent Ananias to him saying, Get up and get yourself baptized and wash away your sins because you have called on the name of the Lord (Act. 22:16).
not hereby justified.Justify, justification, and righteousness are usually used in the New Testament with the meaning that has to do with Gods forgiveness of sin or His looking upon the one who is justified as being right in His sight because of faith in Christ who shed His blood for the remission of sins (Rom. 3:21-26). But it may also be used in its ordinary sense as in this case. Paul is saying, I know nothing against myself, but that does not justify me in assuming that I am qualified to be an apostle of Christ. It is the Lord who passes on my qualifications and approves me as His apostle.
judge nothing before the time.This word is accurately rendered judge in this instance. It refers to the act of weighing evidence, making decisions, and handing down verdicts as a judge on the bench would do. The Corinthians were doing exactly this thing when they said, I am of Paul or I am of Apollos. They were not qualified to do this for they did not have full information and did not know the hearts of men. This is very similar to Jesus statement, Judge not that ye be not judged (Mat. 7:1). He was forbidding hypocritical judging. He, of course, made allowance for the fact that men are capable of recognizing false prophets, for He said, By their fruits ye shall know them (Mat. 7:16). It would seem that by this standard the Corinthians should have been able to see through the false teachers who were promoting division in their midst.
In handing down verdicts that glorified one man and dishonored another, they were violating another principle, that is, the time God has set for judgmentthe coming of the Lord.
bring to light the hidden things.All men face the judgment day before the Lord (Rev. 20:11-15). The one who sits on the throne knows the hidden things that are in darkness. They may not all be evil, for that matter, But God who knows the hearts of all men (Act. 1:24) will judge with righteousness. The light of His truth will illumine the secrets of mens hearts and make manifest their plans, thoughts, and desires (Rom. 2:16).
then shall each man have his praise from God.Praise from God! This should satisfy the need of any man. Why then should they seek the praise from men and in so doing divide the church of God? Well done, good and faithful servant from God is more than all the praise from men.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Man.In a generic sense means every one (as in 1Co. 11:28, and Gal. 6:1).
Usi.e., Paul himself and Apollos.
As of the ministers of Christ.Better, as ministers of Christ. The word used for ministers here expresses more strongly the idea of subordination than the word which occurs in 1Co. 3:5. It implies not only those who are under one superior, but those who are in a still inferior positionthe officer who has to obey orders, as in Mat. 5:25a servant (Mat. 26:58). Though servants, their office is one of great trust; they are stewards to whom the owner of the house has entrusted the care of those sacred thingsmysterieswhich heretofore have been hidden, but are now made known to them, his faithful subordinates. It is to be remembered that even the steward in a Greek household was generally a slave.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
IV.
(1-5) The first five verses of this chapter contain a further argument against party-spirit as it existed in the Corinthian Churchviz., that God alone can judge of any mans work whether it be worthy, and that God, unlike man, who selects only some one for praise, will give to every worker his own proper share of approval.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 4
THE THREE JUDGMENTS ( 1Co 4:1-5 ) 4:1-5 Let a man then so think of us as the servants of Christ and stewards of the secrets which God reveals to his own people. In ordinary everyday life, that a man should be found faithful, is a quality required in stewards. To me it matters very little that I should be judged by you or by any human day. No–I do not even judge myself. For, supposing that I am conscious of no fault, yet I am not acquitted because of that. He who judges me is the Lord. So then, make a practice of passing no judgment before the proper time–until the Lord comes–for he will light up the hidden things of darkness and he will bring to light the counsels of men’s hearts; and then each man will receive his praise from God.
Paul urges the Corinthians not to think of Apollos and Cephas and himself as leaders of parties; but to think of them all as servants of Christ. The word that he uses for a servant is interesting; it is huperetes ( G5257) and originally meant a rower on the lower bank of a trireme, one of the slaves who pulled at the great sweeps which moved the triremes through the sea. Some commentators have wished to stress this and to make it a picture of Christ as the pilot who directs the course of the ship and Paul as the servant who accepts the pilot’s orders and labours only as his Master directs.
Then Paul uses another picture. He thinks of himself and his fellow preachers as stewards of the secrets which God desires to reveal to his own people. The steward (oikonomos, G3623) was the major domo. He was in charge of the whole administration of the house or the estate; he controlled the staff; he issued the supplies; but, however much he controlled the household staff, he himself was still a slave where the master was concerned. Whatever be a man’s position in the Church, and whatever power he may yield there or whatever prestige he may enjoy, be still remains the servant of Christ.
That brings Paul to the thought of judgment. The one thing that an oikonomos ( G3623) must be is reliable. The very fact that he enjoys so much independence and responsibility makes it all the more necessary that his master should be able to depend absolutely upon him. The Corinthians, with their sects and their appropriation of the leaders of the Church as their masters, have exercised judgments on these leaders, preferring one to the other. So Paul speaks of three judgments that every man must face.
(i) He must face the judgment of his fellow men. In this case Paul says that that is nothing to him. But there is a sense in which a man cannot disregard the judgment of his fellow men. The odd thing is that, in spite of its occasional radical mistakes, the judgment of our fellow men is often right. That is due to the fact that every man instinctively admires the basic qualities of honour, honesty, reliability, generosity, sacrifice and love. Antisthenes, the Cynic philosopher, used to say, “There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself–an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.” It is quite true that we should never let the judgment of men deflect us from what we believe to be right; but it is also true that the judgment of men is often more accurate than we would like to think, because they instinctively admire the lovely things.
(ii) He must face the judgment of himself. Once again Paul disregards that. He knew very well that a man’s judgment of himself can be clouded by self-satisfaction, by pride and by conceit. But in a very real sense every man must face his own judgment. One of the basic Greek ethical laws was, “Man, know thyself.” The Cynics insisted that one of the first characteristics of a real man was “the ability to get on with himself.” A man cannot get away from himself and if he loses his self-respect, life becomes an intolerable thing.
(iii) He must face the judgment of God. In the last analysis this is the only real judgment. For Paul, the judgment he awaited was not that of any human day but the judgment of the Day of the Lord. God’s is the final judgment for two reasons. (a) Only God knows all the circumstances. He knows the struggles a man has had; he knows the secrets that a man can tell to no one; he knows what a man might have sunk to and he also knows what he might have climbed to. (b) Only God knows all the motives. “Man sees the deed but God sees the intention.” Many a deed that looks noble may have been done from the most selfish and ignoble motives; and many a deed which looks base may have been done from the highest motives. He who made the human heart alone knows it and can judge it.
We would do well to remember two things–first, even if we escape all other judgments or shut our eyes to them, we cannot escape the judgment of God; and, second, judgment belongs to God and we do well not to judge any man.
APOSTOLIC HUMILITY AND UNCHRISTIAN PRIDE ( 1Co 4:6-13 )
4:6-13 Brothers, I have transferred these things by way of illustration to myself and to Apollos, so that through us you may learn to observe the principle of not going beyond that which is written, so that none of you may speak boastfully of one teacher and disparagingly of the other.
Who sees anything special in you? What do you possess that you did not receive? And, if you did receive it, why are you boasting as if you had acquired it yourself? No doubt you are already fed to the full! No doubt you are already rich! No doubt you have already come into your kingdom without any help from us! I would that you had already come into your kingdom so that we too might reign with you! For I think that God has exhibited the apostles, bringing up the rear of the procession, like men marked out to die! I think that we have become a spectacle for the world and for angels and for men! We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak but you are strong! You are famous, we have no honour! Until this very hour, we are hungry, we are thirsty, we are naked, we are buffeted, we are homeless wanderers, we toil working with our own hands. When we are insulted, we bless; when we are persecuted, we bear it. When we are slandered, we gently plead. We have been treated like the scum of the earth, like the dregs of all things–and this treatment still goes on.
All that Paul has been saying about himself and about Apollos is true not only for them but also for the Corinthians. It is not only he and Apollos who must be kept humble by the thought that it is not the judgment of men they are facing, but the judgment of God; the Corinthians must walk in a like humility. Paul had a wonderfully courteous way of including himself in his own warnings and his own condemnations. The true preacher seldom uses the word you and always uses the word we; he does not speak down to men; he speaks as one who sits where they sit and who is a man of like passions with them. If we really wish to help and to save men our attitude must be not that of condemnation but of pleading; our accent must be not that of criticism but of compassion. It is not his own words that Paul insists the Corinthians must not go beyond; it is the word of God, which condemns all pride.
Then Paul asks them the most pertinent and basic of all questions. “What do you possess,” he said, “that you did not receive?” In this single sentence Augustine saw the whole doctrine of grace. At one time Augustine had thought in terms of human achievement, but he came to say, “To solve this question we laboured hard in the cause of the freedom of man’s will, but the grace of God won the day.” No man could ever have known him unless God had revealed himself; no man could ever have won his own salvation; a man does not save himself, he is saved. When we think of what we have done and think of what God has done for us, pride is ruled out and only humble gratitude remains. The basic fault of the Corinthians was that they had forgotten that they owed their souls to God.
Then comes one of these winged outbursts which meet us ever and again in the letters of Paul. He turns on the Corinthians with scathing irony. He compares their pride, their self-satisfaction, their feeling of superiority with the life that an apostle lives. He chooses a vivid picture. When a Roman general won a great victory he was allowed to parade his victorious army through the streets of the city with all the trophies that he had won; the procession was called a Triumph. But at the end there came a little group of captives who were doomed to death; they were being taken to the arena to fight with the beasts and so to die. The Corinthians in their blatant pride were like the conquering general displaying the trophies of his prowess; the apostles were like the little group of captives doomed to die. To the Corinthians the Christian life meant flaunting their privileges and reckoning up their achievement; to Paul it meant humble service and a readiness to die for Christ.
In the list of things which Paul declares that the apostles undergo there are two specially interesting words. (i) He says that they are buffeted (kolaphizesthai, G2852) . That is the word used for beating a slave. Plutarch tells how a witness gave evidence that a slave belonged to a certain man because he had seen the man beating him and this is the word that is used. Paul was willing for the sake of Christ to be treated like a slave. (ii) He says, “When we are insulted (loidoresthai, G3058) , we bless.” We probably do not realize just how surprising a statement this would be to a pagan. Aristotle declares that the highest virtue is megalopsuchia, great-heartedness, the virtue of the man with the great soul; and he defines this virtue as the quality which will not endure to be insulted. To the ancient world Christian humility was a virtue altogether new. This indeed was the kind of conduct that to men looked crazily foolish although this very foolishness was the wisdom of God.
A FATHER IN THE FAITH ( 1Co 4:14-21 ) 4:14-21 It is not to shame you that I write these things, but to warn you as my beloved children. You may have thousands of tutors in Christ, but you have not many fathers; for, in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I begat you. So then, I urge you, show yourselves imitators of me. That is why I send to you Timothy, who is my beloved child and faithful in the Lord, for he will bring back to your memory my ways in Christ–exactly the same things as I teach everywhere and in every Church. There are some who have been inflated with their own importance, as though I were not coming to you. I will come to you soon, if the Lord will, and I will find out, not what these inflated people say, but what they can do; for the Kingdom of God does not exist in talking but in powerful action. What do you wish? Am I to come to you with a stick? Or am I to come in love and in the spirit of gentleness?
With this passage Paul brings to an end the section of the letter which deals directly with the dissensions and divisions at Corinth. It is as a father that he writes. The very word which he uses in 1Co 4:14 for to warn (nouthetein, G3560) is the word regularly used to express the admonition and advice which a father gives his children. ( Eph 6:4). He may be speaking with the accents of severity; but it is not the severity which seeks to bring an unruly slave to heel, but the severity which seeks to put back on the right rails a foolish son who has gone astray.
Paul felt that he was in a unique position as regards the Corinthian Church. The tutor (paidagogos, G3807: compare Gal 3:24) was not the teacher of the child. He was an old and trusted slave who daily took the child to school, who trained him in moral matters, cared for his character and tried to make a man of him. A child might have many tutors but he had only one father; in the days to come the Corinthians might have many tutors but none of them could do what Paul had done; none of them could beget them to life in Christ Jesus.
Then Paul says an amazing thing. In effect he says, “I call upon my children to take after their father.” It is so seldom that a father can say that. For the most part it is too often true that a father’s hope and prayer is that a son will turn out to be all that he has never succeeded in being. Most of us who teach cannot help saying, not, “Do as I do,” but, “Do as I say.” But Paul, not with pride, but with complete unself-consciousness, can call upon his children in the faith to copy him.
Then he pays them a delicate compliment. He says that he will send Timothy to remind them of his ways. In effect, he says that all their errors and mistaken ways are due, not to deliberate rebellion, but to the fact that they have forgotten. That is so true of human nature. So often it is not that we rebel against Christ; it is simply that we forget him. So often it is not that we deliberately turn our backs upon him; it is simply that we forget that he is in the scheme of things at all. Most of us need one thing above all–a deliberate effort to live in the conscious realization of the presence of Jesus Christ. It is not only at the sacrament but at every moment of every day that Jesus Christ is saying to us, “Remember Me.”
Paul moves on to a challenge. They need not say that because he is sending Timothy he is not coming himself. He will come if the way opens up; and then will come their test. These Corinthians can talk enough; but it is not their high-sounding words that matter; it is their deeds. Jesus never said, “By their words you shall know them,” He said, “By their fruits you shall know them.” The world is full of talk about Christianity, but one deed is worth a thousand words.
In the end Paul demands whether he is to come to mete out discipline or to company with them in love. The love of Paul for his children in Christ throbs through every letter he wrote; but that love was no blind, sentimental love; it was a love which knew that sometimes discipline was necessary and was prepared to exercise it. There is a love which can ruin a man by shutting its eyes to his faults; and there is a love which can mend a man because it sees him with the clarity of the eyes of Christ. Paul’s love was the love which knows that sometimes it has to hurt in order to amend.
Paul has dealt with the problem of strife and divisions within the Corinthian Church, and now he goes on to deal with certain very practical questions and certain very grave situations within the Church, of which news has come to him. This section includes 1Co 5:1-13 and 1Co 6:1-20, 1Co 5:1-8 deals with a case of incest. 1Co 5:9-13 urges discipline for the unchaste. 1Co 6:1-8 deals with the tendency of the Corinthians to go to law with each other. 1Co 6:9-20 stresses the need for purity.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
a. Apostles are dispensers of God’s mysteries, to be judged solely by God, 1Co 4:1-5 .
1. A man Any or every person.
Us The apostles, and, inferentially, all true ministers.
Ministers The Greek word signifies etymologically under-rowers; as if Christ were chief navigator in the boat and his apostles were rowing under him. Thence it commonly means any servant or subordinate aid.
Stewards Any dispensers of any treasured value, as cashiers or distributers of property.
Mysteries The entire mass of divine truths, hitherto held secret by God, but now for the first time revealed in Christ; hence embracing all that was truly new to the world, Jews or Gentiles, in the doctrines and institutes of the Christian dispensation. The disclosing these mysteries was the high office of the first commissioned evangelists and apostles. To them primitively Christ had said, (Mat 13:1,) “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” In this, Paul means to say, consists the broad difference between the Christian apostle and the sages of Greek philosophy. The former received their system by revelation from Christ; the latter invented theirs from their own brains. Christ is alone the divine original.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Let a man so account of us as of assistants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.’
All Christian teachers are to be seen as ‘assistants’ of Christ in the household of God. The word for ‘assistants’ originally referred to the lowest level of galleyslaves in a trireme, the lowest of the low, those at the bottom of the ladder. It was also used of the assistant at the synagogue in Nazareth who took the scroll of Isaiah from Jesus once He had finished reading (Luk 4:20). It stresses inferiority to a superior in a particular field, for example a ‘junior doctor’. They are learners and helpers to one who is knowledgeable in their field. So are Christian teachers learners and helpers in relation to Christ Who is Himself the source of their knowledge and understanding.
They are also to be seen as stewards, household managers of the mysteries of God. The stress on this continues. They are not the owner, they act on the owner’s behalf. They are responsible to administer what is His. This was a favourite theme of Jesus Himself and He constantly referred to men as servants and stewards of God. Their responsibility, says Paul, is to make known what was previously hidden to those to whom God has chosen to reveal it. It was a mystery, for although God had unveiled something of it in the Old Testament, it had remained veiled to man. But now it had been revealed in Christ. And as stewards of those mysteries it was their responsibility to unveil Christ, and not their own wisdom
They were thus not to be inventors of, or speculators in, religious matters. Others spoke of revealing ‘mysteries. The world was full of mystery religions. But they were mysteries of their own devising, not the mysteries of God. The responsibility of God’s stewards was to preserve and minister God’s word which has been committed to them, and to make Christ fully known as he had been revealed to them. For that is a steward’s responsibility, to be faithful to his master in relation to what is his. The steward of Christ should point to Christ and not to himself, should concentrate on Christ’s affairs and not his own, and should carry out his responsibilities faithfully.
‘Here moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.’ In fulfilling that stewardship nothing was more essential than that the steward be found faithful. For it was only the faithful steward,, who was true to his master’s wisdom, who would truly unveil the mysteries of his master.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Faithfulness Required of Christ’s Assistants and Stewards (4:1-5).
Having summed up all in Christ and in God Paul now comes back to the fact that all men are therefore accountable to God. He speaks openly of himself as an example. But he stresses that he is but an example. All he has said about himself and Apollos, his dear friend and colleague whom he knows he can trust and be frank about without causing offence, is applicable to all. He compares the whole church to a great household, the household of God and of His Son Jesus Christ (compare Joh 8:34-36; Gal 4:1-7; Gal 4:26; Gal 4:28-31).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Christ Crucified For Us And The New Birth Through the Spirit Are the Two Central Foundations of Christianity (1:10-4:21).
Paul begins this section by revealing his concern that the Corinthians are in danger of splitting up into different parties around the teaching of certain leading teachers (1Co 1:10-17), and concentrating on secondary aspects of that teaching, rather than being united around the one central truth of Christ crucified, the one fact which is central to the Christian message, and around which all should be united, and which points to the One Who alone, by means of what He accomplished there, is effective in bringing about their salvation through the power of God (1Co 1:18; 1Co 1:24; 1Co 1:30 ; 1Co 2:2; 1Co 2:4), and is the very foundation of the Christian faith (1Co 3:10-15).
The crucifixion of Christ, points out Paul, has brought about the raising up of a wholly new situation. The world is now divided into two. On the one hand is ‘the natural man’, devoid of the Spirit, taken up with human wisdom, divided, rejecting God’s way, despising the cross (1Co 1:19 onwards leading up to 1Co 2:14), and on the other ‘the spiritual one’, receiving true wisdom from God, trusting fully in the word of the cross, enlightened, the temple of God indwelt by the Spirit (1Co 2:4-15; 1Co 3:16; 1Co 1:24).
The ‘natural man’ is the world in Adam, the first man, and as such earthy and without the Spirit and unable to discern the things of God, with no hope of the resurrection to life (1Co 2:14; 1Co 15:45-47). The Spiritual One is the last Adam, the second man, the heavenly One, in Whom are found those who are heavenly, Who has given His Spirit to His own so that they might understand the things of God as manifested through the power of the word of the cross, and know the things that are freely given to them of God, and come finally to the resurrection of life (1Co 2:10-16; 1Co 15:42-49).
But sadly the Corinthian church, while having become a part of the second, are revealing themselves as still very much taken up with the first. They are divided, looking to earthly wisdom, arguing about different teachers as though they brought different messages, rich and yet poor, reigning and yet not reigning (1Co 1:12; 1Co 2:5 ; 1Co 3:3-4; 1Co 4:8), neglecting the word of the cross, and the Crucified One, still behaving as fleshly rather than as spiritual (1Co 3:1-3). They are not allowing the word of the cross to do its work in them.
They need to recognise that the teachers are in themselves nothing, ‘weak and foolish’ tools of God (1Co 1:26-29) who must themselves account to God (1Co 3:10-15), whose task is to build on the One foundation which is Christ, for they are building the Temple of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It is indeed the one Holy Spirit Who reveals through these teachers the crucified Christ and what He has done and is doing for them (1Co 2:10-16). For it is one Christ Who has been crucified and through Whom we are being saved.
What should therefore be all important to them is Christ and Him crucified (1Co 2:2), the word of the cross (1Co 1:18), foreordained before the creation (1Co 2:7), the central message they proclaim (1Co 3:11), and around which they must unite, for it is He who has been made to them the wisdom from God, even righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1Co 1:30). He is the one foundation on which they are built (1Co 3:11). The church is one and it is this message that separates them from the outside world which in its folly and blindness despises Him ( 1Co 1:20-23 ; 1Co 2:6; 1Co 2:8) and what He came to accomplish. Thus must they maintain unity in Him, partaking in His one body (1Co 10:17; 1Co 12:12-13), presenting a united witness to the world (1Co 1:10-12), recognising that they are the one Temple of God (1Co 3:16), rather than splitting up into a group of different argumentative philosophical groups having lost the recognition that what they have come to believe in Christ is central to the whole future of all things. They need the grand vision.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Stewardship of Christian Ministry In 1Co 4:1-5 Paul explains stewardship. He is saying in this passage that he and his fellow workers were helpers of Christ, and because He had given to them responsibilities, they had also become stewards of such responsibilities, as those who will one day give an account of this stewardship (1Co 4:5). Therefore, in light of eternal judgment, Paul gives very little weight of importance to the judgment of others about his ministry (1Co 4:3). Neither does he give much weight to the way he judges himself, for he knows that the Lord is a better judge of all these things (1Co 4:4).
There is no Condemnation in Christ Jesus Paul explains in 1Co 4:1-5 that it is not someone else’s job to judge his life, neither does he look for fault in himself. Rather, he has learned that when there is a problem in his life, the Lord will show this to him by His Spirit, and then it is time to judge sin in his life. In other words, Paul had learned that he is not going to worry about what others think about himself. He has learned not to constantly find fault with himself. For if God approves him, why should Paul disapprove and condemn himself. Of course Paul was not perfect, and neither are any of us. But we should be able to walk in the liberty of believing that God is working out his salvation in us daily and loves us dearly.
1Co 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Co 4:2 1Co 4:2
1Co 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
1Co 4:3
1Co 4:3 Comments – These carnal-minded Corinthians were deciding who to follow. Therefore, they were passing judgment on those whom they did not want to listen to.
1Co 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
1Co 4:5 1Co 4:5
1Co 1:7, “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:”
1Co 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Church Divisions: Sanctification of the Mind to Stop Respecting Persons In 1Co 3:1 to 1Co 4:21 Paul returns to the issue of divisions within the church at Corinth, in which he will emphasize the sanctification of the mind, so that the believers at Corinth understand that Christ is the preeminent head of the body, and not particular members. He opens this passage by explaining that strife and divisions are an indication of carnality (1Co 3:1-4). He then explains how the offices of himself and Apollos are united in the Gospel by using the analogies of husbandry (1Co 3:5-9) and building a house (1Co 3:10-17). He uses these two analogies to explain that ministers are simply servants of God, who are labouring to build upon the foundation of what Jesus Christ laid in the Gospels. However, those who think themselves to be wise and try to serve the Lord by being independent from others and doing things their own way, which includes labouring within divided groups within the Church, are actually unwise. Paul encourages them to become “fools” for Christ and stop boasting in the works of men (1Co 3:18-23). Paul then explains the stewardship that is required by the true servants of Christ (1Co 4:1-5). The evidence of Paul’s divine stewardship is seen in the prosperity of the Corinthians and in the hardship that Christ’s ministers must endure for their sake (1Co 4:6-13). Paul then declares his spiritual authority over them because he brought them to faith in Christ (1Co 4:14-21).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Carnality of Strife and Divisions 1Co 3:1-4
2. The Unity of Christian Ministry 1Co 3:5-17
3. Warnings on Boasting in Men 1Co 3:18-23
4. The Stewardship of Christian Ministry 1Co 4:1-5
5. Evidences of Paul’s Stewardship 1Co 4:6-13
6. Paul’s Spiritual Authority over the Corinthians 1Co 4:14-21
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Sanctification by the Holy Spirit In 1Co 3:1 to 1Co 14:40 Paul takes the greater part of this epistle to teach them about the process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit. However, the ways in which these issues are presented reflect the sanctification of man’s mind, body, and spirit, in that order. For example, Paul’s discussion on church divisions (1Co 3:1 to 1Co 4:21) emphasizes the sanctification of our minds so that we learn not to prefer one church member, or church leader, above another. His discussion on fornication (1Co 5:1 to 1Co 7:40) emphasizes the sanctification of our bodies, as we offer them as holy vessels to the Lord. His discussion on meats offered until idols (1Co 8:1 to 1Co 11:1) emphasizes the sanctification of our spirits as we learn to walk and conduct our lifestyles with a clean conscience, which is the voice of the spirit. Paul then turns his attention to issues regarding public worship (1Co 11:2 to 1Co 14:40). Remember in the Old Testament how the priests and Levites had to sanctify themselves before entering into the service of the Tabernacle and Temple. Therefore, Paul uses this same approach for the New Testament Church. As we allow our minds, bodies and spirits to yield to the work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit, we become vessels in which the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit can operate.
Outline – Here is a proposed outline:
1. Divisions in the Church 1Co 3:1 to 1Co 4:21
2. Fornication in the Church 1Co 5:1 to 1Co 6:20
3. Idolatry and foods offered to idols 1Co 8:1 to 1Co 11:34
4. Public Worship 1Co 11:2 to 1Co 14:40
The Two Issues of Fornication and Foods Offered Unto Idols Reflect Heathen Worship Note that the two major topics that are covered in this epistle of 1 Corinthians, fornication and meat offered to idols, are two of the four issues that those the Jerusalem council decided to ask of the Gentiles. Note:
Act 15:20, “But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”
Act 15:29, “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”
Act 21:25, “As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.”
In submission to the church apostles and elders a Jerusalem, Paul delivered these ordinances to the Corinthian church earlier while he lived there. In this epistle, Paul expands upon them:
1Co 11:2, “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.”
Note also that Jesus told the church in Pergamos in the book of Revelation that these were the two doctrines of Balaam.
Rev 2:14, “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication .”
Therefore, the practice of feasting in idolatry and fornication appears to have been a common practice in Asia Minor among the temple worship of the Greeks. We also see in Rom 1:18-32 how idolatry was followed by fornication as God turned mankind over to a reprobate mind. Thus, these two sins are associated with one another throughout the Scriptures. However, first Paul deals with church divisions.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Work of the Ministers of Christ.
Faithfulness required:
v. 1. Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
v. 2. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
v. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self.
v. 4. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord.
v. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God. The apostle had shown the relation of himself and the other teachers to the Church of Christ, to the temple of God, namely, that they are servants. But from that it does not follow that the Christians are the masters of their teachers. God is the Householder, the Master, and therefore all those that formed factions in the congregation at Corinth, and thus presumed to judge and censure other teachers than their own adopted chief, were usurping a function which properly belongs to Christ alone. So, in this way, he says, let a man think, account of us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. That is the right, the proper way in which every person, but especially the members of the Christian congregations, should regard the apostles and all ministers of Christ. Thus they should think of them, this reasonable estimate they should have of them at all times. Servants of Christ they are, the word originally denoting rowers in a galley, but later used for domestic servants that enjoyed the trust of their master, that were, in a manner of speaking, assistants: thus the men that work in the doctrine are the trusted servants of Christ. And they are stewards of the mysteries of God. “The steward was the master’s deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at the proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master. ” Thus the ministers are the stewards of the mysteries of God; they are in charge of, and are responsible to God for the administration of the means of grace, through which God reveals to men and imparts to them the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. “What, then, are these mysteries of God? Nothing but Christ Himself, that is, faith and the Gospel of Christ; for everything that is preached in the Gospel is placed at a distance from the senses and reason and hidden before all the world; nor may they be obtained except only through faith, as He Himself says, Mat 11:25: I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. ” This description of the apostle fitly includes all the work of the true minister’s office in every respect, beyond which no congregation should go in making demands on the pastor’s ability and time. “We have, then, the apostle’s statement in these words that a servant of Christ is a steward of the mysteries of God, that is, he should regard himself, and have himself regarded, as preaching and giving nothing else to the members of God’s household than only Christ and concerning those that are in Christ; that is, he should preach the pure Gospel, the pure faith, that Christ alone is our Life, Way, Wisdom, Power, Praise, and Salvation, etc. , and that our things are nothing but death, error, foolishness, powerlessness, shame, and damnation. Him that preaches otherwise, no man should regard as a servant of Christ and as a steward of divine treasures, but shun him as a messenger of the devil.”
From the statement of v. 1 Paul now makes a plain inference: Since this is the case, it remains that the quality sought for in the stewards is that faithful everyone be found. That, to be sure, is a demand, but it is the only demand that can and should be made, that the minister of Christ be faithful in his stewardship. The Lord does not require, as Luther says, that he be so holy as to raise up the dead by his very shadow, or that he be as wise as all the prophets and apostles were. Neither does he ask that he be a spirited orator, a witty conversationalist, a good mixer, nor any of the many other points which nowadays are mentioned as essential qualities of a pastor. Of all these things the Lord says nothing. He wants only that His stewards administer the Word of God, preach the Gospel, bring forth the necessary spiritual food out of the rich treasury of God’s mysteries, making use of the proper pastoral wisdom: that is the faithfulness which the Lord seeks in His servants. This includes that a faithful pastor should rebuke the prevalent sins in his congregation and in the world round about it, that he should call the sinners to repentance, that he should deny the hardened sinners the sweet comfort of the Gospel, that he should reject all schemes which will lead to cheap popularity, that he, above all, should not grow weary in following the lost lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, that he should bear all the members of his congregation in his heart and make remembrance before God for them in his prayers.
And if a pastor is thus faithful, making use of the talents which the Lord has given him in his pastoral work, then he may say with the apostle: But to me it is a small matter that I am judged by you or by any human day of judgment; on the other hand, neither do I try myself, v. 3. Paul was, in a manner of speaking, on trial in Corinth; the members were passing judgment upon his talents, upon his motives, upon his administration. But it does not cause him serious concern that this is the case, that his person and work were being investigated; he thinks lightly of any human judgment, does not even ask his own, does not even try himself. Arraigned before the bar of all these human opinions, Paul calmly states that he estimates all their findings as amounting to very little in comparison with that of his heavenly Master. For, as he goes on to say, he is conscious of no special charge against himself in his work as a minister of Christ; he has done his labor as steward with all the faithfulness of a believing heart. He knows, of course, that by this fact he is not justified before the one highest tribunal; for He that has the final sentence is the Lord, and the apostle cannot hope to stand acquitted until the Lord’s examination has come to a close. Experience has taught Paul that he cannot rely upon the verdict of his conscience apart from that of Christ. He knew that in his flesh dwelt no good thing, Rom 7:18, that even the good which he performed could not be performed without the participation of the sinful flesh. Therefore he relies upon the grace and mercy of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He knows that the same Lord that has charge of the final examination is the Lord that justifies sinners, even with regard to their secret faults. “Since Paul accepted justification by faith in Christ, not his innocence, but his Savior’s merit has become his fixed ground of assurance.”
And so he adds a word of gentle, but emphatic warning: So, then, do not indulge in judging before the time, do not be premature in passing sentence in my case or in that of any other minister. All judgments should rather be held in abeyance until the Lord comes. When the Lord shall appear for the great final trial, then we can and must agree with His findings. For He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the counsels of the hearts. Before the eyes of man most of the things that are found in the innermost recesses of the heart are absolutely unknown and therefore cannot be adduced in a trial. But before the all-seeing eye of God all things are open; He will disclose the secrets hidden in darkness, especially the motives that actuated men in the performance of their duties. He will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; the innermost motives and desires crystallize in the thoughts of the heart, in projects of various kinds, whether for good or for evil. Then it will be known definitely whether it was faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God which actuated the servants of Christ; then the full measure of their love for Christ and for the immortal souls entrusted to their care will be shown. All human investigations and trials, all premature judging and condemning, will then be brought to shame, as Luther says, “just as though I should intend to weigh eggs on a scale, and would weigh them according to their shells alone, leaving the yolks and the whites outside. ” And then, in the just judgment of God, praise will come upon everyone from God. In the same measure as the Lord finds faithfulness flowing from the love of Christ and the believers, in that measure will He openly bestow praise upon every one of His ministers and stewards, not from vague opinions and estimates, but from the clearness of omniscient knowledge. Christ’s commendation, judging on God’s behalf, alone is of value, a reward that might well be coveted by every pastor. “Praise the Corinthian partisans lavished on their admired leaders: this is God’s prerogative, let them check their impertinent eulogies.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
1Co 4:1-5
Judgments, human and Divine, respecting ministers.
1Co 4:1
Let a man so account of us. Since it is inevitable that Christians should form some estimate of the position of their ministers, he proceeds to tell them what that estimate should be. Ministers are not to be unduly magnified, for their position is subordinate; they are not to be unduly depreciated, for if they are faithful they may appeal from frivolous human prejudices and careless depreciations to that only Judge and Master before whom they stand or fall. Ministers; here huperetas; in 1Co 3:5 diakonous. They are huperetai (in its derivation “under rowers”) in their relation to Christ; diakonoi in their relation to men. Of Christ; and therefore responsible to Him. Stewards; dispensers, subordinate distributors. These “agents” were higher slaves (Luk 16:1-8). Of the mysteries of God. The word “mysteries” means truths once hidden but now revealed; as in Luk 8:10, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” In later patristic usage the word means “sacraments;” but St. Paul has expressly said (1Co 1:17) that his mission was to preach the gospel, not primarily to administer the sacraments. (For descriptions of the work of a minister according to St. Paul’s lofty ideal, see the pastoral Epistles, and 1Th 2:7-11; Col 1:25-29; Act 20:18-21, Act 20:24-28. St. Peter’s is given in 1Pe 4:10, 1Pe 4:11; 1Pe 5:2-4.) A minister is not to be estimated as a supernatural teacher, or a civil autocrat, or an infallible critic, but as an ambassador from Christ, who reveals to the “initiated” that which they could not otherwise know.
1Co 4:2
Moreover. The true reading (, A, B, C, D, F) is , here, moreover; i.e. “on this earth.” It may be required of him as a minister that he should be faithful, but if, being faithful, he is misjudged and depreciated, his appeal lies to a truer and loftier tribunal. It is required. This is the reading of , A, C, D. Other manuscripts have “ye require;” but the sound of the two words in Hellenistic Greek would have been almost indistinguishable. That a man be found faithful. We have a right to demand that on trial he be proved to be honest and diligent. So our Lord has described the “faithful and wise steward” in Luk 12:42, Luk 12:43. What is required of ministers is neither brilliancy, nor eloquence, nor profound knowledge, nor success, but onlyfidelity.
1Co 4:3
But. The Corinthians might have expected that the conclusion of St. Paul’s remarks would be a recognition of their right to sit in judgment on his faithfulness; but it is, on the contrary, an expression of his complete indifference to their shallow and unfair estimate, and an appeal to the approval of his own conscience and to the judgment of the Lord. It is a very small thing; literally, it is for the least. That I should be judged of you; rather, that I should be examined by you (anakritho). Technically the word anakrisis means “an examination preliminary to trial.” Or of man’s judgment; literally, of man’s day. The brief day of human life is bounded by too narrow an horizon for accurate judgments. Many of the greatest and best men have felt, like Lord Bacon, that they must leave to other generations the right estimate of their characters, views, and actions. St. Jerome reckons the expression “day” for “judgment” among the “Cilicisms” of St. Paul (Jeremiah, ‘Ad Algas.,’ 10), i.e. the expressions due to his early training in Cilicia. More probably (as Grotius thinks) there is a reference to the “day” fixed for earthly trials (diem dicere, equivalent to “to impeach”), and to the phrase “the day of judgment””the woeful day” of Jer 17:16. The word “day” in all languages and idioms signifies “judgment” (Hammond). From dies, a day, comes the phrase “a diet.” A “daysman” means an arbitrator. Yea, I judge not mine own self. Here, as in the previous clause and in 1Co 6:4, the verb is not krino, I judge, but anakrino, I examine. Thus the verse discourages all morbid self introspection. It also shows that St. Paul is not arrogantly proclaiming himself superior to the opinion of the Corinthians, but is pointing out the necessary inadequacy of all human judgments. The heart is too liable to self deceit (Jer 17:9, Jer 17:10) to enable it to pronounce a judgment with unerring accuracy. Hence neither a man’s contemporaries nor the man himself can form any final estimate of him or of his fitting position, because their knowledge is too imperfect. History often reverses the decision of contemporaries.
1Co 4:4
I know nothing by myself; rather, nothing against myself. The phrase of the Authorized Version originally meant this, but is now obsolete in this sense. “I am sorry that each fault can be proved by the queen,” says Cranmer to Henry VIII. It is like the Latin Nil conscire sibi. The same phrase occurs in the LXX. of Job 27:6. St. Paul says, “The verdict of my own conscience acquits me of all intentional unfaithfulness;” but this is insufficient, because God sees with clearer eyes than ours. “Who can understand his errors?” asks the psalmist (Psa 19:12); and the “secret faults” against which he prays are not hidden vices, but sins of which he was himself unconscious. It must be remembered that St. Paul is here only speaking with conscious integrity of his ministerial work. Nothing could have been further from the mind of one who elsewhere calls himself” the chief of sinners” than to claim an absolute immunity from every form of self reproach. They who claim immaculate holiness can as little quote the sanction of St. Paul (1Co 9:27; 1Co 15:9; Eph 3:8; Php 3:13, etc.) as of any other saint. The confessions of the holiest are ever the most humble. Yet am I not hereby justified. Because “every way of a man” is apt to be “right in his own eyes,” but God pondereth the hearts, and therefore in God’s sight “no man living is justified.” St. Paul is here using the word in its legal rather than its theological sense. He that judgeth me is the Lord. This is a reason for serious awe and deep self searching of heart (Psa 130:3; Job 9:2). Yet also for hope and confidence when a man can, like the modern statesman, “look from the storm without to the sunshine of an approving conscience within.” For God, being “greater than our hearts” (1Jn 3:21), may count “the long ‘yes’ of life” against the one “no,” or the single faithless minute. Knowing whereof we are made, remembering that we are but dust, he looks on us
“With larger other eyes than ours,
To make allowance for us all.”
1Co 4:5
Judge nothing. St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans, insists with some indignation on this duty of checking the tendency to vain depreciation, both because we have not the capacity for forming adequate judgments, and because censoriousness is a very common though thoroughly unchristian vice (Rom 14:4, Rom 14:10, Rom 14:13). Before the time. The time is when God shall “judge the secrets of men” (Rom 2:16), and when “the day shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1Co 3:13). Until the Lord come. The advent is called in the New Testament sometimes the “epiphany,” and sometimes the parousia of Christ. The word used for “until” (heos an) points to a time entirely indefinite. Both; rather, also; i.e. among other things. The hidden things of darkness. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13; comp. Ecc 12:14). God “shall illuminate the crypts of the darkness which naturally fills the self deceiving heart.” The counsels of the hearts. These may bear no scrutiny, even when the actions of the life have been made to look plausible enough. And then. God only “seeth in secret” (Mat 6:4), and therefore the praise and blame of men may in this life be equally unjust. Shall every man have praise of God; rather, each one shall then have his praise (i.e. such praise as he deserves) from God. Some of the Greek Fathers (e.g. Theophylact) here make “praise” a “word of intermediate sense,” involving either praise or blame. But St. Paul says “praise” for two reasonspartly because he is thinking of faithful teachers like Cephas, Apollos, and himself, who were depreciated by rival factions; and partly because he, like other apostles, shows an invariable tendency to allude to the bright rather than to the dark side of judgment. The “praise from God”the “Well done, good and faithful servant”is so infinitely precious that it reduces to insignificance the comparative value of human praise or blame.
1Co 4:6-13
Contrast between the inflated self sufficiency of the Corinthians and the earthly humiliation of the apostles.
1Co 4:6
Brethren. The occasional use of this and similar expressions (“beloved,” etc.) often serves to strengthen an appeal, or, as here, to soften the sternness of a rebuke. I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos. The meaning seems to be that St. Paul has prominently transferred to himself and to Apollos, or rather to the parties who chose their names as watchwords, the proof as to the sin and futility of partisanship which applied equally well to the parties which ranged themselves under other names. (For the verb “transfer”more often “transform” see 2Co 11:13, 2Co 11:14, 2Co 11:15; Php 3:21.) He abstains purposely and generously from publicly naming the fuglemen of the antagonistic factions. For your sakes. By rebuking party spirit in his own partisans and those of the teacher who was most closely allied to himself, he robbed his remarks of all semblance of personality or bitterness. It showed his generous delicacy not to allude rather to the adherents of Cephas and the Judaean emissary. Than ye might learn in us. I made Apollos and myself instances of the undesirability of over exalting human teachers, that by our case you might learn the general principle. Not to think of men above that which is written. The true reading is merely, not above the things which have been written, as though the words were a sort of proverb, like Ne quid nimis or Milton’s “The rule of not too much” ( ). The word “to think” is omitted in the best manuscripts. The phrase, “which have been written,” is of very uncertain meaning. It may refer generally to “the scriptural rule” that all boasting is wrong (Jer 9:23), or to the humble estimate of teachers which he has just been writing down for them. All his Old Testament quotations so far (1Co 1:19, 1Co 1:31; 1Co 3:19) have referred to humility. Some see in it a reference to Mat 23:1-39. 8 “Be not ye called Babbi;” but it is uncertain whether St. Matthew’s Gospel was yet written; and St. Paul never refers so directly to any written Gospel. Perhaps it is a sort of proverb,” Keep always to strict evidence;” “Say nothing which cannot be proved in black and white.” The text, like so many others, has only a very remote connection with the sense in which it is usually quoted. That no one of you he puffed up. St. Paul was painfully impressed by this inflation of the Corinthians, and he often recurs to this word as a description of their vain conceit (1Co 4:18, 1Co 4:19; 1Co 5:2; 1Co 8:1; 1Co 13:4; 2Co 12:20). In other Epistles the word is only found once (in Col 2:18). For one against another. The expression is a profound one. The glorying in men (1Co 3:21), undesirable in any circumstances, becomes the more pernicious because the exaltation of one set of teachers is almost invariably accompanied by mean and unjust depreciation of any who could be supposed to be their rivals. The Corinthian who was “for Cephas” would be almost certain to be, to some extent, “against Paul.”
1Co 4:7
Who maketh thee to differ? literally, Who distinguisheth thee? He means that this glorification and depreciation of rival views and rival teachers sprang from unwarrantable arrogance. It involved a claim to superiority, and a right to sit in judgment, which they did not possess. That thou didst not receive? Even supposing that you have some special gift, it is a gift, not a merit, and therefore it is a boon for which to be thankful, not a pre-eminence of which to boast.
“Satan, I know thy power, and thou know’st mine,
Neither our own, but given. What folly, then,
To try what arms can do!”
(Milton, ‘Paradise Lost.’)
1Co 4:8
Now ye are full, now ye are rich; rather, already ye have been sated, already ye grew rich. There is a strong but healing irony in these expressions, and in the entire contrast between the comfortable, full fed, regal self satisfaction of the Corinthians, and the depression and scorn in the midst of which the apostles lived. The loving delicate irony is, in a different way, as effective as the stern denunciation of St. John: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3:17). St. Paul’s satire is always akin to charity; it is never satire with no pity in it. Ye have reigned as kings. The word simply means “ye reigned.” Like the Stoics, so each little Corinthian sectarian regarded himself as a king. “To reign” was, however, a proverbial phrase (like the Latin vivo et regno) for being “happy as a king.” Without us (comp. Heb 11:40). The Corinthians were cultivated enough to appreciate the deep irony of the phrase, “We poor apostles have become quite needless to you in your lordly independence.” And I would to God ye did reign. The words “to God” should be omitted. The loving heart of St. Paul could never long keep up a strain of irony. He drops the satire, and passes on to impassioned and affectionate appeal. That we also might reign with you. If the exalted eminence which you now only enjoy in your own conceits had been but real, then we, whose “hope, and joy, and crown of exultation you are in the presence of Christ” (1Th 2:19), should share the grandeur with you.
1Co 4:9
For. This word shows how different was the reality. Hath set forth; displayed as on a stage (2Th 2:4). Us the apostles. St. Paul identifies them with himself; but undoubtedly he had “laboured more abundantly than they all.” Last. Servants of all; in the lowest circumstances of humiliation. The apostles. Not the twelve only, but those who might be called apostles in a wider sense, who shared the same afflictions (Heb 10:33). As it were appointed to death. This daily doom is referred to by St. Paul in 1Co 15:30, 1Co 15:31; 2Co 4:11; Rom 8:36. Tertullian renders the word “veluti bestiaries,” like criminals condemned to the wild beasts (‘De Pudicit.,’ 14). But the day had not yet come when Christians were to hear so often the terrible cry, “Christianos ad leones!” A spectacle; literally, a theatre. The same metaphor is used in Heb 10:33. To angels. The word, when used without an epithet, always means good angels, who are here supposed to look down in sympathy (comp. Heb 12:22).
1Co 4:10
We are fools for Christ’s sake. The irony is softened by the intervening sentences, and as regards the apostles there is no irony. St. Paul was called “a seed pecker” (spermologos) by the Epicureans and Stoics at Athens, and Festus in full court called him “mad.” Ye are wise in Christ. He could not say as before, “for Christ’s sake;” for even though he is using the language of irony, “the pseudo wisdom of the Corinthians had other motives.” We are weak. The consciousness of physical and personal weakness weighed heavily on the mind of St. Paul in moments of depression (2Co 10:10; 2Co 13:4). Ye are honourable, but we are despised; literally, ye are glorious, but we are dishonoured. The word “dishonoured” also means “disfranchised.”
1Co 4:11
Unto this present hour. In these three verses he draws a picture of the condition of the apostles, especially of the trials to which he was himself subjected, on which the best comment is in 2Co 11:23-27. This letter was written from Ephesus, where he had so much to do and to endure (Act 20:31). Hunger and thirst. “In hunger and thirst, in fastings often” (2Co 11:27). Are naked. And are buffeted. The verb means literally, are slapped in the face. Such insults, together with scourgings, fell to the lot of St. Paul (Act 23:2, etc.) and the other apostles (Act 16:23, 1Pe 2:20), as well as to that of their Lord (Mat 26:57, etc.). It showed the utter contempt with which they were treated; for though St. Paul ought to have been exempt from such violence, both as a freeman and a Roman citizen, he was treated as vilely as if he had been a mere foreign slave. Have no certain dwelling place. This homelessness was among the severest of all trials (Mat 8:20; Mat 10:23).
1Co 4:12
Labour, working with our own hands. St. Paul supported himself by the dreary toil and scant earnings of a tent maker, in the express determination to be no burden upon his converts (Act 18:3; Act 20:34; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8; 1Co 9:6; 2Co 11:7, etc.). Such conduct was the more noble because all mechanical trades were looked down upon by the Greeks as a sort of banausia. And though it was repellent and mechanical work to be handling the strong scented black goats’ hair all day, yet by this labour he maintained not only himself but also his brother missionaries (Act 20:34). Being reviled. The early Christians were falsely accused of the most execrable crimes, so that the very name “Christian” was regarded as equivalent to “malefactor” (1Pe 4:14, 1Pe 4:16). We bless. Herein they obeyed the direct precept of our Lord (Mat 5:44), as well as his example (Luk 23:1-56. 44; 1Pe 2:23; 1Pe 3:9).
1Co 4:13
Being defamed, we entreat. The expression “we entreat” is very general. It may mean “we entreat men not to speak thus injuriously of us” (Calvin); or “we exhort them to do right.” As the filth of the world. The Greek word katharmata has a technical sense, in which it means “men devoted to death for purposes of expiation” (homines piaculares). The word perikatharnmta has the sense of “sin offerings” in Pro 21:18; Tobit 5:18. It is, however, doubtful whether this meaning of the word could have been at all familiar to Greek readers, and it is only in a very general and distantly metaphorical sense that the sufferings of God’s saints can be regarded as, in any sense of the word, vicarious. It is better, therefore, here to retain the sense of “refuse” (purgamenta, things vile and worthless). The offscouring of all things; perhaps rather, of all men. The word peripsema means “a thing scraped off,” and this word also was used in expiatory human sacrifices, where the formula used to victims thus flung into the sea, in times of plague or famine, was, “Become our peripsema“. Thus in Tobit (v. 18), Anna the wife of Tobias says, “Let the money be used as a peripsema for the child;” and Ignatius uses the phrase, “I am your peripsema.” From this and the similar phrase in the Letter of Barnabas,” I am the peripsema of your love,” it seems to have become a current expression of tenderness among Christians, “I am your peripsema.” But in this case also it may be doubted whether the sacrificial idea was present in the apostle’s mind. He is thinking of scenes which he had already faced and would have to face hereafter, when mobs shouted against him that lie was “a pestilent fellow” (Act 24:5) and not fit to live (Act 22:22).
1Co 4:14-21
The practical steps which he intends to take with reference to these party divisions.
1Co 4:14
To shame you. Such seems to be the meaning of the word, for it is so used in the LXX. (compare the use of the verb in 2Th 3:14; Tit 2:8; and of the substantive in 1Co 6:5; 1Co 15:34). I warn; rather, I admonish. St. Paul here gives the reason why he cannot write angrily or bitterly, even though he has used strong expostulation and keen irony. It is because he regards himself as their spiritual father.
1Co 4:15
Ten thousand; never so many. The word in Greek is used indefinitely, but here implies a touch of impatience at the itch of teaching which seems to have prevailed at Corinth. Tutors; rather, pedagogues, in a technical sense. We have no exact equivalent in English to the paidagogos, the slave who led boys to school. The word also occurs in Gal 3:24, Gal 3:25. The father loves most, and has the nearer and dearer claim. In Christ. So he says, “The Law was our paidagogos to Christ.” These guides or guardians were such “in Christ,” i.e. in the sphere of Christian life. Not many fathers. St. Paul felt a yearning desire that his unique claim as the founder of their Church should not be so ungratefully overlooked, as though it were of no importance. I have begotten you. The word is here only used in a secondary and metaphoric sense, as in Phm 1:10; Gal 4:19. In the highest sense we are only begotten by the will of God, by that Word of truth (Jas 1:18), to which he alludes in the words “through the gospel.” The “second birth” is, however a doctrine more dwelt on by St. John (Joh 3:3; 1Jn 3:9; 1Jn 5:1, etc.) than by St. Paul, who, as Mr. Beet observes, only refers to it in Tit 3:5.
1Co 4:16
Be ye followers; rather, imitators. He makes the same appeal in 1Co 11:1; Php 3:17. Of course, he only uses his human example as a guide to them in the special virtues of humility, self denial, and faithfulness (1Pe 5:3; Heb 13:7). In the highest sense we can only be “imitators of God” (Eph 5:1).
1Co 4:17
For this cause. Because, as your spiritual father, I naturally take the deepest interest in your well being. Have I sent; rather, I sent. Timothy had started before this letter was despatched (Act 19:22), but he did not reach Corinth till after its arrival, because he had been unable to go by sea, and had to travel round by Macedonia. St. Paul, on hearing the grave news from Corinth, seems to have countermanded him (1Co 16:10, “If Timotheus come”), but was uncertain whether the messenger would reach him in time. The necessity for despatching Titus had been more immediate. My beloved son, and faithful in the Lord; rather, who is my beloved and faithful child (teknon) in the Lord. St. Paul had converted him, and felt towards him all the love of a father (1Ti 1:2; 1Th 3:2; Php 2:20-22). Shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ. The expression shows all St. Paul’s delicacy. He is not sending the youthful Timothy as an authoritative teacher, since the Corinthians, fond of high pretension and soaring oratory, might scorn to show any submission to a shy and shrinking youth; but he is only sending him because, as his closest companion, Timothy would be best able to explain to them his plans and wishes in the organization of Churches.
1Co 4:18
Are puffed up; rather, were puffed up; at the time that they made these disparaging comparisons of me with others. As though I would not come to you; rather, as though I were not coming to you. St. Paul was on the eve of starting for Macedonia on his way to visit them (1Co 16:5), but, owing to the grievous state of the Church, he subsequently changed his purpose (2Co 1:15, 2Co 1:23). When he left them he had promised to return, “if God wilt” (Act 18:21). His many enemies and critics were likely to say, “He is afraid to come himself, and so he sends Timothy.” They flattered themselves that he was alarmed by their culture and intellectualism.
1Co 4:19
I will come to you shortly (Php 2:24; 2Ti 4:9). He came soon after writing the Second Epistle. At this time he was preparing to leave Ephesus (1Co 16:8); his actual departure was precipitated by the tumult (Act 20:1-38. l, 2). If the Lord will. The apostolic use of the phrase was something more than a mere form (Rom 15:32; Heb 6:3; Jas 4:15); it expressed a real and humble spirit of dependence. Not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. He will use his gift of spiritual discernment to discover whether the haughty self assertion and sounding phraseology of these inflated partisans would not collapse when confronted with real authority. The “speech” was there in abundance; but was there anything genuine, any real spiritual force, behind it?
1Co 4:20
The kingdom of God. The Christian life, with all its attainments and all its hopes. Is not in word, but in power. It is not a matter of profession, or of eloquence, or of phrases, but of transforming efficacy. St. Paul always appeals for the corroboration of his authority to the signs and power of the Spirit (2Co 10:1-18 :45; Rom 15:19; 1Th 1:5), to the “demonstration” of which he has already referred (1Co 2:4).
1Co 4:21
What will ye? “The whole thing lies with you” (Chrysostom). With a rod; literally, in a rod a not uncommon Greek phrase. The meaning of this expression is best seen from 2Co 10:2; 2Co 13:10. In love. He would come to them “in love” in any case; but if they now rejected his appeals the love would be compelled to manifest itself in sharpness and stern deeds. In the spirit of meekness. Meyer here gives to the word “spirit” the sense of “the Holy Spirit,” as in Joh 15:26; 2Co 4:13; but the simpler sense of the term is almost certainly the true one.
HOMILETICS
1Co 4:1-7
A true and a false estimate of genuine ministers of the gospel
“Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ,” etc. Here we have
I. A TRUE ESTIMATE of genuine ministers of the gospel.
1. They are servants of Christ. “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ.” There are some who regard ministers of the gospel as servants of their Church. The Churches guarantee their stipend, and they require that their dogmas shall be propounded and their laws obeyed. The paymasters, whether deacons, or elders, or the state, naturally expect subordination in their ministers. He who yields in any measure to such an expectation degrades his position, and is not in the truest sense a minister of Christ. He who is the true servant of Christ will feel and act as the moral master of the peoplethe leader and commander. “Obey them that have the rule over you,” etc. There is no office on this earth so dignified and royal as that of the true servant of Christ.
2. As servants of Christ, they are responsible. “Stewards of the mysteries of God.” The “mysteries of God” here mean the gospel, which in the second chapter is said to be “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world.” The gospel is a mystery, not in the sense of absolute incomprehensibility, but in the sense of progressive unfoldment, both in respect to communities and individuals. It is a mystery to the man who at firsts begins its study, but as he gets on it becomes more and more clear. The true minister is entrusted with these “mysteries;” he is to bring them out, translate them into intelligible ideas, and dispense them to the people. As a steward of such things, his position is one of transcendent responsibility.
3. As servants of Christ, they are faithful. “Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” Fidelity is an essential attribute of a true minister. He must be faithful to his trust, not abuse it, but use it according to the directions of its owner. Faithful to its owner, in all things regulated by his directions. He must be faithful to his hearers, seeking no man’s applause, fearing no man’s frown, “commending himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
4. As servants of Christ, they are independent. “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment.” Whilst no true minister will despise the favour or court the contempt of men, he will not be concerned about their judgment so long as he is faithful to his God. Paul gives utterance to this sentiment in order, no doubt, to reprove those preachers in the Corinthian Church who were seeking the praise of men. Paul seems to indicate here three reasons for this feeling of independency.
(1) His own consciousness of fidelity. “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified.” “The sense is,” says a modern expositor, “I am not conscious of evil or unfaithfulness to myself; that is, in my ministerial life.” It is well remarked by Calvin that “Paul does not here refer to the whole of his life, but only to his apostleship. And the sense is, ‘I am conscious of integrity in this office. My own mind does not condemn me of ambition or unfaithfulness. Others may accuse me, but I am not conscious of that which should condemn me or render me unworthy of this office.'”
(2) His confidence in the judgment of God. “But he that judgeth me is the Lord.” I am content to abide by his judgment. If his judgment of me agrees not with my own judgment of myself, I will loyally submit.
(3) His belief in a full revelation of that judgment. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,” etc. Do not let us judge one another; do not let us even trust too much to our own judgment of ourselves. Let us await Heaven’s judgment.
(a) There is a period appointed for that judgment, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come.” There is a “day appointed in which he will judge the world in righteousness.” Ah! that day.
(b) At that period there will be a full revelation of our characters. “Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”
(c) At that period, too, every man shall have his due. “And then shall every man have praise of God.” “Praise” here does not mean approbation, but that every man shall receive his just due. Such considerations as these may well make ministers independent of the judgments of men, and regardless alike of their smiles and their frowns.
II. A FALSE ESTIMATE of genuine ministers of the gospel. “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos,” etc. Paul here means to say that he spoke of himself and Apollos to show the impropriety of one minister being pitted against another. The members of the Corinthian Church had evidently formed an incorrect estimate of the true gospel minister.
1. They seemed to estimate ministers in proportion as they met their views and feelings. Every true preacher preaches the gospel as it has passed through his own mind, and as it passes through his own mind it will, of course, be more interesting to the minds most in harmony with his own experience, capacity, and sympathies. Hence, in the Corinthian Church, those who preferred Peter’s preaching thought no one was like Peter; those who preferred Apollos’ thought there were none like him; and so with Paul. It is so now. “There is no minister like our minister; all others are grades below.” This is very false, for inasmuch as the great bulk of the community are more or less uneducated, unreflecting, and sensuous, the preacher who approximates most to their type of mind will attract the largest crowd and get the loudest hosannas. But is he on that account superior to others? By no means. Thus it is that some of the most inferior preachers are over rated and the most elevated and devoted degraded; whereas all true ministers are “servants of Christ,” the “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and as such should be honoured.
2. They seemed to estimate ministers according to the greatness of their natural endowments. “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” etc. Between the natural endowments of Paul, Apollos, and Peter there was a great difference, and, indeed, between all ministers of the gospel there is a difference in natural endowments, and a great difference in the quality and measure of mind. But what of that? There is nothing in those natural endowments for boasting; for they all came from God. The man of the most far reaching intellect, the most brilliant imagination, and transcendent genius has nothing which he has not received from that Spirit which distributes to every man according to his own will. No man or angel deserves credit on account of natural abilities.
CONCLUSION. “Let us strive,” says F. W. Robertson, “as much as possible to be tranquil. Smile when men sneer; be humble when they praise; patient when they blame. Their judgment will not last; ‘man’s judgment,’ literally, ‘man’s day,’ is only for a time, but God’s is for eternity. So, would you be secure alike when the world frowns its censure or its applause upon you? feel hourly that God will judge. That will be your safeguard under both. It will be a small thing to you to be judged of any man’s judgment; for your cause will be pleaded before the Judge and the Discerner of all secrets.”
1Co 4:8
Apostolic treatment of vanity.
“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.” 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. See how the apostle treats it here.
I. WITH WITHERING SARCASM. “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us.” The Bible furnishes us with many instances of irony (see 1Ki 18:27; Job 12:2), but nowhere have we it in language more full and forceful than here. “Now ye are full,” or “already are ye tilled.” You have had enough, you want nothing; “ye are rich” or “already ye are become rich.” You are affluent in all gifts and graces. “Ye have reigned as kings without us.” “Here are three metaphors, the first taken from persons tilled with food, the second from persons so rich that they require no more, the third from those who have reached the highest elevationobtained 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 is often the instrument of a great manly soul when roused into indignation.
II. WITH A NOBLE GENEROSITY. “I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you;” or, “I would ye did reign.” 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.
1Co 4:9
Man an object of angelic observation.
“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.” The margin reads “theatre” for “spectacle,” from the Greek word . The reference, in all probability, is to the ancient amphitheatre, whose arena was surrounded by circular seats, capable of accommodating thousands of spectators. In this arena trained athletes struggled for prizes in the ancient games; on such an arena Paul speaks of himself and fellow labourers as struggling, the objects not only of human but of angelic spectators. The world is indeed a moral theatre, every man an actor, and disembodied spirits look on as spectators. “We are encompassed about,” etc. Angels as spectators are intelligent, interested, numerous, constant. If the eyes 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 being’s 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. How doubly careful are our actors on the stage, in the presence of spectators distinguished for the highest genius, erudition, and artistic culture! 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 wrought 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 have received a Divine commission to bear us up, lest we dash our feet against a stone. In all ages they have rendered assistance to the good. 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.
CONCLUSION. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Heb 12:1).
1Co 4:10-14
Paul’s treatment of self. conceited teachers.
“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.” Paul is still thinking of those teachers of the Corinthian Church who were “puffed up,” inflated with conceit. He treats them here with
I. AN IRONIC APPEAL. “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised;” or, “ye have glory, but we have dishonour.” “W are fools,” we know nothing, “but ye are wise,” you know everything; “we are weak,” timid, and feeble, “but ye are strong” and fearless. “ye are extolled, but “we are despised,” the “offscouring of all things.” All this is sarcasm again, well deserved, and well directed. How would our little penny-a-liners feel if such a man as Thomas Carlyle were to stand before them and speak in this way? If they had any sense remaining, they would quiver into nothingness. How much more would those small pretentious teachers in the Corinthian Church feel this stroke of satire dealt out to them by the great apostle to the Gentiles!
II. A PERSONAL HISTORY. Here he refers to his privations: “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place”without nourishment, without clothing, without the shelter of a home. Here he refers to his labours: “And labour, working with our own hands.” Here he refers to his persecutions: “We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things.” Then he refers to the spirit in which he endured the sufferings: “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat.” Now, why did he state all this? Not for the sake of parading his great trials and toils, but for the sake of bringing these proud teachers to their senses. They could not fail to acknowledge that he was an apostlea pre-eminent minister of Christ; notwithstanding this, in the world he was treated with cruelty and contempt, he was poor and despised. What, then, had they to be proud of as ministers?
CONCLUSION. From this subject it is natural to askWho in the present age engaged in the Christian ministry are most likely to be of apostolic succession? Those who are “full,” and “rich,” and royal, and “wise,” and “strong,” who pride themselves in all these things; whom the people favour and flatter? or those who, like the Apostle Paul, in the discharge of their ministry, endure privations, persecutions, and all in the magnanimous spirit of self abnegation and generous forgiveness of enemies? Call no man a successor of the apostle who has not the apostolic character. To call a man a successor of the apostle who has not the apostolic charactermanfully noble, Christly loyal, and withal self sacrificingis a mischievous imposture.
1Co 4:15
Spiritual paternity.
“For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” The subject of these words is spiritual paternity, and three remarks are suggested.
I. THAT ONE MAN MAY BECOME THE SPIRITUAL FATHER OF ANOTHER. What is it to become the spiritual father of another?
1. Something more than to become the father of one’s ideas. There are men in society gifted with that intellectual vitality and vigour which enables them to generate the leading ideas in the minds of their contemporaries. This they do by their conversation, their speeches, their writings. But these are not spiritual fathers, they are mere schoolmasters or teachers. Coleridge and Carlyle are examples of this.
2. Something more than the author of a certain style of thinking. There are men in society who not only generate leading thoughts in the minds of their contemporaries, but, what is perhaps something higher, a style of thinkinga style characterized by precision, freshness, and force. Aristotle, Bacon, etc., are examples. But a spiritual father is one who is the father of man’s moral character, one who generates in another his own spirit, sympathies, and aims, one who transforms the character of another into his own image.
II. THAT THE NOBLEST SPIRITUAL FATHER IS HE WHO BEGETS IN ANOTHER THE CHRISTLY CHARACTER. Many are the moral characters prevalent amongst menthe sensual, the sceptical, the selfish. The Christly character stands in sublime contrast to these; it is disinterested, spiritual; Divine.
1. The man who generates in others this character imparts the highest good. In the Christly character is harmony, kinghood, and paradise. To be like Christ is the highest end of being, it is the summum bonum of souls.
2. The man who generates this character in others creates the highest mutual affection. Far deeper and profounder is the affection subsisting between the spiritual father and his offspring than that which exists between the physical. Christ recognized this when he said, “Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brothel and my sister, and my mother.” Paul called Timothy his “beloved son;” and elsewhere he speaks with inexpressible tenderness of his converts as his little children, with whom he travailed in birth (Gal 4:10).
III. THAT THE CHRISTLY CHARACTER IS ONLY BEGOTTEN IN OTHERS BY THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. “I have begotten you through the gospel.” Natural religion cannot do it; Judaism cannot do it; Mohammedanism cannot do it; heathenism cannot do it; no speculative creeds, no moral codes, no ritualistic religions can do it. The gospel alone is the power to generate in man the true Christly character; it is that transformative glass into which as we look we get changed into the same image from “glory to glory.”
CONCLUSION. Learn from this:
1. The supreme interest of man. What is that?learning, wealth, fame? No; Christliness. He who has this has everything; all things are his. He who has not this has “nothing,” says Paul.
2. The grandest distinctions amongst men. What are they?sages, soldiers, sovereigns? No; spiritual sires. The man who generates in another the Christly character has done a greater work than any sage as sage, king as king, has ever done. Every man may and ought to become a spiritual father.
1Co 4:16-21
Six subjects worth reflection.
“Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me,” etc. There are six noteworthy subjects in these verses.
I. A REMARKABLE REQUEST. “Be ye followers of me.” Were Paul an ordinary man, such an exhortation would resound with arrogance; but he was a man of preeminent excellence, Christly in spirit, deportment, and ministry. There were three reasons why they should imitate him.
1. He was a follower of Christ. There was no living man who had followed his Master so closely. Elsewhere he says, “Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.”
2. He was their spiritual father. He had begotten them in the gospel; they were his moral offspring. They had numerous instructors, but he was their father; they gave them ideas, he gave them character.
3. He was no partisan. Other teachers amongst them became the leaders of parties, these parties were contending one with another; but Paul belonged to no party, he followed Christ, knew “nothing amongst men but Christ, and him crucified.” Such a man was justified in calling on others to follow him. “Ministers,” says an old writer, “should so live that their people may take pattern from them, and even after their copy; they should guide them by their lives as well as by their lips, go before them on the way to heaven, and not content themselves with pointing.”
II. A HIGH TESTIMONY. “For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every Church.” He is dear to me as a “son;” he is “faithful in the Lord;” he knows my “ways.” High testimony this. And this is the man he promises to send to them. What for? That he might give them good reasons why they should be followers of him. I do not want you to follow me in the dark; I send him that he may throw light upon my ways everywhere, “in every Church.” A man must have a high consciousness of rectitude who can trust the representation of his character to one who knows him as well as a son knows his father, and withal a man of incorruptible honesty.
III. A FOOLISH EXULTATION. “Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.” There were those in the Church at Corinth who were out of sympathy with Paul, and who had no desire that he should visit them, and as the “wish is father to the thought,” when they heard he was coming they would not believe it. When the intelligence that he was sending Timothy to them reached them, they would be likely to say, “This proves the truth of our assertion; he is afraid to come himself, and so he sends Timothy.” In this they seem to have rejoiced; they were “puffed up.” Now, I rail this a foolish exultation, because the visit of Paul to them was what they deeply needed, and was intended to confer on them the highest blessing. How often do we foolishly rejoice in deliverance from visitations fraught with priceless blessings!
“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.”
(Cowper.)
IV. AN EXEMPLARY DECISION. “But I will come to you shortly if the Lord will,” etc. Paul believed that God had a will concerning him, and that will determined his destiny. Hence on this he based all his calculations in life; all his plans and purposes were subject to that will. “If the Lord will.” This is an exemplary decision. His will is not only absolute and righteous, but benevolent; therefore to acquiesce in that will is not only right, but wise. “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what will be on the morrow?
V. A GLORIOUS SYSTEM. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” By this he means, I presume, the gospel ministry. It is a divinely regal “kingdom;” it is not a thing of sentiments or ceremony; it is invested with Divine authority. It is not a thing of mere “word;” it transcends all language, however logical in force or rhetorical in beauty; it is “power”the “power of God unto salvation.”
VI. A SOLEMN PROPOSAL. “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” In any case I shall come as a father. Shall I come as a father to chastise you with a “rod,” or with looks of “love” and words of commendation and sympathy? God’s minister is bound to deal with men according to their states of mind. His ministry to some must be as the severity of Sinai, with others as the tenderness of Calvary. Evermore is it true that the effects of Divine visitations depend on the spirit in which they are received, and what this spirit shall be is for man to determine. God says to every man, “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” This is the solemn proposal.
HOMILIES BY C. LIPSCOMB
1Co 4:1-7
Ministers as stewards.
The idea of the ministry as a Divine institution, set apart as a peculiar calling and charged with an infinite trust, cannot as yet relax its hold on St. Paul’s mind. Tenacity of a great truth is not altogether a matter of our volition. At first the will has much to do in directing attention to a truth and keeping it fixed; but in no long time, if the man has trained himself to reflect, and, above all, if he is an earnest man, the truth recurs by some process of self suggestion. After a while, indeed, it happens with many who give themselves to profound investigations, that the subject gains a certain mastery over them, so that it costs more effort to dismiss it than was originally needed to concentrate attention. No capacity of the mind is so pliant as the capacity to be absorbed in an object of thought, and it seems independent of idiosyncrasy. Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Walter Scott both refer to the difficulty they had in discharging a topic from their minds if it had enlisted their interest. St. Paul had said much on the office of the ministry, but the theme was by no means exhausted. One aspect, a special one, remained, viz. stewardship. Ministers are “stewards of the mysteries of God;” if so, fidelity is their highest duty, or rather the soul of every duty. If the preacher had to set forth so unpopular a doctrine as Christ crucified, so obnoxious to worldly culture, so alien to the civilization of the age, then this “foolishness of preaching” was a very urgent reason for faithfulness. What need of watchfulness here! “Who can understand his errors,” and especially these errors? Apostles were “men of like passions” with others; and this very likeness, while fraught with dangers both obvious and occult, made them fit, under God, for their work. The idea of stewardship was familiar to these Corinthians, perhaps keenly so to some of them; for in the business of that day much had to be entrusted to agents. Now, the master in such cases cannot give detailed instructions to his stewards, and hence a good deal must be left to their judgment. The hazard, let it be observed, is not on the side of the understanding; no rare intellectual outfit was requisite in this instance; the one supreme doctrine of Christ crucified had wisdom and power sufficient to impart truth of thought and emotion to all subordinate doctrines. But the danger lay in a want of fidelity. And had not St. Paul evinced this faithfulness while with these Corinthians? Yet, whether they admired or blamed, whether acquitted or condemned, what was that to him? “A very small thing was man’s judgment;” nor, forsooth, would he judge himself, but leave all judgment to the Lord Jesus. Spiritual discernment has its functions; insight is a glorious gift; but the Lord reserves judgment to himself. That judgment awaits its day of revelation, when “the hidden things of darkness” and the “counsels of the hearts” shall be made manifest. Then, indeed, men shall see themselves as Christ sees them. Here, in this world, even in our most enlightened state, consciousness is partial. Much of a man lies far down in unillumined depths; the secrets of motives and impulses evade his personal cognizance; only in fragments can he realize himself; how much less can he comprehend others! And, “therefore, judge nothing before the time.” Obviously, then, humility of judgment is not only an intellectual excellence but a spiritual virtue. It is a Divine discernment of our limitations, a Divine insight into the fact that there is an unconscious man no less than a conscious one in every human being, and that, meantime, fidelity stands free of all restrictions and abatements. Does fidelity look at office? It does not see popularity, honour, preferment, but duty, duty alone, duty ever; and this sense of duty, inspired and directed by the Holy Ghost, educates the man in tact and skill, in diligence and patience. Does fidelity look at others? It neither exaggerates nor depreciates them, nor can it regard them as rivals, since no man can possibly have a sense of rivalry who realizes Christ in the most essential fact of work, viz. brotherhood. And consequently, one of the many beautiful provisions of Christianity to secure fidelity is found in the brotherhood of Christians. Does fidelity look into its own heart? Even then infirmity clings to its energetic searching. On its good side it may be too self exacting, morbid, harshly critical of itself; on its weak side it may be lenient and over indulgent. And hence St. Paul, while conscious of knowing nothing against himself, declares, “Yet am I not hereby justified,” and relies solely on the justification of Christ at that great assize, which, among all its wonders, shall surprise men most of all by its divinely revealed estimates of human character. “For your sakes,” so he argues, “I have been thus explicit and emphatic, transferring these things to myself and Apollos,” in order that the Corinthians might clearly see his own disinterestedness. This point assured, the way is open for remonstrance. Why are ye puffed up? If we are recipients; if Paul and Apollos are mere stewards of the Master’s riches; if self judgments and judgments of others are impossible to men under the limitations of consciousness and observation; if “the counsels of the hearts” keep out of sight and hold their latency intact for the final day; and if, meantime, fidelity to duty is the supreme concern and adequate to call out and employ all the spiritual resources of our nature under grace; and, finally, if you owe all your means of acting on one another and the world to the brotherhood of the Church;why do ye stand arrayed in sharp hostility against one another and rend asunder the Lord’s body?L.
1Co 4:8-13
A vivid contrast.
Having shown that the Christian consciousness was a twofold realization of the worthlessness of whatever was its own, and the infinite worth of the “all things” in Christ, and having proceeded thence to the idea of stewardship and the urgent need of faithfulness, how can St. Paul withhold the stern application of such truths? Had it been a childish self complacency with which he was dealing, we know how he would have treated it. But it was an active jealousy, a pompons arrogance, a virulent self conceit, a carnal temper in which the natural man survived, that he had to combat. Now, therefore, he would show them what they were. The weapons of his warfare were not carnal, but, nevertheless, they were weapons, and withal such weapons as Elijah had employed, and even the Lord Jesus had not disdained to use. If, by means of contrast, we know everything external, and if thereby we know ourselves too and realize our identity by discriminating one mood of consciousness from another, it follows that irony has its legitimate place and may be sanctified to the best purposes, Men are acutely sensitive to its caustic probe, and, as they will not exercise it on themselves, its application is one of those offices, severe but humane, which must be performed on them. Is the conflict over and the victory won? Full and rich, lo! ye are reigning “as kings,” and significantly enough, “without us,” the apostles, the sent of God, in this movement. And what dominion is that from which we are excluded? Where are your apostles in this hour of your coronation as kings? “God hath set us forth”a terrible contrast to their self glorificationat this instant are we so set forth, like criminals doomed to death, and made a spectacle as in a vast theatre, “unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” Alas! the only use just then to which the great Apostle to the Gentiles could put his knowledge of Greek games in the amphitheatre was in an outburst of indignation and sorrow. And then follows one of his characteristic sentences, in which impassioned feeling is quite as condensed as strong thought: fools, weak, despised, are we the apostles, while ye are wise and strong and honorable. The formal contrast is dropped, and now, how like the rapid summation of his experience to the sufferings of his Lord? Fidelity in suffering, fidelity to suffering, reconciliation to it, acceptance of its law as basic to his life, not an exceptional thing occurring at rare intervals as most of our sad experiences, but common and habitual, wounds unhealed and yet deeper wounds, “even unto this present hour.” Hunger and thirst, nakedness, buffetings, homeless, refusing all remuneration and earning our own support, returning good for evil and blessing for cursing, objects of persecution, denied recognition as the friends of humanity and lovers of their kind, abused and vilified, ay, treated in the centres of this world’s intelligence and refinement as “the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things,” and no break or cessation, “unto this day.” The sameness of these sufferings is twice mentioned, and the wondrous biography, first and last, is one chapter of woes. Over all stands a single motto, which came and could only come from Christianity: “For Christ’s sake.” At this juncture, call to mind a fact of some moment. Men are wonderfully individualized by sufferings. Considering how suffering abounds, it is noticeable that few truly regard themselves as providential sufferers, and realize in their experience the Divine discipline they are appointed to undergo. There is much selfishness in our ways of enduring the ills of life, in the uses made of affliction, and the habits of intellect and sensibility growing therefrom; and St. Paul strikes the heart of the subjects when he connects his sufferings with “Christ’s sake.” This gives an instant pathos to the recital and an instant nobility to the apostle as a sufferer. Furthermore, only for “Christ’s sake” does he go into this affecting detail of the number, variety, and continuation of iris sorrows. A noble sufferer like St. Paul could find no selfish pleasure in such an enumeration; nay, in itself it would be painful. Vain men, ignoble men. gratify their littleness in recounting what they have endured, and these pensioners of public opinionit may be the public opinion of a very diminutive worldfind their account in the illusory sense of sympathy. Far from this weaknessvery farwas this heroic man, to whom it was a new suffering to tell his sufferings, but who, in the courage of humility, the most courageous of the virtues in a true man, was even ready to uncover a bleeding heart for “Christ’s sake.” We shall now see that his love for these erring Corinthians prompted him to make the narration of his sufferings.L.
1Co 4:14-21
Warnings of tenderness.
From mood to mood, yet in all, St. Paul had the same dominant zeal and affection in behalf of his converts. Rebuke was not with him a pleasure to which the natural man ministered, but a very painful duty that proceeded from conscience and kept sensibility unalloyed by animal passion. Herein he is distinguished from men who love authority because it is a signal of personal eminence and a means to make others feel their inferiority. A really superior round never likes to dwell on the infirmities of ignorance and littleness in those below him. The mountain points upward, and the higher the summit the more is it lost in the heavens. “Who maketh thee to differ?” is always present as the interrogatory of consciousness in such a nature, and the answer thereunto, whenever a true man has to vindicate his authority and especially in rebuke, is as Divine as the question. The delicacy of the apostle and his depth of insight have not forsaken him in this trying hour, nor would he expose the vanity of such as made themselves leaders and assumed transcendent powers, save in a manifest spirit of self abnegation. Manner is not a mere mode; it is a spirit; it is the very spirit of a man taking on a visible embodiment, and hence the rebuke administered by St. Paul is impregnated with the humility of his soul. There are men who commit
“Mischievous foul sin in chiding sin;”
but it would be a poor compliment to the apostle to say that he was not one of this class. What is most truly to his honour is his purpose to make the Corinthians sensible of the wrong to their better nature, and quicken from that side of their character the feeling of repentance. This brings out the sentiment of his soul in the words, “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you;” and again the master thought of all his thinking recursChrist Jesusin whom he had begotten them through the gospel, urging them to be imitators of Christ in him. To be genuinely serviceable, imitation must not be mechanical and servile, not be the literal copying of a pattern or model, but an education in the art of discriminating, and particularly a sense of the ideal in those whom we follow. For this reason, that they may be reminded of his “ways which be in Christ,” he has sent Timotheus unto them. Prudence dictated this course. Circumstances were such as that absence would be his most effective presenceone of those occasions when a man’s thoughts had better do their work unattended by the emphasis of eye and voice. But would they misinterpret this and attribute it to cowardice? “I will come to you shortly,” leaving the time to the will of the Lord, for in executing a grave purpose it is not enough that we have the Spirit in our motive and aim, but we must wait patiently on the providence of the Spirit, which is often our best discipline. St. Paul’s expectations were rarely fulfilled promptly, instance his visit to Rome; hope grew more reverent by delay; and in no aspect is his career more interesting than in that which shows how postponed gratification of desire ennobled the desire itself and secured a larger good to others. Fruit must grow, ripen, mellow, especially inward fruits, and St. Paul prized the mellowing touch of time. Many a lesson he gives us unawares in psychology, many an insight into the philosophy of true feeling, many a revelation of the soul, which but for him would have been a “hidden mystery.” But, while waiting for “time and place to cohere,” he utters his opinions strongly as to those who are “puffed up.” What an ever recurring sense of cardinal principles! Great truths are never long out of sight, and hence the declaration, “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” Did he underrate language? Nay; who ever spoke of language in a higher strain than he who did not hesitate to allude to his own preaching as not in the “words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth”? But the idle and impotent word, the word of swelling vanity, the word that dishonoured the Word,for this he had only rebuke and condemnation. Such use was stolen use, the gift turned against the Giver, a redeemed gift wrested from the Redeemer, a recognized organ of the Holy Ghost taken from its only Sanctifier. For this must be said of language, that it is not merely or chiefly a medium of acting on others, but that it reacts on the man himself. Apart from its conventional functions, it is an instrument of communion with self, of stating self to self, of inspiring, while defining faculty to faculty in the mind’s solitary cognizance of its own powers. Language is far mightier for introverted conception, for images that never escape the picturesque world in which they have their birth and life and death, for emotions and affections to which silence is the most precious of blessingsfar mightier, we say, is language in this respect than in its economic uses. From the lexicon we learn the language that gives us inter. course with men. From our own souls and by conversing with them we learn the language by menus of which we compare “spiritual things with spiritual.” Even on the plane of common life, the former is confined to communication. Expression is a very different thing from bald communication. Expression is due to the ability of the Spirit to vitalize words by imparting its own life to them. Something individual, something distinctly personal, imparts itself in expression. Hyperboles are matters of fact to the inmost consciousness, and all eloquence and poetry are but symbols of what the soul sees and can only intimate in this half articulate way. “I will know when I come”so St. Paul reasons”whether your speech is empty words, the wisdom which man’s wisdom teacheth and is foolishness to God, or the power of the Spirit.” This is the testGod’s power. Only through that power can these Corinthians advance the kingdom of God; for only through it can they have oneness with Christ and fellowship with his disciples. Come to them St. Paul willcome to them as a fatherthe acknowledgment of them as sons, beloved sons, precedes him, and he will not forget his relation to them; but how shall he come? With a father’s rod or in love? Will they relieve him of the necessity of discipline? And the thought of love lingers in his mind, amplifies itself, seeks fuller utterance, and the father’s heart throbs once more in the associated clause”the spirit of meekness.”L.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2
Spiritual stewardship.
In the Corinthian Church two errors were prevalent with regard to the apostolic and other ministriesthere was a tendency to exaggerate the importance of the agents by whom the truth was communicated, and there was a disposition to set one of these agents up as against another; so that partisanship and sectarianism violated the Christian unity.
I. THE SUBORDINATE POSITION OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. None need deem it a denudation or an undue humiliation to stand where the apostle stood; indeed, Paul is an acknowledged and admired model to all who work for the kingdom.
1. They are, in relation to Christ himself, ministers. They serve him, and count it an honour so to do. For his sake, and in his Name, they act as servants to their fellow men.
2. They are, in relation to the truth they promulgate, stewards. That is to say, the truth is not revealed by them, but to them; it is held not as their property, but as their trust; it is not appropriated to their own use, but dispensed by them for the benefit of others; they are not at liberty to do as they like with itthey are accountable to the Lord of all for the way in which they deal with it.
3. This being so, faithfulness is the virtue they are bound to cultivate and display. Whilst those who are independent are not especially bound to this duty, all who have derived from another, and are accountable to that other, are emphatically called to be faithful. Such is the position of all the ministers of Christ.
II. THE TRUE DIGNITY OF SPIRITUAL SERVANTS ARISES FROM THEIR RELATION TO THEIR LORD AND TO HIS WORD. There is a contrast between the service and the Master, between the stewardship and the mystery. The minister cannot think too lowlily of himself or too loftily of his theme and trust.
1. If they are ministers, they are ministers of Christ. An ambassador may be a person of lowly birth and feeble powers, but if he is an ambassador, his relation to his sovereign and the credentials and commission he has received entitle his message to peculiar consideration. And however the pastor, teacher, or evangelist may in himself be lacking in claims upon the respect of the superficial society called “the world,” however he may be destitute of the shining gifts which command the admiration of the Church, still neither he nor those whose welfare he seeks are ever at liberty to forget that he is an ambassador from heaven, that he is commissioned and authorized by the King of kings.
2. If they are stewards, they are stewards of the mysteries of God. By mysteries the apostle meant truths which had in the past been hidden but were now revealed. Revealed in Christ, the Divine purposes of grace, salvation and life to all mankind, were published by the apostles and. their fellow labourers. And the declaration of the mind and heart of God was well worthy of being regarded as the impartation of a mystery compared with which all the wonders of Eleusis sank into insignificance. Of this Paul was conscious, and it would be well if every preacher of the gospel were ever to have this before his mind. We have this treasure, though “in earthen vessels.” The solemnity of publishing Divine truth and the responsibility of hearing it are alike by these considerations brought very vividly before the mind. Thus are ministers unto some a savour of life unto life, unto others a savour of death unto death.T.
1Co 4:3-5
Judgment, human, and Divine.
No man can work entirely with reference to his own labours and his own opinion of them. We all need to live under the sense that others are taking some notice of what we do; and with most there is danger of attaching exaggerated importance to human criticism. But it is well for us to cherish the feeling of the nearness and the supervision of the omniscient Searcher of hearts. In this passage St. Paul represents the effect which both human and Divine judgment should have upon the Christian’s life.
I. THE JUDGMENT WHICH IS DEPRECATED. This is the judgment:
1. Of our fallible fellow men. For they have not the necessary material or the due knowledge and opportunity for forming a just judgment. Men are influenced in the opinions they form of one another by their prejudices and prepossessions. We judge our friends too favourably, and are too severe in our censure of our opponents. Hence our Lord has warned us, “Judge not!”
2. That which is passed at this present time. This is the time for work, not the time for judging and for recompense. No man’s work can be Girly judged until it is completed. And beside this, we cannot see life in its true proportions when we look at it from a point of view so near. To judge now is to judge “before the time.”
II. THE JUDGMENT WHICH IS ANTICIPATED.
1. This is God’s judgment. He will bring every work into judgment. His acquaintance with all who shall appear before his bar is perfect. His material for forming a judgment is complete. His mind is unclouded by human prejudices. He is infinitely just.
2. This shall take place upon our Lord’s return. His parousia, is what the Church looks forward to with affectionate interest and hope. Her children offer the frequent prayer: That at thy whom God hath appointed to judge the quick and the dead.”
3. This shall be accompanied by revelation. There are hidden things of darkness which must be brought to light; virtues and vices of which the world has taken little or no note, but which must be brought forward and taken into account, in order to a just decision and award, There are counsels of the heart to be made manifest; for whilst men necessarily judge by the conduct, God will take into account the secret intentions and motives of those who have laboured for him, both good and evil.
4. This will be by a perfect discrimination. The hypocrite shall be distinguished from the sincere, the diligent from the idle, the time server and men pleaser from the true servant of God.
5. This will be the occasion of recompense. The case of the utterly unfaithful is left out of view as irrelevant in this connection. But among the faithful it is presumed that there are degrees of fidelity; and every man shall have his praise from God. This implies that each has a special need for special service; and it also implies that praise shall be accompanied by a substantial and everlasting recompense. It is well, therefore, to work “as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye,” to avoid judging one’s self, to be indifferent to the partial judgment of men, and to wait for the revelation and the awards of eternity.T.
1Co 4:7
All is of grace.
Paul’s quick, impulsive mind here flashes out into indignation at the spectacle of partisanship and schism in the Corinthian Church. They who lay great stress upon individual human teachers and ministers are in danger of forgetting, perhaps already have forgotten, two things, viz.
(1) that every minister and teacher has a special blessing for the Church; and
(2) that all such agents are but messengers from the court of heaven, and distributors of the blessings of God.
I. WE MAY TAKE CREDIT TO OURSELVES ONLY FOR OUR WANTS AND FOR OUR CAPACITY. Why should any man be proud, when he remembers that he was born a helpless babe; that he was dependent upon the kind services of others for the preservation of life; that he has learned nothing which he was not taught; that he enjoys nothing except through the good offices of his fellow men? And why should any Christian be “puffed up” with spiritual conceit, when he remembers that all he brought to the Scriptures, to the Church, to the Lord, was just his necessities and his capacity to receive spiritual blessings?
II. WE ARE INDEBTED FOR ALL THINGS TO HUMAN MINISTRATIONS. When we regard our circumstances, our worldly possessions, our education, our position in life, our family, our friends, this fact is obvious enough. But the same is true of our religious advantages, our spiritual blessings. The Bible was secured to us by human efforts and labours; the gospel was preached to us by human lips; the Church has been to us the fellowship of our human teachers and brethren; our religious knowledge has been conveyed to us by human interpreters; our piety has been inspired by human examples,
III. DIVINE MERCY HAS MADE HUMAN MINISTRIES SUBSERVIENT TO OUR SPIRITUAL WANTS. It is not wise or just to discriminate too nicely between human gifts and Divine. The human gifts are Divine gifts bestowed by human hands. It is the privilege of the devout and enlightened mind to look through the seen to the unseen; to recognize in every Christian helper and friend the messenger of God, the minister of Christ. The form, the voice, may be earthly, but there is behind a spiritual presence and a Divine power. It is the Giver of every good gift and every perfect gift who is so near.T.
1Co 4:9
A spectacle.
In the midst of his irony and sarcasm, Paul here reverts to the more natural habit of his mind. The self exaltation and self importance of the Corinthians were mingled with depreciation of the apostle, at least on the part of some. But alas! if his own converts, so deeply indebted to his labours and his care, could think slightingly of him, what earthly compensation could he expect for all the pain, hardship, contempt, and danger he cheerfully endured? Were not he and his fellow apostles like gladiators doomed to be flung to the wild beasts”a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men”?
I. THE GRANDEUR AND SUBLIMITY OF THEIR POSITION DEMANDS OUR ADMIRATION. They were not as slaves cast to the lions. They were men who might have led a quiet and peaceful, and some of them an honourable and distinguished, life. But they gave their hearts to Christ, and having done so gave up all for him. There was no exaggeration in the apostle’s language. On the contrary, he spoke the plain truth when he represented himself as standing before the universe as a witness to the Lord Christ. The position was one of dignity and moral impressiveness; the angels felt it then, and the world of humanity has come to feel it now.
II. THE PATHOS OF THEIR POSITION DEMANDS OUR SYMPATHY. We observe the bodily privations, the homelessness, the physical toil, the ignominy, the persecutions, the general contempt, which the apostles passed through; and we cannot observe all this unmoved. Doubtless it touched the heart of that Divine Saviour who was made perfect through sufferings; doubtless there were those who wept with their leaders when these were constrained to weep. Nothing in all human history is more profoundly affecting.
III. THE MORAL PURPOSE OF THEIR POSITION DEMANDS OUR APPRECIATION. The motives that induced Paul and his colleagues voluntarily to submit to such experience as they relate were twofidelity to Christ and pity for men. Christ the Master had condescended himself to be upon the cross a spectacle to the world; and those who benefited by his redemption and shared his Spirit were ready to follow his example. They were the true followers of him who “endured the cross, despising the shame.” And their aim and hope was to bring the world to the foot of the Saviour’s cross. For this end they “counted not their life dear unto them.” It was for the sake of their fellow men that they consented to brave the scorn of the philosopher and the jeer of the multitude.
IV. THE MORAL LESSONS OF THEIR POSITION DEMAND OUR STUDY.
1. It is a rebuke to self indulgence and ease. Shall we be satisfied and enjoy our ease in the midst of the world’s errors and sins, when we call to mind the heroic and pathetic sufferings of our Lord’s first followers?
2. It is a consolation under any contumely and discredit we may endure in the Christian profession and vocation for Christ’s sake. “The like afflictions have befallen our brethren who are in the world.”
3. It points on to the glory which shall be revealed. “Through much tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The apostles have ended their struggles, and now enjoy their victory; the Church militant will soon become the Church triumphant.T.
1Co 4:15
Children, tutors, and fathers.
Our religion makes use of all the many and various relationships that obtain among men to set forth and to assist us in understanding spiritual realities.
I. GENERALLY SPEAKING, CHRISTIANS MAY BE DESCRIBED AS CHILDREN.
1. Like the Corinthians, most members of the Church of Christ need constant and watchful care. Providence has appointed that children should be born more dependent than the offspring of the inferior animals upon parental attention and devotion. From infancy unfit the approach of manhood and womanhood, human beings stand in need of the supervision and assistance of their parents. So is it with the members of Christ’s Church. They are in need of pastoral care and kindness, and without this are not likely either to grow in Christian character or to escape the assaults of their foes.
2. In addition to care, they need wise and fatherly counsel. It would be well if spiritual pastors bore in mind the inexperience of a large proportion of the flock. Paul was a faithful counsellor, and in writing to these Christians at Corinth he warned them very faithfully against the faults and errors they were in danger of falling into. Not with severity, but with directness and earnestness, he admonished his spiritual children, and entreated them to render obedience to his advice and directions. Even sincere disciples of Christ are often in peril by reason of their own want of knowledge and experience, and by reason of the temptations which beset them in this world. Hence the importance of such pastoral admonitions as those of which Paul here gives an example.
II. THERE ARE IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THOSE WHO MAY BE DESIGNATED SPIRITUAL FATHERS. At Corinth the apostle occupied a pre-eminently honourable and influential position. He claims in this passage to have been, what the history of the Acts shows that he was, the planter of the vineyard, the founder of the edifice, the father of the family. It was by his labours, his bravery, his perseverance, that the Christian community came into existence. In the highest sense, of course, the Father was God himself, who gives the Spirit of adoption to all his people. But instrumentally, the apostle was blessed by God, through the preaching of the gospel, to the begetting and birth, so to speak, of this congregation, this spiritual household. This relationship involved the obligation on their part to reverence, honour, obey, and gratefully to love and rejoice in, one to whom they were, under God, so immeasurably indebted. For his was a unique position with regard to them. No other could claim to stand in the same relation, and Paul was bold to tell them so. Still are there those who are honoured by the calling of God to this spiritual fatherhood; and such should meet with that respectful and grateful recognition which is the due of benefactors so signally favoured by God himself.
III. TUTORS AND INSTRUCTORS IN CHRIST OCCUPY IN THE CHURCH A POSITION ONLY INFERIOR TO THAT OF SPIRITUAL FATHERS. At Corinth the charisma of teaching seems to have been imparted and exercised in a measure almost embarrassing in its abundance. Paul speaks hyperbolically of the “myriads” of tutors who followed up his apostolic labours. The same Spirit bestows gifts in multiplicity and variety. Let Christians be grateful for all the “means of grace,” and especially for the holy and devout ministrations of the learned, the wise, the sympathetic, and the strong. For thus is it appointed that the Church should grow in grace.T.
1Co 4:20
The power of the kingdom.
The Corinthians were given to words; they delighted in eloquence; they were addicted to disputations. The Apostle Paul, who fulfilled his ministry by language, written and spoken, was not the man to disparage words. But no man was more impatient of mere wordsof words with no reality, no force, no conviction. He had reason to complain of his converts at Corinth, and was resolved to bring matters to an issue with them; and it should be a contest, not of barren verbiage, but of spiritual force.
I. THE NATURE OF GOD‘S KINGDOM PROVES THAT IT CANNOT BE MERELY IN WORD.
1. A kingdom implies authority exercised, obedience rendered. Although a kingdom not of this world, not maintained and supported by human means, by laws and arms, still God’s empire is a reality. Christ is the King and Head; his laws are binding and stringent, although the motives that inspire obedience are gratitude and lovehis subjects are willing and submissive.
2. Such a kingdom is incompatible with the reign of words. To be a subject of Christ is not
(1) to be merely by verbal assent, as by confirmation or any other form of admission to Church privileges, associated with the society of Christians; nor is it
(2) to make any kind of profession; nor
(3) to recite and maintain the great Christian creeds; nor
(4) to utter words expressive of devotion.
Men may make use of many and sacred words, and be none the nearer the kingdom of heaven. A nominal and verbal kingdom is weak and despicable; such is not the spiritual kingdom of our Lord.
II. THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE POWER OF THE KINGDOM.
1. Words may be only from man; power is from God. All natural and physical power originates in him. But moral power is either good or evil; and the good only but always is from God. Christ is “the Power of God.”
2. When we contemplate this spiritual power which pervades the new kingdom, what do we find it to be? The power of truth, the power of goodness, the power of pity and of love.
III. WHERE AND HOW THIS POWER DISPLAYS ITSELF.
1. Its seat is the soul; there it first enthrones itself, and thence it spreads until it pervades the whole nature, changing the beliefs, the feelings, the principles, and the habits. For “the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
2. The power of this kingdom manifests itself through the whole realm of human nature and life; both by the forces, obstacles, and oppositions it overcomes, and by the results it produces. We observe these effects especially in
(1) the newness of life which is characteristic of the kingdom, as emphatically in the case of the first disciples, brought out of Judaism and paganism into the marvellous light of the gospel;
(2) in the social results, which were exhibited in the cities where the gospel took root, and where the sentiment of brotherhood proved a new power in humanity, sanctifying society within and attracting elements from without.
(3) We have a proof of this power in the case of those martyrs who for Christ’s sake were content to lay down their life; for here we have evidently a new spiritual force, capable of inspiring with a fortitude in the cause of an unseen Lord which surpassed the heroic devotion of a Roman to his country’s good.
(4) The progress and perpetuity of this power stamps it as Divine, as the one great prevalent and successful force working in human society for its purification, its elevation, its lasting and highest welfare.T.
HOMILIES BY E. HURNDALL
1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2
“Ministers of Christ.”
I. WHAT THEY ARE.
1. Ministers. Not masters; servants, not lords. The word means literally “under rower,” or common sailor, and is generally used of the lower class of servants. Ministers are the mere servants of Christ; they have no authority save that which they may receive from him. “Be not ye called Rabbi” (Mat 23:1-39. 8). A domineering despotic spirit is altogether out of place. If any will be chief, he must be servant of all. Many ministers have trouble with their Churches because of their own masterful spirit. Like Rehoboam, they do not heed the sage counsel, “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever” (1Ki 12:7). Some of the Corinthians had unduly exalted their teachers (1Co 1:12); others perhaps had regarded them as utterly insignificant (“I of Christ”); Paul defines the legitimate position. Ministerial activity is hinted at; ministers are to be workers, not idlers.
2. Ministers of Christ. This makes their calling most honourable. They are servants of the Church, servants of their fellows, but not primarily. They serve the Church and their fellow men because they desire to stove Christ. They are
(1) appointed by Christ;
(2) responsible to him;
(3) to be judged by him;
(4) to be devoted to him;
(5) to speak in his Name;
(6) to preach him and his redemption;
(7) to rely upon his help;
(8) to take orders from him;
(9) not to originate, but to ascertain his mind.
3. Stewards. A position
(1) of trust and confidence;
(2) of influence;
(3) of responsibility;
(4) of some peril;
(5) of much honour.
4. Stewards of the mysteries of God. “Mystery” in the New Testament does not mean something incomprehensible, but something beyond the reach of unaided human intelligence. The “mysteries of God” are thus “hidden” (1Co 2:7) until revealed by him. They are the truths of the gospel”the truth as it is in Jesus.” Ministers have special charge concerning these truths
(1) to preserve them;
(2) to dispense them.
As stewards, they should be deeply impressed with
(1) the vast importance of the “riches” entrusted to them;
(2) the need of utmost care in discharging the duties of their office;
(3) the awful issues to themselves and others if they are remiss.
Many are satisfied if self approved or if praised by others; but Paul looked to the judgment of Christ (1Co 4:4). We are not to be despondent if we are “unpopular” with men, so that we are approved by our Lord. Though “unpopularity” with men is very far from being an argument that we please our Master: “The common people heard him gladly,” and probably would so hear us if we were more like him.
II. A NECESSARY QUALIFICATION. Faithfulness. This is a first requisite in those who are “stewards of the mysteries of God.” Stewards must not use their lord’s goods for their own advantage. What evils result from unfaithfulness in an earthly stewardship I who can estimate the evils flowing from an unfaithful ministry! A minister should be faithful:
1. To Christ, in
(1) obedience,
(2) love,
(3) zeal,
(4) devotion,
(5) holiness.
2. To his flock.
(1) Preaching unadulterated doctrine. Not corrupting the Word of God. Not substituting something else for it.
(2) Rightly dividing the word of truth.
(3) Reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all long suffering and teaching (2Ti 4:2).
(4) Striving “to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col 1:28).H.
1Co 4:3-5
Human and Divine judgments.
I. REFLECT THAT HUMAN JUDGMENT IS FALLIBLE. It is needful to remember this. Many laugh at “infallibility” when it affects a pope at Rome, but are much disposed to believe in it when it affects a pope at home. We should not forget that
(1) our powers are limited;
(2) our information often very defective;
(3) our minds very subject to bias. Our fallibility should lead us:
1. To take heed how we pronounce final judgments. There are some things about which we should not judge at all, as altogether transcending our powers and province. About many things we are compelled to form judgments, and to act upon the judgments formed. But finality of judgment may often be profitably avoided. We should particularly observe this when our judgments affect:
(1) The providence and dealings of God.
(2) The character, motives, deserts, of our fellows. We see the deeds, and may pronounce upon them as such, but we must remember that the heart is hidden from us.
(3) Certain matters connected with ourselves, it may be well to judge ourselves severely, since our tendency is to take too favourable a view of our own conduct. We may acquit ourselves when we ought to condemn ourselves. Implicit faith cannot be reposed in the voice of conscience; it may be perverted. Our judgment of ourselves should command our confidence only when we feel sure that our judgment agrees with God’s judgment.
2. Not to be disconcerted if harshly judged by our fellows. If an enlightened conscience does not condemn, fallible human judgment should not greatly depress us. We should value human judgment, not overvalue it. Rightly estimated, it is under such conditions “a very small thing;” under all conditions, a very small thing compared with the judgment of God. To our own Master we stand or fall. So fallible is human judgment that often the best men have been counted the worst, and the worst the best.
II. REFLECT THAT DIVINE JUDGMENT IS INFALLIBLE. That judgment will be exercised upon us and all around us when the Lord comes; or rather, that judgment is now being exercised, and then will be declared. The day of the Lord will be a day of universal and infallible judgment. When the Lord comes:
1. Hidden things of darkness will be brought into the light. So much is hidden from us; nothing will be hidden from him. We judge from part; he sees all. No darkness can hide from him; no hiding can baffle him.
2. There will be heart revelation. How carefully veiled the heart often is now! How different the counsels of the heart from the expressions of the lips and the actions of the hand! Heart revelation must bring widespread condemnation. Yet may we not say also that often, if we had known the counsels of the heart, we should have more favourably estimated the conduct? The whole man will be disclosed at the day of the Lord.
3. There wilt be award. Praise will be administered”due praise;” for so the rendering might be. Therefore valuable, for unmerited praise is of nothing worth. When God judges, the result will not be all condemnation by any means. There will be praise as well as blame”due praise,” and, let us not forget, “due blame.” The reference, however, is not to our salvation, but to God’s judgment of our conduct as his servants.
Live for the judgment of “the day of the Lord,” not for the judgment of “man’s day”. The one “a small thing” indeed! The other how great! When the Lord comes, some praised of men will be censured, and not a few blamed of men will be praised.H.
1Co 4:7
Our indebtedness to God.
I. REFLECT UPON THE FACT. Are apt to forget it altogether. So anomaly is often presented of our quarrelling over “possessions” which do not belong to us, and boasting of that to which we have no title. The air we breathe, the world we dwell upon, our food, clothing, and shelter, our “prosperity” as we fondly call it,these things are lent to us by God. So also our powersyea, our very existence is not of ourselves, but of God. If we were to have taken away from ourselves all that we have received through the free benevolence of God, what would be left? Our salvation, our spiritual joys, our glad prospects, are also of him.
II. DUE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR INDEBTEDNESS WILL HELP TO CHECK PRIDE. We are apt to regard things as though we had not received themas though they were our own in some other sense than as received from God. Thus we become proud of our attain merits and belongings, and glory in ourselves as possessors, if not originators, and not in God. For the luxury of boasting we easily delude ourselves. A gracious recollection of the actual state of the case should do something in the way of shaking the throne of conceit and vain glory. Pride is great folly as well as great sin, and when we indulge in it we have to smother our common sense. And of all pride, “spiritual pride” is the most reprehensible and the most absurd.
III. DUE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR INDEBTEDNESS MAY INCLINE US TO USE ARIGHT WHAT WE HAVE RECEIVED. Instead of pride, we should feel responsibility. Instead of boasting, we should desire to employ wisely and well the Divine benefaction. The things which we handle, see, and have, are not ours, but God’s. We are stewards, and presently shall have to give an account of our stewardship. We should ask, For what are these things given? What does God wish us to do with them?
IV. DUE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR INDEBTEDNESS WILL TEND TO INSPIRE GRATITUDE AND LOVE. He distinguishes us by his bounty. All we receive is of pure benevolence; we have done no work for it, we have not merited it. If only a little had been withheld, we should have lived in misery. Our joy and usefulness are dependent upon Divine gift. We thus get glimpses of the love of God, and, as he has first loved us, we should also love him.
V. DUE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR INDEBTEDNESS WILL TEND TO QUICKEN FAITH. How much God has done for us! We have not to trust for that! It has come to pass. And will not the Unchangeable continue to help us and to supply all our need? We have the promises, and the past tells us of no broken promise. Past experience should speak death to present doubt and fear.H.
1Co 4:8-10
Irony in religion.
I. SCRIPTURE WARRANTS THE USE OF IRONY IN CERTAIN CASES. Scripture is here fully at one with common sense and experience. There are certain conditions which can be most successfully touched by the shafts of ridicule: certain positions which can be carried most effectually by light artillery. In the Old Testament the folly of idolatry is often exhibited in ludicrous lights. Take, for example, Elijah’s words on Carmel (1Ki 18:27). Here Paul employs the weapon of satire. The Corinthians, in their carnality, conceived themselves to be at the very height of spirituality, They had attained alreadyand that without much knowledge of the daily cross. They had reached the goal suspiciously early, They were full; their knowledge was complete. They were rich; never were there such amply endowed Christians. They reigned as kingsnone so high as theymonarchs of all they surveyed. And all this without the insignificant aid of such a very commonplace teacher as Paul! They had far transcended their early master. They were now so wise that he in comparison was quite a fool (1Co 4:10). They were strong, impregnable, triumphant; he evidently was weak, very weak still. Had he not been with them “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1Co 2:3)? Was not that a very common condition for him to be in? Upon them crowded honour, dignity; they were “all honourable men.” He was despised and despicable; clearly they were in paradise. In the paradise of fools! and with majestic simplicity, but with keenest irony, Paul states the case as it appeared to them, and as it necessarily resulted from the position which they had assumed. If that did not open their eyes, they were blind for evermore. The Corinthians resembled the Laodiceans (Rev 3:17).
II. BUT IRONY IS A KEEN AND DANGEROUS WEAPON, AND SHOULD BE EMPLOYED WITH GREAT CARE. A suitable weapon for the hands of Paul, not of necessity for ours. Appropriate for some occasions, not for all.
1. Its use should be limited. We may easily run to excess. Irony is rather a pleasant weapon to use. Its employment in Scripture is not frequent. In this Epistle it is, indeed, used, but only occasionally.
2. It may profitably be accompanied by sober argument. So we have it here.
3. It should be employed in a spirit of love and with sincere desire to benefit. Not to make men ridiculous for the sake of making them so. Not for our own diversion. It should not be bitter. Paul was intensely solicitous to benefit the Corinthians; he had no pleasure in causing them pain. Note how in the midst of ironical utterances he expresses his fervent longing, “Yea and I would that ye did reign” (1Co 4:8), The object of his irony is to lead them from a mock kingship to a true.H.
1Co 4:11-13
The best and most useful often the most afflicted.
I. HISTORY AND PERSONAL OBSERVATION TEACH US THIS. Read Heb 11:35-38. Paul’s case is a striking illustration. Note the
(1) variety,
(2) painfulness,
(3) strangeness, of the apostolic afflictions.
See also another list (2Co 11:23-27).
II. LET US LEARN THAT:
1. Affliction is not always significant of Divine displeasure. Often we have chastisement because of our sins, but sometimes sorrow comes to us when most firmly we tread the path of duty. Under such circumstances it should not dismay or depress us.
2. Sufferingeven severe sufferingis not always a valid reason for relinquishing active service. Some people are too anxious to “retire.” Work done under suffering is sometimes marvellously effective, Our woes fit us to deal with the woe begone. When under great stress we feel that we can do nothing, we sometimes become Samsons; when we feel that we can do everything, we are generally mere Philistines.
3. Much affliction need not necessarily be even a hindrance to us in our work. Paul’s sufferings did not make him less active in the cause of Christ. He abounded in toil whilst he abounded in sorrow.
4. Affliction comes to us in the path of duty, it should not drive us from that path. Most of Paul’s sorrows were caused by his zeal and faithfulness. He would preach Christ. To choose an easier path would not have been wise for himis not wise for us.
5. Affliction is sanctified to God’s faithful servants. Beyond all doubt Paul was greatly the better for his many sorrows. Humanly speaking, he could never have been Paul without them. That which seems likely to hinder may help. Men who have to do much have generally to suffer much. Biography furnishes multitudinous illustrations of this.
6. Extraordinary sufferings sometimes bear with them the promise of unusual usefulness. Idlers have thus been made remarkably diligent, sleepers have been awakened, the worldly have become consecrated. The first true and inspiring view of Christian service has been obtained from the flame of the furnace. The apprenticeship of some “of whom the world was not worthy” has been served in the fires. Some great lives have begun with martyrdom.
7. Affliction should be received in a spirit of meekness, even when it comes directly from men who have no reason to use us ill. Paul, when reviled, blessed; when persecuted, calmly endured it, without after retaliation; when defamed, he entreated (perhaps God to pardon his enemies). Herein Paul was like Christ. He employed conquering kindness. To imitate him will require much grace. It is often much easier to take affliction from the hands of God than from the hands of men.H.
1Co 4:14-21
Spiritual parentage.
I. A VERY TENDER RELATIONSHIP. Paul notices:
1. The way in which the relationship is formed. (1Co 4:15.) The spiritual father
(1) “begets” his children
(2) in Christ Jesus
(3) through the gospel.
He finds them “strangers to the covenant of promise,” strangers to Christ, strangers to the Church; but under the preaching of the truth they are led by the Spirit to lay hold of salvation: they become in Christ “new creatures,” are “born again;” and he who has been the instrument employed in their conversion becomes their spiritual father. This relationship is a limited one, but nevertheless deeply interesting and important.
2. That it differs from the relationship existing between a mere teacher and learner. None can be to us what those are who have brought us to Christ. They have a peculiar claim upon our love and gratitude. “Ten thousand instructors make not one father.” We may love our teachers, but they are not our parents.
II. THE DUTIES OF THE FATHER TO HIS SPIRITUAL CHILDREN.
1. He should be watchful over them. As Paul was. They need much care; they should not be left to shift for themselves. A pernicious opinion is rife, that when people are “converted” no further trouble need be taken about them. As though when a child is “born” it is to be cast adrift and left to take care of itself! No wonder that there are so many spiritual cripples, so many diseased, so many weaklings, and not a few religious imbeciles. Fathers should look after their spiritual children; as far as possible we should see that our converts, if not under ours, are under good influences.
2. He should manifest a loving spirit towards them. They should be peculiarly dear to him. In many ways they may try his patience, but it should bear the trial. He should cherish them. Paul fed the Corinthian babes with milk; he did not discard them because they were not what he would have had them to be. He did not indulge in undue severity; fathers are not “to provoke their children to wrath” (Eph 6:4).
3. He should be faithful, ever inclining towards tenderness, but not sparing the rod when it is called for. (1Co 4:21.) Willing to rebuke when rebuke is necessary, but not fond of rebuking. Paul was gentle but decisive. He sought to nip evil in the bud. Foolish fondness lets the evil grow till it is too great to cope with. Correction must be wise, or it will be pernicious. Sometimes the placing of a faithful child amongst the unfaithful may be very efficacious for the latter. Paul sent Timothy (1Co 4:17).
4. Acting and living so as to be a fit example. We have no right to expect our spiritual children to follow us closely unless we are following Christ closely. Paul could say, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1Co 11:1). He does not exhort them to follow him as a party leader, but to imitate him as he sought to imitate Christ. He set a good example. It is what we are rather than what we say that has influence. Spiritual children have quick eyes.H.
HOMILIES BY E. BREMNER
1Co 4:1-5
“The ministers of Christ.”
The Corinthians were to be delivered from their tendency to glory in men, by being taught to regard them as a part of their heritage. All teachers were for their use, not the particular one whom they chose as their party leader. Besides, a right view of the ministerial office should prevent all boasting in men.
I. HOW MINISTERS ARE TO BE REGARDED. They are:
1. Servants of Christ. They are not “lords over God’s heritage” (1Pe 5:3), the chiefs of the kingdom. Their true dignity lies in serving the Lord Jesus, from whom they take their orders. They have no authority beyond that which is committed to them. Nor are they the servants of men. Obedience to their own Master delivers them from subjection to every ether (comp. on 1Co 3:5).
2. Stewards of the mysteries of God. The Church is God’s house, in which he alone is Master; apostles and other teachers being dispensers of the good things of the house, the great doctrines of the faith. Every man is a steward, being entrusted with the laying out of the gifts conferred upon him, and the improving of the opportunities put in his way. But this is true in a special sense of the Christian minister. He is entrusted with the dispensation of the Divine mysteries to men. He is not called to deal out his own things, but the saving truth of God, giving to each his portion of meat in due season. How responsible an office! This view of the Christian ministry should guard us against two common extremes. On the one side, ministers are not lords, endowed with a kind of supernatural power, and set to rule the consciences of men. On the other side, ministers are not the servants of the people, appointed to teach only some favourite type of doctrine. They are the servants of Christ, charged to deliver his truth, whether men will hear it or not.
II. FAITHFULNESS THE GREAT REQUISITE. Every steward must give account of his stewardship, and the chief thing required is fidelity. Men ask of a preacher, “Is he able, eloquent, attractive?” God asks, “Is he faithful?” Fidelity does not depend on the quality or quantity of the original gifts, but on the use to which they are put. The man with two talents receives the same reward as the man with five, because he has been equally faithful (Mat 25:21, Mat 25:23). Nor is fidelity measured by what men call success, since it is often incompatible with popularity. Let the much gifted minister beware; let the little gifted take comfort. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
III. THE MINISTER‘S JUDGE.
1. Not the congregation. It was a very small thing in Paul’s view to be judged of men. The verdict of the people on a minister’s discharge of duty is not to be lightly laid aside. If they praise, let us beware of being satisfied with this; if they condemn, let us the more thoroughly search ourselves. But from this verdict there must ever be an appeal to a higher tribunal. Men cannot read the motives that lie behind the outward act, nor can they gauge the proportion between a minister’s powers and the use he makes of them. Their measure of fidelity must always be imperfect.
2. Not the minister himself. The apostle disclaims being his own judge. He cannot charge himself with any remissness in duty, but he does not regard this as an unfailing proof of fidelity. He distrusts his own verdict. Let those who think themselves perfect ponder this statement. A good conscience is very precious, but let us not run into the folly of measuring ourselves by ourselves. Conscience is not the final judge in the matter.
3. The Lord is his Judge. “Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth” (Rom 14:4). This is man’s judgment day; let us wait “until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” The verdict of that day will proceed upon a perfect knowledge of the whole case, and every steward shall receive the praise of God according to the just award of the Judge. Wherefore:
(1) Do all your work remembering that Christ is your Judge. He knows your weakness as well as your strength, and sees the honest desire to serve him beneath many an apparent failure.
(2) Do not sit in judgment upon, others. Christ will judge his own servants.B.
1Co 4:6-13
Against self conceit.
Party spirit leads to the undue exaltation of men. The head of a faction becomes a hero in the eyes of those that belong to it. Two evil consequences followpride, self sufficiency, conceit, on the one hand; undue depreciation of others and boasting against them, on the other hand. Against this hateful spirit the apostle has already presented a variety of arguments; and while speaking chiefly of himself and Apollos, he has in reality been teaching us how to regard all the ministers of Christ. They are not to be exalted beyond the position assigned them in Scripture, nor are they to suffer themselves to be puffed up with pride one against another.
I. A COGENT ARGUMENT. “For who maketh thee to differ?” If we are better than our neighbours, or possess gifts which they do not possess, we have God to thank for it. This question should be asked in view of all earthly privilegeshealth, wealth, position, education. More especially with regard to spiritual benefits. Who maketh thee to differ from that reeling drunkard, that erring sister, that condemned felon, that poor imbecile, that blind heathen? “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1Co 15:10). The thoughts awakened by such an inquiry should silence all boastfulness, and call forth praise to him to whom we owe all. Spiritual pride robs God of his glory.
II. AN IRONICAL PICTURE. “Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have reigned without us.” You speak as if you had already attained perfection and participated in the millennial glory. You are not only rich, but seated as kings upon the throne. I would it were really so, for then we also might share in your glory; but alas! ye reign without us. You fortunate ones are exalted, but we poor apostles are still suffering on the earth. Thus does Paul hold up the self conceit of the Corinthians to derision. A warning for all time to those who run off with a part of the truth as if it were the whole. Like the perfectionists of our day, these Corinthians had fallen into the delusion that they had reached the goal. Spiritual pride is very subtle and very dangerous. This picture is suggestive when viewed in connection with the low morality prevalent in the Christian community at Corinth. Note here the legitimate use of irony, as in the case of Elijah (1Ki 18:27) and Isaiah (Isa 44:9, etc.). Evil has its ludicrous side, and the exhibition of this is sometimes more effective than plain argument. Irony, however, is a dangerous weapon, and needs to be handled with skill. The anger that pours ridicule upon an opponent must have behind it a heart of love, if its wounds are to prove wholesome.
III. A PATHETIC CONTRAST. With the proud position of the Corinthians, Paul contrasts the suffering condition of himself and his brother apostles. Consider:
1. The general picture. “For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death.” He seems to have in view the exhibitions given in the amphitheatre, at the close of which criminals condemned to death were brought in to fight with wild beasts or with one another. The sufferings of the apostles were a spectacle to the world, men and angels beholding them with interest. And what was true of these servants of Christ is true in part of every believerse We are wrestlers in the arena, fighting for dear life, with a myriad eyes upon us (comp. Heb 12:1).
2. The details of the picture. Very touching is this description of apostolic life, supplemented by the fuller details in the Second Epistle (2Co 11:23-33). Follow the steps of the homeless evangelist as he goes from place to place, earning his own bread while preaching the gospel, suffering many privations, exposed to many perils, and treated as the refuse of the world. No wonder if men called him a fool. Looked at from the outside, scarcely any life could appear more miserable; but all is changed when we know that it was lived “for Christ’s sake.” Love to him made the fellowship of his sufferings a matter to boast of. Are we willing to endure hardship for the Lord’s sake? Are we taking up the cross he lays athwart our path?
IV. A CHRIST LIKE SPIRIT. Suffering for Christ is also suffering with Christ. He too was despised and rejected of men; and where he is there must also his servant be. In addition to this we have here suffering endured in the Spirit of Christ. “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure, being defamed, we entreat.” This was according to the Lord’s commandment (Mat 5:44), and after his example (1Pe 2:23). How really noble is such a life! The truly strong man is he who can rise above the reproach and hate of men, and regard them with Christ like compassion. Contrast this humble following of Jesus with the proud boasting of the Corinthians.B.
1Co 4:14-21
The father and his children.
The apostle has used sharp words, but they have been dictated by love. He has written as a father who desires the correction and not the shame of his children.
I. SPIRITUAL FATHERHOOD.
1. How constituted. “For in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.” Conversion is the beginning of a new life, the birth by which we enter on spiritual being. This change is wrought by the agency of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work; the Spirit’s instrument is the Word, the incorruptible seed (1Pe 1:23); and this Word is administered by servants of the gospel. In a subordinate sense, Paul could speak of himself as the father of the Corinthian Church, inasmuch as he was the means of introducing them to the Christian life. The relationship is a peculiarly tender one, carrying with it much honour and much responsibility.
2. How distinguished. “For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.” The teachers who succeeded Paul at Corinth, and of whom they made so much, were like pedagogues who superintended the education of children. Theirs was an important work, but it did not alter the fact that the apostle was their spiritual father. They built on the foundation which he had laid. There is no disparagement of those who minister to the culture of the Christian life, as compared with those who are instrumental in commencing it. The evangelist and the teacher have each his own place in the Divine economy. Yet the relation of spiritual fatherhood is one by itself, different from that subsisting between teacher and scholar. Often the two go together, the pastor being also the father.
3. Implies the duty of admonition. It is the part of a father to “reprove, rebuke, exhort,” in all fidelity. Spiritual fathers must not be blind to the faults of their children. Love must patiently instruct, affectionately entreat, sharply chastise. Witness the paternal severity of the apostle in this Epistle as he “admonishes his beloved children.”
4. Implies the setting of a worthy example. “Be ye imitators of me.” The eyes of the children are towards the lather, and they cannot help copying him. Example is powerful in all spheres, and most of all in a sphere so conspicuous as the Christian ministry. It confirms the truth taught, encourages believers, rebukes the ungodly, draws inquirers to the Saviour. Every servant of Christ should be able to say, “Follow me.” Yet our imitation of other Christians, even the most eminent, has its limits. Men are imperfect, reflecting but brokenly the image of Christ; and no wise teacher will desire to see his own peculiar mannerisms reflected in his people. Human example is useful only in so far as it helps us to imitate Jesus.
II. SOLICITUDE FOR THE CHURCH‘S SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION. Like a true father, the absent apostle desires to further the spiritual growth of his converts, and with this view sends to them a personal deputy.
1. The mission. In order to promote their imitation of his humble, self denying life, he sends a messenger to recall to them “his ways in Christ.” The remembrance of a good man’s life is a help to piety. The memory of some departed saint has often proved a guiding star. And so is the recollection of truth already learned. It is part of the preacher’s work to press home old truths and deepen their hold of the heart and conscience.
2. The missionary. There was wisdom in sending a deputy, and in the choice of Timothy for the mission. As the apostle’s “beloved and faithful child,” he stood in the same spiritual relation to him as did the converts at Corinth. He could speak to them as a brother of their common father’s doctrine and life. The visits of wise and faithful servants of Christ are often instrumental in reviving the Church’s life.
III. APOSTOLIC VISITATION.
1. Carried out in the face of detraction. Those who sought to undermine Paul’s authority asserted that he would not again venture to visit Corinth; but in spite of this he declares his intention of doing so. The servant of Christ needs courage.
2. Subject to Divine direction. “if the Lord will” (comp. Jas 4:15). Man proposes, but God disposes. All our plans for the future must be subject to his control.
3. To test spiritual profession. The proud boasters at Corinth were great in talk, and Paul wished to show whether there was reality behind it. For power is the chief thing, not mere speech. The kingdom of God, i.e. genuine Christianity, is not an affair of words, but of living power. “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost” (1Th 1:5). Profession must be tested by practice. A religion of the lip is vain without the religion of the life.
4. Proceeds according to circumstances. Whether Paul was to come with a rod or in love depended on themselves, The discipline of the Church takes its complexion from the character of the persons with whom it deals, being severe or tender, as the case requires. A combination of fatherly love and wisdom is required in those who are called to deal with the erring.B.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
1Co 4:2
Faithful stewardship.
This is a principle approved alike of God and man. Stewardship implies responsibility, and responsibility demands faithfulness. The principle is applicable specially to the ministry of the Word. No responsibility like that of those who are called to keep watch and guard over the mysteries of God, to minister in Christ’s Name the richest treasures of his grace. Note St. Paul’s own profound sense of his responsibility. It was a comparatively “small thing” to him to be “judged of man’s judgment;” but the consciousness of the righteous judgment of God was always present with him, and the anxiety to approve himself to him as one who “needed not to be ashamed” was perhaps the deepest and strongest emotion he knew. And the principle may be applied to everything that distinguishes us personally among men, and that puts any power for good into our hands (Parables of the Unjust Steward, of the Talents, etc.). Intellectual capacity, educational advantages, wealth, social position, power of speech, any kind of artistic or constructive skill, vigour of physical health, abundance of leisure time,these and such as these are endowments that put the possibility of incalculable good within our reach, and for the use of which we must give account. All human life is a sacred stewardship. In every position in which Providence has placed us our fidelity is being put to the test, our loyalty to God and to conscience, to the eternal principles of truth and righteousness, to the sovereign authority of the Law of Christ. It is required of us that we should be faithful always and in everything. And if at heart we are faithful men, it will be seen to be so. Observe respecting this stewardship
I. THAT IT IS INDEPENDENT OF WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE POSITIONS WE OCCUPY AND THE MATTERS WITH WHICH WE HAVE TO DEAL. What we call the trivial and commonplace affairs of life are quite as effectual a test of moral faithfulness as the greater; often more so. We are prone to treat lightly what seem to us to be “little things,” and for that very reason they are often the truest revealers of our character. Our real dispositions come out most clearly in the way in which we deal with them, because then our behaviour is most spontaneous, unpremeditated, free from artifice. If you want to know what a man really is, don’t judge of him as he appears on the broad open platform of public life, but follow him into his more private ways, and see how he speaks and acts when he feels himself to be beyond the ear and eye of the world, and in matters on which no great consequence seems to hang. It is quite possible to raise a purely artificial standard of moral obligation, and to magnify unwisely certain scruples of conscience. But a really conscientious man will be conscientious in everything. And as a feather or a straw will show which way the stream is flowing, so do the trivial circumstances of life reveal the moral drift of our being. (Note the bearing of this on the probation to which Adam was subject: “Thou shalt not eat,” etc.) What is daily life to every one of us but a series of silent tests of our inward fidelity? We are hedged in by little restrictions, called to take upon us manfully the burden of many unwelcome duties; to suffer many abstinences, rebukes, self mortifications. And when we are disposed to overstep the boundary, because at certain points it seems so narrow or so low, we show that we have not learnt the full surrender of the spirit of obedience. “Offending in one point” of the law of our allegiance, we betray a spirit that is “guilty of all.” So as regards the right use of faculty and passing opportunities of doing good. The temptations that belong to a low order of personal faculty and a narrow range of personal influence are often greater than those that belong to the highest and the largest. You do nothing because the utmost you can do is so little; or you do carelessly and half heartedly what, as it seems to you, for anything the world would really be the better for it, you might neglect to do at all. The spirit that dictates this is one that would trifle with the loftiest powers and abuse the noblest possibilities of life. “He that is faithful in that which is least,” etc. (Luk 16:10).
II. ALL PRACTICAL FIDELITY IN THE STEWARDSHIP OF LIFE HAS A TENDENCY TO DEVELOP INTO HIGHER CAPACITY AND NOBLER DEED. Note here the power of habit. Accustom yourself with an earnest spirit to meet the claims of every day duty as in the Master’s sight, and you call to your aid a power and obey a law of life by which the highest moral victories shall ultimately, be won. Let our children be trained to act from principle and not from mere passion or policy, to habits of self surrender, to simple forms of Christian service, and they will become so habituated to the right way that when the heavier responsibilities of life begin to fall upon them they will be prepared bravely to meet themthe “yoke will be easy and the burden light.” Thus is it given to us all to educate ourselves for what awaits us in the future. The Jews say of David that “God tried him first with those few sheep in the wilderness, and then, because he faithfully and bravely kept them, took him from the sheepfolds to feed his people Israel.” Only use manfully whatever moral power you possess, and you need not fear any strain that shall ever be put upon it. Cast yourself freely upon your faith, and though it be now but as a “grain of mustard seed,” it shall be mighty enough one day “to remove mountains.”
III. SUCH FIDELITY LEADS TO BLESSED ISSUES IN THE GREAT FUTURITY. It is not given to us to trace the path of moral threes very far in this world. Our judgments are often at fault, our forecasts often strangely falsified. Only very imperfectly and with cautious hesitating steps can we follow the winding and widening stream of earthly issues. And who shall say how some of the unnoticed doings of every human life, and the results that grow out of them, will appear in the all revealing light of the day when “God will bring every work into judgment and every secret thing, whether it be good or bad”? But of this we may be perfectly well assured, that to a lifelong endeavour to serve and please the Lord Jesus Christ there must be a blessed eternal reward. Let our life be a faithful one, a work faithfully wrought out in his Name, and we need not fear but that it will prove itself to be a life worth living and that ends well “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev 2:10).W.
1Co 4:20
Not in word, but in power.
The exact point of this affirmation is to be determined by the circumstances that called it forth. The apostle refers in the context to his personal adversaries in the Church at Corinth. They spoke against him, “puffed up” by the spirit of proud hostility. But he will come and put their pretensions to the test. He will “know, not their words” only, but the amount of real “power” that there is in them. This suggests the genera! relation of the “word” to “the power” in the kingdom of God as an organized fellowship. Seen in several particulars.
I. ITS MEMBERSHIP. Not a question of professed creed, or ritual observance, or forms of godliness; but of the energy of a Divine life in the soul, transforming the whole being of a man into a “new creature.” “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,” etc. (Joh 3:5); “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” etc. (Rom 14:17); “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision,” etc. (Gal 6:15).
II. ITS MINISTRY. Not by the utterance of mere forms of speech, the establishment of ecclesiastical systems, the multiplication of the means of Christian culture; but by the diffusion of the living force of truth, and the silent sovereign power of the Spirit of God. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth,” etc. (Joh 6:63); “Our gospel came unto you not in word only,” etc. (1Th 1:5).
III. ITS ADMINISTRATION. Not by hollow pretence, or blatant assumption, or self constituted officialism; but by the authority that lies in real personal capacity, distinguished goodness, saintly character, effective spiritual power (1Ti 3:1-7; Tit 1:7-9).W.
1Co 4:20
The kingdom is power.
The contrast between word and power is familiar to our minds. To say of a man that he is a stickier for the letter, a pedant about forms, a zealot for words, is to say that he is shallow and tiresome. A wise man looks beneath the skin and shape of things to their substance. An effective man goes in for power. Yet the world is governed by words as the expressions of thought and purpose. Education is conducted, opinion is formed, all human combinations of knowledge and practical force are got together, and held together, by means of fit words. The kingdom of God itself is introduced by the Word of testimony. What avails not is mere repetition of words after the manner of a charm, or “vain jangling” about verbal forms. Especially irksome must all such metallic clatter of words without profit have been to a man so much in earnest as St. Paul. No doubt there was much of it among the Christians at Corinth, where to the minute pedantry of Jews was added the inveterate disputation of Greeks. The apostle wished to discourage their sharp word contests, and gave notice that, on his next visit, he would probe the arrogant pretensions of certain talkers very closely. Their speech would avail them little if they failed in spiritual power. Such cautions against religious verbalism are needed constantly. Just because Christianity owes so much to true and faithful utterances, rests on testimony, and requires much teaching, it is peculiarly liable to be weakened by hollow, pretentious, or disputatious speaking. Therefore must we emphasize the futility of religious words without the informing Spirit of life and power. The great characteristic of the kingdom of God, as announced by Jesus Christ, and spread abroad by his apostles, was its penetrating and elevating dynamic. It had a quiet but potent energy. It could “turn the world upside down;” could break off Jews from self righteousness and Gentiles from idolatry, abase the proud and exalt the lowly, make the wise simple and the simple wise. And what was this power? It was the force of truth, the diffusive element of light, the majesty of righteousness, the sublime persuasiveness of love. It was all this, and more. It was the heart piercing and enthralling energy of the Holy Ghost, working with and by the Word. God gave the increase. In the light of St. Paul’s compact and weighty saying, look at
I. THE KINGDOM OF GOD AMONG OURSELVES. We speak not of a particular Church, but of the kingdom moving forwards in the midst of Churches variously constituted and administered. Church usages and appointments may, and indeed must, change. It is not possible or desirable to reproduce in the nineteenth century, and in the West, the very Church of the first century in the East. But the kingdom of God must be, and is, the same. It is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Wherever these are found, they betoken the presence of a heavenly power. But a Church may appear strong, and yet be at heart cold and weak. It may be irreproachable in word and form, clothed with venerable traditions as some old wall is mantled with ivy; it may be exemplary in all the routine of prayer and preaching, and yet be barren and ineffective, because it has nothing but forms and words; and “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” It is quite impossible to overcome the world, abase the proud, sober the frivolous, arrest the mind that is busy with a thousand trifles, or lift up the spirit that has debased itself to avaricious deceits or to those fleshly vices which civilization cannot overcome, by words ever so well chosen, services ever so comely, forms of godliness ever so correct. What is wanted is the kingdom of God in power.
II. THE KINGDOM OF GOD ELSEWHEREEVERYWHERE. Even if we take a very hopeful survey of missionary work, we must confess that Churches have been too languid in purpose, too pedantic in method, and in some places too jealous of one another, too ready to cry, “Lo, here!” “Lo, there!” It is the kingdom of God which should be preached; and if only its power comes to be felt, we might all keep our minds comparatively easy about the moulds into which new life may flow, or the forms under which Christian activity may organize itself throughout the world. It is a startling and mournful fact that in countries where our faith has been professed for centuries, we have yet to discuss the evidences of Christianity. Christian literature has reached an almost prodigious development; and Christian teaching and preaching are not scarce. Yet the world does not believe or obey the gospel. Surely there is a hiding of power. Rise up, Christians! gird up the loins of your mind. Be evidences of Christianity, known and read of all. There is no witness so luminous and so irresistibly convincing as that which comes from the practical effect of the gospel on the minds, consciences, dispositions, and conduct of the men and women who profess to believe it.F.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2
The Christian teacher a steward.
The apostle here intimates what are right thoughts for Christian people to cherish concerning their teachers, tie uses two words, “ministers,” “stewards,” the former of which is familiar, the latter needs some explanation. A minister is “one who serves,” and no more honourable thought can be attached to the Christian teacher than that he serves Christ among his people, and serves the people for Christ’s sake. Our Lord himself said, “I am among you as he that serveth;” and St. Paul says to his converts, “Ye serve the Lord Christ.” We propose now to dwell more fully on the figure of the steward. A Christian teacher is to be thought of as a “steward of the mysteries of God.” The word “steward” is used in England for a “land bailiff;” but in the East it was employed for a person put in trust of all his master’s goods”such as was Eliezer in the house of Abraham (Gen 24:2-12), and Joseph in the house of Potiphar (Gen 39:4). It was one of the main duties of such a steward to dispense their portions of food to the different members of the household (Luk 12:42), to give the slaves or servants their “portion in due season.” Compare the words “housekeeper,” “house ruler,” “house feeder,” and see Mat 24:45. The apostle’s point is that the Christian teacher is not to be esteemed for any particular qualifications which he may have of his own, but simply for his faithfulness in doing his work as the servant of God. Christian congregations may fall into either of two errors; the “Christian minister may be glorified, or made an idol of, in two waysby party worship of the man, or by attaching a mystical or supernatural power to the office.” Both the minister himself, and those among whom he labours, do well to keep ever in mind that he is but a steward, only Christ’s servant, to minister to them in Divine things. We consider, then
I. THE STEWARD‘S TRUSTS. “The mysteries of God.” Mysteries were familiar things to those whom the apostle addressed. “The word ‘mysteries’ is derived from a word signifying to close, to shut, and was in the old Greek civilization used to denote those rites which were only permitted to the initiated, and were kept a strict secret from the outside world. Of such a kind were the well known Eleusinian mysteries, which were kept every fifth year at Eleusis, in Attica; the rites of the Bona Dea, which were observed at Rome; and those of Isis and Mithras, which were of Egyptian and Persian origin.” It should be noticed that the word “mystery” is used in the Scriptures in two distinct senses:
(1) for things that are hidden from the ordinary understanding; and
(2) for things that in past times were unknown, but are now revealed to those who believe the gospel. The term is chiefly used in this latter sense. When St. Paul exclaims, “Great is the mystery of godliness,” he means the “revealed mystery,” of which he immediately speaks, even God, or Christ, being “manifest in the flesh.” The trust of the Christian teacher is, then, the revealed mystery of the gospel, and this may be said to have three centres round which it gathers:
(1) the Incarnation;
(2) the Sacrifice;
(3) the Resurrection.
The Incarnation reveals the mysteries of God and of man; the Sacrifice reveals the mysteries of sin and of redemption from sin; and the Resurrection reveals the mysteries of immortality and of sanctification. So these are the great truths and trusts of which the Christian teachers are “stewards.” Their work is to minister these truths, in all their varied adaptations and applications, to the people of their charge. Happy, indeed, are they who can close their ministry pleading as St. Paul did, “I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.”
II. THE STEWARD‘S RESPONSE TO HIS TRUSTS. “Found faithful.” The thought of St. Paul seems to have been that due inquiry is made into the character and trustworthiness of a man before he is put into the office of a steward; as he elsewhere says, “Let them first be proved.” But we may fairly include under his language the reasonable expectation that the man who is entrusted with a responsible position and work will be “found faithful” in his doing of it. Then we must inquire what should be the faithfulness of a Christian teacher, or indeed of the Christian man, to whom the gospel mysteries have been revealed. It should be manifest in three departments:
1. He must be faithful to his Master, God; seeking his service only, and his glory only.
2. He must be faithful to the truths he has received; carefully setting them, and not any mere ideas he may have about them, before the people; and seeking to set the whole of them, and not merely portions in which he may be personally interested, before his congregation.
3. He must be faithful to the people to whom God may have sent him; taking up the burden of their spiritual needs on his own heart; feeling ever as did good Samuel Rutherford when he said, “God is my witness, that your salvation would be two salvations to me, and your heaven two heavens to me!” Impress that the more deeply we feel the greatness of our trusts, as having had the great religious mysteries in part revealed to us, the more serious becomes for us the question of our “faithfulness;” and the more shall we feel the need for solemn times of self searching and self criticism. It is an unspeakable honour to be entrusted with the “mysteries” of God and of Christ and of redemption from sin; but all true and humble souls say with the apostle, “But who is sufficient for these things? “R.T.
1Co 4:3-5
A threefold judgment of the Christian teacher.
The thought of the apostle is evidently occupied with the disposition of the Corinthians to form judgments for and against different Christian teachers, and to make parties by their preference for one over another. There seems to have been a critical habit, which was applied to the work of each minister; and such a habit is always found seriously to injure the work of our ministers, and fatally to influence that openness and receptivity of spirit on which due reception of Christian teachings depend. It may be especially pointed out that the habit of discussing the work of the clergy in our families, depreciating some of them, and unduly praising others, has a most mischievous influence on the younger members of our households. In this passage St. Paul strongly urges his indifference to any judgments that may be formed about him. He was simply but heartily trying to do Christ’s work under Christ’s lead, and he could wait for his Master to judge what had been the quality and the value of his work. He speaks of three kinds of judgment to which the Christian teacher may be subject.
I. MAN‘S JUDGMENT. We must all do our work with the feeling that, at least, our fellow men have their eyes upon us, and form their opinions concerning us. Illustrate how we form estimates of one another. When great men die, the judgments which their contemporaries formed of their work finds expression in numerous articles and books; and when the friends of simpler folk meet at their funerals, their talk shows how the tone and character of the dead man’s life has been fullysometimes fairly, and at other times unfairlyestimated. Now, such judgments of our fellow men may be helpful to us when they find expression in our lifetime.
(1) They are if they help to increase our sense of the seriousness of our duty;
(2) they are if they lead us to know ourselves better, to see and to correct our mistakes;
(3) they are if they make us more anxious to win men’s approval by a higher faithfulness to our duty.
But the thought of man’s judgment may be mischievous if it
(1) makes us nervously sensitive to merely human opinion;
(2) if it makes us self conscious; and
(3) if it makes us in any sense or degree more anxious about the praise of men than the praise of God. We may value men’s good opinion as an encouragement; we may consider men’s severe judgments as helping us to see our faults; but we may not permit our settled life work to be hindered by men’s opinion, nor our hearts to be depressed by men’s criticisms. We serve the Lord, not men.
II. SELF JUDGMENT. St. Paul says, “I judge not mine own self.” Show how important to all Christian workers is self knowledge, and the power to fairly weigh and estimate one’s own doings. So many fail because, while heeding everybody’s criticism, they fail to criticize themselves. But wise and helpful self judgments are
(1) very dependent on natural disposition;
(2) on particular bodily and mental moods; and
(3) on the measure and degree of a man’s self love.
The duty is plainly taught by the apostle when he said, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1Co 11:31).
III. THE LORD‘S JUDGMENT, “He that judgeth me is the Lord.” That judgment is stricter than any man’s, and than any which we can make concerning ourselves. These points may be illustrated as impressing the superiority of the Lord’s judgment.
(1) It is most searching;
(2) it concerns even our motives;
(3) it is infallibly correct;
(4) it is going on every day now;
(5) it is in measure revealed to us now;
(6) it is in measure kept from us now, that our freedom may not be unduly limited;
(7) it will be fully revealed to us by and by; and
(8) on it our allotments of place and work in the “eternities” must entirely depend.R.T.
1Co 4:6
Differences according to grace received.
One can but be struck with the prudence and delicacy of the apostle in not mentioning the actual names of the party leaders at Corinth, but illustrating his principle from such more prominent names as his own, that of St. Peter, and that of Apollos. He avoids any charge of personality; and names only the greater leaders, that the Corinthians might learn not to be puffed up for any minister. All teachers are but men, and all are to be esteemed for the Divine gifts that may be entrusted to their charge. We may not “glory in man,” only in God, who distributeth to each man severally as he wills, using this man and that for whatever service he may please. F.W. Robertson, speaking of the Christian ministry, well says, “The qualities which are requisite for the higher part of the ministry aregreat powers of sympathy; a mind masculine in its power, feminine in its tenderness; humbleness; wisdom to direct; that knowledge of the world which the Bible calls the wisdom of the serpent; and a knowledge of evil that comes rather from repulsion from it than from personal contact with it. But those qualifications which adapt a man for the merely showy parts of the Christian ministry are of an inferior orderfluency, self confidence, tact, a certain histrionic power of conceiving feelings, and expressing them. Now, it was precisely to this class of qualities that Christianity opened a new field in places such as Corinth. Men who had been unknown in their trades suddenly found an opportunity for public addresses, for activity, and for leadership. They became fluent and ready talkers; and the more shallow and self sufficient they were, the more likely it was that they would become the leaders of a faction.” The correction of this evil is indicated in our text. The humble sense of grace received, and the burden of responsibility in so high a trust, should keep all Christian teachers in their right place. Recognizing the differences of men’s gifts according to the grace they have received, we should value each man for what gift and grace he may have; but we should take care never to make contrasting estimates, nor allow ourselves to be “puffed up for one against another.” The following points may receive illustration from other portions of St. Paul’s Epistles, especially from the two to the Corinthians, and from those known as the “Pastoral Epistles” (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus):
I. THE DIVERSITY OF GIFTS ENTRUSTED TO CHRISTIAN TEACHERS, The work to which they are called is very various in its forms and demands. In the family there must be a variety of services, and ability for each; and in the state a variety of offices, and a fitness for each. So in the Christian Church. For its upbuilding there is needed the gift of architect, and carver, and mason, and labourer, and carpenter. The gift of the preacher differs from that of the teacher, and that again from the gift of the organizer. If we once fully admit that all gifts are of grace, and each an unspeakable honour and an overwhelming responsibility for him to whom it is entrusted, envy of each other would pass for ever away, and we should thankfully use each man for the service God has fitted him to render.
II. ALL DIVINE GIFTS ARE UNTO EDIFICATION. God never bestows anything on any man that he may get praise of men or worldly honour for it. All God’s gifts are for use. All are entrusted to us for the sake of others. All bear upon the “fully furnishing of our fellow men unto all good works.”
III. ALL, TOGETHER, WILL BE FOUND TO MAKE UP A COMPLETE CIRCLE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. We fail in:
1. The effort to bring out the various gifts of men into use. The Church is everywhere rich with the gifted unknowns, and the gifted idler.
2. In the due recognition of the spiritual completeness which God, in his providential leadings, brings to our Churches.
3. In the consequent freeing of men from duties for which they are unfitted, that they may fully cultivate and use their special gift. Impress that the thankful recipiency and use of the Divine provisions for our spiritual needs should master all personal feeling towards individuals. We should honour the Master who arranges the gifts, and honour the servants only for his sake.R.T.
1Co 4:8-12
Suffering for others a proof of interest in their welfare.
Recall Paley’s argument from the sufferings of the early Christians as to the sincerity of their belief. Similarly, St. Paul urges here that the troubles and persecutions which he and the other teachers had endured in ministering to the Churches, ought to convince the people of his love and zeal for their highest welfare; and should also be felt to set him in such intimate and confidential relations with them that he might claim the right to reprove and correct. We all know that reproof cannot be easily or usefully accepted, save from those whom we know love us truly and sincerely seek our highest well being. From these verses two subjects may claim consideration
I. GOD‘S MISSION FOR APOSTLES, LOOKED AT, KINDLES ENTHUSIASM. “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” Watching such a devoted, self sacrificing, heroic life as that St. Paul lived ought to stir us up to enthusiastic efforts to follow so noble an example. Illustrate how the story of great martyrs and great missionaries has, in all ages, been used to inspire lesser men to noble things. “Lives of great men all remind us,” etc.
II. GOD‘S MISSION FOR APOSTLES, CARRIED OUT, AWAKENS SYMPATHY. (1Co 4:11, 1Co 4:12.) Fully detail the sufferings which St. Paul underwent, and the bodily frailty which made those sufferings so exceedingly trying (see 2Co 11:23-30). After our Lord in his closing sufferings, no man so awakens our tenderest sympathy as does the Apostle of the Gentiles. Illustrate how, in modern missions, the Pattesons and Livingstones have excited world wide sympathy. Illustrate also how their constant sufferings made Baxter’s and Robert Hall’s continued and devoted labours so affecting to us. Or refer to the power, on his little audience, of Adolphe Monod’s talks from his bed of suffering and death. St. Paul shows what made his sufferings so interesting to usthey were borne as submissive obedience unto God; and as vicarious for us; and this ought to give him a persuasive power and a full right to advise, and reprove, and correct, and warn, and teach.R.T.
1Co 4:16
Imitators of men.
The Revised Version of this passage reads, “I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.” It may, however, be disputed whether the word “followers” is not a better and more suitable one to express the apostle’s idea. Mere imitating is the work of the unintelligent; it is represented by the mere reproduction of sounds and manners such as we have in the parrot or the monkey, or more fully in the child. For men, all mere imitations are either signs of mental and moral weakness, or they are the accidents attending on an intelligent acceptance of the principles which another man exhibits in conduct. We are not, in the limited sense of the word, even to imitate Christ; we are to “copy his example,” and to “follow in his steps;” but when more fully and worthily apprehended, we find that what we really are to do is to “let that mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.” In the passage now before us St. Paul has been speaking of his relationship to the Corinthian Christians. He was their father in Christ; “For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” And he is really pleading with them to preserve the family likeness which should accompany such a relation. But it may be saidAre we ever justified in following or imitating our fellow men? We replyYes, so far as men are Christ like, we may; so far as they are more Christ like than ourselves; so far as they have reached any Christly virtue or grace beyond us, we may. And since there is a sense in which Christ must ever seem to us out of reach; since of his virtue we must ever say, “It is high, I cannot attain unto it;”it may often be really helpful to us to see his virtue reflected in a fellow man, and manifestly brought within the reach of human attainment. This may help us while we are weak, but when we more fully grasp the truth of our Lord’s humanity, we shall realize that Divine virtues were shown by him in a human life precisely that we might feel the possibility, of attaining them, and so seek to be “changed into his image.” After dwelling on the “imitative faculty,” its uses and abuses, consider that
I. GOOD MEN MAY BECOME MODELS FOR US. Observe:
1. That in every age some men have risen above their fellows in moral virtues; and some have been set in prominent positions so as to attract the attention of their fellows.
2. From the Scripture models which are preserved to us, learn:
(1) That no merely human being can present his entire human life, the whole circle of his doings, for our imitation. “There is none righteous; no, not one.” Illustrate the sides of moral infirmity in all Scripture charactersAbraham, Moses, David, Hezekiah, Peter, Paul, etc.
(2) That each becomes a model of some one characteristic feature; e.g. Abraham of faith, Moses of disinterestedness, David of habits of personal piety, Paul of singular loyalty to the living Christ. So with modern saints, and the holy ones from our own circles; in some one thing each is strong, and just in that one thing each may be a model.
II. GOOD MEN‘S MODELS ABE, AT THE BEST, BUT IMPERFECT. Sensible of this, David says in his prayer before God, “My goodness extendeth not to thee; but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent.” Even in the one thing in which they are strong, God can find weakness. When we most admire, we are compelled sadly to feel that the “trail of the serpent is over it all.” So we must use men’s examples as but incomplete copies of the Divine, and remember that our aim is to transcend any previous human attainments, and to be “perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.” Whatever there is in men that is imitable is but a reflection of Christ, and we may have shining on us what they have in measure caught, even the very light of Christ himself. We may “follow his example, who did no sin?
III. CHRIST IS OUR GREAT MODEL, AND MEN ARE MODELS ONLY SO FAR AS THEY BRING HIM NEAR AND GLORIFY HIM TO OUR THOUGHT. We must take this knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus, and have, in measure, caught his likeness. Impress that we may fully copy Christ’s life, but only very seldom can we copy men’s actions; we can only seek to be possessed and ruled by the same principles.R.T.
1Co 4:18-20
Speech and power.
These are by no means always associated together in the same man. Oftentimes they seem quite unable to dwell together. Speech is in inverse ratio to power. The free talker is seldom a vigorous thinker; and the boaster can never gain any real power by his extravagances. It seems that, at Corinth, there were some loud talkers, who depreciated St. Paul’s authority, and endeavoured to destroy his influence. They made out that his “bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible;” and they mockingly said, “No doubt he writes very vigorous and terrible letters, but he is afraid to come himself.” “These persons persuaded themselves that they had so undermined his reputation that he would not dare to come again to Corinth, and they grew more self asserting in consequence.” Paley notices an undesigned coincidence between this passage and 2Co 1:15-17; 2Co 2:1. There evidently had been some uncertainty about his visit, of which his opponents took undue advantage.
I. SPEECH WITHOUT POWER. A mere gift of fluent talk is granted to some men. It is seldom associated with vigorous mental power, and is a perilous gift because it can be so readily misused. Such speech may be pleasant to listen to, as is the murmur of a flowing stream. It may be popular; it may be exciting to mere sentiment; it may be boastful. Its influence is small and temporary. It bears very little relation to the correction of moral evils, or the culture of the godly life.
II. SPEECH WITH POWER. Speech which is
(1) the utterance of thought;
(2) which bears the “accent of conviction;”
(3) which is carefully set in adaptation to the hearer; and
(4) which is uttered in dependence on Divine leadings and inspirations.
Here the word is used by St. Paul especially to mean “the power that is derived from Christ, which he himself possesses to influence the heart of man. It includes, no doubt, the power of working miracles, for, with one or two exceptions, the miracles of the gospel were manifestations of Christ’s power to deliver humanity from the dominion of evil and its consequences.” Speech with power is that kind of speech which directly influences the heart and the conscience, and leads to the fuller apprehension of truth, the conviction of sin, or the discovery of neglected duty. It may comfort, instruct, counsel, or warn. Dr. Horace Bushnell says, “Three distinct elements must be included in preaching which has the genuine power.
(1) A descent to human nature in its lower plane of self love and interested motive, and a beginning made with the conscience, the fears, and the boding expectation of guiltiness.
(2) The due exhibition of the Christian facts. In the Apostles’ Creed nothing is included but the simple facts of Christ’s life. Too little by a thousandfold is made of these facts. How much easier to preach the decoction (doctrine), and let the dried herbs of the story go! It might be so if they were really dry; but since they are all alive, fresh and fragrant as a bank of roses, how much better to go and breathe among them, and catch the quickening odours!
(3) The right conception of the gospel, and the fit presentation of it, under the altar forms provided for it.” And Canon Liddon, in his ‘Bampton Lectures,’ pp. 168, 169, has the following passage:Picture to yourselves a teacher who is not merely under the official obligation to say something, but who is morally convinced that he has something to say. Imagine one who believes alike in the truth of his message, and in the reality of his mission to deliver it. Let his message combine those moral contrasts which give permanency and true force to a doctrine, and which the gospel only has combined in their perfection. Let this teacher be tender, yet searching; let him win the hearts of men by his kindly humanity, while he probes, ay, to the quick, their moral sores. Let him be uniformly calm, yet manifestly moved by the fire of repressed passion. Let him be stern yet not unloving, and resolute without sacrificing the elasticity of his sympathy, and genial without condescending to be the weakly accomplice of moral mischief. Let him pursue and expose the latent evil of the human heart, through all the mazes of its unrivalled deceitfulness, without sullying his own purity, and without forfeiting his strong belief in the present capacity of every human being for goodness. Let him know ‘what is in man,’ and yet, with this knowledge clearly before him, let him not only not despair of humanity, but respect it, nay, love it even enthusiastically. Above all, let this teacher be perfectly independent. Let him be independent of the voice of the multitude; independent of the enthusiasm and promptings of his disciples; independent even when face to face with the bitter criticism and scorn of his antagonists; independent of all save God and his conscience. In a word, conceive a case in which moral authority and moral beauty combine to elicit a simultaneous tribute of reverence and of love. Clearly such a teacher must be a moral power.” Impress that such teachers we should seek to find; such was the Apostle Paul; and under the power such can exert we may hope to grow into the “stature of the perfect man in Christ Jesus.”R.T.
1Co 4:21
Adaptation the teacher’s power.
Evidently St. Paul desired to be precisely adapted to those whom he would teach. The tone and the substance of his teachings would directly depend on their moral condition. As a faithful teacher, he tells them it must depend on them whether he came to them “with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness.” A brief outline will sufficiently guide thought on this subject.
I. ADAPTATION INVOLVES KNOWLEDGE.
1. General knowledge of human nature.
2. Particular knowledge of those to whom we minister.
3. Sufficient knowledge of the measure of our authority and influence.
4. Practical knowledge of the corrective instruments which we may use.
II. ADAPTATION INVOLVES DISCERNMENT.
1. Discrimination of the precise condition in which those we influence are at the time.
2. Of the differences in which each one may stand related to the evil we reprove.
3. Of the limitations to which reproof may be wisely subject, and of the time when the tone may be changed to one of encouragement.
III. ADAPTATION MAY DEMAND SEVERITY. Which may be very trying to our feelings, and very difficult in view of our disposition; but must be made to characterize our relations, if we would be found faithful. The severity of gentle souls is the mightiest persuasive to goodness. It was quite out of St. Paul’s way to be severe, but, for that very reason, we feel his severity the more.
IV. ADAPTATION PREFERS COMMENDATION. So St. Paul writes, urging the Corinthians to remove the evils before he comes, for he would so much rather have only kindly and encouraging things to say. Impress that, as we are to God, he must show himself to us. See Psa 18:24-26. And in the same way, as we are in godly habits, in moral and spiritual condition, soin precise adaptationmust our faithful teachers be.R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
1Co 4:1. Let a man so account of us, &c. The Apostle intimates, that he was so far from arrogating the title assumed by the founders of the different sects of philosophy, and fromwishing to have scholars denominated from him, that he would have no man think higher of him than that he was a servant of Christ; and that the mysteries he revealed were no more his, than the money which a steward is employed to distribute in alms could be called his property. He was no master, no proprietor; but a servant, and a steward. See Locke and Doddridge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 4:1 . ] is commonly taken as preparatory , emphatically paving the way for the . which follows. Comp 1Co 3:15 , 1Co 9:26 ; 2Co 9:5 ; Eph 5:33 , al [595] , and often in Greek writers. The . . before repudiated arose, namely, out of a false mode of regarding the matter; Paul now states the true mode. Since, however, there is no antithetic particle added here, and since the following epithets: . and . sound significantly like the , which immediately precede them, is rather to be regarded as the sic retrospective ( in this way, in such fashion ), and again as stating the objective quality , in which the have a claim to the . . which is enjoined. Accordingly, we should explain as follows: Under this point of view , as indicated already in 4:22 f. (namely, that all is yours; but that ye are Christ’s; and that Christ, again, is God’s), let men form their judgment of us, as of those who are servants of Christ and stewards of divine mysteries . Let us but be judged of as servants of Christ, etc., according to the standard of that lofty Christian mode of view ( ), and how conclusively shut out from this sphere of vision will be the partisan ! Men will be lifted high above that.
] i.e. myself and such as I, by which other apostles also and apostolic teachers (like Apollos) are meant. In view of 1Co 3:22 , no narrower limitation is allowable.
] not a Hebraism ( , one ; so most interpreters, among whom Luther, Grotius, and others explain it wrongly every one ), but in accordance with a pure Greek use of the word in the sense of the indefinite one or a man (Plato, Protag. p. 355 A, Gorg. p. 500 C, al [596] ). So also in 1Co 11:28 ; Gal 6:1 . Bengel’s “homo quivis nostris similis ” is an importation.
. . . . . ] They are servants of Christ, and, as such, are at the same time stewards of God (the supreme ruler, 1Co 3:23 , the Father and Head of the theocracy, the , 1Ti 3:15 ), inasmuch as they are entrusted with His secrets, i.e. entrusted and commissioned to communicate by the preaching of the gospel the divine decrees for the redemption of men and their receiving Messianic blessings (see on Rom 11:25 ; Rom 16:25 ; Eph 1:9 ; Mat 13:11 ), decrees in themselves unknown to men, but fulfilled in Christ, and unveiled by means of revelation. They are to do this just as the steward of a household (see on Luk 16:1 ) has to administer his master’s goods. Comp as regards this idea, 1Co 9:17 ; 1Ti 1:4 ; Tit 1:7 ; 1Pe 4:10 . There is no reference whatever here to the sacraments , which Olshausen and Osiander again desire to include. See 1Co 1:17 . The whole notion of a sacrament , as such, was generalized at a later date from the actions to which men restricted it, sometimes in a wider, sometimes in a narrower sense.
Observe, moreover: between the Father , the Master of the house, and the there stands the Son , and He has from the Father the power of disposal (comp on Joh 8:35 f.; 1Co 15:25 ff.), so that the are His servants . Paul uses only in this passage; but there is no ground for importing any special design into the word (such as that it is humbler than ). Comp on Eph 3:7 .
[595] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[596] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
1Co 4:1-5 . The right point of view from which to regard Christian teachers (1Co 4:1-2 ); Paul, nevertheless, for his own part, does not give heed to human judgment, nay, he does not even judge himself, but his judge is Christ (1Co 4:3-4 ). Therefore his readers should give up their passing of judgments till the decision of the Parousia (1Co 4:5 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
1Co 1:10 to 1Co 4:21 . First section of the Epistle: respecting the parties, with a defence of the apostle’s way of teaching .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
VII.THE TRUE STANDARD FOR ESTIMATING MINISTERS. THEIR WORTH TO BE MADE KNOWN IN DUE TIME. OUR JUDGMENT TO BE SUSPENDED TILL THEN
1Co 4:1-5
1Let a man so [So let a man] account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards 2of the mysteries of God. Moreover [Here Deuteronomy 1] it is required2 in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of [by] you, or of [by] mans judgment [lit. day]: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4For I know nothing by [against] myself; yet am I not hereby [not by this am I] justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man [each one] have [from ] praise of [his ] God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Co 4:1. [Having thus exhibited the regal title of Christians to all things, to the benefits to be derived from all Christian ministers, and from all objects and events in this world, he now turns to present, as a corollary from this, the view which they ought to take of ministers, and the manner in which they are to treat them; and thus, as it were, to remind them of certain limitations in the prerogatives of those whom they were disposed unduly to honor].So let a man account of us., so. This does not serve to connect the following with what precedes, as Meyer (3d Ed., but not 2d Ed.) supposes, rendering it: so then, or, accordingly. No such connection is here implied.3 Rather Paul here intends to hold up the proper mode of estimating teachers in contrast with that boasting in them reprobated in 1Co 3:21; and the so here refers to what follows.So as servants of Christ.not as leaders taking His place.4 , us, primarily or chiefly, Paul and Apollos, as 1Co 4:6; 1Co 3:4, show. , to bring to account, to reckon, to estimate, as in Rom 8:36 (). It implies the formation of a sound, well-weighed estimate, as contrasted with the partisan judgments which the Corinthians formed respecting their teachers. Osiander. =not, every man, but, man generally, according to the Hellenic and Hebrew usage. as , 1Co 3:5. The word properly denotes a servant of subordinate rank, an understrapper. In patristic parlance it was used of sub-deacons. The New Testament employs it for helpers and attendants. Luk 4:20; Act 13:5. The verb from which it comes, occurs in Act 26:16, to signify Davids working for the fulfilment of Gods purposes. In the text the word carries the idea of one laboring for the cause of Christ. To adopt its fundamental meaning, that of a rower [as Valck.: Christ is Pilot of the vessel of the Church, we are rowers under His command. Words.], would be just as appropriate as to render it: adjutants or orderlies, according to the precedent in Xenophon. If not precisely equivalent to deacon, yet it certainly is brought in here to indicate a very subordinate position under Christ, in contrast with the leadership ascribed by the Corinthian partisans. Nevertheless the idea of honor is not excluded, since this comes from being connected with Christ, whose work is performed. The dignity of the office is, however, more prominently exhibited in the second designationand stewards of the mysteries of God . Rom 16:23; 1Pe 4:10. The article is not prefixed, because the word stands qualitively, to indicate that what has been entrusted to their charge is something very important and weighty. And by these mysteries we are not to understand the sacraments, thereby following patristic usage. [In which case Paul could hardly have been a steward, for he was sent not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel]. Rather they are the mystery of God in its manifold variety and fulness; or as Luk 8:10 : the mysteries of the kingdom of God; in other words, the revelations of God, as matters which could be known only by Divine communication. [Such is the meaning of the word mystery in the New Testamentnot, as in common parlance: something uncomprehensible; but: something which, being beyond the reach of mans intelligence, has been made known to him in some special Divine way]. The stewardship consists in [preserving and administering the truth revealed through] preaching and teaching,no less in properly didactic instruction than in prophecy. The steward belonged among the servants, and his business was, not to manage one particular branch of the household economy, but to take the whole in charge. He was therefore put over the rest of the servants. The stress here, however, is not to be laid upon the preminence enjoyed by the steward, but upon the responsibility accompanying the goods entrusted. Neander. To suppose that the Apostle used the term stewards, with some vague idea of provisions floating before his mind, to which he would liken the truth,as if the persons thus denominated were regarded by him in the light of family providers, would be rather far fetched, and Luk 12:42 gives no countenance for such a thought in our passage. Between the father of the household and the stewards, there stood the son, who had from the father a power of control, so that the stewards were in fact his servants likewise. Meyer.
1Co 4:2. Here, moreover.We must first consider what the true reading is here. Res. has . But this is not by any means so well supported as , which is the reading that prevails throughout the codices, versions, and church fathers in equal degree. If it be not the original reading, then it must have come in either by mistake, or by intentional correction, since the phrase nowhere else occurs. But neither case is probable, considering the numerous, and at least partially independent authorities which attest it. The Rec. text, apart from its unusualness, is evidently the easier reading, [and therefore may be the more readily accounted for as an intended emendation]. It would be rendered, but finally; lit. as for what remains: i. e. after setting aside all your unsuitable claims. But , which occurs nowhere else in Paul, save in Col 4:9, though very common in other parts of the New Testament, means, here; i. e., in this connection, or in this matter, where we are treating of the administration of the mysteries of God, comp. Rev 13:10; Rev 13:18; Rev 14:12; Rev 17:9. [Alf. translates it locally: here, on this earth, It is, he says, emphatic, and points to what follows, that though in the case of stewards inquiry was necessarily made here below, yet he, Gods steward, awaited no such inquiry, : by mans judgment, but one at the coming of the Lord. Stanley follows Lachmann in connecting with the previous words, stewards of the mysteries of God here, and makes it mean, in this matter (as in the references above given). Wordsworth adheres to the Rec. He considers as harsh, and accounts for it as arising from the confusion of and , than which, he says, nothing is more common in the best Mss. Hodge, on the contrary, says it yields good sense]. might serve for making the transition, like ceterum, moreover, and belong primarily to . Or it may be joined to is required, (which is favored by the order of the words), and so as to imply, that with this consideration the whole matter is wound up; or to express something further in relation to that mentioned in ver.1, which was specially worthy of consideration.it is required that. has a telic sense, and shows that the purport of the requirement is at the same time its purpose. The investigations in regard to such persons, aims at this, that one be found faithful.This is why great trusts are reposed in a person, that he might conduct himself in the management of them according to the mind and will of God, who has committed them to Him, for the glory of His name and the welfare of His Church, and not for the legatees own benefit (comp. Luk 12:42). , be found by the result as shown at the time of trial Osiander. , according to Meyer, every one [Faithful, emphatic. The great requisite for the office of a steward is fidelity. As a servant he must be faithful to his master. As a disciple, he must be faithful to those under his oversight. He must not neglect to dispense to them their food, nor adulterate it, nor substitute any thing in place of that given to be distributed. So in regard to ministers. Hodge].
1Co 4:3. Having stated the point of view from which alone a proper judgment could be formed in regard to him and his associates, Paul next proceeds to state his own feelings as to the judgment that might be formed of him by men. [Alford adds, in contrast to the case of the stewards, into whose faithfulness enquiry is made here on earth.] Very naturally the Corinthians would think that a good deal of weight attached to their judgment.But [ indicates a transition to the application of what was said in general to his own particular case] for me it amounts to the very least thing. . The here, according to Greek usage, shows the result to which the thing comesthat I be judged by you. . The objective clause in telic form. It certainly is not equivalent to : when I am judged; nor perhaps precisely the same as , to be judged. [Here and always is more or less the conj. of purpose. Alford5]. A weakness of its force in the later Greek is not to be denied; but here the idea of intention or tendency lies in this, that something is about to happen or impends: I am not at all disturbed that I shall be judged by you as to my merits. [Stanley, on the other hand, says that the substitution of with the subjunctive for the indicative is in the modern Romaic, and seems to take it so here]or by mans judgmentlit.: by human day. Thisis neither to be taken as a Cilicism nor as a Hebraism. It designates a day of judgment, analogously with the phrase dicem dicere, and here comes in correspondingly with the expression: day of the Lord. We are not to understand by it a private decision (by you) in contrast with a public one. But it is a generalization of the phrase: by you, and by an obvious transition, the day of the act is put for the act itself, and the judgment as a whole for the judges themselves; or as Meyer: the day is personified, and hence is used in accordance with , by you. There is something of solemnity in this phraseology; nor is it without a slight touch of irony or rebuke at their presumption in being supposed to fix upon a day of trial, and to sit upon a judgment-seat in order to pronounce upon Pauls merits or demerits. All appearance of haughtiness in this disparagement of others opinions is removed by what follows.Yea, I judge not of mine own self. Lit.: But neither do I judge myself. The here is like that in 1Co 3:2. Before we would naturally look for an . But this is not necessary. The judgment on himself, which he here disavows, is a final decision as to his own merits, such as he is willing to abide by. [Paul is here speaking not of the actions of men whether good or bad, but of the eminence of each individual, which ought not to be estimated by mens humors. Calvin].
1Co 4:4. Instead of the expected antithesis, there follows first a confirmation of what precedes, in the way of a parenthesis.For I know nothing with myself.This first clause is concessive, [the force of for, as Winer says, falling upon the subsequent clause]: q. d. For although I know, etc. So also Meyer, [who says, however, that the force of the proof does not lie in the second clause, so that the first would be only concessive, but in the antithetic relation of both clauses. He yet gives the sense thus]: The clearness of my conscience as to my official duties is nevertheless (doch) not the ground on which my justification rests. [The phraseology here is peculiar, but thoroughly idiomatic, both in the Greek ( ) and in our E. V., which almost literally translates it:I know nothing by myself. So also the Latinnil conscire sibi. All expressions alike mean: I am conscious of no wrong. (See Jelf, Gr. Gram., 682, 2). The English phrase is to be found in the early writers, and Stanley asserts: it is still a provincial form of speech for the same thought]. Know nothing, i.e., so far as my official conduct is concerned. [Elsewhere he speaks of himself as the chief of sinners, which is perfectly consistent with his saying, that his conscience acquitted himself of failure as a Christian minister. Hodge.]Yet not in this am I justifiedi.e., before God. It is a question, however, whether this justification is to be understood in the dogmatic sense, [of imputed righteousness], as Meyer, and Billr., and others maintain, or in the legal, ethical sense [as the early fathers, Calvin, Hodge, Alford, and others assert]. If the former, then the meaning is: that since his justification did not depend on the verdict of his own conscience but upon Christ, therefore his conscience could not furnish the ground on which he was to judge himself. If the latter, then the sense would be: that his acquittal of all blame does not rest on the fact that his conscience charged him with no official derelictions; since conscience pronounced only in regard to particular actions and not to the whole moral character as it appears in Gods sight, so that of course a clean conscience could afford no certain basis of estimating the real worth of any person. Of these interpretations the latter is to be preferred, since there is no allusion in the context to the Gospel doctrine of justification by faith.but he that judgeth me.[Observe, not: that justifieth me, which language would have been the term employed, had Paul here had in mind the matter of his general Christian estate, but: judgeth (), i.e., holds an inquest and decides on the merits of the case which may be brought into issue.]is the Lord.i.e., Christ, [who looked deeper than conscience; and of course deeper than all outside observers], and who alone could comprehend all the data by which his official conduct was to be estimated. [This inward allegiance of the conscience is the highest form of worship. The Lord Jesus was to the Apostle the object of all those sentiments and feelings which terminate on God. And He must be so to us, or we are not Christians. What makes a man a Christian is to feel and act towards Christ as God. Hodge.].
1Co 4:5. Practical inference from the foregoing. So then (), judge nothing. . is not the object of judgment but its contents. It is equivalent to . Hence the meaning is: do not judge any judgment. The logic may be presented thus: Since my judgment belongs to the Lord, therefore refrain from all premature decisions respecting me. Billroth, with less simplicity, says: Since I do not even judge myself, therefore follow my example, and do not yourselves judge. He alludes here not to the mutually disparaging censures cast upon each other by the several factions (Billr.), but to the judgment of the Corinthian brotherhood upon himself.before the time,which is more fully explained in,until the Lord shall come.The time of His advent to judgmentHis appearing, or epiphany (2Ti 4:1; 2Th 1:7). The is used with the subjunctive , because an end to be reached is fixed upon from the standpoint of the present, but the reaching of which (here in respect of time), is still undecided. Or, according to Meyer: The coming is thereby designated as problematical, and dependent on circumstances; not indeed, as it is doubted; also not, as it is dependent upon subjective determination, but, as it is an object of expectant faith. [The uncertainty indicated by is not as to the fact of Christs coming, but as to the time when He shall come: q. d., until the Lord shall come, whenever that may be. (See Jelf., Gr. Gram., 846, 2.)] (Comp. Mat 16:28; Luk 13:35).That a correct judgment will then, for the first time, be possible is shown from what follows.who also.The here is neither to be taken in connection with the in following clause, as if it were et, et, both, and: nor has it a mere strengthening force, even; but it serves to single out from among the functions of the Lord, as He comes to judgment, that one with which he is here concerned: [also, inter alia, as part of the proceedings of that Day. Alford.]will bring to light., with the accusative, to enlighten, illuminate, as the sun does the world, and hence to disclose, bring to light (comp. 2Ti 1:10),the hidden things of darkness:i.e., such as belong to darkness, or which darkness vails. (In Rom 2:16, we have simply: the hidden things.) [This includes acts now unknown, and those principles of action which lie concealed in the heart where no [human] eye can reach them. This is all that the context requires. In other connections, the secret things, or the works of darkness, means wicked works, works done in the dark to avoid detection. But the Apostle is here speaking of the reason why judgment should be deferred until the coming of Christ. The reason is that He alone can bring to light the secret acts and motives of men. Hodge.]and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.Epexegetical of the former, or a specification under the general head just mentioned. One function of the Judge will be to lay open the inner determinations of the willthe motives and purposes by which men are governed, and which are withdrawn from human sight. It is on these that the decision respecting our merits and our fidelity must at last turn. All depends upon the simplicity of our temperupon such a service of the Lord as excludes all by-ends, and is upright and sincere. The thought here is this: In this life our inward character can only be inferred from our acts; at the judgment it will be directly laid open by the Lord. Neander.and then,as contrasted with the present, when so much is vailed, and when men are disposed to exercise a premature judgmentshall each one have his praise: . Literally: to each one the praise, i.e., the praise which is his due, according to its various measures and degrees, corresponding to his worth. He here speaks of praise only, since he has in view primarily Apollos and himself, and not any Judaizing opposers. Hence there is no necessity of taking as vox media, contrary to all usage, or even to regard it as an euphemism (with Theophylact). Pauls statement here, as Calvin says, arises from the assurance of a good conscience. He knew there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness (2Ti 4:8).from God.This stands emphatically at the close. By this he gives us to understand that the judgment of the Lord, which would be pronounced upon his servants, was the judgment of God himself. Thus does he appeal from those partizan judgments, which exalt one at the expense of another, to the absolute and impartial judgment of God, who will give to each one his due. On the adjudication of Christ in its relations to God see Rom 2:16; Act 10:42; Act 17:31. On the praise from God see Mat 25:21. [The command not to anticipate the judgment of the Lord is consistent with Pauls frequent recognition of the right and duty of the Church to sit in judgment on the qualifications of her own members. He is here speaking of the heart. The Church cannot judge the heart. Whether a man is sincere or insincere in his professions, whether his experience is genuine or spurious, God only can decide. The Church can only judge of what is outward. If any man profess to be holy, and yet is immoral the Church is bound to eject him, as Paul clearly teaches in the following chapter. Or if he profess to be a Christian, and yet rejects Christianity, or any of its essential doctrines, he cannot be received, Tit 3:10. But the counsels of the heart only the Searcher of hearts can judge. Hodge.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Christs ministers stewards of the mysteries of God.In this we see the high significance and solemn responsibility of the ministerial office. In a preminent sense, Christ is the servant of God. It is through His hand that the pleasure of the Lord prospers; and on Him has God poured His Spirit without measure, and to His control given all things, and on Him conferred power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. Subordinate to Him in this work are Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, acting the part, so to speak, of handworkmen (). They labor under His direction, undertaking and executing all those various offices by which the redemption and the guidance of souls are accomplished. The more completely they put themselves under Him, preferring His will and His plans to their own, seeking no glory but His, asserting His authority as the only rulethe more exalted will they appear in Gods sight, as persons who are worthy to coperate with His Servant in this, the most important of all concerns, and to become the organs of his gracious purposes.
The lofty significance of their office appears enhanced by the fact, that in this service they are made stewards of the mysteries of God. To them has been committed the wondrous plan of salvationa plan which from all eternity had been hid in God, and was concealed from the researches of the wisest in this world, and was at last revealed in Jesus Christ, and hence is well termed a mysteryeven this plan, with all the means requisite for its execution, in reconciling sinners to God, and awaking the spiritually dead, and enlightening the benighted, and originating, preserving, confirming, and perfecting the life of faith in Gods dear children. Their business it is, therefore, to employ this wealth of Divine instrumentalities for the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, and in behalf of each and all of Gods people; and to discharge this trust publicly and privately, towards all classes and conditions in society without partiality:to inquire out the ways through which God leads souls to the truth, and to construct such ways, by examining into the tendencies and characteristics and wants of individuals and communities, and by investigating their circumstances and inward conditions in life; and then to urge men to enter them:to be unwearied in beseeching men in Christs stead to become reconciled to God, warning, exhorting, rebuking, reproving, in the consciousness that God is acting in them and through them and in the exercise of something of His holy earnestness and pitying love. This, this is to act the part of a faithful steward; this is to fulfil the obligation which rests upon the office-bearers of a Christian church. In order to be thus faithful they must be instructed by the Spirit, and follow in the footsteps of Him who, as the Son of God, was faithful in all His house, and who said of Himself that He could do nothing except what He saw the Father do. But if, instead of this, they go their own ways, employ methods to their own liking, conduct themselves so that the mind and counsel of God are not to be discerned in themif they allow themselves to be carried away by carnal zeal and impatience, or yield to disgust and slothfulness, or suffer sensual gratifications, whether refined or gross, or a love of honors and authority and applause to slip in and betray them into unhallowed courses,then are they chargeable with a faithlessness which incurs a fearful accountability.
2. The Lord is Judge.This truth is, on the one hand, a source of comfort to all true servants of God, amid the various criticisms and censures passed upon them; and, on the other hand, it serves to abate the confidence of their own self-estimation. In the great day of account the Searcher of hearts will bring to light all that has been stirring within them, their longings and strivings, their secret motives and inward struggles, their inarticulate sighs as well as their uttered prayers; and in view of these things, all unknown to men, will He judge them. However others, who judge according to appearance, may find occasions for censure, or may misconstrue their doings and omissions, they can accept it all in peace and look away in calm assurance from these hasty decisions to the righteous sentence of an All-seeing Judge.Yet, with all this, there is at the same time something very subduing in the anticipation of this only valid adjudication. However unconscious of blame they may be in the discharge of their duties, still this can afford them no certain ground for hoping to be acquitted before their Lord. His all-piercing eye detects faults that are hidden from their own consciences; and in His all-illuminating light much may appear unclean which to their clouded vision seems stainless. Hence it becometh them to be modest and leave to Him the final award.Yet from him, who has been diligent in his endeavors to be faithful, the due praise will not be withheld,however much men might criticize. From the mouth of his Lord he will receive the sentence: Well done thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.But even as when on earth every tribute of honor had the effect only to humble him the more, by bringing out in contrast a sense of his own unworthiness; so, too, will he receive this approval of his gracious Chief Shepherd in utmost lowliness. The crown of glory will ever be cast at his feet.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Starke:Christs servants should perform their service, not so as to please men, but as the Lord requires. As stewards of the Gospel treasures, they have the right to open these treasures, and to close them against the wicked (Mat 16:19). The higher the Lord, the higher the servant; yet the latter is ever subordinate.Ministers are servants, not lords, of mens faith. One is our Master, even Christ. Both pastors and flock are brethren (2Co 1:24), (Hed.), 1Co 4:1.A minister must be faithful: 1, to God, in looking to Him with single eye, seeking His honor, acting according to His will and maintaining His rights; 2, to the Church, in withholding from it nothing essential to its welfare, and in declaring the whole counsel of God, so that no person shall suffer or perish through his fault or neglect; 3, to his own office in not acting the part of a lord, but of a servant who is ready to listen and labor. Fidelity in office grows out of fidelity to ones self. A true preacher preaches Christ not only with the mouth but from the heart. He speaks from experience and confirms his doctrine by his conduct, 1Co 4:2.A minister of God must be deaf, alike to the praise and the blame of men. His rule is the will of his Master, not the opinion of men. If he follows the latter he will never be faithful in his office, 1Co 4:3.It is one thing to have a good conscience before God for our consolation (1Jn 3:21) and another thing to have it for our self-justification. The one requires a sincerity and diligence such as David could claim, the other a faultless perfection such as neither David nor Paul dare arrogate (Psa 19:13; Php 3:12).Blessed state, to be conscious of no wrong, and yet not to be disposed to justify oneself, 1Co 4:4.How unlike the judgment of God and the judgment of man. The former comes at the end of probation, is impartial, comprehensive in its data; the latter is ordinarily premature, rash, and grounded only on the outward appearance.What must be the disclosures of the last day! God holds the key to the inmost thoughts of all men; and when they are all open to inspection, how fearful will then be the outcry! Take heed, O hypocrite; the Lord knows thee. Rejoice, thou sincere heart; the Lord will come and be thy witness (Job 34:21), 1Co 4:5.
Rieger:The office of the preacher springs out of Christ.As the Father sent Him, so He sends forth His ministers in order to proclaim the power which has been committed to Him in heaven and earth. This is their service and stewardship, 1Co 4:1.If distinctions are to be made among ministers, better look to their fidelity than to their gifts or reputation; and in judging of fidelity, that must often be taken into account which is least apt to strike the notice of men.
Heubner, A.:The worth of true evangelical ministers consists: 1, in the purpose of their office; a, to serve Christ and be wholly dependent on His word; and hence, b, to promote the salvation of the congregation as stewards of God, 1Co 4:1-2, In their fidelity, which is seen; a, in the actual discharge of their duties; b, in a sincerity of spirit which ever stands as in Gods sight and cares to be approved by Him alone, ver 2.3, In the humility, which; a, refuses to justify self, 1Co 4:3 ff., and, b, awaits in confidence the Divine award, 1Co 4:4-5.B. Ministers and congregations will one day together stand at the bar of God:1. They will so stand, for; a, Paul implies this; b, it is necessary to the revelation of the Divine righteousness. 2. The fact is a momentous one; a, for ministersit ought to shame them of their unfaithfulness, prompt them to walk conscientiously, and lift them above the opinions of the world; b, for the congregationit should keep them from judging before the time, and cause them to take need rather that the Word of God brings forth fruit among them; c, for boththey ought to conduct themselves as if already before the judgment seat.Man is often unconscious of the deepest motives which actuate him; hence he can give himself no assurance that he has omitted nothing due, or done nothing sinful, 1Co 4:4.So act always that thou canst at any moment have thy heart exposed, 1Co 4:5.
Gossner:As a general thing, the natural man loves to hear what people think of him. It is harder to despise praise than blame.
[Hodge:1 Col 4:1 contains two important truths: ministers have no arbitrary or discretionary authority in the Church; neither have they any supernatural power such as is attributed to them in the Romish Church. Their authority is merely ministerial, and therefore to be judged by the standard of those commands which are known to the whole Church. And, secondly, they are not, like Aristotle or Plato, the originators of their own doctrines, or the teachers of the doctrines of other men, but simply the dispensers of the truths which God has revealed.]
W. F. Besser: 1Co 4:2. It is a comfort that nothing but fidelity is required of stewards, not talents, nor inventive powers, nor manifold activity, nor success. The daintiness and fanciful taste of the vain and luxurious Corinthians, in whose sight fidelity seemed a small virtue, are no rarity in these times. But worse still is the rebellion shown by many congregations, who style themselves churches of Christ, against the fidelity of their pastors and teachers.
[G. C. A. Harless:
1Co 4:2. What is here asserted of ministers holds good also of all Christians. Compare the parable of our Lord on The talents, Mat 25:14 ff. The peculiar nature of the fidelity demanded is determined by the peculiar character of the blessing of salvation intrusted. It is not fidelity to a duty outwardly imposed, to a precept, rule, maxim or the like, but fidelity to an inwardly active vital principlepersonal fidelity to a personal fellowship with God, wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the fidelity of a new-born child of God in whom the Spirit testifies to what the word promises].
[Calvin: 1Co 4:4. Conscious of no wrong, and yet not justified. Papists abuse this passage for the purpose of shaking the assurance of faith; and truly I confess that if their doctrine were admitted, we could do nothing but tremble in wretchedness during our whole life. For what tranquillity could our minds enjoy if it were to be determined from our works whether we are well-pleasing to God. I confess, therefore, that from the main foundation of Papists there follows nothing but continual disquietude for consciences; and accordingly we teach that we must have recourse to the free promise of mercy which is offered to us in Christ, that we may be fully assured that we are accounted righteous by God].
[A. Tholuck: 1Co 4:1-5. The characteristics of a faithful steward.I. All he has he regards as belonging to his Lord. II. He is as faithful in small things as in great things. III. The source of his fidelity is his love for his Lord.Th. Chalmers:
1Co 4:3-4. The judgment of men compared with the judgment of God.I. God has a right to prefer greater claims against us, than men can. II. God has a clearer and more elevated sense of moral worth and holiness than men have].
Footnotes:
[1]1Co 4:2. is supported by a great preponderance of authorities [A. B. C. D. F. Cod. Sin.] and preferred by Lach. Meyer [Alf. Stanley], to the Rec. . See under Exegetical and Critical.
[2]1Co 4:2. is sustained mainly by the old versions, and is decidedly preferable to [which is found in A. C. D. Cod. Sin. and others.] Stanley remarks that the confusion arises from the similarity of sound in Romaic between and . The Cod. Sin. inserts before , and would be rendered, Moreover what do you here seek in stewards? That a man, etc.
[3][This is not so clear. does often have reference to what precedes. And here certainly Paul seems to be applying the principle, he had just been laying down in general, to himself and his associates in particular. The very position of so us, too, seems to require this. As they were Christs, so it was to be borne in mind that he and Apollos were also Christs, and that, too, in their official capacity. They were Christs servantsstewards of Gods mysteries, and were to be respected accordingly. , so, therefore points back to what has been said, and also forwards to , as, which resumes and makes the implication more definite].
[4][But in thus putting the emphasis on their official capacity, rather than on the fact of their belonging to Christ, the way does not seem to be prepared for what follows. There may, indeed, be an implication here of a subordinate position, which contradicted their partisan estimates; but this evidently retires before the rising thought just about to find expression].
[5]But Jelf in Gr. Gram. 803, obs. 1, shows in full argument the gradual modification of meaning until it cornea to have the force only of the accusatival infinitive. And this, he says, is frequent in the New Testament: There seems to be a great effort among some critics to avoid the admission of this, and to show the telic force of in every instance].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1951
MINISTERS, THE LORDS STEWARDS
1Co 4:1-2. Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
THE apostolic Churches were not so blameless as we are apt to imagine. Many evils obtained among them; and not in a few insulated individuals only, but in the great mass of the people. The Church at Corinth was peculiarly faulty: many and great evils obtained among them: dissension and division in particular, were fomented among them: and the very diversity of gifts which were exercised among them, instead of being an occasion of more exalted piety, was made a source of discord. The people had their favourite preachers, under whom they ranged themselves as partisans and followers; one being of Paul, another of Apollos, another of Cephas; and another of Christ, as having heard and enjoyed his personal ministrations. To allay this spirit, St. Paul teaches them what account to make of all their teachers, and what to look for at their hands: not flattery, as heads of parties; but fidelity, as stewards of their great Lord and Master.
Let us here see,
I.
In what light people are to view their ministers
Ministers come not in their own name, but as ordained of God for the benefit of the Church. They are to be viewed,
1.
As ministers of Christ
[They are sent by Christ. They come not of themselves, but as commissioned by him. It is his message which they bring; his will that they perform. By them it is that he speaks to men, As earthly kings are represented by their ambassadors, and speak by them in foreign courts, so the Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks by his ministers: they stand in his stead: they speak in his name: their word is not their own, but his; and must be received, not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God.]
2.
As stewards of the mysteries of God
[They are not merely servants or ministers, but servants of a peculiar class. The whole Church is one great family; and they are appointed as stewards, to give to every one his portion in due season. To them the mysteries of God are more especially committed, that they may dispense them to all, according to their respective necessities; giving milk to babes, and strong meat to those who are of full age. The whole of Gods revelation is full of mysteries, which, in due season, they are to unfold: but that which they are chiefly to make known, is the stupendous mystery of redemption. They are to shew, as occasion may require, the need there was of redemption; the means by which it is wrought, even by the incarnation and death of Gods only dear Son; and the way in which it is applied to men, by the mighty operation of the Spirit of God upon the soul It is not necessary that they should be always insisting on one particular topic: the subject comprehends an immense range; and every part of it must be brought forward in its turn: but the one great mystery must be always kept in view; and the dispensing of it must ever be considered as the appropriate office of the ministers of Christ ]
This being their true character and designation, it will easily appear,
II.
In what way ministers are to conduct themselves towards their people
A steward in an household must be faithful to his charge: and so must a minister be in the Church of God: he must be faithful,
1.
To his Master
[He is to receive instructions daily from his Master, and to carry them into effect to the utmost of his power. He must never be doing his own will, or following his own way: he must in no respect seek his own things, but invariably the things of Jesus Christ. He must so act, as if the eye of his Master were immediately upon him; and so that he may be able to give a good account of his stewardship, whensoever he shall be called into his Masters presence He must never be swayed by any thing but his Masters will: there must be no vacillation in his conduct, as arising from carnal hopes or fears; nor any negligence, as arising from sloth. What his Master has appointed, he must do: and whatever his hand findeth to do, he must do it with all his might.]
2.
To his fellow-servants
[He must make a due inquiry into their state and circumstances, in order that he may know what to apportion to each, in a way either of work or sustenance. Having his eye on all, he must deal out to them severally that measure of approbation or displeasure, which may be a sure criterion and earnest of the award which will be assigned them at the coming of their Lord. He is never to aim at pleasing them, except for their good to edification: I say, he must speak and act, at all times, not as pleasing men, but God, that trieth the hearts. He must indeed speak the truth in love; but the truth he must speak at all times, commending himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God. He must never prophesy smooth things; but reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine; doing nothing by partiality, and never preferring one before another. The express command of God to him is, He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat [Note: Jer 23:28.]? The word which he is entrusted to dispense must be in his mouth as a fire, and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces [Note: Jer 23:29.]. He must consider his own soul as at stake: and must so declare the whole counsel of God, as to be pure from the blood of all men, and, at all events, to deliver his own soul; that, if any have perished under his ministry, he may himself at least be approved of his God.]
Address
1.
Be thankful for the privileges which you enjoy
[You have, I hope I may say, a faithful ministry. But you need to be cautioned against the error which obtained in the Corinthian Church. You know, that wherever there are more ministers than one, there is apt to arise an undue partiality for one above another: and this sometimes verges on an idolatrous attachment on the one part, and a contemptuous indifference on the other. But the Apostle tells us, that this is a very reprehensible carnality. For, granting that you find one more profitable to your soul than another, what is any man, but a minister by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? Look through men to God. All of them are earthen vessels, and the treasure they dispense is Gods: if you look to man, God will withhold his blessing from you: but if you look simply to him, he will, by one as well as by another of his faithful servants, comfort and enrich your souls.]
2.
Be faithful, on your part, in making a due improvement of them
[If faithfulness be required on our part, so is it also on yours. You must come to the ordinances with a real disposition and desire to hear what the Lord God will say concerning you. You must have your minds open to conviction, and receive with meekness every word you hear, that it may be an engrafted word, effectual to save your souls. You must not be offended with the faithfulness of your minister; but consider Almighty God himself as speaking to you by him. Then may you expect from God those blessings which your souls need, and a happy meeting with your ministers in the realms of bliss.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
A further Account respecting Ministers. The humbling View Paul gives of himself, and his few faithful companions.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. (2) Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (3) But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. (4) For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. (5) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
The Apostle opens this Chapter, with a very modest account of himself, and his fellow laborers in the ministry, desiring the Church to consider them in their proper character, as literally no more than ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God; though Paul himself was an Apostle, and eminently called to be an Apostle, and might have just taken to himself the honor of that exalted station. But he declined the whole. He rather kept in view the awful responsibility of the trust, than prided himself upon the dignity of the office. And he desired, that everyone would consider him, and his companions in the ministry, with whom he put himself upon a level, in no higher light. How exceedingly to be wished were it, that in every succeeding age of the Church, men who profess the ministry, had taken the Apostle for an example. For what is a minister but a servant? according to our Lord’s own statement of the character, Mat 20:26-27 . And what is a steward, but one whose chief office it is, to make provision for the food of the family, and to give the household their portion in due season, Luk 12:42-43 . And the importance of considering things in this light, is very evident, when it be recollected, that the Lord of the household, when he finally comes to reckon, will take account of his servants, not for the dignity of their office, but for their usefulness in his employment; not for rank, but labor, not according to their station among men, but for their labors in the house of God. And, what a tremendous account will those have to give, who have thrust themselves into his service, uncalled, unauthorized, by Him; and when there, have neglected his service, and lorded it over God’s heritage, and taken the oversight for filthy lucre? The Lord Jesus hath already read the sentence of all such, in that solemn Scripture. The Lord of that servant will come in the day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers, Luk 12:46 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Secrets Made Known
1Co 4:1
The point for us is, ‘What does the word “mystery” mean in the New Testament?’ Mystery in the New Testament means one thing only, and that is something which has been kept secret for centuries, but has at last been revealed. And I am going to speak to you about five secrets five mysteries if you like five things which have been kept secret since the foundation of the world, but which have at last been told us.
Now what are those five secrets?
I. What was there Behind that which we can See? It is a question which men have been trying to answer for thousands of years. What is behind it all? The answer has now been revealed, and it is astonishing to me the apathetic way in which thousands of men today regard this secret. The answer that has been given is that behind this puzzling universe of ours there is a living Person. He watches you with as much attention as if there were not another living person in the world. And when you pray, it is not as if you have one-forty-millionth part of God’s attention, but you have His whole attention, because He is the living Person Who watches over all the world. It is a mystery of light, not a mystery of darkness.
II. What is it all Tending to? What is the Object of Life? It has been divulged to us that the stream of life the main stream is a stream of love. With all its suffering, the happiness of human life outweighs the misery by ninety-nine to one. And therefore the Gospel that we have to preach is that you, and I, and all men move under a canopy of love.
III. Can Sin be Forgiven? What we have to preach today is that sin can be forgiven. Hut can those be forgiven who lead the innocent astray? Not while they are impenitent. If they are penitent they will be forgiven. To those who believe in the crucifixion of our Lord, and still go on sinning and leading others to sin, I say that you are trampling the Son of God under foot and putting him to an open shame.
IV. How is the Pardoned Felon to become a Holy Saint, to be Ready for Heaven? How is it that we find girls like pure lilies-of-the-valley in London living in houses which one would think can only produce the garbage of the streets, and boys standing firm under temptations to which some of the older men might succumb? The answer is, By the wonderful and extraordinary mystery of grace.
V. What is the Relation of God to this World? God is using the outward world as a veil through which to teach and bless His children. Every sunrise is a sacrament of love and every sunset a sacrament of peace.
Apostolic Succession
1Co 4:1
Apostolic succession, in the general usage of the phrase, stands for the theory of the origin of the episcopal ministry, which was developed in the conflicts with the heretics of the second and third centuries, which was formulated by the organising genius of St. Cyprian, and commended to the acceptance of the Church by his lofty character and masterful personality, and which was finally established in Christian thought and practice by the still greater authority of St. Augustine. Apostolic succession, as the title-deeds of an exclusive hierarchy, is a fiction, but as a doctrine of the Christian ministry, as such, it is profoundly true. And here we may distinguish three characteristics of the ministry, which attach to it by virtue of the fact that it perpetuates within the Christian society the ministry of the Apostles.
I. The Divine Commission. We are warned away from low views of the ministerial vocation. We are reminded that the Christian ministry is no afterthought, no creature of policy, no temporary feature of the historic society, but, in and through all varieties of organisation, a Divinely ordained, Divinely commissioned, perpetually obligatory means of grace. It is no fiction, but blessed and momentous verity, that the Christian ministry stands in the succession of those Apostles to whom Christ’s ordaining word was spoken: ‘As the Father sent Me, even so send I you’.
II. The Sacerdotal Usurpation. The Christian ministry, standing in the succession of the Apostles, has the same essential character. It is not, in the usual sense of the phrase, a sacerdotal ministry, and the most unfortunate results necessarily followed from the early and natural transference of Mosaic nomenclature to Christian ministers. Almost from the first the language implied and strengthened an utterly unchristian way of regarding the ministry. The conception of a ministry, succeeding to the sacrificial functions, and perpetuating the sacerdotal character of the Jewish priesthood, is obviously and utterly opposed to the apostolic conception.
III. The Pastoral Ministry. Necessarily, in the wake of faithful preaching, follows the situation out of which the pastoral character of the Apostolic ministry arises. I need not remind you that in both its great branches, moral discipline and the administration of the sacraments, this pastoral ministry draws its authority from the Gospel. As a pastor, emphatically, the Christian minister answers to St. Paul’s description. He is a ‘minister of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God’.
H. Hensley Henson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 401.
References. IV. 1. F. St. John Corbett, The Preacher’s Year, p. 7. E. A. Stuart, His Dear Son and other Sermons, vol. v. p. 41. H. H. Henson, Godly Union and Concord, p. 239. IV. 1, 2. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 275.
Faithfulness and Fear ( For Advent )
1Co 4:1
I. Faithfulness to God. The warning, ‘It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful,’ refers to all Christians. And the duty of faithfulness demands of all:
(a) That we do not despise the gifts with which God has entrusted to us. These gifts are called ‘mysteries’. The treasures of Divine truth and love are not indeed secrets mysteries, in the sense that they remain completely hidden from us, or that they are only intended for a select circle. Still, every heavenly blessing is so far a secret that it is hidden to the natural man. Humanity with all its wisdom could not discover it. And it remains a mystery even now to the unspiritual. ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of God.’ It is when the heart feels its own natural weakness and poverty that these gifts are not despised, but greatly valued.
(b) That we preserve these gifts pure and unadulterated. Unbelief despises, superstition adulterates, the truth. The sacraments, the way of salvation, and many other truths of Scripture, have been obscured by errors. In the opposite direction, the superstition of the understanding has reduced our Lord Jesus to a Jewish Rabbi, and denied the Atonement.
(c) That we diligently employ these gifts in the spirit of the Lord. The Church must not be like the unprofitable servant who hid his Lord’s talent in the earth. The Church of England, by its regular reading of God’s Word, is a faithful steward of the mysteries of Christ.
II. Among other Qualities Necessary in a Steward, the fear of God occupies a large place. This is implied by the words: ‘But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment…. He that judgeth me is the Lord.’ In this is included:
(a) Fearlessness of man’s judgment of himself. Many people boast, ‘What do I care for men’s opinion?’ Such a boast is not often grounded in the fear of God, but in pride and self-will, or lightness of mind, or in a defiant spirit. St. Paul’s freedom from that ‘fear of man which brings a snare’ was grounded on this: ‘He that judgeth me is the Lord’. When we avoid all that, in the light of His Word, is displeasing to Him, we have a sure ground for disregarding the mere opinion of our fellows.
(b) Mistrust of his own judgment of himself. ‘Yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself.’ It is only Godless self-exaltation which says, ‘I do not care for the judgment of others, I rely on my own’. St. Paul, on the other hand, has learnt how precarious his own judgment of himself really was. By it he was formerly led into the most dangerous courses. He who thinks more of God’s judgment than either of his own or other men’s will be likely to be led into right actions, and a right use of God’s gifts, and will hesitate to pronounce judgment on others. He will leave such judgment to the Judge of all, the great trier of hearts. ‘Therefore judge nothing before the time.’ He will wait for the judgment and approbation of the Lord, ‘Who will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.’
The great day comes when He comes.
References. IV. 2. W. R. Inge, All Saints’ Sermons, 1906-7, p. 134. IV. 3. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. i. p. 190.
The Three Tribunals
1Co 4:3-4
The Church at Corinth was honeycombed by the characteristic Greek vice of party spirit. The three great teachers, Paul, Peter, Apollos, were pitted against each other, and each was unduly exalted by those who swore by him, and unduly depreciated by the other two factions. So Paul, in the immediate context, associating Peter and Apollos with himself, bids the Corinthians think of ‘ us’ as being servants of Christ, and not therefore responsible to men; and as stewards of the mysteries of God, that is, dispensers of truths long hidden but now revealed, and as therefore accountable for correct accounts and faithful dispensation only to the Lord of the household.
Here we have three tribunals, that of men’s estimates, that of our own consciences, that of Jesus Christ So let us look briefly at these three tribunals.
I. First, the lowest men’s judgment. Such a character as Paul’s could not but be quick to feel the surrounding atmosphere, whether it was of love or of suspicion. So, he had to harden himself against what naturally had a great effect upon him, the estimate which he felt that people round him were making of him. I need not say a word about the power which that terrible court which is always sitting, and which passes judgment upon every one of us, though we do not always hear the sentences read, has upon us all. There is a power which it is meant to have. It is not good for a man to stand constantly in the attitude of defying whatever anybody else chooses to say or to think about him. But the danger to which we are all exposed, far more than that other extreme, is of deferring too completely and slavishly to, and being far too subtly influenced in all that we do by, the thought of what A, B, or C may have to say or to think about it. ‘The last infirmity of noble minds,’ says Milton about the love of fame. It is an infirmity to love it, and long for it, and live by it. (1) But not only in these higher forms of seeking after reputation, but in lower forms, this trembling before, and seeking to conciliate, the tribunal of what we call ‘general opinion,’ which means the voices of the half-dozen people that are beside us, and know about us, besets us all, and weakens us all in a thousand ways. (2) The direct tendency of Christian faith and principle is to dwindle into wholesome insignificance the multitudinous voice of men’s judgments. (3) Cultivate more distinctly, as a plain Christian duty, this wholesome independence of men’s judgment.
II. Note the higher court of conscience. The absolving by conscience is not infallible. I fancy that conscience is more reliable when it condemns than when it acquits. The inward judge needs to be stimulated, to be enlightened, to be corrected often.
III. Note the supreme court of final appeal. ‘He that judgeth me’ not, ‘will judge,’ but now at this very moment. (1) The estimate will dwindle the sentences of the other two tribunals into nothingness. (2) That judgment, persistent all through each of our lives, is preliminary to the future tribunal and sentence.
A. Maclaren, Triumphant Certainties, p. 152.
References. IV. 3, 4. J. T. Bramston, Fratribus, p. 156. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i. p. 155. J. G. Greenhough, The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, p. 284. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Corinthians, p. 74.
Spiritual Character
1Co 4:4
The Apostle has been talking of judgment, and he has plainly said, ‘With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself against myself, as between man and man, ‘yet am I not hereby,’ through that simple fact, ‘justified,’ or made just; the fact is we have nothing to do with judgment; ‘He that judgeth me is the Lord’. How calm he was, how almost defiant when face to face with social or hostile criticism! How heart-searching he was; how thoroughly this man grips every case that he deals with! There is no escaping his iron handling. He is the kind of man to follow when we do not quite know what to do with some things. He is so courtly, so learned in the deepest laws, so profoundly human. Yet there is about him such mystery and gladness of unexplained divinity.
I. We are not to judge ourselves as others see us, but as we really, interiorly, spiritually are. Who then can stand? None. That is the whole mystery; if men would believe that one little sentence we should see new heavens and a new earth, if they acted upon the vision, and were obedient to the heavenly revelation. We see one another externally; we think we are nice men. Oh the lie! It is because we fail just there that we need no cross. As to our own self-gratulation, boasting, and vain pride, we do everything conventionally well; we pay our debts, we exchange social courtesies, and we conduct ourselves generally so that our neighbours say about us we are nice, agreeable, respectable people. Oh if they knew, really knew!
We make ourselves coats and clothing of fig leaves, and we hide up all that is foul or unlovely in our sight and in the sight of other men. But no man can destroy his own sin. If any one could be persuaded to believe that not merely to nod assent to that, but to believe it there would go up out of this nation such a cry for the Gospel as would make a new nation of it. Concealment of sin is not destruction of sin; momentary forgetfulness of sin does not quench one cinder in hell. It is sin, sinful sin, the abominable thing which God hates, and which can only be really cleansed out of the soul by the hot heart-blood of the Priest of the universe.
II. So we are face to face with the great doctrine of spiritual character; what we are in motive, in purpose, in our heart of hearts, that is the question. O thou who dost boast of thy good reputation amongst neighbours, and empty thy pockets of testimonials to prove how respectable a man thou art, that is not the question. It is, What are we in the sight of white light, what are we in the sanctuary? Who can stand? None. What then? Penitence, self-renunciation, an earnest, piercing cry to the heavens for mercy, a clinging round the Cross. We are cursed by being satisfied with mere respectability. Respectability now takes the place of spiritual criticism. We do not refer to God, we refer to man. If a man with a thousand a year can testify that I am a respectable person, I care for nothing else; you know my referee, this is what he says about me. And socially, conventionally, that is true; spiritually and interiorly it is a lie; take it back, burn it.
III. Then we come face to face with the great doctrine of regeneration. Marvel not that I say unto you, Ye must be born again; except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He must be born again without explanation, though he is a very intelligent creature. God is continually snubbing intelligence; God is often ordering mere knowledge off the doorstep of His palace. He does not want knowledge, intelligence, criticism, or anything of that kind, separately, independently, and by itself, so to say, but He wants the outgoing desire of the heart, the longing of the soul, the cry in the dark, Oh that I knew where I might find Him! The Gospel has a great broad, clear, trumpet-like answer to that inquiry. We see Jesus crucified, and we see Jesus crowned. That is God’s answer. Then let us cease comparison with others and let us make every day a day of judgment upon ourselves.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. IV. p. 155.
1Co 4:4
In the eighth chapter of her Life of Charlotte Bronte, Mrs. Gaskell quotes a friend who says that, ‘One time I mentioned that some one had asked me what religion I was of (with the view of getting me for a partisan) and that I had said that that was between God and me; Emily (who was lying on the hearthrug) exclaimed, “That’s right”. This was all I ever heard Emily say on religious subjects.’
Reference. IV. 4, 5. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. ii. p. 177.
The Intermediate Goal
1Co 4:5
I. We may be certain that the thought of the coming of the Lord is meant to act as an incentive. When we feel tired and care-laden, when the way is steep and the lesson harder than usual, what a difference it might make to remind ourselves that it will not go on so for ever. After all, it is only ‘until the Lord come’.
II. The thought of our Lord’s coming will not only rouse and strengthen us to do things; it will also keep us from doing things, unnecessary things, and from one thing more especially. Let us listen to the Apostle as he describes it. Having spoken of the duty of faithfulness in the discharge of appointed duty, St. Paul goes on to say: ‘But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.’ You see what he means. The thought of the Lord’s coming is to serve not only as an incentive to action, it is to be also a restraint upon criticism.
A. W. Robinson, Church Family Newspaper, vol. XIV. p. 1000.
Judgment
1Co 4:5
The rashness of hearers in pronouncing judgment upon ministers is no novelty. Such of the Corinthians as elected to prefer the teaching of Apollos or of Cephas to that of Paul, appear to have proceeded to charge the Apostle with having imperfectly instructed them in the Gospel. He does not submit to their tribunal; nor will he even trust to his own judgment. His appeal is to an infinitely higher Court. He announces
I. That the Coming Lord will sit in Judgment.
(1) His ‘day of judgment’ will extend over a long period. (a) The term ‘day’ in Scripture is often used to express a considerable period. (b) The period of the judgment is not in the text expressly called a ‘day,’ but it is so described by implication. For it is here opposed to ‘man’s day’ in the context (see v. 3, marg.). (c) In this view ‘The Lord’s day’ will be opposed to a period of 6,000 years. It cannot, there fore, be limited to four-and-twenty hours, or to any inconsiderable period. It must extend through many ages.
(2) His day of judgment will be a day of ruling.
(a) Such is ‘man’s day’ viz., of judgment, to which it is opposed. This is the period in which man’s opinions are current, his principles of action sanctioned, and his standards of truth, of morals and religion, admitted and approved. (6) Judgment in Scripture is not used exclusively, or even chiefly, in the forensic sense, but is another term for ruling. (c) Hence Christ comes to judgment in His quality as King (see Psa 2:6 ; Psa 2:9 ; Psa 72:1-2 ; St. Mat 25:34-40 ). So the coming to judge and the coming to reign are the same thing (see Isa 32:1 ; Jer 23:5 ; 2Ti 4:1 ). There are not three personal advents of Christ.
(3) The reign will close with a great assize. (a) It will commence with military judgments. As God went forth in His Shechinah at the head of the armies of Israel, so in the latter days will He fight against the anti-Christian confederacy (see Joe 3:9-17 ; Hag 2:6 ; Zec 14:1-2 ; Zec 14:9 ; Rev 19:11-21 ).
(b) These military judgments will introduce the reign of Christ. It will extend through the millennium. It will be distinguished by justice and truth. (c) At the close of this great period will be the great assize (Rev 20:11-15 ).
II. That Every Man then shall have Perfect Justice.
(1) Such a judgment is a necessity in equity. (a) The maxims of man’s day will need to be reviewed. (b) The judgments of man’s day will have to be reviewed. The fearful aggregate of wrongs perpetrated and suffered in the whole history of man’s day will be adjusted in judgment. (c) The best human judgments are imperfect. Motives are misread by upright but fallible judges.
(2) In it shall every man have his meed of praise. (a) To this end all must appear before the Judge. (b) The Judge is competent to the task. He can ‘bring to light the hidden things of darkness’. (c) The ‘sons of God’ will have the greater praise. The day of judgment will be the day of their ‘manifestation,’ or ‘revealing’ (Rom 8:19 ; 1Jn 3:2 ). Their grandeur will then come out to the day. (d) The ‘servants of God’ also will have His praise. (e) Even the pronouncedly wicked the downright servants of the devil will have any praise they can justly claim. But in reference to these it is to be feared praise is used euphemistically; the contrary of praise being implied (cf. 1Sa 26:23 ). (f) The praise of God will be a true reward. If He says ‘Well done,’ the whole universe will re-echo the Approbation. When He says, ‘Well done,’ it is the prelude to substantial and permanent promotion. The moral is that we should strive to merit this applause. The way is through the merits of Christ.
1Co 4:5
Is there record kept anywhere of fancies conceived, beautiful, unborn? Some day will they assume form in some undeveloped light? If our bad unspoken thoughts are registered against us, and are written in the awful account, will not the good thoughts unspoken, the love and tenderness, the pity, beauty, charity, which pass through the breast, and cause the heart to throb with silent good, find a remembrance too?
Thackeray, in The Last Sketch.
1Co 4:5
But if I plan a little sin,
So small no eye can enter in?
Thou fool! if thine own soul can see,
What need for God to look at thee?
Evelyn Phinney.
References. IV. 5. T. F. Crosse, Sermons, p. 74. Bishop Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 67. R. W. Church, Village Sermons, p. 8. F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons in Outline, p. 217. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Notes of Sermons for the Year, pt. i. p. 13. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ii. p. 390. IV. 6. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 406. IV. 6-13. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. i. p. 204.
The Grace of Receptivity
1Co 4:7
‘Receptiveness,’ George Eliot says, ‘is a noble and massive virtue.’
I. There are two tendencies which are characteristic of the present time, and which make it hard to write our text upon our banner. (1) First, then, this is an inventive age. In every one of us, perhaps quite unconsciously, there is a touch of the inventor’s and the discoverer’s temper. That is to say, we are bred in the idea that all that is best and highest and most noble has to be won by human search and seeking. Does that then make us arrogant? Not so. But it makes it hard to remember that the things which count are after all not wages but are gifts. (2) Then this is a critical age. All of us, more or less, are touched with the critical spirit of the day, and the critical spirit even at its noblest is very far away from receptivity. When we are accustomed to get at truth by fine dissection, it is not easy to regard it as a gift.
II. Let us apply the text in different ways, and (1) let us think of the world of nature. We invent the telegraph, we do not invent the spring. We discover the power of steam, but not the dawn. These things find us, they are given freely; and I believe that the keenest intellect will fail to grasp the true value of this great creation, unless there come seasons when it can be let alone, and practice the great grace of receptivity. (2) Think again of our capacities and faculties. The possibility of all we do lies not in what we do but in what we get. Our gifts are the only basis of our gain. (3) What is heredity that strange and awful fact but the expansion by science of this inspired word? What motto for the text-books of heredity could match this motto, ‘What have ye that ye did not receive?’ Whence comes the bent and bias of my nature? The basis of all my strength and all my weakness, of all I battle with, of all I hope to be the basis of it is the unsought-for gift of the generations who have passed and died. (4) Apply the text to the great gospel of the love of God. All love is a gift; you cannot compel or force it; it is only love when it is freely given; and if that is true of the love of man and woman it must be true of the love of God to me. The New Testament throbs and thrills with the glad thought that the Gospel is a gift. Therefore would I say to all who are longing and striving and toiling for the best: all that is best does not begin in striving; it comes as a gift from God and must be taken.
G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p. 57.
1Co 4:7
When John Knox was dying, Doctor Preston demanded how he did. He replied: ‘I have been tempted by Satan. When he saw that he could not prevail, he tempted me to have trusted in myself, or to have rejoiced or boasted of myself. But I repulsed him with this sentence, ‘ Quid habes quod non accepisti? ‘ (‘What hast thou which thou hast not received’).
References. IV. 7. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. i. p. 221. H. P. Liddon, University Sermons (2nd Series), p. 18. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1271, and vol. xxiv. No. 1392.
1Co 4:8
Though there is no recorded instance of our Lord’s making use of any of the weapons of wit, nor is it conceivable that He ever did so, a severe taunting irony is sanctioned by the example of the Hebrew prophets, as in Isaiah’s sublime invective against idolatry, and in Elijah’s controversy with the priests of Baal, and by that of St Paul especially in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Surely, too, we may say with Milton, in his Animadversions on the Remonstrant, that ‘this vein of laughing hath oftimes a strong and sinewy force in teaching and confuting’.
Julius Hare, in Guesses at Truth (1st Series).
References. IV. 8. H. Bonar, Short Sermons for Family Reading, p. 448. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p. 94. IV. 9. Ibid. vol. viii. p. 74. IV. 9-14. J. R. Legge, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii. p. 68.
1Co 4:10 f
Compare Cowper’s famous lines on Whitefield ( Hope, 574 f.):
He loved the world that hated him: the tear
That dropped upon his Bible was sincere;
Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife,
His only answer was a blameless life;
And he that forged, and he that threw the dart,
Had each a brother’s interest in his heart.
Paul’s love of Christ, and steadiness unbribed,
Were copied close in him, and well transcribed.
He followed Paul; his zeal a kindred flame,
His apostolic charity the same.
Like him, crossed cheerfully, tempestuous seas,
Forsaking country, kindred, friends, and ease;
Like him he laboured, and like him content
To bear it, suffered shame where’er he went.
1Co 4:19
The tongue of a man is very seldom sober.
Maxim Gorky.
References. IV. 10. David Brook, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. v. p. 33. IV. 11-13. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ix. p. 231. IV. 12. Ibid. vol. x. p. 99; ibid. vol. xi. p. 293. IV. 16. E. M. Geldart, Echoes of Truth, p. 247. IV. 17. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ii. p. 259. IV. 18. Ibid. vol. i. p. 204. IV. 19. J. Bolton, Selected Sermons (2nd Series), p. 251. IV. 20. Bishop Winnington-Ingram, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 234. Expositor (7th Series), vol. v. p. 71.
1Co 4:21
‘Nothing moved her more,’ says Charlotte Bronte of her sister Emily, ‘than any insinuation that the faithfulness and clemency, the longsuffering and lovingkindness which are esteemed virtues in the daughters of Eve, became foibles in the sons of Adam.’
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Paul’s Conception of the Ministry
1Co 4
The Apostle is not referring to some particular man when he uses the apparently specific term “a man”; he means, let every one, any one, all persons, take this view of the Christian ministry. It is not a view to be taken by one or two, or a specific few; it is the view that is complete and final: nothing can be added to it, no modification of it can lawfully take place. The ministry of Christ is a stewardship, “as of the ministers of Christ”; not preachers only, or pastors, but servants, slaves. The word “minister” has a deeper meaning in the word which Paul used than is usually attached to it in its English form. A minister, as Paul used that term, was not a dainty person appointed to do dainty work at certain specific times; he was the daily slave, the continual and long attendant of Jesus Christ, watching him with eager expectation, receiving his message from his Master’s lips alone, and never trifling with a single word which his Master spoke. “And steward.” In a Greek household the steward was generally a slave, yet he was trusted; by his very servitude he was supposed to be doubly bound to his master. He was not only treasurer or secretary, or person entrusted with some specific responsibility; all that kind of service might, to a certain degree, be hired or bought: but the man himself belonged to the household, was part and parcel of the very estate and inheritance; he was not a hireling introduced into the house, he was one born within its limits or incorporated within its whole representation of unity and utility. “The mysteries of God:” not the trifles of God, not the little transient, frivolous incidents or accidents of human history, but a treasurer or student of things mysterious, secret, hidden, wonderful; mysteries rooted in eternity, secret things springing from the very core of God himself; therefore not to be explained, but to be set forth, proclaimed, now uttered strongly, and now tenderly; now with an instument of thunder, and now with the voice of whispering and tears. But the mysteries were God’s, not man’s. Man has his little mysteries; man is an inventive creature. We are not called upon as ministers to add to the mysteries of God; they are sufficient in themselves, in number, in quality, in majesty: it behoves us rather to speak of them reverently, and never to speak our own words in relating the mysteries of God. Blessed is that minister, preacher, teacher, who can be content with Bible words when he comes into the deep things of God. No words of ours can so touch the glory of Divine mysteries as they are touched by Biblical treatment. That is one of the proofs of the inspiration of the Bible. Try to alter the language; set yourselves to the emendation of the Lord’s Prayer; turn into modern eloquence the twenty-third psalm: every touch would be defilement So when we come to deal with the Cross of Christ let us have no theorising and invention and philosophising and controversial display, but let us quote the Saviour himself, and quote the chiefest of his Apostles; yea, let us hold our tongues as a religious duty until we can charge and inflame our lips with the sacred eloquence of the Bible itself. The flower was not made to be plucked; to pluck a flower, as we have often reminded ourselves, is to kill it: to paraphrase the Bible is to pluck its flowers. Let the words of the Bible stand in their integrity and simplicity, and when they blind us with their glory, or appal us with a weird ghostly dignity, our business must be to close our eyes, and to fall down in an attitude of adoration, and say, God is in this place, and we knew it not. Thus the Apostle occupies a position of great dignity. There was nothing officially dainty about his voice or position or function: but the ministry itself is an ineffable dignity; to be the slave of Christ is to occupy a higher status than to be enthroned with Csar.
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” The word “found” is peculiar. A steward is not simply to be faithful, but he is, according to the term which Paul used, to be discovered to be faithful. A man’s faithfulness is to be the result of a discovery on the part of the searcher, the judge, or the critic. The master watches the steward, hardly knowing perhaps what his peculiar temperament or constitution may be; but the master keeps close watch, his scrutiny is unremitting, point is related to point, and one day’s work is compared with another, and the whole diary of the man’s action is regarded in its unity; and the result is that the man has been discovered to be faithful, found to be faithful, as the result of a prolonged, critical, unsparing scrutiny: then the printed testimonial may be burned, the testimony of friends is no longer required; the man has proved himself to be faithful. In order to such proof there must be time. Men are faithful now in points; some persons are really pious in certain aspects and on certain days. But aspects are not, persons; mere points are not the character of a man. The servant, steward, slave, must be tested, year in and year out, and he must be discovered to be faithful; and the man who holds the balance must say to the approved steward, thou art weighed, and thou art found faithful. We do not know who is faithful until certain trials have taken place; we do not know who is good until the persons examined have been vexed, threatened, deprived of dignity, until they have been affronted, insulted, dishonoured; then we shall know their quality. You do not know people when you are allowing them to have all their own way; then you think them sunny, genial, fraternal, good-natured, wonderfully well-conditioned: that is not judgment. You cannot tell what a man is until you have asked him for something, thwarted him in something, opposed him, come into mortal conflict with him; then you will know whether he is the soft, amiable, genial creature that you supposed him to be. The Apostle stood this test. He was despised, the coat was torn from his shoulders, he had no certain dwelling-place, he was subjected to every indignity; yet he was discovered to be faithful, his ministry being founded upon character, not upon gift or genius.
Now Paul proceeds to lay down a doctrine which saved him a world of trouble:
“But with me it is a very Small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” ( 1Co 4:3-4 )
That is the sanctuary in which the Apostle rested. What does human judgment amount to? It is often a mere prejudice, or it simply registers a passing emotion; there is really no substance in it, no abiding value or quality; the man who is judging may die before he has pronounced his judgment; the man who is criticising may be discovered in the very midst of his most elaborate criticism to be a felon. What does human judgment amount to? It will be all forgotten tomorrow, and the judges will be dead, and their judgment passed into oblivion.
“Yea,” Paul continues, “I judge not mine own self.” A man cannot really penetrate into his own inmost quality. “For I know nothing by myself:” not exactly against myself; the literal meaning rather is, for I know nothing concerning myself; I cannot see myself through and through; I am such a mixture of motive, I am so self-conflicting, I am a thousand men: so I will not judge myself. “Yet am I not hereby justified:” because I do not judge, therefore I must not be considered to be above judgment; I simply mean that he that judgeth me and every other man is the Lord. There is one tribunal, one day of judgment, one arbitrament, and by that all must stand for ever. Then, when the Divine judgment takes place, men will be seen as they are.
“Therefore judge nothing before the time:” especially judge nothing unkindly: there may be an explanation not yet revealed; the Lord may come and put all things that have occurred in life into a totally different light: in our judgment we are short of insight, of mental range and capacity; we are short also of information of the truest and deepest kind; we only know accidents, incidents, things that externally happen; motive, spring, impulse, we cannot understand: judge not, that ye be not judged: remit all difficulties in life to the Divine judgment; then it may be found that all things had been seen upside down; we may discover that all our judgments are simply so many calculated and dignified mistakes. Blessed be God for the judgment Divine it is complete, impartial, unalterable. In the light of that judgment many a man whom we have thought to be difficult, impracticable, unmanageable, may be shown to have really been the victim or slave of some constitutional peculiarity which we could not understand; men who have been regarded as selfish, illiberal, wanting in magnanimity, may be discovered to have been operating from a motive that lay beyond our judicial knowledge: on the other hand, many a man may be found to have been only eloquent in the tongue, while his heart was dumb; many a man may be found to have given with the hand only, whilst his heart was a wrinkled, grudging miser. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” It is clear to me, though many do not join in this judgment of the word, and many learned and most able men wholly differ from it, that Paul and the other Apostles expected that the Lord might come back again at any moment. There are various ways of reading the apostolic exclamation regarding the second coming, the Lord’s advent, but not one of them seems to me so straight, simple, and complete in its proof, as the reading that implies that the Apostle Paul expected the Lord Jesus Christ back again upon the earth any day, any night, any hour. This would seem to account for his urgency in many instances; he would seem to say, Brethren, there is no time for this: the Lord is coming; I hear him;. he may be here at the crowing of the cock, at the dawn, in early morning, by midday; he may choose the time of the shining of the evening star: there is no time for controversy, eating and drinking, debating, clamour, strife, only time for prayer, and song, and exultant expectation. There is no reason why this should not be the law of the Church now. Nothing would require to be altered that is vital; the only change that would take place would be purely local, personal, visual. As a matter of fact, the Lord is coming every moment: the Judge is at the door. We may have been mistaken in our literal interpretations, but the sublime, all-vitalising fact is there; that life is a continual revelation of the Lord, and that man is nearer eternity than he is near time. Eternity is nearer than tomorrow. We do not realise this; we are the victims of the letter; we imprison ourselves within what we call facts, as if there could be any fact in more than a symbolical sense or a transient aspect: every fact being an index-finger pointing to the truth, which is always larger than fact. Fact has no atmosphere, no perspective, and until it is atmosphered and set in perspective it cannot play its light part as one of the monitors of human life. Set it down then as a fact that the Lord is coming, coming to-day, always coming. He comes where he is expected; he never disappoints the expectation of the heart. It we want to see the Lord we may see him; he answers not our speculation but our prayer. “Then shall every man have praise of God,” as he deserves it; the great man shall be great, and the little man shall be little, and every man shall have his due reward. That will be sufficient. Every man will acknowledge the justice of the award; there will be, as there can be, no appeal. There is a voice within which attests the decrees of justice. It may suit a man for temporary purposes to deny, or complain, or repudiate certain awards and decrees, but within his living soul he knows what is just, unless indeed he has grieved the Spirit, or quenched the Spirit, or in some way committed suicide, slaughtering his very soul, and being nothing more than a dead man in God’s account. There will be many differences in the final allotment: blessed be God for that glorious fact. We shall not all be in one place even in heaven. It would be no heaven to some of us if we were within a thousand miles of certain other people, whom we could name, unless a great change takes place in us or in them. “In my Father’s house are many mansions:” some will be very high up, and others will be very low down; yet they may all be in God’s ample heaven. When George Whitfield was asked, “Do you expect to see John Wesley in heaven?” He answered, “No, I do not expect to see him there.” “Why not?” “Because John Wesley will be so near the throne, and I shall be so far from it, that I can have no hope of seeing John Wesley in heaven.” A noble charity; a noble wisdom. We do not take that view of these illustrious men, but that one of them should have taken it of himself shows a conception of possibility, that indicates a large love and a truly modest self-estimate. It is curious that the Apostle Paul was urging the Corinthians not to think too highly of the ministers. If he had been living now, he need not have written that part of the letter. The Apostle was most anxious that he and Apollos should not be thought too highly of: what a marvellous condition of society! what an impossibility! There is not a man living now who does not feel the temptation occasionally, though he may not yield to it, to think that every minister is only part of a man. That, however, is not true. There are some ministers who, if they had been sent to school soon enough, and taught to read and write and do the first four rules of arithmetic, might by some certain business faculty have been living in a villa!
The Apostle becomes himself again in the laying down of great broad laws and considerations:
“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” ( 1Co 4:7 ).
The Apostle can be satirical, ironical, as in the eighth verse, “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us,” you have been living a dramatic life; you have built your canvas theatre, and played your little tricks before high heaven. Then for how long could Paul be angry or even satirical? he falls out of his piercing sarcasm into his melting, pleading pathos: “and I would to God ye did reign” in reality as you have been reigning seemingly “that we also might reign with you.” How rapidly this man’s tone changes! Now he is in full banter, now his lips are wreathed with scorn, and his voice is a tempest of indignation; and in a moment, as if self-smitten, he falls downs, cries, almost begs pardon, and says to the people whom he has wounded with his tremendous sword I would to God ye were in reality what you are in seeming: I would to God that we were all kings together: brethren, think on these things.
Then he sets forth the aspect in which apostolic life appeared to him:
“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” ( 1Co 4:9 ).
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XV
THE PREACHER AND FACTIONS
1Co 2:1-4:7
We shall proceed to repeat part of the ground of the last chapter. We were discussing the third division of the outline, ecclesiastical disorders. The first is factions. There were divisions. Paul, in replying to the evil of divisions in churches about persons, made an argument that the world has never equaled, and which will be important for all time upon the subject of factions.
His first argument against factions is that Christ Is not divided. Second, the preacher was not crucified for them. They were making divisions about preachers, yet nobody was crucified but Christ. Third, nobody was baptized in the name of a preacher. Fourth, one of the grounds of division was that some preachers were more oratorical than others in their speaking, and used eloquence and philosophies of the schools. In replying to that he stated the wise or oratorical preacher does not save men. They are saved by the cross. Therefore, it is perfectly foolish to have a division about persons on the ground that one is more oratorical than another. Fifth, that worldly wisdom never did discover God, and never could have devised a plan of salvation. God gave the wisdom of the world all the opportunity that it wanted from the beginning of time to the coming of Christ. There had been many wise men, particularly among the Greeks and Romans, but what did their wisdom amount to? It had never discovered the nature of God, devised a system of morals or a plan of salvation. History presents the awful anomaly that the wisest cities in the world, such as Athens, Ephesus, and Corinth, were morally rotten, spiritually putrid. Their wisdom did not save them from obscenity or debauchery. The sixth argument is that as a matter of fact few of the wise and the great men were saved. Somehow their wisdom and their greatness prevented their stooping down and becoming little children in receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ. He proves this by appealing to their own case. “You know, brethren, from your own experience that not many wise, great, or noble are called.” The seventh argument against division, where it was predicated on superior worldly wisdom on the part of any of the persona about whom the division was centered, is that Christ himself is the wisdom of the Christian, the righteousness, sanctification, and redemption of the Christian. How beautifully he works in the thought of the Trinity, “Who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” While Christ is the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption of his people, the application is different. He is not our sanctification in the sense that he is our righteousness. Our righteousness is imputed to us, and we receive it by a single act of faith. Our sanctification is applied to us differently by the Holy Spirit, and becomes at last a personal righteousness.
His eighth argument is that the gospel which saves men is not discerned according to carnal wisdom, but is spiritually discerned. Whether a man be wise or ignorant does not enter into the question. We might take a Negro that could not read a letter in a book, and put seven wise men of Greece against him, and the Negro might spiritually discern the gospel of eternal life preached to him as a poor, ignorant, lost soul quicker than the seven wise men of Greece.
I have often used as an illustration of that, the case of Gen. Speight, whose children live in Waco now. He was a great man in many respects. He was the best organizer and trainer of a regiment I ever knew, and his intellect was quick as lightning, and yet he could not see how to be converted until his old Negro servant took him off in the gin house and showed him how to come to Christ.
That applies in Paul’s argument. One of the grounds of division, was that they were instituting comparisons between Paul and Apollos. Apollos was a wise man, expert in Alexandrian philosophy. Paul wants to know what that counts in a case of this kind. The natural man receives not the things of God. They are foolishness to him.
His ninth argument is that factions hinder spiritual progress. They were yet babes in Christ when they ought to have been teachers. I don’t know anything that can more quickly destroy the spiritual progress of the church than divisions. Let a church be divided into two parties, one following Deacon A and the other Deacon B; one clamoring for this preacher and the other for that; let the line be drawn sharply, then all spirituality dies. There cannot be power ‘in the church while that continues.
The tenth argument consists of some questions: “What then is Apollos? and what is Paul?” At a last analysis they are only the instruments or ministers by whom they believed; God himself gave the increase.
He advances in the eleventh argument: “You are divided about preachers. You are not the preacher’s field or his building. You are God’s field; you are God’s building. Then if you are God’s building you don’t belong to this preacher or to that preacher.”
The twelfth argument is that the only foundation in this building is Jesus Christ: “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The thirteenth argument is that all the incongruous material the preacher puts on that foundation will be destroyed in the great judgment day tried by fire. He refers to the material received for church membership. Paul laid a divine foundation for the church at Corinth. Other men proposed to build on that foundation. Suppose a man puts into the temple of God “wood, hay, stubble.” Some people thatch the roof of the house with hay or stubble. Every addition to that church, when the Master comes to examine his building, that has not been made of living stone, lasting spiritual material, will be cut out and will go up in fire and smoke. So we will say that one reason for the division was that a preacher held a meeting and received a thousand members and 975 came in without conviction or repentance a dry-eyed, easy, little faith, little sinner, little savior and it did not amount to anything. The preacher, if a Christian, will be saved, but every bit of the unworthy material he put in the church will be lost, and because the work is lost he will suffer loss of reward for his labors.
His fourteenth argument is that factions destroy the church, which is the temple of God, which temple they were: “Him that destroyeth the temple of God will God destroy.” I never knew it to fail where a man through his fault destroyed a church of Christ that that man was destroyed world without end. Even if he was a Christian he was destroyed. Not as to eternal life, but certainly as to his usefulness in this world. His fifteenth argument is what a text! I heard Dr. Hatcher, of Richmond, preach a sermon on it. The church does not belong to the preachers; the preachers belong to the church: “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”
The sixteenth argument is that these preachers about which they were dividing this church must be counted simply as stewards of the grace of God, the deposit of the gospel which has been given to them. They were not to be looked on as the builders, the authors, and the savior of the church. What they were to do in their case was to ask the one question, “Has this steward been faithful?” The seventeenth argument is that they were dividing this church on their human judgment of men, and their human judgment didn’t count at all. The King James version of 1Co 4:3 is, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself.” How many sermons I have heard on that when the thought is not that at all! This is the meaning of the true text of the Greek: “For though I know nothing against myself, yet I am not hereby justified,” i.e., human judgment doesn’t count. In other words, I may seem to myself perfect, but I may have a thousand faults. The judge is God, and when God lets the light shine, he brings out some spot I don’t see in the dim light of my wisdom. You remember David’s prayer, “Cleanse thou me from secret faults,” i.e., not faults that I am keeping hid from my wife and my friends, but faults secret to me. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
The eighteenth and last argument is this: Preachers deserve no credit for difference in gifts, and yet they were making their different gifts the ground of their division: “For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” One of the greatest blessings in this world today is the difference of gifts that God gives to the church and his preachers. Two of the most important chapters in the Bible are devoted to a discussion of that question (Rom 12 ; 1Co 12 ). God has never yet called a man to preach who cannot do some things better than anybody else in the world. He never gives two men exactly the same gifts. I am conscious that I can do some things better than other people. I am sure that God has given me the gift of interpretation of his Word. But others can do some things better than I can. I would hate it very much if I were the best sample in the kingdom all along the line. It would be a very sad thing for the world if some of God’s preachers could not beat me in some things. They had made this difference in gifts the ground of their factions. Now, call each man up and say, “Paul, where did you get your gifts?” He answers, “God gave them to me.” “Did you earn them?” “No, they are free grace.” “Apollos, where did you get your gifts?” “God gave them to me.” “You did not purchase them from God?” “No, they came through free grace.”
One of the greatest preachers I ever heard stood up in the pulpit and pointed to a homely old Baptist preacher in the crowd and said, “Brethren, I would give all I am worth in the world to be able to preach like that man.” The most of the crowd would have said, “You beat him.” He could beat him, but not in all things. That man could preach a sermon by the way he got up in the pulpit and opened the Bible. The humility and tenderness of soul with which he looked into the faces of the sinners was marvelous. That fact alone ought to keep down the jealousy of one preacher against another preacher. There is such s, thing as improving one’s gifts, and for that a man does deserve credit. A man may have a gift, and by disuse of that gift it will go into bankruptcy; one may be lazy and won’t study, and for that he is to be blamed. I care not how dull a man is naturally, if God has called that man, he had a reason for calling him. He has some work for him to do that Michael and Gabriel could not do. That man is responsible for just what gifts he has, and he ought to try to improve those gifts, and not try to imitate somebody whose gifts are different from his.
I am glad our Lord did not, in this matter, imitate a candiemaker who brings a great tub full of tallow and pours it into one mould. All candles come out of candle-moulds exactly alike. I am glad the Lord’s preacher-material is not like a tub of tallow, and that it is not all run into one mould. We want diversity of gifts and division of labor. Some have the gift of exhortation; others, exposition, pastoral power, tactfulness in visiting the sick and the strangers. Some have the evangelistic gift, and some one thing and some another. Thus we have the eighteen arguments which Paul gives against the first of these ecclesiastical disorders factions.
The second ecclesiastical disorder was a revolt against apostolic authority (1Co 1:8-21 ; 1Co 9:1-27 ). In order to unify this discussion, I have taken everything in the letter that bears upon the revolt against apostolic authority. But who questioned Paul’s apostolic authority? Visiting Jewish professors of religion, coming from Jerusalem and having that Judaizing spirit, which would make the Christian religion nothing but a sect of Judaism, came up to Corinth. In the second letter we have this same topic for discussion. These visiting brethren brought letters of recommendation from people in Judea, as we learn in the second letter, and they questioned Paul’s apostolic authority. On what grounds did they question his apostolic authority?
1. Because he was not one of the original twelve apostles, and had not seen the Lord in his lifetime.
2. He did not exercise the apostolic powers when his authority was questioned. Ananias and Sapphira tried to fool Peter and they were struck dead by exertion of apostolic power. But Paul did not use the power of an apostle to strike men dead in Corinth that differed with him.
3. He had not claimed apostolic support for himself, therefore it was evident that he did not count himself as deserving it. The twelve apostles, particularly Cephas and the brothers of our Lord, being married men, as apostles, for devoting themselves to the apostolic office, demanded support for themselves and their families.
4. His suffering proclaimed that he was not an apostle. If he were God’s apostle, he would not get into so much trouble, for the Lord would take care of him.
5. His was not the true gospel. The true gospel was given to those who accompanied the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning with the baptism of John down to the time he was taken to heaven. Paul was not even a Christian when that took place.
6. His folly. He did a great many foolish things in the way of expediency.
7. His bodily infirmities and weaknesses. He was a little sore-eyed Jew, bald-headed, with no grace of oratory and no rhetorical form of speech.
8. He was against Moses and the Mosaic law.
9. He was a preacher to the Gentiles. These are the nine distinct grounds upon which these living, visiting brethren, who had done nothing for that church, came over there to work up a case. Whenever I read about it I always feel indignant against that scaly crowd. This is a part of Paul’s great controversy to which Stalker devotes a chapter in his Life of Paul. The letters which are alive with the items of this controversy are 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans. Later it comes up in another form in Philippians, Colossians, and Ephesians, and the same matter in yet a different form later in Hebrews. We will see how Paul replies to this question of his apostleship in the next chapter.
QUESTIONS
1. Restate the first six arguments against factions.
2. What is the seventh argument against division predicated on superior worldly wisdom, and how does Paul here bring in the thought of the Trinity?
3. How is Christ our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?
4. What is the eighth argument, relating to the gospel, and what illustrations given?
5. What is the ninth argument, relating to spiritual progress?
6. What is the tenth argument, relating to the instruments of their faith?
7. What is the eleventh argument, relating to God’s field, or building?
8. What is the twelfth argument, relating to the foundation?
9. What is the thirteenth argument, relating to incongruous material?
10. What is the fourteenth argument, relating to the temple of God?
11. What is the fifteenth argument, relating to church ownership, and what sermon noted on this as a text?
12. What is the sixteenth argument, referring to the deposit of the gospel?
13. What is the seventeenth argument, referring to human, judgment, and how is this text often misapplied?
14. What is the eighteenth argument, referring to gifts, and what special blessing in the diversity of gifts?
15. What is the second ecclesiastical disorder at Corinth, and who caused it?
16. On what grounds did they question Paul’s apostolic authority?
17. In what letters of Paul do we have this great controversy?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Ver. 1. Let a man so account ] Quasi dicat, though we are yours, as 1Co 3:22 , devoted to the service of your faith, yet are we not to be slighted, but respected as Christ’s high stewards.
Ministers of Christ ] Gr. , “under rowers” to Christ the master pilot, helping forward the ship of the Church toward the haven of heaven.
Stewards of the mysteries ] Dispensing all out of God’s goods, and not of our own; setting bread and salt upon the table (that is, preaching Christ crucified) whatever else there is.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 5. ] He shews them the right view to take of Christian ministers ( 1Co 4:1-2 ); but, for his part, regards not man’s judgment of him, nor even judges himself, but the Lord is his Judge ( 1Co 4:3-4 ).
Therefore let them also suspend their judgments till the Lord’s coming, when all shall be made plain .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1. ] , emphatic, preparatory to , as in ref.
, as E. V., a man , in the most general and indefinite sense, as ‘ man ’ in German: not a Hebraism, nor = . The whole is opposed to : the ministers of Christ are but subordinates to Him, and accountable to God.
, here , not, ‘ us ministers generally ,’ see below, 1Co 4:6 , but ‘ myself and Apollos ,’ as a sample of such.
. , see ch. 1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 3:22-23 . But in . . we have a new figure introduced. The Church, 1Ti 3:15 , is the and those appointed to minister in it are , stewards and dispensers of the property and stores of the . These last are the , hidden treasures, of God, i.e. the riches of his grace, now manifested in Christ, ch. 1Co 2:7 ; Rom 16:25-26 , which they announce and distribute to all, having received them from the Spirit for that purpose. “Ea mysteria sunt incarnationis, passionis et resurrectionis Christi, redemptionis nostr, vocationis gentium, et ctera qu complectitur evangelica doctrina.” Estius, who also, as a Romanist, attempts to include the sacraments among the in this sense. The best refutation of this is given by himself: “sed cum ipse Paulus dixerit primo capite, Non misit me Christus baptizare, sed evangelizare , rectius est ut mysteria Dei intelligantur fidei nostr dogmata.” It may be doubted, whether, in the N. T. sense of , the sacraments can be in any way reckoned as such: for . is a (usually divine ) proceeding, once hidden, but now revealed , or now hidden, and to be revealed ; under neither of which categories can the sacraments be classed.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
10 4:21. ] REPROOF OF THE PARTY-DIVISIONS AMONG THEM: BY OCCASION OF WHICH, THE APOSTLE EXPLAINS AND DEFENDS HIS OWN METHOD OF PREACHING ONLY CHRIST TO THEM.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 4:1 . “In this way let a man take account of us, viz. , as servants of Christ, etc.” draws attention to the coming : the vb [631] implies a reasonable estimate, drawn from admitted principles ( cf. Rom 6:11 ; Rom 12:1 , ), the pr [632] impv [633] an habitual estimate. The use of for (1Co 11:28 , etc.), occasional in cl [634] Gr [635] , occurs “where a gravior dicendi formula is required” (El [636] ). (only here in Epp.: see parls.) agrees with (Rom 14:4 , domestic ) in associating servant and master, whereas rather contrasts them (1Co 3:5 , see note; Mar 9:35 ): see Trench, Syn [637] , 9. . . . . ., “as Christ’s assistants, and stewards of God’s mysteries” in these relations Jesus set the App. to Himself and God: see Mat 13:11 ; Mat 13:52 . With P. the Church is the (1Ti 3:15 ), God the , its members the (Gal 6:10 , Eph 2:19 ), and its ministers the App. in chief the (1Co 9:17 , Col 1:25 , etc.). The figure of 1Co 3:9 ff. is kept up: those who were and in the rearing of the house, become and in its internal economy. The was a confidential housekeeper or over-seer, commonly a slave, charged with provisioning the establishment. Responsible not to his fellows, but to “the Lord,” his high trust demands a strict account (Luk 12:41-48 ). On . , see notes to 1Co 2:7 ; 1Co 2:9 f.: the phrase implies not secrets of the master kept from other servants, but secrets revealed to them through God’s dispensers, to whose judgment and fidelity the disclosure is committed ( cf. 1Co 2:6 , 1Co 3:1 ).
[631] verb
[632] present tense.
[633] imperative mood.
[634] classical.
[635] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[636]
[637] synonym, synonymous.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Corinthians Chapter 4
The apostle had now shown the solemn responsibility of the workman, and the impropriety of all boast in men, seeing that all things were theirs as truly as they were Christ’s and Christ God’s. It was needful however to draw out still more fully the relations of ministers, and this he does in the beginning of our chapter. “So let a man account of us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s* mysteries.” (Ver. 1.) The apostle is careful so to characterize himself as well as Apollos. They were Christ’s official servants, not merely he and Cephas who were apostles, but he and Apollos, the latter of whom certainly had no such apostolic place.
* Only F inserts before .
Indeed nothing could be simpler than the manner in which this Alexandrian brother was led on in the work of the Lord, having begun it when possessed of the least possible light (the baptism of John) and afterwards indebted to no more formal instructors than the godly Priscilla and Aquila. But being an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, he contributed much to those who believed through grace, particularly in the controversies which sprang up with the Jews. From Ephesus he went to Corinth soon afterwards. We can thus understand how readily so distinguished a person fell in with the taste of not a few Christians in that city, whose party-spirit raised him up (with not the least allowance of it on his part) against Paul or Peter. On the other hand the apostle in the holy liberty of grace would in no way lower Apollos – rather the contrary, classing him with himself, and this not merely as bondmen () but as servants of Christ. They were therefore responsible to Him only. Thus they were also (official servants) and stewards of God’s mysteries. This was their duty to the household of God – to furnish meat in due season, specially that truth which is most distinctively characteristic of the New Testament.
It is scarcely needful to prove here that “mysteries” never mean the sacraments or standing institutions of Christianity. God’s mysteries mean those secret things which are now revealed in contrast with what Israel had of old (Deu 29:29 ), not, as is vulgarly supposed, things unintelligible, but truths reserved by God in Old Testament times, now displayed in Christ on high and made known by the Spirit in the New Testament.
“Here* moreover it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful, but to me it amounts to very little that I be inquired into by you or by man’s day. Nay, I do not inquire even into myself, for I am conscious to myself of nothing, yet I am not justified by this, but he that inquireth into me is the Lord. So then judge nothing prematurely until the Lord shall have come, who shall both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall each have his praise from God.” (Ver. 2-5.)
* in A B C Dp.m. F, Vulg. It. Syr. Copt. Aeth. Arm. etc.; whereas has only Dcorr L., many cursive) and some Greek Fathers.
Thus the apostle reasons from the figure of a steward where fidelity was especially required. The critical reading is instead of the common , and there can be little doubt that the former, not the latter, is correct. Here (meaning on earth), he adds, it is required in the case of stewards, that one should be found faithful. Undoubtedly it is of still more consequence in the steward of heavenly things; but the apostle is careful to place the personal responsibility of the steward in direct relation to Christ; “but to me it is a very little thing [or, “amounteth to very little”] that I should be,” not exactly, “judged” “by you.” The word properly signifies the preliminary inquiry before the trial. Not that this was said in contempt of the Corinthian saints; man’s day, or inquisition, was held equally cheap by him, whoever might essay to undertake a task which the Lord had never delegated to man. Not only is none competent, but the Spirit gives no sufficiency for this thing. It is reserved for the Lord whom alone it suits, even if the creature could conceivably be made fit for it. Here again it was no slight of others, nor self-complacency, for he particularly disclaims any pretension either to irresponsibility or to be his own judge.
Man is wholly incompetent for such an inquiry, were he even an apostle: yea, it would be an usurpation of the functions of the Lord. It is of the highest importance that this immediate sense of responsibility to Him be maintained always and everywhere. Whether it be a question of Paul or of Apollos, it is the same principle. Nor does it apply only to those whom God set first in the church, or in Christ’s service, but to the last or least no less than to the first. To the Lord alone it belongs to inquire into their service.
Again, it is of the utmost importance to see that the church has no such authority or duty. Christ’s servants according to their gift in His sovereign disposal may serve the church, or they may be debtors to all men in the gospel; but in their service, in all its details as well as in principle, they are accountable alone to Christ. For He, and not the church, gave them the gift, the possession and exercise of which constitutes them His servants. As they are called to love and honour the assembly, so the assembly is bound to respect their direct allegiance to Christ the Lord, not to interpose itself between Him and them.
The servants no doubt are saints, and as such their conduct, if apparently so wrong, comes under discipline, and, if really evil, under holy censure. No person or office enjoys or ought to enjoy immunity. Nay, the doctrine of teachers if false, would expose them to the assembly’s judgment, and more severely than in the case of others, because of their position, perhaps even to putting away. A clearly improper use of their gift for selfish purposes might bring them under similar dealing, were the doctrine ever so sound. Still in their service as such, apart from such evil, Christ’s ministers are directly and exclusively accountable to Himself. They have not a lady over them in the church, but are subject only to the Lord. The abandonment of this truth, the assertion of the assembly’s instead of Christ’s authority over ministry, brought in catholicism and finally popery, though other and still more deadly ingredients might mingle with both and the last especially. But the substitution of the church for Christ in regulating ministry, as well as claiming to be its source, is assuredly an evil of the gravest nature; and Protestantism has by no means succeeded in exorcising completely this evil spirit. Do we not see it active in Presbyterianism, flourishing in Wesleyanism, gross and unblushing in Congregationalism? Truly we may say this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting; for as the energy and self-importance not of ecclesiastics but of men dearly loves it, it is only faith that can walk in constant dependence on the Lord, so as to dispense with it and make it an intrusion and offence.
It is of deep interest also to observe the apostle’s choice of expression. Even in speaking of the Lord he does not say , but . The truth is that the believer never comes into judgment (), as our Lord Himself laid down in Joh 5 ; if he did, he must be lost. Life and judgment are incompatible. He that refuses Christ and life in Him will assuredly be judged. He is lost, and it will be manifest then.
Thus is the honour of Christ vindicated by God on such as have spurned His Son. Those who believe in Him are called to no such compulsory and ruinous homage; they gladly bow even now to Him their Lord and life. They will give account to God; they will receive according to the things done in the body, as they will be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; but they will never come into judgment, having already faith and eternal life in Him. They exercise themselves, therefore, to have a good conscience now.
So the apostle says here (not speaking of his past life, though even there he had walked conscientiously, however blinded and so sinning with a high hand), “I am conscious to myself of nothing,” yet, he adds, “I am not justified by this.” A good conscience is a good thing; but it does not clear the person who may in this or that be blinded by self-love or other feelings. The Lord will decide at His coming; it is He who makes the only adequate inquiry. “Wherefore judge nothing prematurely [which the Corinthians were presuming to do], until the Lord shall have come, who will [not judge us but] both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each have his praise from God.” At that epoch all that sought the dark to avoid detection will be exposed in the light of God, which will even manifest the counsels which the hearts themselves failed to see through. How fallacious often is the praise of men now where shams and shadows reign for most! Then shall each have the praise that is due and enduring and precious from God. Of this alone the apostle speaks here. He had already spoken of perdition, and of salvation where the work of the careless workman is burnt up.
The apostle had thus established both the dependence of the. servant on the Lord, and his independence of human scrutiny. Not, of course, that the church is denied its responsibility to judge conduct. Here it is a question of the counsels of the heart, which no man can scan duly, but the Lord will at His coming. “And then,” he adds solemnly, “shall the praise be to each from God.” He could thus speak freely and happily himself. It ought to have searched the conscience of many a Corinthian.
“And these things, brethren, I transferred to myself and Apollos on your account, that ye may in our case learn nothing above what is written,* in order that ye be not puffed up one for one against another. For who distinguisheth thee? and what hast thou which thou didst not receive? But if thou didst even receive, why boastest thou as not having received? Already ye are filled, already ye have been enriched, apart from us ye reigned; and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you” (ver. 6-8). The apostle explains here what he has also done elsewhere – his applying a principle to himself, and, in this case, to Apollos also, which he meant for others, in order that the saints might be profited. The misleaders at Corinth were really in his view, as the apostle here implies; but he lays down a standard, by which he does not hesitate to measure himself and Apollos, which the saints could easily use for others whose pretensions were as high and unfounded as the services of Paul and Apollos were real and of God. Of Him some had lost sight entirely; and each, choosing his leader, was puffed up with party feeling. What is written makes God everything, man at best an instrument, as he is alone rightly a servant. God only makes the difference between one and another, and this especially in divine things. And as it is He who makes a difference, what has anyone that he has not received? and if received, why boast as if it were not so? The folly of Corinthian vanity was evident in being puffed up for those they exalted as their respective chiefs.
* The MSS differ in trifles or slips, which do not affect a version of verve 6, save here, where p.m. B Dp.m. Ep.m. F G, old Latin, Vulg., etc., add nothing to . But the Text. R. adds , “to think,” supported not only by the later correctors of some of the older copies, but by L P, and most cursives, versions, and fathers.
But he proceeds to deal a further blow, and this of the keenest irony, as Isaiah scrupled not to do in exposing the folly of idol-worship. Trashy, if not corrupting, doctrine always lowers practice; and the Corinthians had insensibly relinquished or lost the place of sufferers with Christ. This the apostle notices witheringly. When Christ reigns, we shall indeed be at ease, and in the fullest satisfaction; and He will drink the wine new with us in the kingdom of His Father – yea, He will gird Himself, and make us recline at table, and come and serve us as He in His grace deigned to assure us, when He will also set the faithful servant over all that He has, But now is the time to deny self, to take up one’s cross, and follow Him, who suffered many, all, things here below. But all was confusion for the Corinthians; their eye was not single, and their body therefore anything but full of light. “Already [that is, before the time] ye are filled, already ye have become rich, apart from us ye reigned, and I would that ye did reign.” For they were deceiving themselves: the time was not yet come. False doctrine had made them false practically to the present object of God. Satan had succeeded in severing them, in walk at least and aims, from the Lord, who nevertheless waits for the time of glory, when He and they shall really reign together. The apostle proceeds to draw out the contrast seen in those to whom, if God had set them “first in the church,” He had given grace to become the greatest and most patient sufferers in the world.
“For, I think,* God set us the apostles last as devoted to death, because we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men, we fools for Christ, but ye wise in Christ; we weak, but ye strong; ye illustrious, but we disgraced. Until the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted and homeless wanderers, and we toil, working with our own hands; reviled, we bless; persecuted, we suffer; slandered,” we beseech. We became as the world’s scum, offscouring of all, until now” (ver. 9-13). It is evident that those who misled the Corinthians, as well as the saints misled by them, had made the church their world, and that fleshly principles had supplanted the grace of Christ for their souls. They had schools and spectacles of their own, as well as the Greeks outside. In a burst of the finest feeling, not without sarcasm but with real love, which could use it for good, the apostle sets out the true path of Christ as one of suffering but victory over the world. Faith working by love can alone secure such victory. This was apostolic ambition, if ambition there can be of a saintly kind; and this God had given the apostles in appointing them last, nearest to Christ, who had gone down into depths of suffering where none could follow. But there were sufferings of Christ which grace does share with the Christian, and these the apostles knew best, and of the apostles, we may perhaps add, none so much as Paul. Well could he then say, “God set us, the apostles, last, as devoted to death, a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.” Did the Corinthians wish and claim to be prudent in Christ? The apostles at least were content to be fools for His sake. Were the Corinthians strong and glorious in their own desire and estimate? The apostles gloried in weakness and disgrace; even as Peter and John, on a well-known occasion, went their way rejoicing from before the Sanhedrim, because they had been counted worthy to be dishonoured in behalf of the name. Nor was it only the fervour of early zeal. “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted and homeless wanderers, and labour working with our own hands.” Had not the Corinthians, or their misleaders, counted all this low and eccentric, ascetic and enthusiastic, in Paul? “Railed on, we bless; persecuted, we endure; slandered, we beseech: we became as the world’s scum, offscouring of all, until now:” an utter impossibility, of course, not in this or that particular which superstition can readily imitate, but as a whole, save through the constraining and assimilating love of Christ, who cheers those who set out and go on in such a path as this with the bright comfort of reigning along with Him. For I reckon, as the apostle says in Rom 8 , that the sufferings of this present time are of no account in comparison of the glory that is to be revealed in regard to us. If there is a more energetic sketch of the suffering here, it is because apostles are in view rather than the saints at large; but the principle is the same, and the Corinthians had slipped out of it to present ease and dignity, which they thought due to the truth of Christianity – an error which soon culminated, as it still does, in Christendom. Where are those that can expose it, not only in word but in deed and in truth?
* T. R.* here inserts “that,” supported by the corr. of and D E L P, most cursives and versions and fathers, as against p.m. A B C D p.m. F G, 46, 116, some of the best and oldest Latin copies, and of the earliest fathers, Greek and Latin.
For blasf. ( corr. B D E F G L, most cursives, and perhaps It. Vulg. etc. as in T. R.), p.m. A C P 17, 46, etc. give “defamed.”
The apostle, in accepting, yea, claiming, a place of present contempt in the world’s eyes for the chief emissaries of the Lord, in contrast with the ease and honour which the Corinthians lived in and valued, the fruit of the false teaching in their midst, had put the case in such a form as could not fail to appeal, and deeply, to every heart that loved Christ. He now, with the quick sensibility of genuine affection, seeks to reassure them. If he had wounded any, were not his wounds those of a friend? “Not to abash you do I write these things, but as my beloved children I admonish [you]; for if you should have ten thousand child-guides in Christ, yet not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus through the gospel I begot you. I beseech you then, become imitators of me.” (Ver. 14-16.) A false teacher flatters his party, and abuses those who oppose his aims. He who is faithful to the Lord loves the saints; but this very love makes him vigilant, and gives moral courage to deal with what is offensive to Him. Yet his reproof is for those ears who need it, not for others to lower in their eyes such as may be censured.
It is well to observe that there is no depreciation of christian teaching or teachers in comparison with gospel work, such as the common version naturally insinuates. It is an appeal to the love which ought to bind specially the converted souls to him who was the means of bringing them to God; and not in any way a formal comparison of the relative value of this gift with that. Hence there is the avoidance of the word , or teacher, and the use of the somewhat slighting term, , as applied to those at Corinth who had done too much to occupy and turn away the saints there. Some of these might affect the law, others philosophy; but all Bought to keep the brethren who listened to them in their leading-strings. They had little enjoyment of, or confidence in, the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and hence sought to direct the thoughts and ways of their admirers, as do guardians, or , with the young entrusted to their charge. But this savours more of Jewish or Gentile modes, than of the gospel or its liberty; and the apostle could not but remind them that he it was who begot them through the gospel. Only one could feel for them as a parent – himself; yet was it against him especially that these leaders of cliques had sought to alienate his “beloved children.” It is the interest of such a guardian to retain his charge in subjection as long-as possible; while a father’s joy is to see his children grow up intelligent as well as affectionate, maintaining the family character. Hence he adds, “I beseech you then, become imitators of me,” a word which he urges again at the beginning of 1Co 11 , with the beautiful proviso, “even as I also [am] of Christ.” Disinterested love is bold, and can speak freely. Certainly he sought not theirs but them, and the cross in practice, not earthly ease or honour or gain. Had they not lost their sense of what becomes the Christian? Let them follow him in self-renunciation for Christ.
“For this cause I sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in [the] Lord, who will remind you of my ways that are in Christ [Jesus],* even as everywhere in every assembly I teach.” (Ver. 17.) This young servant of the Lord was one who could speak the more intimately of the apostle’s ways in Christ; inasmuch as, on the one hand, he himself was his beloved and faithful child (which the apostle could not say of the Corinthians); on the other, the apostle never accommodated his doctrine to the assemblies, so as to falsify the testimony of the Lord. Whatever might be the elasticity of grace which dealt with individuals, seeking their blessing in Christ, he taught in every assembly just as he wrote to Corinth. The ways that are in Christ do not waver; they are straight, if painful to the flesh. Yet this was the man whom the perverse eyes of detractors charged with inconsistency and untrustworthiness! It is utterly false that a differing doctrine in discipline prevailed in the different assemblies. The apostle taught the same everywhere, and his writings insist on it where he did not go personally. It is the assembly of God, and His mind varies not. He had demanded nothing of the assembly in Corinth that he had not laid down elsewhere.
* C Db, some fifteen cursives, some good Latin copies, Cop. later Syr. Arm. (Aeth. invertedly), etc., give . ., but the latter is not in A B Dc E L P, most cursives, other good Latins, Pesch. Syr., etc. D F G (Gr. and Lat.) have .
But some had drawn from the apostle’s not going to Corinth, and sending Timothy, that he shrank from visiting the assembly there. So had the false apostles insinuated in their own pride to his depreciation. “Now some were puffed up as though I were not coming unto you; but I shall come shortly unto you, if the Lord will, and will know not the word of those that are puffed up but the power; for the kingdom of God [is] not in word but in power. What will ye? that I come unto you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of meekness?” (Ver. 18-21.) Indeed he was coming, and for this dependent on the Lord’s will. But subjection to the Lord in no way enfeebles the conduct of His servants. So on coming the apostle tells them he will know, not pretentious talk, but reality – “the power.” For this in truth is the essential characteristic of “the kingdom of God,” in contradistinction from “the word,” to which Greek ears had been ever used, and alas! the Jews for the most part. And this* leads the apostle to remind the Corinthian saints that, if he had reminded them of the peculiar bond between them and him, as their father through the gospel, he had power and authority from God, however slow he might be to enforce it. It was for them indeed, as he puts it, to decide how he was to come, for this was the real question, not whether, nor when, but how: with a rod, or with love and a spirit of meekness? What he desired himself, as he says elsewhere, was their edification, not their destruction. In Act 5 we see Peter using the rod; and the apostle Paul could do as much according to the Lord. But his heart sought other things for his beloved children: what did they wish?
* It seems to me, therefore, that Calvin did not duly see the connection with what the apostle had just pressed, or he would not have said that the person who divided the epistle into chapters ought to have made 4: 21 the beginning of chapter 5. These chapters appear to be better divided as they are.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 4:1-5
1Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 3But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
1Co 4:1 “Let a man regard us in this manner” This is a present middle (deponent) imperative. Believers must evaluate or consider the status of leadership. For the Kingdom of God leadership is servanthood/stewardship (cf. Mar 10:42-44). Paul’s theology follows Jesus’ words.
“servants of Christ” See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: SERVANT LEADERSHIP
“stewards” This is a compound Greek term from “house” and “law.” It was the servant who managed the house/estate and gave an account to the owner (i.e., term in Mat 25:14-46; Luk 16:1, the concept of “to allot,” “that which is assigned to someone”). This is the emphasis on responsibility to and trustworthiness of the gospel (cf. 1Co 4:2; 1Co 4:1; 1Co 9:17; Col 1:25; 1Th 2:4; Tit 1:7; 1Pe 4:10). God will judge His stewards (cf. 1Co 4:4-5; 1Co 3:13). What an awesome privilege and obligation!
“of the mysteries of God” This term is used in several different ways by Paul. The primary thrust seems to be that the one God is going to unite Jews and Gentiles into one family through Christ, thereby fulfilling Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3. See Special Topic: the Mystery at 1Co 2:1.
“that one be found trustworthy” This is the adjective pistos. Jesus used the concept of a faithful servant in Mat 24:45; Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23!
SPECIAL TOPIC: BELIEVE, TRUST, FAITH, AND FAITHFULNESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
1Co 4:3 “But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you” Paul was under personal attack by certain groups (i.e., babies in Christ, cf. 1Co 3:1, or even Jewish opposition similar to the Judaizers of Galatians) at Corinth. Their estimation of his apostolic commission was not a central concern (yet it was still painful). He was concerned how people viewed the gospel and the church (cf. 1Co 8:13; 1Co 9:19-23; 1Co 10:23; 1Co 10:33; 2Co 4:2; 2Co 5:11; Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13).
“or by any human court” This is literally “human day.” It refers to human court proceedings as 1Co 3:13 refers to “divine” court proceedings on the last day (cf. 1Co 1:8; 1Co 5:5). As 1Co 4:3 a refers to the sarkinois (i.e., immature believers of 1Co 3:1), this phrase refers to the psuchikos (i.e., natural people without the Spirit) of 1Co 2:14.
“I do not even examine myself” It is very hard to properly examine oneself spiritually. Often believers are too hard on themselves and too easy on others. Often we compare ourselves to other humans (cf. 2Co 10:12-18). We must let God judge (cf. 1Co 4:5). He knows the heart and the circumstances (cf. 1Sa 16:7; 1Ki 8:39; 1Ch 28:9; Jer 17:10; Luk 16:15; Act 1:24).
1Co 4:4 “For I am conscious of nothing against myself” Before Paul’s conversion he felt this way about his relationship to the Mosaic Law (cf. Act 23:1; Php 3:5-6). The Spirit revealed his covetousness (cf. Rom 7:7) and Paul was convicted of sin and responded to the grace of God in Christ alone (cf. Rom 3:19-26). He lived and ministered in this grace as a steward. In the paradox of free grace, but accountable stewardship, he had a peaceful conscience, but only a divine Judge in an eschatological setting could make the appropriate evaluation and reward!
NASB, NRSV”acquitted”
NKJV”justified”
TEV”innocent”
NJB”justify”
This is a perfect passive indicative. It is a legal technical term for one being acquitted from the consequences of a crime (cf. Rom 3:24). It is theologically similar to the “no condemnation” in Rom 8:1 and the legal context of Rom 8:31-35. In this context it means that Paul is not free from divine judgment (cf. 2Co 5:10) simply because his conscience was clear.
“but the one who examines me is the Lord” Stewards will give an account for their trustworthiness (cf. 1Co 4:2; 1Co 3:11; 2Co 5:10; 2Co 10:18).
1Co 4:5
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV”Therefore”
TEV”so”
NJB”for that reason”
This is the conclusion of Paul’s discussion on this topic and it is a command related to premature human evaluations.
“do not go on passing judgment before the time” This is a present active imperative with the negative particle, which usually means to stop an act already in process (cf. Mat 7:1-5). These factious groups or the adherents of the false teachers had already judged Paul. Paul must have had many critics at Corinth through the years (cf. 2 Corinthians 10-12).
“but wait until the Lord comes” The Second Coming is certain; the time and manner are uncertain. True evaluation must wait until the right moment (cf. Mat 13:24-30; Mat 13:36-43).
“who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness” Even believers will give an account of their motives, plans, and attitudes (cf. 1Co 3:13; Joh 3:17-21; Rom 2:16; 2Co 5:10), but thank God, not their sins! Paul uses this same word “hidden things” (krupta) several times.
1. Rom 2:16 – “the hidden things of men”
2. 1Co 4:5 – “the hidden things of darkness”
3. 1Co 14:25 – “the hidden things of the heart”
4. 2Co 4:2 – “the hidden things of shame”
“and disclose the motives of men’s hearts” This is crucial. This is why only God can judge fairly. Believers are only responsible for what they do understand, but they are always responsible for their attitudes and motives. Faithfulness will be rewarded (cf. 1Co 3:8; 1Co 3:14-15), unfaithfulness judged (cf. 1Co 3:16-17). See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEART at 1Co 14:25.
“and each man’s praise will come to him from God” This is a recurrent theme (cf. Job 34:11; Psa 62:12; Ecc 12:14; Jer 17:10; Jer 32:19; Mat 16:27; Mat 25:31-40; Rom 2:16; Rom 14:12; 1Co 3:8; 2Co 5:10; 1Pe 1:17; Rev 2:23; Rev 20:12; Rev 22:12) based on the principle of Gal 6:7.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
man. App-123.
so. This emphasizes the “as” which follows.
account = reckon. Greek. logizomai.
ministers. App-190.
Christ. App-98.
stewards. Greek. oikonomos. Occurs ten times. Always translated “steward”, except Rom 16:23 and Gal 1:4, Gal 1:2. See Luk 16:1.
mysteries. Greek. musterion. App-193. To Paul were committed various secrets. See 1Co 15:51. Rom 11:25. 2Th 2:7. 1Ti 3:9, 1Ti 3:16.
God. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-5.] He shews them the right view to take of Christian ministers (1Co 4:1-2); but, for his part, regards not mans judgment of him, nor even judges himself, but the Lord is his Judge (1Co 4:3-4).
Therefore let them also suspend their judgments till the Lords coming, when all shall be made plain.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 4
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God ( 1Co 4:1 ).
Ministers of Christ, the Greek word there is the under-rowers. They were the guys down in the bottom of the ship handling the oars, usually chained to the oars. And the fellow up on top would call the order for them to row and which side to row, the under-rowers. And so Paul uses that particular Greek word here, “We are the under-rowers of Christ. We’re down on the bottom level. We’re just pulling the oars at the command of Christ.”
But then, “We are stewards.” And the steward was the one who was in charge of the master’s goods. He was the one who ordered the affairs of the household. He bought for the necessities of the household. It was entrusted unto him the goods of the master, though he was still himself a servant, but overseeing the goods of the master.
So Paul uses the second Greek word as a steward, “We’re the overseers of those things that belong to the Master.”
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful ( 1Co 4:2 ).
The one requirement, really, of stewardship is that of faithfulness to that which I’ve been called to do or that which has been entrusted to me. Your faithfulness to that which God has called you to do is the thing for which one day you will receive your reward or lack of reward.
Have you been faithful in the call of God on your life? It’s required of stewards that they be found faithful. Now Paul said,
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: I don’t even judge myself ( 1Co 4:3 ).
Now evidently, they had been saying that, “I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Peter,” to the exclusion of the others. In other words, there are people that cannot show, it seems, a loyalty to more than one. Or if they have a loyalty to one, they have to put down everyone else.
And so in saying, “I am of Apollos,” they were really putting down Paul and judging Paul. “It doesn’t bother me that you judge me,” and so the first judgment that we so often do face is the judgment of man. But man’s judgment at best is faulty. Because one thing that we cannot judge is the motive by which a man did something. Because we cannot judge motives, our judgment is not a true judgment.
So they really didn’t know Paul, they didn’t know the heart of Paul. And yet, they were saying things against Paul. And Paul said, “Hey, I’ve heard that you’ve been judging me. That doesn’t bother me that you should judge me; I don’t even judge myself.” The second judgment is that of self-judgment. Now, Paul is talking about, “I don’t judge myself,” in the sense of condemning myself. I think that it’s tragic that there are people that are constantly judging themselves and condemning themselves. “Oh, I’m no good. Oh, I can’t do anything right. Oh, I’m such a mess,” you know. And they’re constantly judging themselves. Paul said, “I don’t even judge myself.”
Now, I believe that you should do your best and then just commit the rest. Hey, it’s the best I could do, so it’s a mess, it’s all I can do. That was my best, you see. And so I don’t go away and moan and complain because, “Oh, I really failed. I didn’t do a good job. I didn’t say the right thing.” I did my best, so I just leave the rest of it with the Lord. “Lord, that’s the best I can do. Sorry about that, but that’s the best I can do.” So I don’t beat myself or worry about it or fret over, “Oh, did I do the right thing? Or should I have done more?” Or whatever. Hey, I did my best. I did what I felt was right in the situation. So I don’t go on condemning myself for what came of it. It was the best I could do. Now many times the best I can do isn’t sufficient, but I can’t help that. It’s the best I can do. So I don’t judge myself in the sense of condemning myself.
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified ( 1Co 4:4 ):
Now he’s actually saying, “I don’t know anything against myself.” That’s quite a statement. But he said that even at that it doesn’t justify me. It doesn’t mean that I’m righteous just because I don’t know anything against myself, that doesn’t make me righteous.
but he that judges me is the Lord ( 1Co 4:4 ).
Now here’s the third judgment, and this is the important one. This is the one I’m concerned about. I don’t care what you say about me. I do, but so what, I can’t help that. I’m not even concerned about my own opinion of myself. But I am deeply concerned of the Lord’s opinion of me. You may judge me for what I’ve done, it doesn’t bother me. I may judge myself, that isn’t important. I stand before the Lord and He is my judge, and that is the judgment that I am concerned with, what is the Lord’s opinion of me and what I have done.
Therefore judge nothing before the time ( 1Co 4:5 ),
In other words, wait for the day of God’s judgment, the fire will come and the works will be proved, what sort and what manner they are, the motives behind them. So don’t judge anything before its time, don’t prejudge.
until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God ( 1Co 4:5 ).
Notice how the Lord is going to judge, the hidden things, the things of your heart, the motives. Hey, that is heavy duty. The Bible says everything is naked and open before Him with whom we have to do. “Oh Lord, I really didn’t mean it.” “Oh you didn’t? Let’s take a look.” And God will be able to project what was in your heart and mind as you were doing it on a screen.
You remember Ezekiel was taken by the Spirit to the wall, and the Lord said, “Dig a hole through the wall. Now crawl in.” And he crawled in, and inside he was looking around and all of the pornography. And Ezekiel said, “Oh, that’s horrible, all the pornography around here.” And the Lord said, “I have allowed you to go inside of the minds of the leaders there in Jerusalem. That’s what’s going on in their minds, Ezekiel.”
God can see into your mind. God knows what’s going on in your heart. And so the day will come when God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels, the intents, the motivations of our hearts. And then shall every man have the praise of God.
And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos [now transferring that over to Apollos and me] for your sakes; that you may learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for or against another ( 1Co 4:6 ).
Don’t become divided over the instruments of God that God may use for His purposes in your life. Receive from all, be benefited by all. It doesn’t mean that you have to turn against one just because you’re gaining from another.
For who makes you to differ from another? ( 1Co 4:7 )
What makes you so different? Why are you so puffed up? What makes you different? “Well, I thank God I’m not like he is.” Well, what makes you different than him? Do you have anything of value? Do you have anything of good? Do you have anything of worth? Where did it come from?
You say, “Well, God gave it to me.” Well, then, if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it wasn’t given to you? You see, anything that I have that is of any value, the Lord gave it to me. Anything of my life that is worthwhile, it came to me from God. I know in me, that is my flesh, there dwells no good thing. Anything that is of worth and value has been given to me by God. If it’s been given to me by God, then God help me not to go around and act as though it wasn’t like I am somebody, like I have a great ability or I have a great talent or I have developed this or that or the other. It’s come as a gift from God, and as such, then you can’t really glory in it as though it wasn’t a gift from God. How many times the Lord has brought this scripture to my heart after something I did turned out good. You know, it’s always exciting when something you did turns out to be right, turns out to be good. And occasionally that happens. Now it is interesting that when it does happen, I like to act like, “Well, sure I’ve got it. I do it all the time, man,” you know. Not so. If it turns out good it’s the Lord.
What have you but what you received, if you’ve received it, then why do you act like you didn’t receive it? ( 1Co 4:7 )
Which is quite often the common tendency to act as though it is something that we possess rather than something that was given to us by God.
Now you are full, now you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you ( 1Co 4:8 ).
Now Paul is speaking in a satire here. “Now you are full, now you are rich, now you are reigning without us.” This is the kind of a boast that they were making. But Paul said, “I would to God that you really were reigning in order that I might reign with you.”
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 ( 1Co 4:9 ).
The word spectacle here is a word that has a lot of color in that when a Roman general would be victorious over the alien armies, he would come back to Rome for the victory march. And the general would come, usually on his chariot, into the city of Rome with the crowds of people lining the sides of the road, heaping their praise and adulation upon him. And he would bring back with him the trophies of war, all of the loot that he had captured.
But at the rear of the procession there would be those poor people that had been captured and were being brought back to be the victims in the arena, being tossed to the lions and so forth; and they were called the spectacle, they were those captives that had been brought back by the general to be sacrificed in the arena to the lions.
And so Paul says, “I would to God that ye did reign. It seems to me that God has made us apostles sort of last, as it were, we’re appointed unto death. We’re a spectacle.” As these people would come by, the crowd would all jeer and hiss and all, and they would take them to the arena and give them to the lions for the sport of the people. And so, “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ ( 1Co 4:10 );
Again, speaking with satire here.
we are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place ( 1Co 4:10-11 );
Poor Paul, if he had only known how to make his positive confessions, he would not have had to be this way. Lack of faith. You know, Paul is still getting it. The Corinthians, all the carnal Christians, seemed to give it to Paul. And today Paul still gets it. I had one of these ministers tell me, “Don’t you think if Paul could have just had victory over his flesh that he would not have had to have the thorn in the flesh? It’s because of the weakness of Paul’s flesh.” God help anybody who thinks they are more spiritual than Paul, or have more on the ball than Paul had.
And Paul’s speaking of his own personal experience. He said, “Even in this present hour, we’re hungry, we’re thirsty, we’re naked, we’ve been beaten, and we don’t have any certain place to live, no certain dwelling place.”
And we labor, working with our own hands ( 1Co 4:12 ):
I don’t even make enough from the ministry to be supported by the ministry. I have to work to support my own needs. But,
being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we accept it, we take it: Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. Now I don’t write these things to shame you, but as my sons I seek to warn you ( 1Co 4:12-14 ).
So here the heart of the apostle hurt over the attitude of the Corinthians. Because somehow they could not accept from Apollos without having to put Paul down, getting into these little petty party divisions, the mark of their carnality. And Paul is hurt over the things that they are saying about him, hurt over the divisions that exist. And he said, “Now I don’t write these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I want to warn you.”
For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel ( 1Co 4:15 ).
Now look, you may have ten thousand instructors. There may be ten thousand guys that have come along and laying some of their trips on you.
And God help us, there are over ten thousand trips out there. Everybody has to have an angle. I received a letter this week from someone who was questioning about a particular paper they had received and they sent it to me, wanted me to read it over and give my opinion to them. And this particular paper was this guy’s understanding of the prophecy of Daniel and in the kingdoms that were going to arise. He doesn’t see it all as is traditionally accepted and taught by Chuck Missler and every good Bible scholar. But he has his own private little twist and interpretation. No one else has seen this, no one else has been able to come to this understanding, but oh, he has a special understanding in this particular prophecy of Daniel. And instead of there being four major world-governing empires, there are actually five. And he has the insight into the feet of clay, they are actually the Arab states and so forth, and he goes on to espouse his theory.
Yet, Peter said no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Now when someone comes along and says, “You know, friends, I want to reveal some new truths to you tonight. You know the Bible scholars in the past, they’ve just not been able to see this, why is it that they haven’t taught you this? You see, here it is.” And they start, then, giving you their unusual little twist.
No prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. Some guy has some new understanding and truth that has never been discovered before, you can be sure it’s wrong. For God has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness and they’re all bound up here in the Word, and they’re not for any private interpretation. Now, in order to espouse their particular doctrinal belief though, they’ve got to put down everybody else that teaches anything else. Anybody that teaches contrary to that immediately becomes a false prophet.
There’s a fellow here in the area that insists on writing me. He used to come to church here quite regularly. He used to be constantly declaring his love for me. In fact, he came in one day, for God had given him a vision that he was to work side by side with me. But other aspects of his visions were a little weird, and so because I did not concur with his vision that he was called by God to work side by side with me, he then became quite upset and has left the church and now is writing me all kinds of letters accusing me of being a liar, a false prophet, a Jimmy Jones, a cultist, and you poor people are all being duped, you know, by the Chuck Smith cult, according to his letters.
Sad, isn’t it? That those who once felt called of God to work by your side, now suddenly have revealed to them by God that your teaching is so wrong and all and, of course, they often say, “Well, Chuck really knows the truth, but he’s afraid to teach it.” They don’t know me, because I’m not afraid to say anything that I think is right. But Paul was faced with the same kind of a thing in Corinth, they were putting Paul down.
Though he said, “Hey, you may have ten thousand instructors that have come along and try to teach a different slant, but you only have one father, and I begot you into the faith.” It’s sort of sad to see those that you have brought to birth in their spiritual walk get caught up and carried away with some of these teachers of exotic things. So Paul said,
I beseech you [I beg you], be followers of me. For this cause have I sent Timothy unto you, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church ( 1Co 4:16-17 ).
Timothy, Paul said in another epistle, was the only one that he had that was like-minded as was he. I have a real empathy for Paul’s position here. Having brought these Corinthians to a faith in Jesus Christ, having laid the foundation of Jesus Christ, to see men coming along and building wood, hay and stubble hurt.
Some of the Calvary Chapels that have sprung out of our church here, in their desire to develop buildings, facilities and all, have gone to fundraising techniques: fundraising dinners, pledges, marathons, telethons, phoneathons, phonythons, and it hurts. It really hurts. Because I have sought to teach them to walk in the Spirit and to trust in the Lord to provide for their needs. For when God guides, God provides.
And if you get ahead of God, then the provision isn’t there and it’s because you’ve stepped out ahead of God. Wait upon the Lord. He not only has the plan, but the method by which the plan is to be accomplished, and the funding. And we don’t have to lean upon man, nor do we have to turn to worldly schemes or devices to raise the funds for the work of God. And to see them getting involved in pledges and getting involved in promotional dinners and things like this, it really hurts down deep. They have not so learned, Jesus Christ. But you know, others have come along and say, “Hey, this is the way it’s done. This is the way you’ve got to do it.”
So Paul was sending Timothy to reestablish them in the truth that Paul had taught to them, the things that Paul taught in every church everywhere.
Now some of you are [upset] puffed up, as though I would not [personally] come to you ( 1Co 4:18 ).
Oh yeah, if it’s so important why didn’t Paul come then? He said,
But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills ( 1Co 4:19 ),
Now James said, “Don’t say, ‘Tomorrow we’re going to do this and that.’ You should rather say, ‘Now if the Lord wills, tomorrow we’re going to do this and that'” ( Jas 4:13-15 ). And so Paul says, “I’m going to come to you shortly if the Lord wills.” Good little insertion. We should always live our lives with that contingency, if the Lord wills.
And I will know, not the speech of those that are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in the words that a man can say, the kingdom of God is in power. Now, what is your will? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? ( 1Co 4:19-21 )
“How do you desire that I come? With a rod to correct, or coming in the spirit of love and of meekness?” So with this, Paul closes his discussion on the divisions that had arisen in the church of Corinth because of the carnality.
Now he’s going to start moving into some of the more difficult issues and problems that were existing in the church of Corinth, the problems of immorality, the problems of the saints taking one another to the worldly courts, and dealing again with the subject of the body of Christ and that desired unity of the body as we next week move into chapters 5 and 6. So read ahead and we’ll continue next Sunday night.
All things are yours, learn to draw and to gain from many sources, but mostly from Him. As you take the Word and as you wait upon the Spirit, may your heart be instructed in the things of God that you might grow up into that fully matured person that He wants you to be. May God be with you and bless you, keep His hand upon your life, and give you a good week. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
1Co 4:1. , so) is determinative, and resumes the subject from what precedes.-, account) without glorying, 1Co 3:21.-, a man) , any man, one like ourselves, 1Co 3:21.-, ministers) Luk 1:2.-, of Christ) in His office [as the only Great Mediator]; not [ministers] of men.- , stewards of the mysteries of God) Paul, where he describes the ministers of the Gospel in the humblest language, still acknowledges them to be stewards: see Tit 1:7, note; comp. of Christ, and, of God, with 1Co 3:23. [Mysteries are heavenly doctrines, of which men are ignorant without the revelation of GOD.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 4:1
1Co 4:1
Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ,- Paul returns to the question, in what esteem the inspired teachers of the gospel should be held. Let all esteem them as servants, underworkers of Christ to whom has been committed the things heretofore unrevealed, to be made known by them to men.
and stewards of the mysteries of God.-The office of a steward is to receive from the master and distribute as he directs. Of themselves, and apart from Christ, they had nothing, and could give nothing.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Christian teachers are “ministers of Christ.” That defines their responsibility. They are “stewards of the mysteries of God.” That defines their work. What dignity does this double statement suggest?
In view of this, to Paul it was “a very small thing” what judgment men might form of him. The Lord at His Coming will pronounce the judgment. It would seem as though this faithful steward of the mysteries of God feared lest the very impetuous sweep of his anger against the folly of the schism-makers would be misunderstood, and he hastens to write tender words as he closes this section. His purpose is not to shame them, but to admonish them. They are his “beloved children.”
Looking back over the argument, it is clearly seen that the final test of wisdom is always power. Herein is the difference between the “wisdom of words” and “the wisdom of God.” The “wisdom of words” has no moral lift in it. On the other hand, the “wisdom of God is manifested in the “Word of the Cross.” By that ‘Word men are not merely mentally illumined, they are morally saved. Put the teachers of psychology or philosophical systems down in the midst of corrupt Corinth, or in later cities, with their own writings as the textbooks, and how much can they do to lift the burden, break the chain, quench the passion, and out of a ruined humanity reconstruct a divine manhood? Put down in the same city a Salvation Army lassie who utterly lacks all words of wisdom, but who lives and prophesies the “Word of the Cross,” and watch the issue. The result of power is the true test of wisdom.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
4:1. . The thought of 3:5 is resumed, and the reproof of the tendency to glory in men is completed by a positive direction as to the right attitude towards the pastors of the Church. The Corinthians must regard them ut ministros Christi, non ut aequales Christo (Primasius). The probably refers to what follows, as in 3:15, 9:26. The certainly refers to all who are charged with the ministry of the New Testament or Covenant (2Co 3:6). But we get good sense if we make refer to what precedes; Remembering that we and everything else are yours, as you are Christs, let a man take account of us as men who are ministers of Christ. This throws a certain amount of emphasis on , the emphasis being removed from : but may receive emphasis, for it is the attitude of the Corinthians towards the Apostle and other teachers that is in question.
. Almost equivalent to (11:28), but a gravior dicendi formula. This use is rare in class. Grk.
. Substituted for in 3:5. The word originally denoted those who row () in the lower tier of a trireme, and then came to mean those who do anything under another, and hence simply underlings.* In the Church, St Luke (1:2) applies it to any service of the word; later it was used almost technically of sub-deacons. See on Luk 4:20, and Suicer, s.v. St Paul uses the word nowhere else.
. The ( and ) was the responsible head of the establishment, assigning to each slave his duties and entrusted with the administration of the stores. He was a slave in relation to his master (Luk 12:42), but the or overseer (Mat 20:8) in relation to the workmen (see on Luk 12:42 and 16:1; in the latter place, the seems to be a freeman). God is the Master (3:23) of the Christian household (1Ti 3:15), and the stores entrusted to His stewards are the mysteries of God. These mysteries are the truths which the stewards are commissioned to teach (see on 2:7). Between the Master and the stewards stands the Son (15:25; Heb 3:6), whose underlings the stewards are. See on in Eph 1:10 and Col 1:25.
2. . Here, i.e. on earth and in human life, or perhaps in these circumstances. See on 1:16 for .
… The AV. cannot be improved upon; It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. See on 1:10 for this use of : the attempts to maintain its full telic force here are too clumsy to deserve discussion: see further on v. 2, and compare in 1Pe 1:7.
. Cf. Luk 12:42, Luk 12:16:10; Num 12:7; 1Sa 22:14: the meaning is trustworthy. To be an is not enough.*
( A B C D* F G P 17, e Vulg.) rather than (D3 E L). In Luk 16:25 there is a similar corruption in some texts. (B L, d e f g Vulg. Copt. Syrr.) rather than ( A C D P and F G- ). Here, as in (3:17), d e f g support the better reading against D E F G. Lachmann takes at the end of v. 1, -an improbable arrangement.
3. . The implies contrast to something understood, such as I do not claim to be irresponsible; inquiry will have to be made as to whether I am faithful; but () the authority to which I bow is not yours, nor that of any human tribunal, but Gods.
. It amounts to very little, it counts for a very small matter. Cf. (Act 19:27). He does not say that it counts for nothing. I have often wondered how it is that every man sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. So much more respect have we to what our neighbours think of us than to what we think of ourselves (M. Aurelius, 12:4).
. To be judged of, or to be put on my trial, or to pass your tribunal (see on 2:14, 15). The verb is neutral, and suggests neither a favourable nor an unfavourable verdict. The dominant thought here, as in 2:14, 15, is the competency of the tribunal. The clause is almost equivalent to a simple infinitive, the defining the purport of a possible volition, whether of, for, or against what is named. He does not mean that the Corinthians had thought of formally trying him, but that he cares little for what public opinion may decide about him.
. The phrase is in contrast to (3:13), which means the Day of the Lord, the Lords Judgment-Day. That is the tribunal which the Apostle recognizes; a human tribunal he does not care to satisfy. He may have had in his mind the use of a word equivalent to day in the sense of a court, which is found in Hebrew and in other languages.* Daysman in Job 9:33 means arbitrator or umpire: compare diem dicere alicui. From dies comes dieta = diet; and hence, in German, Tag = diet, as in Reichstag, Landtag. Mans judgment (AV., RV.) gives the sense sufficiently. Jerome is probably wrong in suggesting that the expression is a Cilicism, one of St Pauls provincialisms. Humanus dies dicitur in quo judicant homines, quia erit et dies Domini, in quo judicabit et Dominus (Herv.). Atto says much the same.
. Nay, even my own verdict upon my conduct, with the knowledge which I have of its motives, is but a human judgment, incompetent definitely to condemn (1Jn 3:20), and still more incompetent to acquit. We cannot fail to mark the contrast between this avowal of inability to judge oneself and the claim made in ch. 2. on behalf of the spiritual man, who judges all things Self-knowledge is more difficult than revealed truth (Edwards): Psa 19:12.
4. . For (supposing that) I know nothing against myself, Suppose that I am not conscious of any wrong-doing on my part. The Apostle is not stating a fact, but an hypothesis; he was conscious of many faults; yet, even if he were not aware of any, that would not acquit him. Nowhere else in N.T. is the verb used in this sense (see Act 5:2, Act 12:12, Act 14:6): It means to share knowledge, and here to know about oneself what is unknown to others. It expresses conscience in the recording sense. As conscience can condemn more surely than it can acquit, the word, when used absolutely, has more frequently a bad sense, and hence comes to mean to be conscious of guilt: nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa (Hor. Eph 1:1:61) illustrates the same kind of meaning in the Latin equivalent. See on , Rom 2:15. The archaic I know nothing by myself (AV.) has caused the words to be seriously misunderstood. In sixteenth-century English by might mean against, and means against here. Latimer says, Sometimes I say more by him than I am able to prove; this is slandering (i. 518). Jonson, in the Silent Woman, An intelligent woman, if she know by herself the least defect, will be most curious to hide it (4:1), which is close to the use here. T. L. O. Davies (Bible Words, p. 81) gives these and other examples.*
. Nevertheless, not hereby, But yet not in this fact, not therefore. This is frequent in St John, especially in the First Epistle and in connexion with (Joh 13:35; 1Jn 2:3, 1Jn 2:5, 1Jn 2:3:16, 1Jn 2:19, 1Jn 2:24, 1Jn 2:4:2, 1Jn 2:13, 1Jn 2:5:2), but also with other verbs (Joh 15:8, Joh 16:30). The is placed away from its verb with special emphasis; sed non in hoc (Vulg.), non per hoc (Beza). Without difference of meaning, Ignatius (Rom_5) has .
. Am I acquitted. The word is used in a general sense, not in its technical theological sense. To introduce the latter here (Meyer, Beet, etc.) is to miss the drift of the passage, which deals, not with the question as to how man is justified in Gods sight, but with the question as to who is competent to sit in judgment on a mans work or life. St Paul is not dealing with the question of his own personal justification by faith, as though he said I am justified not by this, but in some other way: he is saying in the first person, what would apply equally to any one else, that an unaccusing conscience does not per se mean absence of guilt.
. But he that judgeth me is the Lord, i.e. Christ, as the next verse shows. The goes back to , what intervenes being a parenthesis; not I myself, but our Lord, is the judge.
5. . With the imperative (see on 3:21), So then.
. Cease to pass any judgment, or Make a practice of passing no judgement (pres. imper.). The is a cognate accusative, such as we have in Joh 7:24. As far as I am concerned, you may judge as you please, it is indifferent to me; but, as Christians, you should beware of passing any judgment on any one, until the Judge of all has made all things clear. All anticipation is vain.
. Before the fitting time, or the appointed time, when (6:2). has no exact equivalent in English, French, or German. Cf. Mat 8:29.
. The addition or omission of after in the N.T. is somewhat irregular, and this fact precludes any sure generalization as to particular shades of meaning. In later Greek the force of is weakened, and therefore the difference between its presence and absence is lessened. Here, not the coming, but the time of it, is doubtful; till the Advent, whenever that may be. See Milligan on 2Th 2:7, where there is no , and Edwards here. In Rev 2:25, , it is doubtful whether is fut. indic. or aor. subj. At the Day of Judgment they will take part in judging (6:2, 3), with all the facts before them.
. Who shall both throw light upon, shall illumine, lucem inferet in (Beng.). But the difference between bringing light to and bringing to light is not great. The is probably both, not also; but if also, the meaning is, will come to judge and also will illumine, which is less probable. points to the source of the revelation.
. Abscondita tenebrarum (Vulg.); occulta tenebrarum = res tenebris occultatas (Beza). The genitive may be possessive or characterizing, the hidden things which darkness holds, or the hidden things whose nature is dark. The point is, not that what will be revealed is morally bad, although that may be suggested, but that hitherto they have been quite secret, hidden, it may be, from the persons own conscience.
. Two things are necessary for an unerring judgment of human actions,-a complete knowledge of the facts, and full insight into the motives. These the Lord will apply when He comes; and to attempt to judge men without these indispensable qualifications is futile arrogance. points to the result of the revelation.
. And then, and not till then, the measure of praise that is due will come to each from God. He will have his praise (RV.), what rightly belongs to him, which may be little or none, and will be very different from the praise of partizans here. We have the same thought in 2Co 10:18; Rom 2:29; and Clem. Rom reproduces it, Cor. 30. Compare , 3:14, and , Rom 4:4, and see Hort on 1Pe 1:7, p. 43.
. At the end, with emphasis; the award is final, as intimates; there is not further court of appeal: and it is from God that Christ has authority to judge the world (Joh 5:27). Cf. 2 Esdr. 16:62-65. With compare the fivefold in 3:5-13.
D E F G, Aug. omit the before . D omits the before . The conjecture of for before has no probability of being right. Christ is the (Act 10:42): cf. (Act 17:31): so that the judgments pronounced by Christ are .
4:6-21. Personal Application of the Foregoing Passage (3:5-4:5), and Close of the Subject of the Dissensions
My aim in all this is to correct party-spirit and conceit. Do compare your self-glorification with the humiliations of your teachers. This admonition comes from a father whom you ought to imitate. I really am coming to you. Is it to be in severity or in gentleness?
6 These comments I have modified in form, so as to apply to myself and Apollos, without including others, for you certainly have made party-leaders of him and me. And I have done this for your sakes, not ours, in order that by us as examples you may learn the meaning of the words, Go not beyond what is written; in short, to keep any one of you from speaking boastfully in favour of the one teacher to the disparagement of the other. 7 For, my friend, who gives you the right to prefer one man to another and proclaim Paul and Apollos as leaders? And what ability do you possess that was not given to you by God? You must allow that you had it as a gift from Him. Then why do you boast as if you had the credit of acquiring it? 8 No doubt you Corinthians are already in perfect felicity; already you are quite rich; without waiting for us poor teachers, you have come to your kingdom! And I would to God that you had come to the Kingdom, that we also might be there with you! But we are far from that happy condition. For it seems to me that God has exhibited us His Apostles last of all, as men doomed to death are the last spectacle in a triumphal procession: for a spectacle we are become to the universe, to the whole amphitheatre of angels and men. 10 We poor simpletons go on with the foolishness of preaching Christ, while you in your relation to Him are men of sagacity. We feel our weakness; you are so strong as to stand alone. You have the glory, and we the contempt. 11 Up to this very moment we go hungry, thirsty, and scantily clothed; we get plenty of hard blows and have no proper home; 12 and we have to work hard with our hands to earn our daily bread. Men revile us, and we bless them; they persecute us, and we are patient; they slander us, and we merely deprecate. 13 We have been treated as the scum of the earth, the refuse of society, and are treated so still.
14 I am not writing in this tone to put you to shame: you are my dearly loved children, and I am showing you where you are wrong. 15 For you may have any number of instructors in Christ, yet you have not more than one father: for in Christ Jesus it was I, and no one else, who begat you through the Glad-tidings which I brought you. 16 I have, therefore, the right to beseech you to follow my steps. 17 And because I wish you to follow my example, I have sent Timothy to you; for he also is a child of mine, dearly loved as you are, loyal and trusty in the Lord, and he will bring back to your remembrance the simple and lowly ways which I have as a Christian teacher, not only at Corinth, but everywhere and in every Church. 18 Some of you boastfully declared that my sending Timothy meant that I did not dare to come myself; so they would do as they pleased. 19 But I do mean to come, and that soon, to you, if the Lord pleases; and I will then take cognizance, not of what these inflated boasters say, but of what they can do. Have they any spiritual power? 20 For the Kingdom of God is not a thing of words, but of spiritual power. 21 Which is it to be then? Am I to come to you rod in hand, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
After a brief, plain statement of his purpose (6, 7) in the preceding exposition of the Pastoral Office, the Apostle severely rebukes the inflated glorying of his readers (8-13), and then, in a more tender strain (14-16), but still not without sternness (17-21), explains the mission of Timothy, the precursor of his own intended visit.
6. . Now these things, viz. the whole of the remarks from 3:5 onwards, the introducing the conclusion and application of the whole.
. As in 1:10, 3:1.
. I put differently, transferred by a figure; lit. altered the arrangement (). The Apostle means that he used the names of Apollos and himself to illustrate a principle which might, but for reasons of tact, have been more obviously illustrated by other names. In LXX the verb is found once (4 Mac. 9:22), in N.T. in Paul only; of false apostles fashioning themselves into Apostles of Christ, like Satan fashioning himself into an angel of light (2Co 11:13-15); and of the glorious change of our body of humiliation (Php 3:21). The meaning here is different from both these, and the difference of meaning in the three passages turns upon the implied sense of in each case. See Lightfoot ad loc. and also on Php 2:7 and 3:21; Trench, Syn. lxx.; Hastings, DB. 11. p. 7. In the present passage there seems to be a reference to the rhetorical sense of (= figura) to denote a veiled allusion. The meaning here will be, I have transferred these warnings to myself and Apollos for the purpose of a covert allusion, and that for your sakes, that in our persons you may get instruction. The , therefore, consists in putting forward the names of those not really responsible for the instead of the names of others who were more to blame.*
. May learn in us as an object-lesson, in our case may learn. They could read between the lines.
. The article, as often, has almost the effect of inverted commas; the principle or the lesson- Never go beyond, etc. The maxim is given in an elliptical form without any verb, as in ne sutor ultra crepidam: cf. 5:1, 11:24; 2Pe 2:22. Here, as elsewhere, some texts insert a verb in order to smooth the ellipse. By the Apostle means passages of Scripture such as those which he has quoted, 1:19, 31, 3:19, 20. It is possible that there was a maxim of this kind current among the Jews, like among the Greeks. It is strange that any one should suppose that can refer to what St Paul himself has written or intends to write, or to the commands of our Lord. It was perhaps a Rabbinical maxim.
… This second introduces the consequence expected from , and so the ultimate purpose of , viz. to avoid all sectarian divisions. The proposal to take in the local sense of where, in which case, wobei, may be safely dismissed. Even in class. Grk. this sense of is chiefly poetical, and it is quite out of keeping with N.T. usage and with the context here. It is less easy to be certain whether is the present indicative, which would be very irregular after , or an irregularly contracted subjunctive. Gal 4:17 is the only certain instance in N.T. of with the present indicative; but some of the best editors admit it in Joh 17:3; Tit 2:4; 1Jn 5:20. The double is Pauline; Gal 3:14, Gal 4:5.
The sense is an expansion of glorying in men (3:21): party-spirit, essentially egoist, cries up one leader at the expense of another leader. Some take and not as leaders, but as members, of the respective parties. This is not the probable meaning. To cry up a favourite leader of your own choosing is to betray an inflated self-conceit. See on v. 18. With may be contrasted (1Th 5:11), where the opposite cause and effect are indicated, the union, which results from mutual edification. Here means on behalf of or in favour of. We have a similar use of and in Rom 8:31. See Blass, 45. 2.
For , D 17, Copt. read . ( A B C P 17) is to be preferred to (D E F G L). After , 3 D3 L P, Syrr. Copt. Arm. AV. insert to avoid the elipse: * A B D* E F G, Vulg. RV. omit. Some efitors propose to omit as a marginal gloss. The sentence is intelligible without these words, but a gloss would have taken some other form. The may come from Rom 12:3.
7. ; The introduces a reason why such conceit is out of place; For who sees anything special in you? The verb has a variety of meanings (see Act 15:9 and on in 2:13), and these meanings are linked by the idea of separate in one sense or another: here it means to distinguish favourably from others. Who gives you the right to exalt one and depress another? No one has given you such a right: then do you claim it is an inherent right? Tu, qui amplius to accepisse gloriaris, quis to ab eo qui minus accepit separavit, nisi is qui tibi dedit quod alteri non dedit? (Atto).
. The adds another home-thrust, another searching question. Let us grant that you have some superiority. Is it inherent? You know that you have nothing but what you have received. Your good things were all of them given to you. Origen suggests that the question may mean, Why do you pretend to have a gift which you have not received from God? But he prefers the usual interpretation. The question is a favourite one with Cyril of Alexandria, who quotes it nine times in his commentary on St John.
. But if thou didst receive it. The throws an emphasis on , and represents the insistence on what is fact (2Co 4:3, 2Co 5:16, 2Co 12:11), while represents an assumed possibility; but it is not certain that this distinction always holds good in Paul.
It has been urged that the usual interpretation of as received from God, the Giver of all good gifts is not suitable to the context; and that the Apostle means that such Christian wisdom as the Corinthians possessed was not their own making, but came to them through ministry of their teachers. But, after 3:5-7, 21 (cf. 12:6, 15:10), St Paul would not be likely to make any such claim. The main point is, whatever superiority you may have is not your own product, it was a gift; and St Paul was much more likely to mean that it was Gods gift, than anything derived from himself and Apollos.
The question which he asks strikes deeper than the immediate purpose of this passage. It is memorable in the history of theology for the revolution which it brought about in the doctrine of Grace. In a.d. 396, in the first work which he wrote as a bishop, Augustine, tells us: To solve this question we laboured hard in the cause of the freedom of mans will, but the Grace of God won the day, and he adds that this text was decisive (Retract. II. i. 1; see also De divers. quaest. ad Simplicianum, i.). Ten years before the challenge of Pelagius, the study of St Pauls writings, and especially of this verse and of Rom 9:16, had crystallized in his mind the distinctively Augustinian doctrines of mans total depravity, of irresistible grace, and of absolute predestination.
The fundamental thought here is that the teachers, about whom the Corinthians gloried, were but ministers of what was the gift of God. The boasting temper implied forgetfulness of this fact. It treated the teachers as exhibitors of rhetorical skill, and as ministering to the taste of a critical audience, which was entitled to class the teachers according to the preferences of this or that hearer. here coincides with in 3:5.
8. The Apostle now directly attacks the self-esteem of his readers in atone of grave irony. You may well sit in judgment upon us, from your position of advanced perfection, whence you can watch us struggling painfully to the heights which you have already scaled. Haec verba per ironiam dicta sunt: non enim sunt affirmantis, sed indignantis, et commoti animi. Illos quippe regnare, saturatos et divites factos, in quibus superius diversa vitia et plures errores redarguit (Atto). It spoils the irony of the assumed concession to take the three clauses which follow as questions (WH.). That the three argumentative questions should be followed by three satirical affirmations is full of point. Six consecutive questions would be wearisome and somewhat flat.
, , . The RV. might have given each of the three clauses a note of exclamation. The Vulg. gives one to the last, and it covers the other two. It is evident that the three verbs form a climax, and the last gives the key to the allusion. These highly blessed Corinthians are already in the Kingdom of God, enjoying its banquets, its treasures, and its thrones. The verbs stand for the satisfaction of all desires in the Messianic Kingdom (Luk 22:29, Luk 22:30; 1Th 2:12; 2Ti 2:12). The attitude of the amounted to a claim to be already in possession of all that this Kingdom was to bring. They have got a private millennium of their own. Like the in the two first clauses, is emphatic. Without us, who taught you all that you know of the Gospel, and who are still labouring to enter the Kingdom, you are as Kings in the Kingdom. Without us does not mean without our aid, but without our company. The contrast is between the fancied beatitude of the Corinthians and the actual condition of the Apostles. The Corinthians pose as perfected saints; their teachers are still very far indeed from perfection.*
In and we have a coincidence with the language of the Stoics, as in 3:21. There has parallels in Zeno and Seneca; emittere hanc dei vocem, Haec omnia mea sunt (De Benef. vii. ii. 3). But, whether or no St Paul is consciously using Stoic expressions, there is no resemblance in meaning. The thought of victory over the world by incorporation into Christ is far removed from that of independence of the world through personal . Here again we have the difference between the true and the false .
. In this late Greek this unaugmented second aorist has become a mere particle, an exclamation to express a wish as to what might have happened, but has not, or what might happen, but is not expected. Hence it is followed by the indicative without . In LXX it is often followed by the aorist, as here, especially in the phrase . In 2Co 11:1 and Gal 5:12, as here, the wish has a touch of irony. The emphasizes the wish; As far as my feelings are concerned, would that your imaginary royalty were real, for then our hard lot would be at an end.
. In ironical contrast to . You seem to have arrived at the goal far in front of us poor teachers: indeed I wish that it were so, so that we might hope to follow and share your triumph. The only other place in N.T. in which occurs 2Ti 2:12, where it is used of reigning with Christ.
9. , . For it seems to me, God has set forth us, the Apostles, as last. There is a great pageant in which the Apostles form the ignominious finale, consisting of doomed men, who will have to fight in the arena till they are killed. St Paul is thinking chiefly of himself; but, to avoid the appearance of egoism, he associates himself with other Apostles. Perhaps is used in a technical sense; placed upon the scene, made a show of, exhibited; or, possibly, nominated, proclaimed, as if being doomed men was an office or distinction: cf. (Joseph. Ant. VI. iii. 3). This latter meaning increases the irony of the passage. In 2Th 2:4, seems to be used in this sense.
. The adjective occurs nowhere else in N.T.; but in LXX of Bel and the Dragon 31 it is used of the condemned conspirators who were thrown to the lions, two at a time, daily; . Dionysius of Halicarnassus (A.R. vii. 35), about b.c. 8, uses it of those who were thrown from the Tarpeian rock. Tertullian (De Pudic. 14) translates it here, veluti bestiarios, which is giving it too limited a meaning. Cf. , 15:32. Spectandos proposuit, ut morti addictos (Beza).*
. Seeing that we are become a spectacle; explaining exhibited (or nominated) us as doomed men. Here =: the place of seeing easily comes to be substituted for what is seen there, and also for , as we say the house for the audience or spectators. Cf. , spectaculum facti (Vulg. both there and here), Heb 10:33.
. The intelligent universe, which is immediately specified by the two anarthrous substantives which follow: angels and men make up the to which the Apostles are a spectacle. See on 13:1. It is perhaps true to say that, wherever angels are mentioned in N.T., good angels are always meant, unless something is added in the context to intimate the contrary, as in Mat 24:41; 2Co 12:7; Rev 12:7, Rev 12:9, etc. Godet remarks here that of course les mauvais ne sont pas exclus, and this is also the opinion of Augustine and Herveius. Strangely enough, Atto supposes that St Paul means evil angels only. The Apostle thinks of the as wondering spectators of the vicissitudes of the Church militant here on earth (cf. Eph 3:19; 1Pe 1:12). Origen thinks of them as drawn to the strange sight of a man still clothed in flesh wrestling with principalities and powers, etc.
After , 3 B2 D E L P add : * A B* C D* F G omit.
10. . Est increpatio cum ironia (Herv.). The three antitheses refer respectively to teaching, demeanour, and worldly position. The Apostles were fools on account of Christ (2Co 4:2; Php 3:7), because it was owing to their preaching Christ that the world regarded them as crazy (1:23; Act 26:24). The Corinthians were wise in Christ, because they maintained that as Christians they had great powers of discernment and possessed the true wisdom; in servos, in consortes convenit (Beng.): (Orig.). Cf. 10:15.
, . The order is here inverted, not merely to avoid monotony, but in order to append to the clauses which expand it. Chiasmus is common in these Epistles (3:17, 8:13, 13:2; 2Co 4:3, 2Co 6:8, 2Co 9:6, 2Co 10:12, etc.). is one of the 103 words which are found only in Paul and Luke in N.T. (Hawkins, Hort. Syn. p. 191).
11. . Their is without respite, and is unbroken, up to the moment of writing. This is emphatically restated at the end of v. 13: privation, humiliation, and utter contempt is their continual lot.
. We are scantily clothed; (2Co 11:27). The word generally means to go light-armed (Plut., Dio. Cass.); it occurs nowhere else in N.T. or LXX, Cf. Jam 2:15, where means scantily clad.
. We are buffeted, are struck with the fist. The verb is late, and probably colloquial (1Pe 2:20; Mar 14:65; Mat 26:67). The substantive is said to be Doric = Attic . The verb is possibly chosen rather than (9:26; 2Co 11:20), or (Act 23:2), or (9:26, 27), or (Amo 2:7; Mal 3:5), to mark the treatment of a slave: velut servi; adeo non regnamus (Beng.). Seneca, in the last section of the Apocolocyntosis, says that Caesar successfully claimed a man as his slave after producing witnesses who had seen the man beaten by Caesar flagris, ferulis, colaphis. In 2Co 12:7 the verb is used of the , buffeting the Apostle.
, Are homeless, have not where to lay our head (Mat 8:20; Luk 9:58). The verb occurs nowhere else in N.T. or LXX, but is used by Aquila for in Isa 58:7. It certainly does not mean instabiles sumus (Vulg.), but nusquam habemus sedem (Primasius). The Apostles fiegabantur ab infidelibus de loco in locum (Atto); (Chrys.). Their life had no repose; they were vagrants, and were stigmatized as such.
is accepted by all editors, L alone reading . Gregory, Prolegomena to Tisch., p. 81.
12. . . . Again and again he mentions this (9:6; 2Co 11:7; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8; cf. Act 18:3, Act 20:34). See Knowling on Act 18:3, Deissmann, Light, p. 317, and Ramsay, St Paul, pp. 34-36. He had worked for his own living when he was at Corinth, and he was doing this at Ephesus at the time of writing. He must maintain his independence. Graviter peccat, et libertatem arguendi amittit, qui ab eo aliquid accipit, qui propterea tribuit ne redarguat (Atto). The plural may be rhetorical, but it probably includes other teachers who did the like. Greeks despised manual labour; St Paul glories in it.
, . He is perhaps not definitely alluding to the Lords commands (Mat 5:44; Luk 6:27), but he is under their influence. Here again, Greek prejudice would be against him. In the preliminary induction which Aristotle (Anal. Post. II. xii. 21) makes for the definition of , he asks what it is that such as Achilles, Ajax, and Alcibiades have in common, and answers, . In his full description (Eth. Nic. IV. iii. 17, 30), of the high-minded man, he says that he the contempt of others, and that he is not ; but this is because he is conscious that he never deserves ill, and because he does not care to bear anything, good or ill (and least of all ill), long in mind. Just as the Greek would think that the Apostles working with his own hands stamped him as , so he would regard his manner of receiving abuse and injury as fatal to his being accounted ; he must be an abject person.
13. . In 1 Mac. 7:41 the verb is used of the insults of Rabshakeh as the envoy of Sennacherib, but it is not found elsewhere in N.T.
. We deprecate, obsecramur (Vulg.). The verb is very frequent in N.T., with many shades of meaning, radiating from the idea of calling to ones side in order to speak privately, to gain support. Hence such meanings as exhort. entreat, instruct, comfort. Exhort is certainly not the meaning here, as if insulting language was requited with a sermon; yet Origen and Basil seem to take it so. To give the soft answer that turns away wrath (Pro 15:1) may be right, but it is not a common meaning of . Tyndale and other early versions have we pray, which again is not the meaning, if pray means pray to God.*
. The uncompounded is more common in both the senses which the two forms of the word have in common. These are (1) sweepings, rubbish, and, (2) as in Pro 21:18, scapegoats, i.e. victims, piacula, lustramina, used as expiationis pretium, to avert the wrath of the gods. At Athens, in times of plague or similar visitations, certain outcasts were flung into the sea with the formula, (Suidas), to expiate the pollution of the community. These were worthless persons, and hence the close connexion between the two meanings. Demosthenes, in the De Corona, addresses Aeschines, , as a term of the deepest insult. It is not quite certain which of the two meanings is right here; nor does the coupling with settle the matter, for that word also is used in two similar senses. Godet distinguishes the two words by saying that are the dust that is swept up from a floor and the dirt that is rubbed or scraped off an object. Neither word occurs elsewhere in N.T. On the whole, it is probable that neither word has here the meaning of scapegoat or ransom (): and in Tobit 5:18 is probably refuse (AV., RV.). See Lightfoot on (Ign. Eph. 8), and Heinichen on Eus. HE. VII. xxii. 7, Melet. XV. p. 710, who shows that in the third century had become a term of formal compliment, your humble and devoted servant. See Ep. Barn. 4, 6.
. Whatever the meaning of the two words, these genitives give them the widest sweep, and is neuter (AV., RV.), unless the meaning of scapegoat is given to .
(* A C P 17) rather than ( B D E F G L). The internal evidence turns the scale. It is more probable that the unusual . would be changed to the common . than vice versa.
14. . The severity of tone ends as abruptly as it began (v. 8). Aspera blandis mitigat, ut salutaris medicus. These sudden changes of tone are much more common in Paul than in other N.T. writers. The section that follows (14-21), with its mingled tenderness and sternness-both alike truly paternal, forms a worthy colophon to the whole discussion of the . The root-meaning of is perhaps to turn in, and so to make a person hang his head, as a sign, either of reverence (Mat 21:37; Luk 18:2, Luk 18:4; Heb 12:9) or of shame, as here (cf. , 6:5, 15:34). In these senses it is frequent in late writers, in LXX, and in Paul. The participle expresses the spirit in which the Apostle writes; not as shaming you, not as making you abashed. What he had written might well make them hang their heads, but to effect that was not his purpose in writing; he wrote to bring home to their hearts a solemn fatherly warning.
. The duty of a parent, as appears from Eph 6:4.* Excepting in a speech of St Paul (Act 20:31), and do not occur in N.T. outside the Epistles of St Paul, and they cover all four groups. to put in mind, has always a touch of sternness, if not of blame; to admonish, or warn. We have (Aesch. Pr. 264), and (Aristoph. Vesp 254). Plato (Gorg. 479 a) combines it with . See Abbott on Eph 6:4 and Col 1:28.
( A C P 17, RV.) rather than (B D E F G L, Vulg. AV.); but the evidence is not decisive. Lachm. and Treg. prefer .
15. . The reason for his taking on himself this duty; If, as time goes on, ye should have in turn an indefinite number of tutors in Christ, yet ye will never have had but one father. The conditional clause, with a pres. subjunct. and , in the protasis implies futurity as regards the apodosis. As there is but one planting and one laying of the foundation-stone (3:6, 10), so the child can have but one father.
. The words are closely connected. Without to qualify it, would have been too abrupt, if not too disparaging. There is no hint that they have already had too many. The (Gal 3:24) was not a teacher, but the trusty slave who acted as tutor or guardian and escorted them to and from school, and in general took care of those whom the father had begotten. He might be more capable, and even more affectionate, than the father, but he could never become father. The frequent gives the ideal sphere of action (Ellicott).*
. Still (8:7) not many fathers. The verb to be understood must be future, for the possibility of of is future: however many these may be, yet ye will not have (or, have had) many fathers.
. The whole process, first and last, is . That was the sphere, while the Gospel was the means ( .). The two pronouns, , are in emphatic proximity; whoever may have been the parent of other Churches, it was I who in Christ begat you. The thought is that of (3:6) and of (3:10), while the are those who water the plant, or build the superstructure.
16. . Therefore, as having the right to do so, I call upon my children to take after their father. Si fili estis, debitum honorem debetis impendere patri, et imitatores existere (Atto). Cf. 1Th 1:6, 1Th 1:7, 1Th 1:2:7, 11.
. Show yourselves imitators of me; by your conduct prove your parentage. Here and 11:1 (see note there), imitators rather than followers (AV.). The context shows the special points of assimilation, viz. humility and self-sacrifice (vv. 10-13). In Php 3:17 we have . The charge is not given in a spirit of self-confidence. He has received the charge to lead them, and he is bound to set an example for them to follow, but he takes no credit for the pattern (11:1).
17. . Because I desire you to prove imitators of me, I sent Timothy, a real son of mine in the Lord, to allay the contrary spirit among you. Timothy had probably already left Ephesus Act 19:22), but was at work in Macedonia, and would arrive at Corinth later than this letter (Hastings, DB. I. P. 483). It is not stated in Acts that Corinth was Timothys ultimate destination, but we are told that the Corinthian Erastus (Rom 16:23) was his companion on the mission. It is not clear whether is the ordinary aorist, I sent or have sent, or the epistolary aorist, I send. Deissmann, Light, p. 157.
. Child in the same sense as (v. 15). St Paul had converted him (Act 16:1), on his visit to Lystra (Act 14:7 cf. 1Ti 1:2, 1Ti 1:18; 2Ti 1:2). This Was fittingly sent to remind children who were equally beloved, but were not equally faithful, of their duties towards the Apostle who was the parent of both. The first gives the relation of Timothy to the Apostle, the second his relation to the Corinthians; (2Co 1:1) gives his relation to all Christians. His sparing this beloved child was proof of his love for them; 1Th 3:1, 1Th 3:2.
. (orig.). They had forgotten much of what St Paul had taught them in person (15:2).
. The real Apostle had been superseded in their imagination by an imaginary Paul, the leader of a party. His ways are indicated 1:17, 2:1-5, 4:11-13, 9:15, 22, 27.
. Exactly as everywhere in every Church. There is a general consistency in the Apostles teaching, and Timothy will not impose any special demands upon the Corinthians, but will only bring them into line with what St Paul teaches everywhere. This is one of several passages which remind the Corinthians that they are only members of a much greater whole (see on 1:2). They are not the whole Church, and they are not the most perfect members. On the other hand, no more is required of them than is required of other Christians.
After , A P 17 add :* B C D E F G L omit. ( A B C P 17) rather than (D E F G L). After , D* F G add : A B D 3 E L P omit.
18. . Some of them boastfully gave out; Timothy is coming to his place; Paul himself will not come. The marks the contrast between this false report and the true purpose of Timothys mission.
. Vitium Corinthiis frequens, inflatio (Beng.); v. 6, 19, 5:2, 8:1.* The tense is the natural one to use, for St Paul is speaking of definite facts that had been reported to him. He cannot use the present tense, for he is ignorant of the state of things at the time of writing. But by using the aorist he does not imply that the evil is a thing of the past, and therefore are puffed up (AV., RV.), inflati sunt (Vulg.), may be justified. There is nothing to show whether he knew who the were (cf. 15:12; Gal 1:7). Origen suggests that does not mention any one, because he foresaw that the offenders would repent, and there was therefore no need to expose them. They are probably connected with the more definite and acrimonious opponents of 2Co 10:1, 2Co 10:7, 2Co 10:10, 2Co 10:11:4, where a leader, who is not in view in this Epistle, has come on the scene.
19. . He intends remaining at Ephesus till Pentecost (16:8). His plans, and changes of plan, and the charges made against him about his proposed visit, are discussed in 2Co 1:15, 2Co 1:16, 2Co 1:23.
. A solemn touch; cf. 16:7; Jam 4:15. It is impossible, and not very important, to decide whether means our Lord or the Father. Our Lord has just been mentioned; on the other hand, in connexion with or , God is commonly meant. We have a similar doubt 1Th 3:12.
. . . Their words I shall ignore; they proceed from persons whose heads are turned with conceit; but their power I shall put to the proof. This, as Godet remarks, is the language of a judge who is about to conduct a trial. The power certainly does not mean that of working miracles (Chrys.); but rather that of winning men over to a Christian life. In 2:4, 5 we had the antithesis between and in a different form.
For , L has : some cursives and Origen support the reading, but no editors adopt it. Before these words F inserts .
20. . . This expression has three meanings in the Pauline Epistles: (1) the future Kingdom of God, when God is all in all (15:28); akin to this (2) the mediatorial reign of Christ, which is the Kingdom of God in process of development; and so, as here (and see Rom 14:17), we have (3) the inward reality which underlies the external life, activities, and institutions of the Church, in and through which the Kingdom of Christ is realizing itself. In the externals of Church life, word counts for something, but power alone is of account in the sight of God.* By power is meant spiritual power: see on 2:5.
21. . Exactly as in 1Sa 17:43, ; and 2Sa 7:14, : where the means accompanied by or provided with. Cf. Heb 9:25, . To lift up his hand with a sling-stone, (Ecclus. 47:5). Abbott (Johan. Gr. 2332) gives examples from papyri. The idea of environment easily passes into that of equipment. Cf. Stat. Theb. iv.221, Gravi metuendus in hasta; and Ennius, levesque sequunfur in hasta. The rod is that of spiritual rebuke and discipline; cf. (2Co 13:3). It is strange that any one should contend, even for controversial purposes, such as defence of the temporal power, that a literal rod is meant. But cf. Tarquini, Juris eccles. inst. p. 41, 19th ed. An allusion to the lictors rod is not likely.*
. Deliberative subjunctive; Am I to come? It is possible to make the verb dependent upon , but it is more forcible to keep it independent (AV., RV.). Cf. ; (Rom 6:1).
. The preposition here is inevitably , and it was probably the antithesis with that led to the expression here, just as the bear-skin led to Virgils Horridus in jaculis, the rest of the line being et pelle Libystidis ursae (Aen. v.37).
. Either the Spirit of meekness, i.e. the Holy Spirit, manifested in one of His special gifts or fruits (Gal 5:23), or a spirit of meekness, i.e. a disposition of that character (cf. 2Co 4:13). The latter would be inspired by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:5). The absence of the article is in favour of the latter here. Contrast (Joh 14:17, Joh 16:13) with (Eph 1:17), and see J.A. Robinson, Ephesians, pp. 38, 39, and the note on (Rom 1:4). Had the Apostle meant the Holy Spirit, he would probably have written . . By is meant the opposite of harshness or rudeness. Trench, Syn. xlii., xliii., xcii.; Westcott on Eph 4:2.
(A B C 17) rather than ( D E F G P). In Gal 5:23, joins A B C in favour of . In Eph 4:2, B C 17 support , in 2Co 10:1, B F G P 17 do so, in Col 3:12, A B C P 17. Lachmann, following Oecumenius and Calvin, makes 4:21 the beginning of a new paragraph: it is a sharp, decisive dismissal of the subject of the .
* St Paul is probably not thinking of the derivation; Christ is the pilot; we are rowers under Him. By he may mean not of any earthly master.
* Chadwick, The Pastoral Teaching of St Paul, p. 164 f. He does not say be judged trustworthy, but be found actually to be so. In 1Pe 4:10 every Christian is a steward.
(Fourth century.) The Sinaitic MS., now at St Petersburg, the only MS. containing the whole N.T.
A A (Fifth century.) The Codex Alexandrinus; now at the British Museum.
B B (Fourth century.) The Vatican MS.
C C (Fifth century). The Codex Ephraem, a Palimpsest; now at Paris. Lacks 7:18 -9:6 : 13:8 -14:40 .
D D (Sixth century.) Codex Clarmontanus; now at Paris. A Graeco-Latin MS. 14:13 -22 is supplied by a later but ancient hand. Many subsequent hands (sixth to ninth centuries) have corrected the MS. (See Gregory, Prolegomena , pp. 418-422).
F F (Late ninth century). Codex Augiensis (from Reichenau); now at Trin. Coll. Cambr. Probably a copy of G in any case, secondary to G, from which it very rarely varies (see Gregory, p. 429).
G G (Late ninth century). Codex Boernerianus; at Dresden. Interlined with the Latin (in minluscules). Lacks 1Co 3:8-16, 1Co 6:7-14 (F).
P P (Ninth century). Porfirianus Chiovensis. A palimpsest acquired in the East by Porphyrius Bishop of Kiew. Lacks 7:15 -17 : 12:23 -13:5 -: 14:23 . A good type of text in St Pauls Epistles.
17 17. (Ev. 33, Act_13. Ninth century.) At Paris (Nat. Gr. 14). See Westcott and Hort., Introd. 211, 212.
e e The Latin text of E
E E (Ninth century). At Petrograd. A copy of D, and unimportant
L L (Ninth century). Codex Angelicus; At Rome.
d d The Latin text of D
f f The Latin text of F
g g The Latin text of G
* Aesch. in Ctes. p. 587; , , where means the time of the trial.
We might have expected , but the meaning is clear. He does not base his refusal to pass judgment on himself on the difficulty of being impartial. Such a judgment, however impartial and just, could not be final, and therefore would be futile.
* The use is perhaps not yet extinct in Yorkshire. I know nothing by him might still be heard for I know nothing against him.
* That there was no jealousy or rivalry between St Paul and Apollos is clear from 3:6, 8-10, 16:12. It is possible that it was the factious conduct of his partizans that drove Apollos from Corinth (Renan, S. Paul, p. 375).
Rudolf Steck would refer this to Rom 12:3; an extraordinary conjecture.
* Chrysostom points out that piety is insatiable. A Christian can never be satisfied with his condition; and for those who were as yet scarcely beginners to suppose that they had reached the end, was childish. Bachmann quotes the well-known Logion preserved by Clement of Alexandria (704 ed. Potter, and found in a somewhat different form in Oxyrhynchsu papyri: , , , . See Deissmann, Light, p. xiii.
* The Epistle contains a number of illustrations taken from heathen life; here and 7:31, the theatre; the idol-feasts, 8:10, 10:20; racing and boxing in the games, with a crown as a prize, 9:24-27; the syssitia, 10:27; the fighting with wild beasts, 15:32.
* Plato (Crito 49) puts into the mouth of Socrates; We ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to any one, whatever evil we may have suffered from him Warding off evil by evil is never right. But returning good for evil goes far beyond that.
Tertullian and the Vulgate transliterate, peripsema; Beza has sordes, Luther Fegopfer (Auswurf).
* Cf. (Wisd. 11:10), and (Pss. Sol. 13:8). Excepting Timothy (v. 17; 2Ti 1:2), St Paul nowhere else calls any one . Spiritualis paternitas singutarem necessitudinem et affectionem conjunctam habet, prae omni alia propinquitate (Beng.).
See Ramsay, Galatians, p. 383; Smith, Dict. of Ant. ii. p. 307. The same usage is found in papyri.
* Findlay quotes Sanhedrin, f. xix 2; Whoever teachers the son of his friend the Law, it is as if he had begotten him.
See Deissmann, Dis neutestamentliche Formel in Christo Jesu.
* The verb is peculiar to Paul in N.T., and (excepting Col 2:18) is peculiar to this Epistle.
* See Regnum Dei, the Bampton Lectures for 1901, pp. 47-61, in which St Pauls views of the Kingdom are examined in detail.
* This has been suggested by Dr. E. Hicks, Roman Law in the N.T. p. 182. But the rod as a metaphor for correction is common enough (Job 9:34, Job 9:21:9; Psa 89:32; Isa 10:5, etc.).
Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament
Stewards Responsible to Their Lord
1Co 4:1-13
At the most the ministers or teachers of Gods Gospel are but stewards of the hidden things of God, according to Mat 13:51-52. They ought not to attract attention to themselves or to the way they purvey their Masters goods. Their prime object is to be faithful to their trust; to make much of the Master and as little as possible of themselves. Paul was not aware that he had violated his Masters confidence, but he could not be content till he had heard the Masters verdict on his life-work. Notice the four courts of appeal-my own judgment, your judgment, mans judgment, and Christs. The Master will reverse many human judgments, but all will bear witness to the absolute justice of His verdict.
In vivid words the Apostle shows how great was the difference between the ease and self-satisfaction of the Corinthian church and the sorry plight to which he and his fellow-workers were often reduced. Many regarded them as the captives in a conquerors triumphal procession, who behind the triumphal car were being-marched to death. But it mattered little to them so long as Christ was adored, loved, glorified, and His Kingdom advanced.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Lecture 10
Stewards of the Divine Mysteries
1Co 4:1-5
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (vv. 1-5)
These words follow very naturally on what we have been looking at in the third chapter. The apostle has been seeking to put the servants of Christ in their right place before the minds of the saints in Corinth. There had been a tendency to factionalism and sectionalism, they were exalting certain leaders, and rallying round them, instead of recognizing that these leaders, evangelists, pastors, teachers, were simply God-given servants for the blessing of the whole church. These servants of Christ are Gods gift to the church for the blessing of the whole, whether Paul, the teacher, or Apollos, the eloquent preacher, or Cephas, the stirring exhorter. God has given all to His people for their blessing.
Now he turns to consider the responsibility of the servants of Christ and says, Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. We are inclined to go to one extreme or the other, either to laud and praise and overestimate the ability and character of Gods servants, or else on the other hand to set them at naught and disdain the instruction and help God intended them to give. He would have us take the middle course, not to foolishly flatter His servants but to recognize that we have a great responsibility toward them as they seek to fulfill their responsibility toward us. They watch for our souls as those who must give account, and we are not to be angry or indignant if they have serious things to say to us at times concerning worldliness, carelessness, and carnality. We are rather to judge ourselves in the light of the Word of God, that they bring to us, for they are ministers of Christ. He does not use the ordinary word for servant which we find so frequently in his epistles, that is, bond-servant, but here it is a word that has the thought of an official minister. They have been specially appointed to this particular service as ministers of Christ.
Notice, Paul links up with himself not only Cephas who was an apostle, but Apollos who was not. Apollos, that eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, who first went forth preaching the baptism of John, who was not above being instructed by a godly woman and her husband, Priscilla and Aquila, and went forth to preach the gospel with greater liberty and power when he learned it more fully. He says, Do not put us on pedestals, do not form parties around us, but, Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ. We are sent with a commission from the Most High, sent to sound forth His Word, and we are responsible to do it faithfully. We are stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward is one to whom certain things are committed which he is to use for the benefit of others. God has committed His truth to us. Writing to Timothy, Paul says, That good [deposit] which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us (2Ti 1:14). And he was responsible to proclaim it faithfully.
We then are stewards of the divine mysteries. We have seen that the New Testament mysteries are not abstruse truths difficult to apprehend, but sacred secrets that had not been known in previous ages. In Deu 29:29 we hear Moses speaking to the people of Israel on the plains of Moab, just before they went over the Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land. He says: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God. But when our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, He uttered things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the world, and before He left His apostles He said: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come (Joh 16:12-13). And so the present truth revealed by the Holy Spirit in our dispensation constitutes the mysteries, the sacred secrets, that the servants of God are now to make known. What are some of them?
We have the mystery of the gospel. And what is that? It is that grand, wondrous truth that the mind of man would never have ferreted out if God had not revealed it, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them (2Co 5:19). It is that Christ upon the cross died to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; that having been delivered for our offences, He has been raised again for our justification; and now in resurrection life He sends the message out into all the world that he that believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This is Gods great secret. Man never would have thought of it. I know that the gospel is from God for I am somewhat familiar with almost all the different religious systems that are prevalent in the world, and apart from that which is revealed in this Book not one of them ever intimates that God Himself should provide a righteousness for sinful man. They all demand a righteousness from man, but they simply point out different ways by which men are supposed to work out for themselves a righteousness that will make them fit for God. In the gospel alone we have the mystery explained how righteousness is provided for men who never could obtain it themselves. Our Lord Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom, even righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and we are stewards of this great mystery.
Then we notice the mystery of godliness or piety, the great mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus, God and Man here on earth in one Person. That is beyond human intelligence. We read, No man knoweth the Son but the Father. It is utterly impossible for men to understand the union of deity and humanity, and yet this mystery is plain to him that believeth. We simply accept the revelation that God has given and all questioning is at an end. People talk about the problem of Christ. Christ is not a problem, He is the key to every problem. Everything else is made plain when we know Christ in whom dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul opens up the great mystery of Christ and the church, set forth in two characters under the figure of a body and its head and that of a bride and a bridegroom. The Lord Jesus Christ glorified is the Head of the body, and every believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit is a member of that body and becomes thus the fullness of Him that fills all in all. In the other beautiful picture we are told that He who made them in the beginning made them male and female, and we read, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Gen 2:24). Paul says in speaking about the marriage relationship, This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church (Eph 5:32).
Linked with this we have the mystery of the rapture; and that of the olive tree, Israels present rejection and future regeneration. These various mysteries are the revelation to us of things kept secret from the foundation of the world. How few who take the place of being ministers of Christ ever unfold these mysteries, and yet this is the responsibility put upon Christs servants.
It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. The business of a steward is not to electrify people by his eloquent sermons, not to dazzle them by his wonderful ability, not to please them by flowers of rhetoric, not to so speak that he will simply be to them as a lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument (Eze 33:32), as was said of Ezekiel, but the business of a servant of Christ is to open up the truth of God, to unfold, to expound, to make known these mysteries in order that the people of God may appreciate the heritage that He has given them in the Word. In fulfilling this ministry, the servant of Christ may be open to criticism, but that is a small thing. The apostle says, With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. In other words, as long as I am faithful in opening up the Word of God I am not concerned whether my sermons particularly appeal to you or not; as long as I know that I am pleasing Him that sent me I am not greatly concerned if I displease you. These Corinthians appreciated eloquence, oratory, and other special gifts, and they said of the apostle Paul, Why, his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. But he could say, Well, that doesnt trouble me at all. Did I give you Gods truth? That is what I am concerned about. Your appraisal does not concern me in the least. It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment, or, as the margin puts it, mans day. That is the entire period of time lasting from the rejection of Christ until He comes back again, while God is letting men try out one scheme after another to see what they can make of a world out of which they have cast the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yea, I judge not mine own self. I do not attempt to appraise my own service, I have no right to say, Well, I think I did pretty well today; that was an excellent address. That may be simply the pride of the natural heart. On the other hand I am not to go into a funk and throw myself down under a juniper tree, and say, It was all a failure; I certainly did make a mess of things. No servant of God is capable of appraising his own service. That which he might think to be excellent may be so much wasted time. That which he thinks wasted time may have just the message for the moment.
Then we read, I know nothing by myself. It is really, I know nothing against myself. I am not conscious of anything in my ministry of a harmful character. Yet am I not hereby justified, for I may be blundering even when I do not realize it. But he that [appraiseth] me is the Lord. He appraiseth everything rightly in accordance with His own holy Word.
He then warns the saints against attempting to get upon the judgment seat. It is not our place. Therefore judge nothing before the time. What time? The time when the Lord shall come. We have seen that when He returns He is going to carefully examine all the service of His people. He will separate the precious from the vile, He will distinguish between the gold, silver, and precious stones, and the wood, hay, and stubble. He will pronounce correct judgment upon the labors of His ministers. You and I cannot do that now, and it is better for us just to wait.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. You see, that is what you and I cannot do; we can hear what comes from the lips or note the actions, but we do not know the hidden springs behind all this. But when the Lord Jesus examines all our labor, He will bring everything to light, all the hidden things of darkness. Yes, if there was envy and jealousy and pride and carnality, He will drag it all out into the light, and many a sermon that sounded very beautiful, that was almost perfect as a piece of oratory, will be shown to be utterly spoiled in that day by the pride that was behind it. He will bring out all these hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. He will show where there was earnest preaching to glorify Him, even though the speech was faltering and the expressions used were not all they should have been. He looks upon the heart, not merely the outward appearance.
Then observe, he says: Then shall every man, and he is speaking of believers, have praise of God. But some people say, Oh, dear, I can do so little and do not seem to have any gifts. I am afraid there wont be anything the Lord can reward me for in that day. If you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling in you, and in that coming day it will be made manifest that every Christian has accomplished something for God for which he can be rewarded.
At the close of a meeting a brother said to me, Didnt you go a little strong there? I said, No, I do not think I did. Well, he said, think of the dying thief, that man was saved just as he hung by the side of Christ; what opportunity did he have to do anything for which to get a reward? Why, my dear brother, I said, think of the dying thief again. There he hung nailed to a cross, he could not move a hand nor a foot, but he recognized in the Man on the central cross the coming King of the ages and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, and he turned to his fellow and rebuked him and bore witness to the perfection of Christ and said, We suffer justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done nothing amiss (Luk 23:41). At the judgment seat of Christ I think I see that redeemed man coming before his Lord, and he says to himself as he comes, I was saved only a few minutes before my Savior died, and I have had no opportunity to serve Him, to witness for Him, I cannot expect any reward. And then I think I hear my Lord say, Every one present who was converted through some sermon you heard about the dying thief, come here, and I imagine I see them coming until there are thousands and thousands of them, and I see my blessed Lord turn to that man and say, I want to give you this crown of rejoicing for all these souls that you have helped to win to a knowledge of My salvation. Do you not see it? Then shall every man have praise of God.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
1Co 4:1
I. Consider what is really meant by speaking of human work as a “ministry of God.” The conception of a ministry of God underlies our whole system of thought and expression, cropping out again and again in forms, the meaning of which is half forgotten. But seldom, perhaps, we realise that it is, after all, the only conception which makes it worth while to act or to live. The belief that man’s action is a ministry of God is the one to which we must come at last, because the only one which explains all the facts and answers all the needs of our complex life.
II. The advent of Christ in great humility is, indeed, the charter of God’s infinite love; but it is also the charter of man’s inalienable dignity. Think how the first great mystery of the Incarnation shows us the almost inconceivable truth that in the regeneration of mankind to spiritual life even God’s almighty power needed the co-operation of humanity. Think how the revelation of the Son of man at every point showed that the working of the human will with the Divine was of the essence of the actual work of salvation. From the day of Pentecost to the present time is it not through human agency that He is pleased to work? The very call to propagate His gospel implies the truth that we can be-that we must be-ministers of Christ. Mere ministers, I know, bound simply to do His will and leave the issues to Him; but still truly His ministers, each with a real work to do, which by him only is to be done.
III. “Stewards of the mysteries of God.” This is a title of dignity, not of humility. We have to make use of, in some sense to sway, mysterious powers of God. “It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful.” It is to be faithful in perfect trustfulness, faithful in unswerving obedience, faithful in unselfish devotion, faithful in unsullied truth. God grant that we be found so faithful in the great day.
Bishop Barry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 49.
1Co 4:1
I. What is the meaning of the word “mystery” in the New Testament? It is used to describe not a fancy, not a contradiction, not an impossibility, but always a truth, yet a truth which has been or which is more or less hidden. A mystery is a truth, a fact. The word is never applied to anything else or less; never to a fancy, never to an impossibility, never to a recognised contradiction, never to any shadowy sort of unreality. But it is a partially hidden fact or truth. Truths are of two kinds, both of them truths, and, as such, equally certain; but they differ in that they are differently apprehended by us. There are some truths on which the mind’s eye rests directly, just as the bodily eye rests on the sun in a cloudless sky; and there are other truths of the reality of which the mind is assured by seeing something else which satisfies it that they are there, just as the bodily eye sees the strong ray which pours forth in a stream of brilliancy from behind the cloud and reports to the understanding that if only the cloud were to be removed the sun would itself be seen. Now, mysteries in religion, as we commonly use the word, are of this description; we see enough to know that there is more which we do not see, and while in this state of existence we shall not directly see, we see the ray which implies the sun behind the cloud. And thus to look upon the apparent truth, which certainly implies truth that is not apparent, is to be in the presence of mystery.
II. Science does not exorcise mystery out of nature; it only removes its frontier, in most cases, a step farther back. Those who know most of nature are most impressed, not by the facts which they can explain and reason on, but by the facts which they cannot explain and which they know to lie beyond the range of explanation. And the mysterious creed of Christendom corresponds with nature. After all, we may dislike and resent mystery in our lower and captious, as distinct from better and thoughtful moods; but we know on reflection that it is the inevitable robe of a real revelation of the Infinite Being, and that if the great truths and ordinances of Christianity shade off as they do into regions where we cannot hope to follow them, this is only what was to be expected if Christianity is what it claims to be.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1152.
I. What were the distinctive functions of the Christian ministry? To gain a satisfactory answer to this question we must in all honesty consult the New Testament itself as to the primitive idea of the ministry and the terms used to describe its office, and not allow ourselves to be entangled in the technical phraseology which a later theology, not always adhering to the primitive idea, but overlaying it by false analogies, and subsequently by ambitious assumptions of lordship over God’s heritage, introduced. Approaching the question, then, in the first instance from the negative side, we may ascertain that the books of the New Testament distinctly abstain from employing for the new ministry of the Christian Church the language which had been used to describe the ministers of religion of the Mosaic system. Christian ministers are never in the New Testament called priests ()-that is, if we are to adopt the definition given by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, “persons taken from among men, ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that they may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” The term , or sacrificial offerer, is repeatedly employed of the heathen priests and of the Jewish priests, but never of Christian officers. Wherever the idea of priesthood in its sense of is recognised as having place in the Christian Church, it is applied to all Christian people and not to the authorised officers specially. Jesus Christ has made them all kings and priests to God and His Father. All form a spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ-these spiritual sacrifices are prayers, praises, thanksgivings, or on another side they are “ourselves, our souls and bodies,” the rational not material offering, and the whole congregation of Christian people have a full right, as well as a bounden duty, to offer these.
II. The determination of the negative side of the Scriptural doctrine of the ministry enables us to proceed with advantage to the positive side. And there we find ourselves almost embarrassed by the multitude of terms which are used as descriptive of ministerial functions. They who are in a position of authority over their brethren are called messengers, ambassadors, shepherds, teachers, preachers of the word, rulers, overseers, ministers, stewards. Each term represents some varying aspect of the Christian officers, and suggests to them corresponding duties. The central idea of the Christian ministry appears to be the proclamation of the word of the gospel with all its vivifying and manifold applications to the intellects and hearts and consciences of men rather than an administration of an external ceremonial and ritual. It is a high spiritual and moral mission from Christ with which the ordained officers of the Church are charged. To keep alive the belief of one supreme God, the Maker and Upholder and Final Cause of the universe, amidst the sensualism and materialism of a complex civilisation, to evoke the sentiments of love and trust and worship towards Him, to hold up Jesus Christ His only Son as the fullest revelation in human form of the Almighty Father, to unfold the mysteries of His incarnation, the abiding results of His life and ministry and passion and resurrection, to bid men imitate, so far as in their frailty they can, the matchless ideal of goodness and justice and purity and charity exhibited in Him, to proclaim the brotherhood of all men in Him the world’s Redeemer, to point men to Him as the Deliverer from sin and the Consoler of suffering, to help their brethren to live the Christian life by example and precept and doctrine,-this is the glorious function of the Christian ministry.
W. Ince, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Jan. 31st, 1878.
References: 1Co 4:1.-J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p 238; G. Moberly, Plain Sermons at Brighstone, p. 123; A. Barry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 49; H. P. Liddon, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 385; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 150. 1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 80; vol. v., pp. 271, 272; Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times,” vol. i., p. 303. 1Co 4:1-6.-F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 54. 1Co 4:2.-C. Garrett, Loving Counsels, p. 1.
1Co 4:3
The judgment of our fellow-creatures upon our acts and our characters is, practically speaking, an inevitable accompaniment of human life.
I. Human judgments keep order in the world of thought and in the world of conduct-a certain sort of order, at any rate. (1) They do not, for instance, go far wrong when they are brought face to face with a great public crime which, as being such, is patent, whether to the natural or to Christian conscience. Take, for instance, such crimes as the massacre of St. Bartholomew, or the massacre in Glencoe. At the present day no writer of character, of any persuasion, or in any country, would venture to defend these acts. By the light of the natural conscience of man, by the light of the principles of the gospel of Christ, they are condemned irrevocably. (2) Again, the common judgment of man does not err when it pronounces upon the more personal acts of an individual, supposing them to be well attested. The betrayal of our Lord by Judas is an act upon the character of which all men can pronounce a judgment. An ingenious writer of the last generation tried to show that Judas was not so bad after all. The conscience of man listens for a moment to these ingenious audacities. It listens; perhaps it is indignant; perhaps it smiles; it passes on; it forgets them. (3) Once more, the judgment of man ventures, at times, a step farther-to pronounce with reserves upon character. These judgments are uncertain, tentative, and partial.
II. St. Paul has more reasons than one for treating the conclusions of the Corinthians as a very small thing. (1) The Corinthian judgment about him was like a portrait painter’s sketch at a first sitting. They had not yet had time to learn what a longer acquaintance might have taught them. (2) This estimate was a strangely biassed one. What they called a judgment was, in reality, a formulated prejudice. (3) The Corinthians were passing judgment on a point which they had no real means of investigating. (4) St. Paul did not feel or affect indifference to the question whether he was or was not faithful. In matters of the soul he would go straight to the fountain of absolute justice. “He that judgeth me is the Lord.” The knowledge that that judgment was going on day by day-the knowledge that it would be proclaimed from heaven here-after-relieved him of all anxiety whatever as to the opinion which might be pronounced on him at Corinth. “With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment.”
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 995.
Reference: 1Co 4:3.-J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 190.
1Co 4:3-4
The Christian’s Relation to Public Opinion .
Note:-
I. That St. Paul was judged unfavourably at this time at the bar of the public opinion of the church of Corinth. The expression “public opinion” describes the common fund of thought which belongs to a larger or smaller number of associated human beings. Every village, every town, every city, has its public opinion-its own characteristic way of dealing with people and things about it. And, as earthly societies, churches have a public opinion of their own, first created by their members, and which, in turn, controls them. And this public church opinion is by no means certain to be always and everywhere just. St. Paul stood face to face with a section of this opinion at Corinth when he wrote: “With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment.
II. St. Paul is not at pains to conceal his perfect independence of the hostile opinion of the Corinthians. Not that we can suppose him to have taken any pleasure either in feeling or in proclaiming this independence, for he was a man of quick sympathy, rejoicing if he could be sure of the love of his converts, and not caring to conceal how much they could do to promote or to mar his personal happiness. But, as matters stood, he brushed aside a whole world of inward feeling to say that he was unconcerned as to their judgment upon his apostolical faithfulness. “With me,” he said, “it is a small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment.”
III. Notice what was the consideration which sustained St. Paul in his conscious opposition to the opinion of the Corinthian Christians. He spoke as from a higher atmosphere, which was already moving him out of the reach of these human voices. He spoke as from the vestibule of a Divine presence-chamber. Just so far as a man is loyal to known truth and known duty, does he assert his manhood; and not in petulance or in scorn, not in indifference or in anger, he is thereby raised though he be raised upon a cross-raised above the opinion of the world. It is a small thing that he is judged unfavourably by it, because in that higher presence he dares not judge himself at all, and yet he believes his intentions to be accepted by the justice and the charity of his God.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 855.
References: 1Co 4:3, 1Co 4:4.-T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 155; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 272. 1Co 4:4.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 258. 1Co 4:5.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vii., p. 285; J. W. Reeve, Penny Pulpit, No. 3271. 1Co 4:7.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 262; vol. xxii., No. 1271; vol. xxiv., No. 1392; T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 168; H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 18. 1Co 4:7-21.-F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 62; J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, p. 265. 1Co 4:11.-Homilist, new series, vol. i., p. 126. 1Co 4:14.-H. D. Rawnsley, Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 186. 1Co 4:15.-H. P. Liddon, Church of England Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 253. 1Co 4:15-17.-L. Abbott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 228. 1Co 4:18.-F. O. Morris, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 185.
1Co 4:20
The Spiritual Mind.
How are we the better for being members of the Christian Church?
I. If we would form a just notion how far we are influenced by the power of the gospel, we must evidently put aside everything which we do merely in imitation of others and not from religious principle. The obedience I condemn as untrue may be called obedience on custom. How are we better or worse, if we have but in a passive way admitted into our minds certain religious opinions, and have but accustomed ourselves to the words and actions of the world around us?
II. We may have received the kingdom of God in a higher sense than in word merely, and yet in no real sense in power: in other words, our obedience may be in some sort religious, and yet hardly deserve the title of Christian. To be Christians, surely it is not enough to be that which we are enjoined to be, and must be, even without Christ; not enough to be no better than good heathens; not enough to be, in some slight measure, just, honest, temperate, and religious. I am not wishing to frighten imperfect Christians, but to lead them on, to open their minds to the greatness of the work before them, to dissipate the meagre and carnal views in which the gospel has come to them to warn them that they must never be contented with themselves, or stand still and relax their efforts, but must go on unto perfection.
III. What is it, then, that they lack? Observe in what respects the higher obedience is different from that lower degree of religion which we may possess without entering into the mind of the gospel. (1) In its faith which is placed not simply in God, but in God as manifested in Christ. (2) Next, we must adore Christ as our Lord and Master, love Him as our most gracious Redeemer. (3) Further, we must for His sake aim at a noble and unusual strictness of life, perfecting holiness in His fear, destroying our sins, mastering our whole soul, and bringing it into captivity to His law. This is to be a Christian: a gift easily described, and in a few words, but attainable only with fear and much trembling; promised indeed, and in a measure accorded at once to every one who asks for it, but not secured till after many years and never in this life fully realised.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i., p. 72.
I. What is the distinction between the kingdom in word and the kingdom in power? Those of human kind who do not submit to the Lord and His Anointed branch off into two streams. One division adopts a falsehood, and intrusts it with real power; the other division makes a profession of the truth, but a profession only. In contrast with either form of error, the Church of the living God is distinguished by the union of truth and power. Christians proclaim the right King, and render to Him a real obedience. False appearances abound. A word-kingdom, destitute of power, overspreads the land and deceives the people. To a great extent the kingdom of God has been owned, but the word which owns it is an empty word. Men will not bear the burden of a real kingdom-will not submit to the authority of a real King. Those who allow falsehood to wield the real power of their life are acute enough to perceive that we do not so surrender ourselves to the truth which we profess.
II. What is the kingdom in power? (1) The instrument of the power is revealed truth. The Scriptures, in relation to the kingdom of God, constitute the lade which contains and conveys the water. (2) The essence of the power is Christ. Here is the fountain-head of all the force which, through the preaching of the truth, can be brought to bear upon the hearts and lives of men. The word and ordinances stand ready to convey the power, but the redemption that is in Christ is the power which must be led to men’s hearts and let on. If this do not move them, they will never be moved. (3) The application of the power is effected by the ministry of the Spirit. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. Thus Christ’s kingdom is maintained until He come again. (4) The effects of this power are great and various. (a) It subdues, (b) it comforts, (c) it levies tribute. Yield yourselves as instruments of righteousness, whereby the operations of the kingdom may be carried on. Ye are not your own; He who bought you claims not only yours, but also you.
W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits, p. 285.
Look at the subject:-
I. In relation to individual Christian life. It is one thing to feel the power of God in the soul, and another to be able to vindicate doctrines and to establish a great visible outwork of service. Men cannot always do themselves justice in speech, yet where there are few words there may be true power. On the other hand, men may have great facility in speech, yet their hearts may be but partially under Divine dominion. A man should himself always be greater than his words. However eloquent his speech, his life should be deeper, broader, diviner, than any words can ever reveal. It is possible, too, that from the poorest words there may be poured an irresistible, all-convincing, and all-blessing life, as from the bush in Horeb there flamed a glory not of earth, and from the raiment of the transfigured Nazarene there shone a brightness more splendid than the fire of the sun. A man is not to be judged by the poverty of his words, but by the moral power of his life. The simplicity of his motives, the nobleness of his temper, the purity of his conversation, his forbearance, gentleness, catholicity, self-denial-these are the convincing signs that in his heart are set the pillars of God’s throne.
II. In its bearing upon Church organisations or individual methods of Christian service. I suppose that we cannot altogether escape some degree of officialism in our religious life, yet it is to be feared that societyism is not always kept within the limits of our spirituality. We cannot have too much preaching of the right kind. Divine truth is Divine power. Open every pulpit, and let the gospel be declared in many ways, by many means; we cannot have too much exposition of Divine truth or too much enforcement of Divine appeal; but save us from the pious frivolity, the complimentary lying, the courteous hypocrisy, and the ambitious ladder-climbing of a degenerate platform.
III. In relation to religious controversy, taking the term controversy in its widest meaning. In this relation it behoves Christian teachers to remember with special care that “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.-Let us, working in the name of Jesus Christ, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and health to the diseased, and let these works be our answer to the challenge of the scoffer, the laughter of the fool. Constantly we must have exposition of great principles, occasionally we must have defence; but the business of our lives is to show forth the mighty and wonderful works of God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. A living man is the best argument to those who rail against Christianity. Do not let us think it necessary to defend every point in our faith by elaborate preparation in words. Let us go on the Master’s business, and in our Master’s spirit carry light into the places of darkness, lifting up those that have no helper, giving men to feel that there is a Divine spirit in us; and in doing this we shall answer all controversy and objection by the beneficence of life, and by well-doing we shall put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 110.
References: 1Co 4:20.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 367; New Outlines on the Testament, p. 127. 1Co 5:1-5.-Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 355. 1Co 5:1-13.-F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 80. 1Co 5:3-6.-F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 49. 1Co 5:6.-T. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 45; W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 371. 1Co 5:6, 1Co 5:7.-F. W. Aveling, Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 121. 1Co 5:6-8.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 965; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 336; R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 338. 1Co 5:7.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 54; Three Hundred Outlines, p. 141; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 8.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 4
1. Servants of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God. (1Co 4:1-5).
2. Contrast Between Self-Glorification and Humiliation. (1Co 4:6-13).
3. Admonition to Beloved Children. (1Co 4:14-21).
Paul speaks of himself and the fellow workmen as servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. They were serving under Christ. Apollos, though not an Apostle, is included by Paul. Apollos with his great eloquence probably appealed strongly to the Corinthians and thus the party spirit had been fostered among them. But Paul classes Apollos with himself; he might have told the Corinthians that Apollos was not an Apostle and by this belittle him in their eyes. All were servants of Christ to serve the household of faith and to give meat in due season. The mysteries of God are not, as claimed by ritualistic Christendom, the sacraments in their invented mysterious actions. The mysteries of God are those blessed hidden things, which were not revealed in former dispensations; but now they are made known and the servants of Christ are the stewards of the blessed truths of Christianity, to guard and to dispense them. And Paul who may be called the chief steward of these mysteries had been judged by them, but he expresses his independence of all their judgment. He is responsible to the Lord although he was not aware Of anything against himself yet he was not thereby justified, for the Lord might know something, that he had overlooked. He then points to that day (the day of Christ) when He comes and all His people will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Then the hidden things will come to light, the counsels of the hearts will be manifest and each man have his praise from God. To that day the servant of Christ, the steward of Gods mysteries, yea, every Christian, must look, and serve in anticipation of it. Then all our acts and ways will be examined and judged by the Lord Himself. Paul therefore declared that any judgment now was a judgment before the time.
And all this he wrote by the Spirit to uncover their foolishness and to counteract their party-spirit. That ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written, that no one of you be puffed up the one against the other. For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received? But, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Thus the Spirit of God exposed the folly of the Corinthian party spirit in which they were puffed up and had lost sight of Christ.
Where they had drifted in their carnal spirit by glorying in men and not in Christ is made known by the contrast between their self-glorification, self-exaltation and self-sufficiency and the path of humiliation, suffering and contempt, which is marked out for the true follower of the Lord and the servant of Christ. Here is solemn food for reflection. They were full and rich, reigned as kings, but without the Apostles, who were blessedly sharing the sufferings of Christ and were a spectacle unto the world, to angels and to men. By their profession the Corinthians were waiting for the coming of the Lord, yet in His absence they reigned as kings. They enjoyed prosperity, had all things in abundance, they gloried in all these things while the true servants of Christ were suffering, were in want, following in the path of His blessed life on earth, bearing His reproach, despised and rejected by the world. And so it is today that the professing church has fully gone the Corinthian way; an outward profession, a seeing after the honor of men, the applause of the world, glorying in earthly attainments, rich, increased in goods. With it the offense of the cross has ceased. The cross which has written the sentence of death upon the flesh, which has made the believer dead to the world and the world dead to him; the cross, which demands separation, self-denial, self-surrender and self-sacrifice is denied.
And what a record of suffering and privation, persecution, reproach and shame, the Apostle gives! The Corinthians knew nothing of that; nor does the professing church of today. But has not the world changed since then? Is not the age becoming better? Is not the leaven of Christianity changing existing conditions so that the reproach of Christ ceases and suffering is changed into worldly honor and glory? A thousand times, No! These are the spurious claims. The world, this Present age, mans day, does not change. The world is the same today as it was in the days of the apostle. It is still true and will be true till the Lord comes all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions. The applause and approval of the world, the recognition by the world of that which is called religion–Christian work and service, is an evidence that that service and religion is not according to the truth of God.
Paul sent Timothy to remind them of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. And he was also coming in person. He was not afraid to visit them and meet them face to face; he would come in power. What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? It was his loving call for them to repent and humble themselves.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
account: 1Co 4:13, 2Co 12:6
the ministers: 1Co 3:5, 1Co 9:16-18, Mat 24:45, 2Co 4:5, 2Co 6:4, 2Co 11:23, Col 1:25, 1Ti 3:6
and stewards: Luk 12:42, Luk 16:1-3, Tit 1:7, 1Pe 4:10
mysteries: 1Co 2:7, Mat 13:11, Mar 4:11, Luk 8:10, Rom 16:25, Eph 1:9, Eph 3:3-9, Eph 6:19, Col 1:26, Col 1:27, Col 2:2, Col 4:3, 1Ti 3:9, 1Ti 3:16
Reciprocal: Num 4:16 – the oversight Isa 61:6 – named Joe 1:13 – ye ministers Mat 20:8 – unto Mat 25:14 – and delivered Luk 19:15 – that he Rom 15:16 – I should 1Co 9:17 – dispensation 1Co 13:2 – understand 1Co 15:3 – I delivered 1Co 15:51 – I show Eph 3:2 – the dispensation Eph 3:4 – the mystery Eph 4:12 – the work Col 1:23 – whereof Col 4:7 – a faithful Col 4:17 – the ministry 1Th 2:4 – to be 1Th 5:13 – esteem 1Ti 1:11 – which 1Ti 4:6 – a good Heb 13:17 – watch
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Co 4:1
In the early part of this chapter we have a description of the Christian ministry and its responsibility, and an assertion that its responsibility is not to man, but to God.
I. Gods stewards, not mans.The mysteries we clergy are stewards of are Gods mysteries, not mans. They are entrusted to us by God, not by man. Therefore it is God, not man, that we are responsible to. He that judgeth me, says St. Paul, is the Lord. St. Paul even says that though he knows nothing against himself, yet even that does not prove him to be faithful. When Christ in the wilderness caused the Apostles to feed the five thousand He Himself provided the food by miracle. The store which the Apostles had was altogether insufficient. So it is with the Church and with her clergy. They are appointed by the Holy Ghost to feed the Church of God. But they have nothing of their own which will suffice. Therefore God Himself provides them with what is necessary. They are stewards of Gods mysteries, i.e. Gods mysteries are the food which He supplies to His ministers that they may have wherewithal to feed His flock.
II. But how is this office of stewards to be exercised by the clergy?How are the clergy to feed the Church of God? What are these mysteries which they are to dispense in their character of stewards?
(a) We clergy are responsible to God for teaching you the truths of the Gospel. Whether men will hear or whether they will forbear; whether the truths are pleasant or whether they are unpopular, it must be all one to uswe are bound to preach them all the same. If we do not, God will judge us.
(b) Then come the various ordinances of public worship. In coming to church you come into Gods house, not into mans. You come into Gods house that your souls may be with Him, and Him only.
(c) Then comes the chiefest mystery of allthe Divinest food of all, by which the Church of God is fed and the spiritual life of souls maintainedthe Body and Blood of Christwhich is our spiritual food and sustenance in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
III. How ought Christian people to regard the Christian ministry? It seems to me they ought to be very thankful to God and Christ Who have thus provided that men are not left to themselves in things of so much consequence to them. How could men be sure that their clergy were teaching them Gods truths and delivering to them Gods mysteries if, after all, their clergy were only their ministers, and not Gods? Where a preacher is responsible to his flock he must do what pleases his flock.
Illustration
The steward is a man into whose hands property is placed. It is his duty to take care of it just as though it were his own, to see that the lands are honestly farmed, and the buildings fairly treated by the tenants, to be the medium between those tenants and the landlord, to receive the rents of the estate and to pay over to the landlord every penny that remains after all legal liabilities have been discharged. If he fails in any of these duties, he proves himself an incompetent or a faithless steward. When he fulfils them diligently, earnestly, thoroughly, and in the spirit of justice, he secures the confidence and esteem of his employer and of the tenants with whom he has to deal. But though he occupies, as a rule, a higher position than the tenant, he equally occupies a position inferior to that of the man he serves. A steward, however cultivated he may be, whatever may be his social position, is, as far as his official duties are concerned, only a servant after all.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CLERGY AND PEOPLE
Teaching is an essential part, but is after all only a part of the work of the clergy. What would be thought of the servant or the steward who, when left in charge of the mansion, never looked to locks, or bolts, or bars, allowed it to be broken into and its valuables stolen without lifting a hand in its defence? Well, we need not say what the world would think, because we all know.
I. The clergy as stewards are placed in charge of the property which the piety of individuals has given to Gods Church through the centuries.Against the House of God enemies have come up, and because the stewards have acted as true stewards should act, raised the hue and cry and assembled their fellow-servants in defence of Gods heritage, they have been reproved. Could the clergy, as honest men, have done otherwise? Of course, no human power can destroy Gods Church. If every penny of her property was stolen from her and every parish church in the kingdom sold for building material, and priests were hung here and there from the steeplesas they were in the days of Edward VIthose who remained would gather their flocks in the barn or by the hedge-side and the Faith would prevail. But for all that we should be faithless stewards if we did not manfully defend that which is rightly Gods, Church Defence is one department of the work which His stewards have to fulfil.
II. But what of the mysteries of God which these stewards have to defend and dispense?How awfully solemn is the mission entrusted to these same unworthy, feeble servants.
(a) The steward of the mysteries of God stands at the font and takes the unconscious child into his arms, and baptizes it in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and at once the life which was far off is brought nigh, and in the act the Lord Jesus Christ has taken it and placed it within the city gates: it has become a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. What that childs future may be no human being can foretell. But in this life it can never forfeit all its privileges, can from the depths of sin call God its Father, and the Lord Christ its Brother; if it will, may turn, and repent and live. How great, how solemn, how comforting a mystery is this! and what honour and responsibility does God confer upon the man chosen to be its steward!
(b) And shall we not say that the second mystery is still more solemn, more comforting, more awe-inspiring? I need not here repeat our Lords teaching, or the true story of the institution of that Blessed Sacrament. You know it well. To the faithful He gives Himself, and we draw near, meekly kneeling, and receive the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for us, and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for us, and we know and believe that both are given to us for the preservation of our bodies and souls unto everlasting life.
III. How shall you receive these stewards? What can you do to help them?
(a) They are human and will often make mistakes. You must bear with them, remembering that they are of flesh and blood like yourselves. You must listen earnestly and with attention to what they say, remembering thatif they are true menthey are giving you not something of their own devising, but that which God has given to them for you. You must pray over their teaching, and, if you are not satisfied about it, go humbly and trustingly to Gods Word for light (according to the wholesome rule of our Church in her Sixth Article). If you are true and loyal Churchmen you will do more than that: you will honour them for their message, remembering Whose ambassadors they are.
(b) You will never fail to pray for them. You see their prominent, often elevated position; at times you delight in their eloquence, you admire their piety. Sometimes you see their failures, their mistakes, their foolishness, their vanity. Sometimes, but thank God very rarely, you see a terrible fall. But you do not see the inward struggles, the temptations, the doubts, the fears that assail them; the troubles that pour in at times like a flood, the hopes dying down, the prospects blasted, the bitter assaults of the devil. Oh, pray for them. Cry unto God for your clergy that they may have grace to live the lives they preach, to minister with clean hands and a pure heart with deepening faith and reverence, to teach the whole truth pure and undefiled, to persevere through all discouragement to the last. If the people do not pray for their clergy Gods Church will never prosper. A praying people will mean a living, growing, ingathering Church, and a holy, self-denying, faithful ministry.
Rev. Samuel Pascoe.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
THE MEN OF THIS WORLD, and-sad to say-especially modernistic preachers, are often remarkably like Muckrake of Bunyans great allegory. They have no eye for the things of heaven. They boast a purely earthly religion, which aims at producing a little more order amongst the sticks and stones and refuse of the floor. But Paul and Apollos? Who and what are they? May we not glory in them? They are but servants and stewards. And the fourth chapter opens with a reminder of this, and with the statement that the essential virtue of a steward is faithfulness. This again raises the thought of THE DAY, which is to declare all things, as the 13th verse of the previous chapter told us.
In verse 1Co 4:3 the words, mans judgment, should read mans day, and thus the connection and contrast is made plain. In the light of the day, Paul was not overmuch troubled or concerned about the judgment of mans day, or even of the Corinthians themselves. Had they been in a spiritual condition he would doubtless have listened patiently to any criticism of himself which they wished to proffer. But they were carnal and consequently their judgment was of but little worth. Paul lets them know this.
Moreover Paul had a good conscience. The opening of verse 1Co 4:4 has been translated, For I am conscious of nothing in myself; but I am not justified by this. How good it would be if we could each speak thus: if we were each so true to what we have learned of the mind of God that we are not conscious of anything amiss. Yet even a Paul had to admit that this did not justify him, for he is to be judged not by what he knew, but by the Lord and what He knows. So have we all; and there is a vast difference between the standard erected by our consciousness and that erected by the omniscience of the Lord.
What does the Lord know? Let verse 1Co 4:5 tell us-one of the most searching verses in the Bible. When the Lord comes He will usher in the day, and the beams of its light will have X-ray properties. This verse is written, not in view of the enormous evils of the world without, but of the actions that take place within the Christian circle.
Oh! what painful episodes-in their uncountable thousands-have taken place amongst the saints of God. Many of them more or less private in nature; some of them public and ecclesiastical. We may form our judgments and even become violent partizans, and all the while there may be dark corners hidden from our eyes in which hidden things are secreted. There may be secret motives in hearts, altogether veiled from us. All is coming out in the light of the day. The final court of appeal lies in the presence of the Lord. His verdict may irrevocably upset all the verdicts of the courts below. So, if we feel ourselves wronged, let us have patience. If inclined to take some drastic action, let us take great care. Search well the dark corners lest there be some hidden things which should see the light.
Search your own heart lest a wrong motive lurk there. Think twice and thrice before launching the thunderbolt, especially if it be an ecclesiastical one which may affect many.
The last clause of verse 1Co 4:5 is rather, then shall each have praise from God. That is to say, the point is not that every man is going to be praised, but that each who is praised will have his praise from GOD, and not from some few of his fellow-creatures. The Corinthians had their party leaders. They praised this one extravagantly, and these they condemned; and vice versa. It was all worthless. God give us grace to avoid this kind of thing. The only praise worth having is praise from God.
Verse 1Co 4:6 shows us that the real party leaders at Corinth were other than Paul or Apollos, probably gifted local leaders, or even visiting brethren of Judaising tendencies, to whom he alludes more plainly in his second epistle. Paul avoided the use of their names, but he wanted all to learn the lesson, not to be puffed up for one as against another. No one has any ground for boasting, however shining their gift, for all that they have they have received from God.
Now this glorying in man is of the spirit of the world. And if the world creeps in at one point, it will soon creep in at another. So it had at Corinth. They were full and rich, and reigning like kings, having a real good time, while their Lord was still rejected, and the apostles of the Lord were sharing His rejection. There is a tinge of holy sarcasm in that word, I would to God ye did reign, that we also [Paul and his companions] might reign with you. The saints will reign when Christ reigns, and the apostles will not be missing from their thrones.
What a picture of the apostles, as they were then, do verses 1Co 4:9-13 present! Comment is not needed. We only need to let the picture be engraved on our minds. Paul painted the picture not to shame us but to warn us. But without a doubt we shall be both warned and shamed. He was a spiritual father to the Corinthians and not merely an instructor, for he had been used to their conversion. We, too, as Gentiles, have been converted through him, though indirectly, and he is our instructor through his inspired writings. So let us also take him as our model, and imitate his faith and devotedness.
The closing verses of our chapter show that some amongst the Corinthians were not only running after party leaders, and worldly in life, but they were conceited and puffed up. To such the Apostle writes very plain words. For the moment Timothy had come to remind them of what was right and becoming, but he anticipated coming shortly himself. When he came in the power of Gods kingdom, of Gods authority, these conceited brethren might measure themselves against it, if they so desired.
Did they desire it? How effectively it would puncture their inflated pretensions! Would it not be better to humble themselves before God, and enable Paul to visit them in a far happier spirit?
And will it not be well for us all to be searched and humbled as we close this chapter?
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Christian Stewardship
1Co 4:1-21
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. The names surrounding discipleship. Our chapter presents before us several statements which remind us of the responsibility and privileges which belong to us as Christians. There are many names given to our Lord Jesus Christ, hundreds of them, and none of them is without significance.
The Christian, also, is designated by various names, names which suggest not only spiritual characteristics, but also Divine service. Our part, as believers, is to walk worthy of our Lord, first of all, and then to walk worthy of the names by which we are called.
We should not bear our names as a mere cognomen by which we are to be called, but we should bear our names in a way worthy of Him who named us, and of the names we bear.
2. The name, “Ministers of Christ.” The word “minister” (1Co 4:1) means one who serves. Until this day preachers are called ministers because they are supposed to bear the responsibility of serving their people.
We believe that all saints, however, should be ministers of Christ, and in behalf of the people. There is a verse which says that Apostles and Prophets and Pastors are appointed for “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ.” Certainly, the pastors should not be the only ministers.
There is another verse which says: “In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,” etc. Surely, the work of the minister is a work accompanied with many testings, and therefore needs many qualifications.
There is still another verse which says, “He that ministereth let him wait on his ministering.” One who ministers has no place for idleness. He must be up and about the Master’s work. He must be bearing the burdens of his brethren, meeting their needs, and strengthening their hands.
3. The name “Stewards of the mysteries of God.” A “steward” is one who has charge over certain responsibilities. In this instance, he is one to whom is given the task of keeping and guarding the things which belong to righteousness. The verse before us, is the 1st verse of our study. It describes us as “stewards of the mysteries of God.” How wonderful it is that we are put in charge of so priceless a treasure. The mysteries of God are the secrets of God, which have been delivered unto saints, and which none of the men of this world have known.
There is the mystery of Godliness; there is the mystery of the Rapture of the saints, both of the dead and of the living; there is the mystery of iniquity which doth already work; there is the mystery of Israel, her present partial blindness, and her ultimate restoration to the land; there is the mystery of the Church, the Body, which was not known to the saints of the ages past, but is now revealed unto us by the Spirit, through Paul.
All of these wonderful truths which reveal the eternal purposes of the Most High, are committed to Christians.
There is a verse which says: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.”
The second verse of our lesson says: “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.” We must be faithful lest the mysteries of God be lost or neglected. The Church of the Living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. Unto that Church, God has committed the oracles of God. Oh, that we might be faithful to our trust!
I. THE JUDGE OF OUR STEWARDSHIP IS GOD (1Co 4:3-4)
1. Paul despises human judgeship. He says: “It is a small thing that I should be judged of you.” We wonder if the average Christian is not more concerned with what men may say or think of his stewardship than he is with what God may say or think. There are those who care only for the praise and plaudits of men. Whether they are right or wrong in the sight of God, means but little to them. Their concern is that they may pass acceptably before the rulers of the synagogue, and the men who are over them in the church.
There are some who even care more for the praise of men, of worldly men, and of carnal men, than they do for the praise of God.
2. Paul does not even dare to judge himself. He said: “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.” And how can we judge ourselves, for we know not anything as we ought to know, save as the Spirit of God teaches and guides us.
Suppose that one can say, “I know nothing against myself”-is he therein justified?
Suppose he is living up to the light of his own eyes, and fulfilling the dictations of his own conscience-is he therefore to be accepted of God?
Can saints do more than see through a glass darkly? Can they, in themselves, dare to direct their own steps, and judge their own lives?
What folly, therefore, it is for us to boast our own righteousness or goodness. The Apostle Paul sought always to live with a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. It was for this cause that he knew nothing by himself. The Apostle, however, did not even dare to say that he was sinless; nor did he dare to say that he was completely fulfilling his stewardship.
3. The judge of all believers, in all things, is Christ. It is before Him we must stand. It is to Him we must give our account of all things done in the body. We do not expect to stand before God, in our human perfectness. We do expect to stand before Him, as one under the Blood, and as one who has sought to faithfully fulfill the things committed to our trust. We do at least hope to hear from His blessed lips, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, * * enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
II. A DESIGNATED TIME OF JUDGMENT (1Co 4:5)
1. We are told to judge nothing before the time of the Lord’s Coming. One reason for this admonition is that there are so many hidden things which are altogether unknown to us, that we cannot judge rightly. It is not until we stand before the Lord, that God will bring everything to the light. It is not until then, that the counsels of the hearts of men will be made manifest.
It seems absurd that one brother should sit in judgment upon another brother, and harshly condemn him when he knows so little about him, Men look on the outward appearance. They judge by the sight of their eyes. The tendency of all of us is to judge another by some wrong step, whereas we know nothing of the inner struggles of that life; nor do we know the deep devotion which may control his spirit.
“We only saw the slips she made,
As she through life the pathway trod,
But how she struggled, fought, and prayed
Were known, and only known to God.”
2. We are told that the Coming of the Lord is the time of judgment. The truth is that God Himself cannot judge our ministry, nor our stewardship, until its full sweep is reached. Every life starts waves of bane or of blessing in motion which will go on and on until they strike the shores of glory.
So far as rewards are concerned God must wait until the harvest is fully reaped, until the sheaves are all gathered in, until the life task is completed.
3. We are told that every man shall have praise of God. This is a most quickening, and comforting statement. There is no believer who shall not find, when he stands before God, something in which God may commend him. We delight in reading the messages to the churches, as found in Rev 2:1-29 and Rev 3:1-22. In none of them was there human perfection. In most of them there were strong statements of infidelity and failure, but in all of them there was found something from the lips of their Lord by way of commendation.
The ambition, therefore, of the saint should be that when he appears before the judgment seat of Christ at His Coming, to receive for the things done in his body, he may stand accepted in Him.
III. THE SIN OF THINKING TOO HIGHLY OF SELF OR OF ANOTHER (1Co 4:6)
In the light of our Divine stewardship and our service to Christ, there is a method of judgment which is now set forth.
1. We may judge men above that which is written. In other words, we may glory in men, more than we should. The Apostle wrote, “That ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.”
According to this, while we may judge one to his hurt, and in this wrongly judge; we may judge another to his glorying, and in this wrongly glory. Apollos, whose name is mentioned in our key verse, was an orator. It is easy to applaud and to laud such a one above his due.
Here is an angle in judging one another, that needs to be safeguarded. It is a judgment which endangers our pride, and causes us to exalt one, while we humble another. This is altogether contrary to the Spirit of Christ, who made Himself of no reputation.
2. In judging we should remember that all gifts are received from God. 1Co 4:7 says: “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” It also says: “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” If, therefore, our achievements are accomplished only by His Divine investment, why should we glory? If saints wrought apart from God it would be different. If it is by their own might, or power, or wisdom, that they accomplish for God, then they may glory. If, however, they are working, endued with power from on high, and under a grace received from above, where is the place for self-glorying as if they had not received it? The truth is that God has written, “Let no man glory in men.”
IV. A HOLY SARCASM (1Co 4:8-10)
1. The Spirit, with sarcasm, rebukes self-boast fulness. 1Co 4:8 reads: “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us.” This was the spirit that dominated the carnal saints at Corinth. The Holy Ghost takes out of their own lips, the words with which they have boasted in themselves. Then He adds: “I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.” Here the Apostle turns from the temporal, to the eternal; from his own day, to the day of the Reign of Christ among men.
2. The true spirit of Apostleship. 1Co 4:9 says: “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.” Here you begin to grasp the Scriptural status of the Christian. It is suffering; it is being made a spectacle before the world and angels and men. Has God not said: “In the world ye shall have tribulation”? Has He not said; “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake”?
3. A comparison between the true and the false. The Holy Spirit now, through Paul, rebukes the folly of the Corinthians by placing before them the ignominy of the Church’s greatest man. He gives this rebuke in contrast:
1.”We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise.”
2.”We are weak, but ye are strong.”
3.”Ye are honourable, but we are despised.”
Paul wrote these words to shame them. Beloved, have you ever seen those who desired the high places in the synagogue; those who desired to be called of men, “Rabbi”? Have you ever seen the church fawning at the feet of some great religious potentate, and giving him honor?
To such a one, these words are addressed: Our Lord was despised and rejected of men. Shall we, His servants, faithful to His message and methods, seek to be applauded and honored of men?
V. THE COST OF FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP (1Co 4:11)
1. An inside view of Paul’s stewardship. Here is the way it is stated: “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; and labour, working with our own hands.”
How many of us, as we have followed the journeys of the Apostle Paul and considered the great sweep of his testimony, have not thought of how wonderful it would be to be reckoned in his class? Have we, however, as we half way desired to follow in his steps, ever considered how often he was hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and buffeted? He knew no place that he could call home. He had no church board to supply his wants. To meet his needs, he labored and wrought with his own hands.
How many preachers there are who demand a salary, who demand every comfort of this present age before they will go out in the service of their Lord!
2. An inside view of Paul’s sufferings and conduct. Here is a contrast worthy of deep thought.
(1) Paul was reviled, but he only blessed his revilers.
(2) Paul was persecuted, but he only suffered it, and in no sense fought back.
(3) Paul was defamed, but he only entreated.
God grant that we as His ministers and stewards, may learn the lesson which Paul’s life proclaims.
3. An inside view of the world’s attitude to Paul. Paul was made as the filth of the world, and as the offscouring of all things. We who delight in honoring the memory of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, perhaps forget that there was a time when he was reckoned as nothing but the off-scouring of a dirty world.
VI. THE TRUE SPIRIT OF REPROOF (1Co 4:14-18)
1. The inner heart of the Apostle as the Spirit, through him, addressed the Corinthians. The Apostle said: “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.” When we, as ministers of Christ, have ought to speak by way of rebuke, let us learn to speak unto our people, as we would to our own beloved children. Before ever we utter a word of warning, let us assure them of our heart of love.
Paul loved the Corinthians because they were begotten in Christ Jesus through the Gospel which he preached unto them. He loved them as a father.
2. The Apostle Paul did not ask of others what he himself did not do. In 1Co 4:16 he said: “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” In 1Co 4:17 he told them that he had sent Timothy unto them that he might bring into their remembrance his ways in Christ, and of how he taught everywhere in every church.
Some may think at first that the Apostle was now boasting his own righteousness. Not so! He did say: “Be ye followers of me,” but the “me” of whom he spoke was the One who was “in the Lord,” “in Christ.” He even said that his ways were in Christ, thus he made no claim to any personal piety or purity.
To the Thessalonians, Paul said: “Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord,” When the saints at Thessalonica became followers of Christ, they followed in the way of His suffering, and in the way of His being shamefully treated.
3. The Apostle Paul acknowledged not his own power, but the power of the Gospel. In 1Co 4:15 he said, “I have begotten you through the Gospel.” In 1Co 4:17 he said: “For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son.” Thus did Paul set forth the message of regeneration. First, he acknowledged that the saints in Corinth (some of whom were puffed up; most of whom were carnal), were children of God, begotten through the Gospel.
Secondly, he acknowledged that Timothy, who was faithful in the Lord, was a son by regeneration, through the Gospel.
VII. THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL (1Co 4:19-21)
1. Paul desired to know not the speech but the power of the saints at Corinth. There are many of us who may talk much, who may say many things, but who have no real touch of the Holy Ghost in our ministry. With what carefulness did the Apostle set aside all words and all speech which tended to pride and to self-exaltation, as he emphasized the power of the Gospel.
Our mind goes to that marvelous statement in the opening chapters to the Corinthians, where Paul said: “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
Let us, as Christians, from this day seek to judge our ministry and our stewardship not in words but in the Holy Ghost and in power.
2. God’s promise to the Church, was, “Ye shall receive power.” 1Co 4:20 says: “For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” From our pulpit, in our prayer meetings, and in our Young People’s gatherings, we may have much of words, and little of power. We may have not only much of word, but much of the Word of truth. We may even preach or testify to a full gospel message, and yet be absolutely impotent in the hand of God. What we should seek is the Word of God and the truth of God, proclaimed in the power of God. A ministry, a stewardship is worth the while, only as it is clothed with the Holy Ghost.
Let us remember the order of Act 1:8, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” There is here nothing of being witnesses, without power. The fact is the disciples were commanded to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. They had been taught in the Word of God, and their doctrine was true; but Christ did not want them to preach a spineless, inert truth. He wanted them to preach a Spirit-enforced truth.
Here is a lesson we dare not overlook. No ministry is prepared, no missionary is panoplied to preach Christ, until he or she is anointed with the power of God.
AN ILLUSTRATION
There is a certain fish known as the blowfish or toadfish. It has no particular value unless it be to cultivate the patience of the fisherman, for commonly it seizes the bait intended for its betters. It is an unattractive fish, with a great mouth and a mottled, wrinkled body that looks like worn-out leather; but turn it over and tickle it a little and the flabby creature will puff up until it is swollen to the appearance of a globe. Did you ever meet people like that? Upon occasion, with only a slight stimulus, they swell up until they bear the semblance of greatness and beauty, but there’s nothing substantial about it; it’s all air. A little flattery, a little tickling of vanity, and they “swell with pride,” as we say. So they do; but pride is about as unsubstantial a thing as that which puffs up the blowfish. Our business is to grow; not to swell, to be built up in Christ; not to be puffed up with pride. In this connection it is well to remember Paul’s words, “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”
An organ-blower in a country parish, who was worried during service because a new hymn was given out, inquired after church of different members of the congregation how the hymn went, adding this apologetic explanation, “I never blowed that hymn before!” There are other men in the world who think that their “blowing” is the chief feature of any achievement.
-Zion’s Herald.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
1
1Co 4:1. servant and a steward is an agent. Paul wished that he and his companions should be accounted only in that light.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Why do we not faint? Answer,First, Because of the character of our ministry.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “Although I warned you, in the foregoing chapter, against an undue esteem of your pastors, and against a factious preference of some before others, to the great scandal of religion, and the prejudice of the gospel; yet I speak not this to draw you off from paying that due honour and deserved respect which belongs to their character. But I desire you to account them all, neither more nor less, but as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
Here observe, 1. A double character given of an evangelical pastor.
He is, (1.) A minister of Christ: that is, a person deputed by the command, and invested with the authority, of Christ, to administer in holy things, to preach the word, administer the sacraments, execute church censures; being in all things an example to the flock! and the people are to account the office and work of the ministry, as a divine institution and appointment of Christ in his church; whoever slights or opposes the ministry, flies in the face of Christ himself.
(2.) He is a steward of the mysteries of God; and that in a twofold respect.
First, He is a steward of the truths of God; secondly,
of the ordinances of God.
Of the truths of God he is a steward, to open and explain them for the spiritual edification of all Christians, and to defend and maintain them against the opposition of all adversaries: God’s steward must not suffer vermin to destroy the provision of God’s household.
He is a steward of the ordinances of God also: which he is obliged to dispense in all faithfulness to his congregation. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1Pe 4:10.
Observe, 2. As the ministers of Christ are described, they are stewards; so the qualification of a steward is declared, and that is faithfulness: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. What ground is there for trust, where there is no truth?
Now this faithfulness in our stewardship includes,
(1.) Purity of intention; a pure end in all our services will give us abundance of comfort at the end of our service.
(2.) Sincerity and integrity of heart: a faithful minister is a sincere-hearted minister, who preaches his sermons first to himself, and then to his hearers.
(3.) Ministerial diligence: a slothful minister can never be a faithful steward; we must study the truths of God to paleness, preach them to faintness, maintain and defend them with stedfastness: we look for happiness from God as long as he is in heaven, and he expects faithfulness from us as long as we are upon earth.
(4.) Faithfulness in stewardship includes impariality in all the adminstrations of Christ’s house: we must take the same care of, manifest the same love unto, attend with the same diligence upon, the poorest and meanest in our congregations, as we do the rich, the great, and the honourable: for all our souls are at one price, and rated at one value in our Lord’s book.
O! let us take care we be impartial stewards, for we must shortly give an account of our stewardship before an impartial God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Stewards of God’s Mysteries
Paul next said that inspired spokesmen should simply be thought of as servants and stewards. Vine says the word servant should be thought of as “an under rower.” Further, he says it “came to denote any subordinate acting under another’s direction.” The idea included in the word “steward” is that of a servant in charge of food distribution in God’s household. He is not responsible for providing the food, but is held accountable for it being properly dispensed to all in the household. They were given the food and were simply expected to do a good job distributing such. They did not have to discover truth, simply teach what was revealed to them ( 1Co 4:1-2 ; 1Pe 4:10 ; Luk 16:1-12 ).
A man of God can only be judged by God. He does not have to please other men, the courts of men or even himself. Paul did not know of any wrong he had committed, but that did not make him right ( Psa 19:12 ; 1Jn 3:19-21 ). God is the only just judge. As Paul told the Romans, “God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel” ( Rom 2:16 ). God’s judgment is fair because all facts are known to him. Paul would urge Christians, therefore, not to pass judgment on motives and hidden thoughts, but leave it to the Lord ( 1Co 4:3-5 ). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” ( 2Co 5:10 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Co 4:1. Let a man, &c. Having warned the believers at Corinth against entertaining an undue esteem for their own ministers, he now proceeds to show them in what light they ought to view all true ministers of Christ: and lest, from what was advanced in the preceding chapters concerning the inspiration of the apostles by the Holy Spirit, these Corinthians should imagine that Paul claimed to himself and his brethren an authority not derived from Christ, he here tells them that even the apostles were only Christs servants; obliged in all things to act in entire subjection to him, and obedience to his will. So account of us as of the ministers of Christ The original word, , properly signifies such servants as laboured at the oar in rowing vessels, and accordingly intimates the pains which every faithful minister of Christ takes in his Lords work. O God! where are these ministers to be found? Lord, thou knowest! and stewards of the mysteries of God Dispensers of the mysterious truths of the gospel. The apostle gives to those doctrines, which in former ages had been kept secret, but which were now discovered to all through the preaching of the gospel, the appellation of the mysteries of God, to recommend them to the Corinthians. And he calls himself the steward of these mysteries, to intimate, that the deepest doctrines, as well as the first principles of the gospel, were intrusted to him to be dispensed or made known. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 1. Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
After explaining what preachers are not, to show that no man should make himself dependent on them, the apostle declares what they are, to withdraw them from the rash judgments of the members of the Church. He does so first by continuing to speak of himself and Apollos (us; comp. 1Co 6:6), then he speaks singly of himself (me, 1Co 5:3).
The word , thus, which begins this passage, has been understood in the sense of so then. Thus taken, it would connect this passage with the preceding, announcing a consequence drawn from it. But 1Co 4:21-21 had already drawn the consequence (, 1Co 4:21) from the preceding exposition. And the logical relation between what follows and what precedes would rather be that of contrast. The end of v23 had raised the readers to such a height, that the apostle does not care to connect with it what follows by any particle whatever, and continues by an asyndeton. It seems to me indeed, as to Rckert, that the is nothing else than the antecedent of of the , as, which follows; comp. Joh 7:46; Eph 5:33; Jam 2:12, etc. The meaning is: See how you ought to regard us.
The word might be translated by the French pronoun on; perhaps it is better rendered by each;comp. 1Co 11:28. Edwards sees in the use of the word an imitation of the Hebrew Isch. Bengel thinks that the term is intended to contrast man’s judgment with that of God. I think the apostle wishes it to be felt that he is addressing the Church in the person of each of its members, and recalling to their minds the notion of ignorance and weakness attached to the condition of man.
The term , which we translate by minister, strictly denotes a man who acts as rower under the orders of some one ( and ); he is a man labouring freely in the service of others: it here denotes the acting and laborious side of the Christian ministry. The term , steward, dispenser, denotes, among the ancients, a confidential slave to whom the master intrusts the direction of his house, and in particular the care of distributing to all the servants their tasks and provisions (Luk 12:42). This second term designates preachers as administrators of a truth which is not theirs, but their master’s. It relates to the inward and spiritual side of the work of the ministry. The trust administered by them is the mysteries of God. This term mystery, in the singular, denotes the plan of salvation in general (see on 1Co 2:7). In the plural, it relates to the different designs included in this plan. The plural is here connected with the idea of distribution associated with that of steward. Perhaps Paul makes allusion to the choice which Apollos and he required to make among the manifold materials of Christian teaching, in order to use in every case only those which were appropriate to the state of the Corinthians (1Co 3:2).
The genitives of Christ and of God, which are certainly related to those of 1Co 3:23, remind us that preachers, as labouring in the active service of Christ, the Head of the Church, and charged with distributing to it the truths of God, have to give account before these supreme authorities and not before the members of the Church. They go where Christ sends them, and deliver what God has given them. They are not to be judged in this respect. The only thing that can be asked of them, is to be faithful in the way in which they fulfil the missions confided to them, and in which they conform their teaching to the measure of light which they have received.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. [Paul here gives the rule by which apostles and evangelists are to be estimated. They are not to be magnified, for they are servants, nor are they to be deprecated because of the value and importance of that which is entrusted to them as stewards. The term “ministers” here means literally under-rowers. The church is a ship, or galley; Christ is the chief navigator, or magisterium; and all the evangelists and teachers are mere oarsmen with no ambition to be leaders. In the second figure the church is a household, God is the householder, the gospel truths are the food and other provisions which are dispensed by the evangelists or stewards.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
1 Corinthians Chapter 4
As for the apostle and the labourers, they were to consider them as stewards employed by the Lord. And it was to Him that Paul committed the judgment of his conduct. He cared little for the judgment man might form respecting him. He was not conscious of anything wrong, but that did not justify him. He who judged (examined) him was the Lord. And, after all, who was it that gave to the one or to the other that which he could use in service?
Paul had thought well, in treating this subject, to use names that they were using in their carnal divisions, and those, especially himself and Apollos, which could not be used to pretend he was getting rid of others to set up himself; but what was the real state of the case? They had despised the apostle. Yes, he says, we have been put to shame, despised, persecuted, in distress; you have been at ease, like kings-a reproach in accordance with their own pretensions, their own reproaches-a reproach that touched them to the quick, if they had any feeling left. Paul and his companions had been as the offscouring of the earth for Christs sake, while the Corinthians were reposing in the lap of luxury and ease. Even while writing to them, this was still his position. Would to God, he says, ye did reign (that the day of Christ were come) in order that we might reign with you. He felt his sufferings, although he bore them joyfully. They, the apostles, were set forth on Gods part as though to be the last great spectacle in those marvellous games of which this world was the amphitheatre; and as His witnesses they were exposed to the fury of a brutal world. Patience and meekness were their only weapons.
Nevertheless he did not say these things to put them to shame, he warned them as his beloved sons; for his sons they were. Though they might have ten thousand teachers, he had begotten them all by the gospel. Let them then follow him. In all this there is the deep working of the affection of a noble heart, wounded to the utmost, but wounded in order to bring out an affection that rose above his grief. It is this which so strikingly distinguishes the work of the Spirit in the New Testament, as in Christ Himself. The Spirit has come into the bosom of the assembly, takes part in her afflictions-her difficulties. He fills the soul of one who cares for the assembly,[6] making him feel that which is going on-feel it according to God, but with a really human heart. Who could cause all this to be felt for strangers, except the Spirit of God? Who would enter into these things with all the perfection of the wisdom of God, in order to act upon the heart, to deliver the conscience, to form the understanding, and to set it free, except the Spirit of God? Still the apostolic individual bond was to be formed, to be strengthened. It was the essence of the work of the Holy Ghost in the assembly to bind all together in this way. We see the man: otherwise it would not have been Paul and his dear brethren. We see the Holy Ghost, whom the latter had grieved, no doubt, and who acts in the former with divine wisdom, to guide them in the right way with all the affection of their father in Christ. Timothy, his son in the faith and in heart, might meet the case. Paul had sent him; Paul himself would soon be there. Some said, No, he would not, and took occasion to magnify themselves in the absence of the apostle; but he would come himself and put everything to the test; for the kingdom of God was not in word, but in power. Did they wish him to come with a rod, or in love?
Here this part of the epistle ends. Admirable specimen of tenderness and of authority!-of authority sure enough of itself on the part of God, to be able to act with perfect tenderness towards those who were thoroughly dear to him, in the hope of not being forced to exercise itself in another way. The most powerful truths are unfolded in so doing.
Footnotes for 1 Corinthians Chapter 4
6: sunantilambanei tais astheneiais hemon (The Spirit joins also its help to our weakness, Rom 8:26.)
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
THE APOSTLES BUT THE MINISTERS OF CHRIST
1, 2. Here he certifies that they are but the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Therefore it is exceedingly out of place to follow them. If it was glaringly inconsistent for them to follow the apostles, how infinitely more so it is for the people in our day to be following the uninspired denominational leaders! It is a shame.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1Co 4:1. Let a man, yea every one of you, however biassed by parties, so account of us, though servants for your sakes, as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, as illustrated in Rom 16:25. Those mysteries are called wisdom in the preseding chapter; here they are regarded as the secrets and doctrines of the gospel; as mysteries hid in ages past, but now made manifest to us the apostles, prophets, and evangelists of Christ. If the ministers are degraded, Christ is degraded, and the cause destroyed. The elders that rule well are worthy of double honour.
1Co 4:6. These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos, as labourers in the vineyard, and as stewards of the household of Christ; that in the humble and laborious sphere in which we move, you might find no cause to be vainly puffed up one against another, for what is the gift that you have not received? Paul often puts hard things in a figure, as the carnal man, in the seventh chapter to the Romans.
1Co 4:9. I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last. You have houses, you have riches, you are citizens, enjoying every worldly comfort; you have reigned as kings, while we are accounted fools for Christ, partially suffering from hunger and cold. All men seem to have more joy in their professions than the missionaries of Christ. The farmer grows rich in corn and cattle, the physician rises in practice, the merchant is aggrandized with wealth, while we are accounted the pests of society, and the offscouring of all things. How admirable are these eloquent appeals. The apostle concedes all the excellencies of which they had vainly boasted, and heightens the portrait by the darker shades of his own trials and afflictions in the work of the Lord. What a master of oratory: how he plays with argument, how he wounds and heals.
1Co 4:14. I write not these things to shame you for past discords, for with good men, on perceiving their errors, the point is gained. Therefore, as my beloved children, I warn you, and warn you as your only father, having laboured among you and in Achaia for three years.
1Co 4:17. For this cause, of healing and harmony, have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son. In hearing Timothy, the Corinthians would still hear Paul, because he was perfectly acquainted with the apostles sentiments, with his words, and discipline. They would crowd the auditories of Timothy, and the spirit of discord would melt away before the warmer beams of charity.
1Co 4:19. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will. It appears however that this promise was delayed by such hindrances as caused the second epistle to follow in the course of the year. 2Co 1:17-24. On coming, he would not regard the oratory of those that were puffed up above holy discipline, but the power of the gospel in regenerating the heart, in all the hallowing influence of the inward kingdom of God.
1Co 4:21. What will ye? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love? Take your choice. They knew that he had the keys of the church, and that the husbandman has a right to make a fence; if otherwise, to plow and sow would be of small avail; but the rod of the church must be in a fathers hand.
REFLECTIONS.
Just and proper ideas of the christian ministry are laid down here. A minister is a steward of the mysteries of God. He has an office, a charge, a dread responsibility. God will require at his hands the souls of the people. The Corinthians in their parties were lowering their ideas of the ministry, and those who despise ambassadors, despise the sovereigns whose commands they execute. If ministers are degraded by factions, the christian church suffers a severe eclipse.
It was however no small glory, that amid the scrutinies of parties, the apostle could say, I know nothing by myself, either in moral character, or in the faithful discharge of duty. He had the same charity for the Corinthian pastors. Evil surmisings in regard of character, destitute of proof, must be left to the final decision of the great day. Meanwhile, it is encumbent on every one to shun the appearance of evil; and in a minister, such appearances destroy his usefulness.
In the parties at Corinth, some of them had begun to talk rather high, and to speak in the first person. Ye have reigned as kings without us; and I would to God that ye did reign, in all the power of righteousness, and in excellence of the christian temper. But their reign was inglorious, while the fetters of parties adhered to their feet.
We must equally admire the superior wisdom of Paul, in sending Timothy, who would be so likely to conciliate existing differences. They would gather about his ministry, and pay deep attention to his advice, as the representative of the holy apostle, who had been their spiritual father. A happy way of giving a diversion to church factions, and directing their minds to the true principles of the gospel, that the kingdom of God was not in word, but in power. It is piety that gives unity and strength to the church. The children love to gather around the fire of the altar.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 4:1-13. Paul will Accept no Judgment but Christs. The Fortunate Lot of the Corinthians Contrasted with the Miserable Condition of the Apostles.This section is concerned with the attitude of the Corinthians to Paul. Some were critical, there may have been a suggestion to put him on his trial before the church. He first states the criterion that ought to be applied in judging him and his colleagues. They are mere subordinates (a different Gr. word from that in 1Co 3:5), entrusted with a stewardship. The main qualification for such a position is not brilliant gift but incorruptible fidelity. However, what judgment they or any men pass upon him is a matter of indifference; he does not, though he knows himself so much more intimately than they can, venture to pass judgment even on himself. True, his conscience is clear, yet God alone is competent to pronounce him righteous. So they should not anticipate the Divine verdict by any premature judgment. He has used himself and Apollos (since they were friends, not rivals) as illustrations, to avoid introducing other names. (He does not mean that there were no parties of Paul and Apollos, the real parties being disguised under their names.) He has done this for their sakes that by this example he may teach them not to go beyond what is written (?) and boast in one leader against another. What exceptional qualification for such judgment does any of them possess? and whatever they have it is Gods gift, and so no warrant for conceit. With bitter irony he punctures their self-esteem. They have already attained; how different from their sleek complacency is the actual lot of their teachers! If apostles are in such evil case is it likely that the fancied attainments of such novices are real? They are already filled to repletion, rolling in wealth, reigning in the Kingdom, without Pauls company to be sure! Would that their lordship over the world were a reality; he to whom they owe the Gospel, would not be left out, as he is. It would seem that he and the other apostles also have been shown by God to bring up the rear, gladiators who must fight on till they are killed, while the whole world, both (mg.) angels and men, throngs the amphitheatre to watch the thrilling spectacle in the arena. What a contrast! for Christs sake they are counted mad, they are weak and dishonoured; the Corinthians are shrewd, that is what union with Christ does for them, strong, of high repute. Privation in food and raiment, ill-treatment by the mob, homelessness, exhausting manual toil, such is the lot of the apostles. They meet insult with blessing, persecution with patient endurance, slander with friendly reply. They are like men offered as human sacrifices, wretched people who were chosen as sin-offerings, since the sacrificial death must be voluntarily accepted, inasmuch as they, whether on account of physical deformity, or poverty or sorrow, or as criminals, preferred death to life.
1Co 4:6 b. Very difficult. Gr. is elliptical and the meaning obscure. Apparently the point is, that you might learn not to transgress the injunction of Scripture. The text is probably corrupt.
1Co 4:7 a. Possibly the point is, you owe your boasted faculty of discrimination to the teachers whom you despise.
1Co 4:9. apostles: primarily himself, but the plural is not equivalent to the singular. He may mean those who evangelised themhimself, Silas, and Timothy.
1Co 4:13. intreat: the precise meaning is uncertain.filth, offscouring: used technically for the sacrificial victims described above.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
But while we are not to exalt a ministering servant, no more are we to despise him or his work. The apostles should certainly be recognized for what they actually were, “ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” They both served Christ, and ministered Christ to others; and were entrusted with a stewardship in reference to rightly administering the truth of the mysteries of God which had been revealed to them for the sake of all the saints of God. How blessed an honor, yet how solemn a charge! For the requirement of paramount importance in a steward is that he be found faithful. Human intellect, zeal, ingenuity, ability, are all of no value if this one matter of faithfulness is missing.
As to this, the steward is not answerable to men, but to God. It was of trivial importance to Paul that in this he should be judged by the Corinthians, “or of man’s day” (margin). A mere human judgment based on what is observable in man’s brief history of independence of God, was to Paul only empty vanity. In fact, as to estimating the value of his own work, Paul did not even judge as to this himself. For though he knew nothing against himself (a more correct translation), yet this itself did not justify him: his own estimation decided nothing: this discerning judgment as to the value of his work was entirely God’s prerogative, not his, nor any man’s.
In these things, the Corinthians are told to “judge nothing before tile time, until the Lord come.” We must of course be careful to consider this in its context, for chapter 5:12 shows that the Corinthians had been negligent in judging when they ought to have judged. In this chapter (4) they were judging when they ought not. But the Lord, at His coming, will bring to light what we do not see in the work of His servants, making manifest the counsels of the hearts. Not merely the outward work done, but the motives discerned only rightly by Him, will be involved in the praise that each servant receives from God. Too frequently we may assume that our own motives are right, when in fact they may be badly mixed with selfishness and pride. How well then for us to be in constant remembrance that God will bring all to light.
These principles Paul applies directly to himself and to Apollos, to teach the Corinthians that neither the one nor the other must be exalted as a leader; for the true value of each will be actually revealed only at the coming of the Lord. And they are to apply the same principles to themselves also, to avoid having special favourites among themselves, and being puffed up in a spirit of rivalry.
Verse 7 strikes sharply at this unseemly pride. Who had created the differences among saints? Certainly not themselves. It is God who has made each just what he is. Or if it is a question of abilities, capacities, or spiritual gifts, we have not been originators of these, but receivers. And if simply having received them (from God, of course), then only thankful humility should be our response, not boasting as though one were a self-made being.
This spirit too had led to self-complacency and an emphasis on material advantage that virtually made them to “reign as kings.” They were filled up with earthly things (Corinth means “satiated”), and “rich,” but not in a practical spiritual sense. This show of material prosperity is unbecoming to the character of the Church of God, a people who trust a despised, rejected Lord, and wait for the time of His being exalted and reigning. They sought to reign before the time, and as Paul says, “without us,” the apostles, who were willingly suffering with Christ.
Not that Paul did not deeply desire the day of reigning: he did indeed, and that both the Corinthians and the apostle might reign together; but God, not they, will introduce that day. Meanwhile, it is a day of testing of faith and patience.
But rather than exalting the apostles on earth, God had, in Paul’s opinion, set them forth last, giving them the lowest place so far as this life is concerned, appointed to death, not to earthly honor. (It must not be forgotten, however, that the first shall be last, and the last first.) For they were in the limelight of the world’s contempt and ridicule, a strange sight to angels and to men, willing to be fools in the world’s estimation, for Christ’s sake. This was practical experience, while the Corinthians would stop short at the position that was theirs as “wise in Christ,” not choosing to accept the experience with it of suffering with Christ. In this real Christian experience the apostles were “weak” and “despised,” but the Corinthians desired only the attractive side of the truth, with its strength and honor.
To make the precious truth of God known, the apostles were willing to sacrifice every temporal advantage, to the point even of hunger and thirst, lack of clothing, hard knocks, and being deprived of any assured place of dwelling.
And along with the proclaiming of the gospel of God, they laboured with their own hands rather than taking support from the Corinthians. When reviled, they returned blessing; persecuted, they quietly endured it; falsely represented, they used entreaty rather than indignant self-defence. Their treatment by the world was as though they were only garbage to be thrown out, or an undesirable accumulation to be scoured off a vessel. It is good to take note, however, of the expression “unto this day.” This continues only through the present day of grace. What a change indeed when “the day of the Lord” comes!
If this did make the Corinthians ashamed, as no doubt it should, yet this was not the object of the apostle in so writing. Rather he was warning them, as a father who loved his children, of the dangers of their living in self-pleasing and self-complacency, the danger of their suffering loss at the judgment-seat of Christ because of living for present advantage rather than in view of eternity.
For they were his own children in the faith, and their soul prosperity was his deep concern. He was not merely acting as an “instructor” as so many are inclined to do, communicating knowledge apart from a true interest in the state of the souls of those whom they instruct. The thousand of these are not worth the value of one man of God who has a father’s heart. And having begotten them in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, he would not cease to care for them.
His entreaty in verse 16 that they should be followers of him, must be considered in its context. He certainly did not merely seek followers for himself, but urges them to follow his example of willing self-sacrifice for Christ’s sake, rather than to be self-indulgent. This important object led him to send Timothy to Corinth (his beloved child in the faith also), one who met the requirement of verse 2 of faithfulness to the Lord. He was not sent to teach them any new thing, but to reaffirm the truth as Paul had given it, truth exemplified in Paul’s ways which were “in Christ,” and which Paul had consistently taught everywhere in every assembly. The same truth is applicable to all saints everywhere, and at all times.
But he knew that in Corinth some were puffed up in the vanity and pride of the flesh. He does not single them out, but holds the assembly as such responsible for the condition. They thought to have things their own way, counting on no intervention by Paul. But he would come, he says, if the Lord will, and would show up what was merely speech, and what was true power. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” How deeply important a matter is this sober, sound, discerning spiritual power.
And He gives them the choice as to how he should come to them — whether with a rod, that is, with sharp, chastening apostolic authority; or in love and the spirit of meekness. In the former, certainly love would not be lacking, but it could not be free and affectionate in its expression. And meek submission would be out of place where judgment of evil is required.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 1
So account of us, &c.; regard us not as masters and leaders of different sects, but simply as the servants of Christ.–Stewards of the mysteries. Stewards are person intrusted with a charge. The apostles were stewards of the mysteries of God, inasmuch as they were intrusted with the charge of divine truth, which had been a mastery, having been, till then, withheld from mankind.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 4:1. In this way: as belonging to you, you to Christ, and Christ to God. This completes Paul’s answer to the question of 1Co 3:5, an answer to be obtained by deliberately reasoning out the foregoing teaching.
Us: Paul, Apollos, etc.
As helpers etc.; expounds in this way, and sums up Paul’s teaching about himself and Apollos.
Helpers: common Greek word for sailors, and for any kind of assistant in private or public business. It therefore recalls 1Co 3:8.
Stewards: Luk 16:1-8 : men, sometimes slaves, who managed a household or business.
Mysteries of God; recalls 1Co 2:7. Cp. Eph 3:2; Eph 3:9, what is the stewardship of the mystery; Tit 1:7; 1Pe 4:10. God had set these men in authority in His household on earth, and had committed to them the hidden truths of the Gospel to be distributed, as spiritual food, to His children. If we look at all Christian teachers in this light, we shall not render them such homage as will be a barrier between us and other Christians. Our desire will be to obtain from each the spiritual food committed to him for us. Notice that Paul, as a wise steward, gives milk (1Co 3:2) to babes and solid food (1Co 2:6) to full-grown men.
Some have thought that mysteries refers expressly to the sacraments: and in Eph 5:32 the same word is so translated in the Latin Vulgate. But Estius properly points to 1Co 1:17, which teaches that to administer these was not Paul’s chief work. This great commentator’s loyalty to the exact meaning of Scripture, and his refusal to draw from Scripture an unfair argument for the doctrines of his church, deserve the highest praise. And every Protestant will thank God that a work so full of evangelical truth is published under the express sanction of the Roman Catholic Church.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
1 Corinthians 4.
The instruction in 1 Cor. 3 has service, or work, more especially in view. (See verses 8, 13, 14 and 15.) The teaching in 1 Cor. 4 refers more definitely to the servant. The Corinthian believers were walking as men (1Co 3:3), and thus making much of man’s day and man’s world. Being accustomed in the world around them to schools of opinion under the leadership of different philosophers, they were tempted, in like manner, to form different parties under the leadership of gifted men in the assembly of God. To correct these worldly ideas and wrong practices, the apostle sets before us the truth as to the servants of Christ in relation to Christ and to the world.
(V. 1). The Corinthian assembly had sought to make gifted brothers the leaders of parties. The apostle reminds them that, so far from being centres of gathering for God’s people, these gifted men were actually servants, thus reminding us of our Lord’s own words, Whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant; and whosoever will be first among you, let him be your bondman (Mat 20:26-27). Further, though taking the place of servants, they were not the servants of parties, but the servants of Christ. The word used for minister, or servant, in this passage implies, we are told, an appointed servant. Paul and his fellow-labourers were servants by the appointment of Christ. This is of importance, for the One Who appoints is the One Who is feared and to Whom the servant will have to answer. In Christianity, as set forth in Scripture, the true servant, being the servant of Christ, is delivered from the fear of man and is thus able to set forth the full truth with great plainness of speech.
Furthermore, the servants of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of God, not the unholy mysteries connected with the heathen world by which the Corinthians were surrounded, but the precious truths of God, kept secret in Old Testament days, displayed in connection with Christ in glory, revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles, and received by believers. As the servants of Christ they were the servants of One Whom the world had rejected, and as stewards of the mysteries of God they were stewards of things that the world, as such, could not possibly comprehend. Hence neither the ministers of Christ nor the stewards of God’s mysteries could possibly be popular with the world.
(V. 2). The apostle proceeds to show that the great characteristic required in a steward is not cleverness, nor eloquence, nor popularity, but faithfulness. This is in accord with the Lord’s own teaching, when He spoke of the faithful and wise steward (Luk 12:42). Later, when near his end, the apostle can write to Timothy, The things that thou hast heard of me . . . the same commit thou to faithful men (2Ti 2:2). Moreover, in this chapter he speaks of Timothy as being faithful in the Lord (verse 17). We, like the Corinthian saints, may at times value servants by their knowledge or their gifts; but their spiritual value in God’s sight is measured by their faithfulness.
(Vv. 3-5). Moreover, the faithfulness is in relation to the One Who appoints. Hence the apostle can say, It is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man’s day (N.Tn.). He does not say that their judgment of him is no matter, but is of the least importance. Nor does he trust in his own examination of himself. He is not conscious of any wrong motive in himself, but this will not justify him from all unfaithfulness before the Lord, Who knows the secret counsels of the heart, and therefore can alone estimate the measure of faithfulness in each of His servants. This will not be known until the Lord come. Hence the true servant does not look for, or set great value upon, the approval of men. How often in the very things in which the saints praise us we may find the working of the flesh in some selfish motive for which we have to judge ourselves before the Lord. We are therefore to judge nothing before the time. Both the condemnation and praise of men may be equally at fault. At the coming of the Lord the stewardship of the servant will be appraised at its true value. Then shall every man have praise of God. This hardly implies that every man will be praised, but that every man that is praised will be praised of God. Men judge by the outward appearance; the Lord takes into account the hidden things of darkness and the counsels of the heart. How many an act that now has the appearance of great faithfulness may then be found to have been prompted by some unworthy motive!
It is well to note that, when the apostle exhorts us to judge nothing before the time, he is not speaking of the words or actions of the servants, but of their hidden motives. The apostle, in this very Epistle, very definitely judges, and condemns, many things that these Corinthian believers were both saying and doing. Other Scriptures clearly show that in the matter of fellowship, conduct and doctrine, the gifted servants, in common with all saints, are amenable to the discipline of the assembly, and that the assembly is responsible to judge in such matters.
Alas, have we not to admit that these exhortations have been entirely set aside in the great man-made systems of Christendom wherein the servants, instead of being appointed by Christ, are appointed by men or chosen by a congregation? The result has been that the mysteries of God have been almost wholly neglected, and the majority of servants has been more careful to retain popularity with men rather than maintain faithfulness to Christ.
(V. 6). These principles as to service and faithfulness the apostle had applied to himself and to Apollos to expose the abuse of gifted brothers in their midst without actually mentioning any names, thus avoiding all personalities. He would have us not to think of men above that which is written in the word of God, and thus avoid exalting one man above another.
(V. 7). Of those who might be seeking an undue position amongst the saints, he asks, Who maketh thee to differ from another?. If, by reason of a gift, the servant did in anywise differ from others, he had nothing but that which he had received. If a gift, it was given and not acquired by any merit. Where, then, was there ground for boasting? Unless near to the Lord and strong in His grace, how weak is the most gifted servant! Unless the flesh is judged by the Cross, and the Spirit ungrieved, according to the teaching of 1 Cor. 1 and 1 Cor. 2, the servant, instead of using his gift in faithfulness to the Lord and for the blessing of His people, is in constant danger of seeking to use it to exalt himself.
(V. 8). To expose the folly of those who were seeking to exalt themselves by their gifts, the apostle draws a contrast between the present portion of the Corinthian assembly and the future portion of the faithful servant in the day of the Lord, of which he has been speaking. The now of verse 8 is in contrast to the then of verse 5. The Corinthian believers were seeking the praise of men now in the time and place of Christ’s rejection. The faithful servant will have the praise of God then in the day of Christ’s glory. They had sought to use Christianity to enrich themselves and reign as kings; but, says the apostle, it is without us. He would that the reigning time had come, but we are still in the world from which Christ has been rejected, and by which He was nailed to a Cross; evidently, then, it is neither the time nor the place for the followers of Christ to reign as kings. Christendom has fallen into this Corinthian snare, for on every hand professing Christians seek the favour of the world, attempt to direct its course and gain its applause.
(V. 9). The faithful follower of Christ will neither seek nor obtain power or praise in this world. His portion will be one of suffering and reproach for Christ’s sake, as exemplified in the life of the apostles, so touchingly set before us in the verses that follow. As far as this world is concerned, the portion of the apostles was much like that of the unhappy creatures which were appointed to death and kept for the last scene in the great Roman spectacles. The onlookers are not simply the holiday audience of an amphitheatre but the world, the angels and men. Well, indeed, for us to remember that the church is the lesson-book of the principalities and powers in heavenly places (Eph 3:10).
As we read these verses, we learn how the world viewed these faithful followers of Christ, the trying circumstances through which they passed, and the way in which the world treated them.
(V. 10). The world viewed them as fools and weak, and consequently despised them. But they were content to be thought fools for Christ’s sake. Alas, too often, like the believers at Corinth, we may be tempted to use our knowledge of Christ to appear wise in the eyes of the world, and to obtain power and honour in the world.
(Vv. 11-13). As to circumstances, the Corinthians were full and rich (verse 8), but these devoted apostles had to face hunger and thirst. At times they were naked and buffeted by the storms of life. They had to wander without a home (N.Tn.), and labour, working with their own hands to meet their necessities. As to the treatment they received from the world, they were reviled, persecuted and insulted. Nevertheless, the treatment they received only served to draw out from them a witness to Christ, for, when reviled, they blessed, when persecuted, they patiently submitted, and when insulted, they entreated.
As far as this world is concerned, the apostle treated all its glories as loss and filth (Php 3:8), while the world, on its side, treated the apostles as filth and the off-scouring of all things. How blessedly these servants followed in the steps of their Master, and, in their measure, shared in His sufferings from the hands of men. According to His perfect estimate of their faithfulness they will have His praise and share in His glories in the day to come.
(Vv. 14-16). This marvellous description of the power of Christianity, as set forth in the apostles, must have shamed the Corinthians, as, indeed, it shames us all. Nevertheless, the apostle does not write to shame them as enemies, but to warn them as beloved sons in the faith. They may have ten thousand instructors, but one father in Christ, so he beseeches them to be imitators of their father.
(V. 17). In order that they may be his imitators, the apostle has sent Timothy to remind them of his ways which be in Christ. If he desires us to imitate himself, it is only in as far as his ways are in Christ, so blessedly brought before us in the account he has just given of the life of faithful servants. Of Timothy he can also say that he has proved himself to be faithful in the Lord. Further, Timothy would witness that the apostle’s ways which be in Christ were the same in every assembly. Men have introduced into their self-constituted systems ways according to their own ideas. For the one who bows to Scripture there are no other ways than those which the apostle taught everywhere in every assembly.
(Vv. 18-21). Alas, then as now some are puffed up and entirely indifferent to the inspired teaching of the apostle. As to such the apostle indicates that the real test of spirituality is not in the speech, but in the power of life. As far as speech is concerned, the apostle has to warn us a little later that we can speak like an angel and yet be nothing. The kingdom of God is not set forth by our words merely, but in what we are as manifested by spiritual power (1Co 2:4-5). The apostle asks, how shall he come to them? Will it be with a rod to chasten, or in love and the spirit of meekness to edify? We may well ask, how would he come to Christendom today; how would he come to us?
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
CHAPTER IV.
SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER
S. Paul proceeds in his task of uprooting the divisions, the pride, and the boasting of the Corinthians, and especially of some of their teachers who held him in contempt. And-
i. He shows that he cares nothing for their judgment, or for that of other men, but for God’s only.
ii. He reproves their elation at their gifts (vers. 7, 8.).
iii. And chiefly he urges upon the, the example of himself and of the other Apostles, who, as the offscouring of the world, preached the Gospel with humility, despised and persecuted by all (vers. 9-14).
iv. He exhorts them as his children, as having begotten them in Christ, and threatens to come soon to Corinth to rebuke and punish these false, boastful, and puffed-up teachers (vers. 15-21).
Ver. 1.-Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ. I have forbidden you to boast yourselves in Paul or Apollos; but lest any man should therefore despise us, I say that every one should regard us as minsters of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Kemnitius raises a railing objection based on these last words, that the Council of Trent was wrong in relying on this passage to prove that the Pope can give dispensation in the matter of vows and laws; for he says that a steward’s duty is not to relax laws but to distribute goods. I answer that the Council knew this very well; but that its argument was simply this: If the stewardship of the affairs of the Church has been intrusted to the Pope, therefore he can in certain cases, when there is need, dispense, that is, dissolve vows and oaths, and remit penances and the debt of temporal punishment, just as the steward of a household can, when the honour or profit of his lord demands it, make dispensations, grants, or remissions-for this belongs to the office intrusted to him; only he is bound to dispense rightly, not to squander thoughtlessly, as S. Bernard says (de Precep. et Disp., and de Consid. lib. iii.): “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Where necessity urges it, a dispensation is excusable; where expedience calls for it, it is laudable. I mean, of course, expedience which makes for the common good, not that of the individual; for where neither of these exists, not only is a dispensation a breach of faith, it is a heartless act of squandering.”
The word used here, “steward,” denotes one who has charge of a house, and rules, divides, and arranges everything in it; one, too, who gives gifts and remits debts, when he believes sincerely that to do so would be pleasing to his lord, or make for his honour and advantage. His chief virtues are prudence and faithfulness. So does the Pope, as steward of the Church and vicegerent of Christ, ordain everything, grant indulgences, and dispense with vows.
The mysteries of God mentioned here are the mystic secrets of Divine doctrine and off the Sacraments of Christ. For both these are mysteries of Christ, intrusted by Him to Paul and the other Apostles as His stewards. Hence it was that the strife and divisions of the Corinthians arose from a dispute about the Sacrament of baptism, inasmuch as one would boast that he had received baptism from Paul, another from Apollos. Cf. ch. i. 13.
Ver. 2.-Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. You have been called from the study of wisdom and human eloquence to the simple and lowly teaching of Christ, so as not to dispute whether Paul or Apollos is the wiser or the more eloquent; and I have said that both of us are stewards of this teaching. Perchance, as you are always ready to draw comparisons between us, you will now begin to dispute about our stewardship, and ask, as men will, which of us is the more faithful in his office of preacher. Many of you say that Paul is the more faithful and more powerful, but Apollos more eloquent. Each will boast of his own teacher, and say that he is better and more faithful than we. Therefore to cut away all occasion for comparison let me tell you that I care nothing for the judgment of you or of any other man, but for God’s alone. So says Theophylact, following Chrysostom.
The chief quality requires in a steward is faithfulness. S. Paul alludes to the words of Christ: “Who then is a faithful and wise steward?” (S. Luk 12:42). Theophylact says: “He is faithful if he does not regard his master’s goods as his own, if he foes not treat them as if he were owner of them, but distribute them as another’s and his master’s: of he does not speak of them as his own, but on the contrary say that what is his own belongs to his master.” So, too, is a teacher or preacher faithful who does not seek his own glory, but the glory of God and the conversion of souls, and do all he can to forward these two objects, not only by his preaching, but also by a perfect example of a holy life.
Ver. 3.-But with me it is a very small thing . . . or of man’s judgment. The Latin version give “of man’s day.” The meaning is the same; for the “day of the Lord” is frequently put for the “judgment of the Lord,” and a day is commonly named for defendants to appear for judgment. Cf. S. Jerome (ad Algas. qu. x.). He adds that Paul, as a native of the Cilician Tarsus, used the Greek idiom common there, and called “human judgment” “man’s day.”
It would, however, be better to say that Paul, being a Hebrew, borrowed this from the idiom of the Hebrews. For he is alluding to Jer, xvii. 16, where Jeremiah, being mocked and persecuted because of his prophecies, says: “Neither have I desired man’s day; Thou knowest.” The day of man is that wherein man prospers, and is honoured and praised by all as powerful, happy, and enviable. Jeremiah’s meaning, then, is: “I have not desired longer life, prosperity, riches, honours, pleasures, or the applauses of men; for if I had looked for such things I should not have prophesied to them of sadness and disaster, but I should have praised their glory and their lusts; but this I did not do, nor desired man’s day or his applause. For I know that man is but frail and miserable, and quickly to vanish away in death with all his goods and glory. Knowing this and recollecting it, I have not desired to please man in my prophecies and teachings, but to please and obey Thee, alone, O God, and to win commendation from none but Thee, and I call upon Thee to be my witness to this by saying, ‘Thou knowest,’ just as Job did when he said (Job 16:19), ‘Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.'”
So, too, say S. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, S. Thomas, and others. In imitation of Jeremiah, therefore, the Apostle says: “With me it is a very small thing to be judged of you or of man’s day.” In other words, he cared little for the power and wisdom of this world, for man’s favour and applause. Happy he who could say, ” I have not desired man’s day,” and call God for a witness to his truth. This is the height of perfection which enables a man to count all things as dross if only he can gain Christ. This noble portion was that of Moss, who abjured his position as son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
S. Chrysostom well moralises here: “Let us not, therefore, seek the praises of men. For to do so is to offer an insult to God, as though we counted His praise insufficient, and so passed Him by, and strove for that of our fellow-servants. For as those who contend for the mastery in a small arena seek for themselves a larger, because they think that the other is not large enough to display their prowess, so do they who contend in the sight of God pass by the larger arena, when they seek for the applause of men, and heap up for themselves punishment through their lust for the lesser good. Everything has been perverted, the whole world overturned, by this desire of ours to do everything for the sake of men, by our want of diligence in good works, by our disdaining the praise of God, and seeking only that of our fellow-servants. In our crimes, again, we despise God, and fear man; for if man were present we should abstain from fornication, and even though our lust burnt more fiercely its violence would be held in check by very shame lest we be seen by man. But when none but God sees us, we not only are guilty of adultery and fornication, but we have dared and still dare to commit far more heinous wickedness. Would not this alone be enough to bring down upon us God’s avenging thunders? Hence it is that all our woes have sprung, because in our disgraceful actions we fear not God but man.”
S. Chrysostom again (Hom. 17 in Ep. ad Rom.) says: “Just as boys in play put on each other’s heads crowns of hay, and often laugh behind his back at the boy they have crowned, so too do those who speak you fair to your face jeer at you quietly among themselves. What else is this but placing crowns of hay on each other’s heads? Would or were nothing else but hay! But as it is, this crown of ours is full of warning to us, for it destroys all that we have rightly done. Consider, then, its value; flee from the loss it entails. For if there are a hundred, or a thousand, or a host without number to applaud you, yet all of them are nothing more than chattering jackdaws. Nay, if you but think of the cloud of angel-witnesses they will seem viler than worms, and their words more flimsy than cobwebs, more fleeting than smoke, or than a dream of the night. Say to thy soul what Paul said, ‘Knowest thou not that we shall judge angels?’ Then call it away from such a feast, and chide it, and say, ‘Dost thou that art to sit in judgment on angels wish to be judged by such unclean spirits?'”
S. Jerome too (ad Pammach.) wisely says: “The first monastic virtue is to despise the judgment of men, and always to bear in mind the words of the Apostle, ‘If yet I pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ.’ Some such saying, too, did God address to the Prophets when He told them that He would make their face as a city of brass, and an adamantine stone, and an iron pillar, that they might not tremble at the threats of the people, but with unmoved brow tread under foot the impudent jeers of their adversaries.”
Lastly, Anselm says here: “The righteous look not for man’s judgment but for the award of the Eternal Judge, and therefore with Paul they despise the words of detractors.”
This is what one of the Saints meant when he said, “If you wish to be happy learn to despise and to be despised.” Yea, I judge not mine own self. I cannot certainly judge myself, my works, my motives, my conscience.
Ver. 4.-For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified. I do not judge myself. For though I am not conscious of any unfaithfulness in my Apostolic office, yet I am not really just: I do not mean in the sight of men, for I do nor care for their judgment: I mean in the sight of God, who perhaps sees in me sins that I do not. Hence S. Basil (Constit. Monast. c. 1) says: “Although in many things we all offend, yet we have no conception at all of the greater part of our offences. This is why the Apostle once said, ‘I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified.’ It is as if he had said, ‘I commit many venial sins of which I am bot aware.’ For the same reason the prophet said, ‘Who understands his offences?’ You will not then be saying what is not true if you call yourself a sinner.”
From this we can argue against the Protestants that the justified have no sure knowledge, much less faith that they are justified. They reply that S. Paul means here that as regards his works he did not know that he was justified, but that he had a sure knowledge of it from faith and Holy Scripture, which promise justification to every one that believeth on Christ. In other words, they say that they know that they are justified, not because they are free from sins, and live holy lives, but through God’s mercy accepting their belief in the free gift of justification by Christ. But this answer of theirs is frivolous and feigned, for the Apostle goes on to say,
Ver. 5.-Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light, &c. He will reveal the thoughts and actions of men that lie hid in darkness. He means, then, that to God alone are naked and open the hidden things of man, his intentions, his secret motives, and the depths of his heart, which is to him like a bottomless sea, and therefore that none but God sees man’s justification. None, therefore, save God should judge another, or even himself, for his faith, his works, or the grace of Christ. For we often think that we are doing right when we are acting amiss: we often suppose that we are led by the grace of Christ, and act out of love for Him, when all the time we are impelled by our own lust or by the love of our own fame. Cf. Chrysostom and Ambrose and S. Jerome ( Dial. 2 contra Pelag.). S. Augustine, too, has some beautiful remarks on this point in his sermon on Ps. 42., where he says that the deep of human misery and blindness calls to the deep of Divine mercy and illumination.
This argument is confirmed by the following reflections: (1.) that God even does not look upon us as justified by works but by faith, and this, according to the Protestants, we know of as well as God does; for we believe, they say, by faith. Therefore, according to them, what the Apostle says is false; for he says that God alone knows it and not we. (2.) The words which say that God beings to light the hidden things of darkness, and makes manifest the counsels of the hearts, do not mean that God surveys and manifests men’s faith, but their designs, their motives, and works. (3.) Just as the nature of our works is uncertain to us, so too is our faith, which according to Protestants alone justifies: for no man can know for a certainty that he believes on Christ with a faith that is firm and Divine, and therefore still less can he know that he is justified by it. The Holy Spirit often says the same elsewhere. Cf. Ecc 9:1; Pro 20:9; Job 9:21; Jer 17:9.
Ver. 6.-And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself, &c. “Above that which is written” may refer (1.) to ch. i. 2, 3; or (2.) with S. Chrysostom it may mean “contrary to that which is written” in Holy Scripture against pride. It is foolish, therefore, for the Protestants to abuse this passage into an argument against tradition. S. Paul evidently means that what he had said against their idle boasting of the gifts of their teachers, and about not caring for the applause and opinion of men, but only for God’s, had been said of them in the person of himself and Apollos. He had been speaking of others in his own name, so as to avoid offending any of the Corinthian teachers, or their disciples, by mentioning their names. That ye might learn in us, therefore, is the expression of his desire, that when he speaks of himself or Apollos, they may apply what he said to the other teachers, who had been the occasion of the schism, of which he and Apollos were guiltless. He urges the Corinthians by his own example of moderation and conciliatory disposition not to be puffed up, or boast of one against another, viz., for this or that catechist or teacher, by saying, “I was baptized by Paul; I was converted by Apollos.” It is, too, an exhortation to the teachers not to be proud and puffed up because they might be wiser or more eloquent than other teachers, or boast of their disciples as being better instructed than those of other teachers, above that which he had just now written. For in what follows he is reproving the teachers rather than disciples; but he does it in a mild way and under another name, the teachers, I mean, who has been the chief cause of the empty contention and divisions among his Corinthian disciples. This will be seen by reference to ch. v. 15, 18, 19, and also ch. iii. 10, as well as to the whole of ch. xi. of the Second Epistle. For the false teachers whom he here speaks of mildly, because they had not yet disclosed their true nature, are the same apparently as those that in 2Cor. 11 he speaks more severely of as imposters, and guilty of Judaising, and teaching false doctrine. Hence, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and cumenius point put, S. Paul first censures the teachers in the words, “that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written,” i.e., that you, teachers, might learn from me and Apollos that you are, as I said before, merely stewards of God. Then he proceeds to rebuke the disciples in the words, “that no one of you be puffed up for one against another,” i.e., that no disciple boast of his teacher as wiser or more eloquent than another. S. Paul, then, while he seems to continue his address to the Corinthians, is in them and through them reproving their teachers. Just so a tutor endowed with tact and judgment will, when he wishes to chide a king’s sons, chide their servants, as if they were guilty, that so the princes may take it to themselves.
The expression “puffed up,” to describe one that is proud and swollen with arrogance, is a figure borrowed from wine skins. They are said to be puffed out when by being filled with air they resemble in form and size a solid body. Similarly, the proud man who is well satisfied with his knowledge, or eloquence, or some such gift, but within is devoid of all such powers, is just like a wine skin that is swollen out with wind.
Ver. 7.-For who maketh thee to differ from another? 1. The Greek word denotes as much the act of placing a man above others as separate him and dividing him off from them. So Theophylact paraphrases it, By whose suffrage was it that this separation and pre-eminence was given thee?” It was not of men, but of God. It is God’s to make to differ and to judge, and therefore you ought not to care for man’s judgment. So understood, these words hark back to ver. 4.
But it is better to understand them: Who gives you any pre-eminence over the herd of your fellow-Christians, O Corinthian catechumen? No one but yourself, who are puffed up, because you think that you have been baptized and taught by one that is a more holy, eloquent, and wise teacher than others: even so it does not follow that you share in his good qualities. It is this schismatic spirit that the Apostle has before him, as is evident from what has gone before, and as is pointed out by Ambrose, Anselm, and Theodoret.
3. But what, it seems to me, is most within the scope of the Apostle’s aim, who, as I said, is addressing the teachers, is this Who, O teacher, makes you to differ from another, as to be a better teacher and a better Christian, but yourself, who vainly extol your own wisdom and eloquence above that of others, or of your followers whom you have taught, as Psaphon did his birds, to sing your praises? If you say, “It is my labour, my zeal and industry, that mark me off from others,” I answer, “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” Thy talent for labour, thy abilities, and all the natural gifts of which you boast came to you from God. Much more came from Him thy supernatural gifts; therefore to Him give all the glory. S. Ephrem (de Pnitenti) wisely says: “Offer to God what is not thine own, that he may give thee what is His.” Hence the Council of Arausica (Can. 22) lays down that we have nothing of our own except falsehood and sin. This is the literal sense, and the Apostle’s meaning.
Nevertheless, we must take notice that S. Augustine frequently, prosper, Fulgentius and the Council of Arausica (Can. 6) transfer these words of the Apostle’s by parity of reasoning from the natural gifts of eloquence and wisdom, primarily referred to here, to the supernatural gifts and good works achieved by natural strength alone, as well as the labour, zeal, and industry of teachers, affect nothing for grace and holiness; and if these gifts to not warrant a man in boasting himself of his natural abilities, much less will they allow him to glory in the sphere of the supernatural, that they have made him holy, or more holy than others. This is the reason why S. Augustine refers these words to grace and predestination, in the sense that no one can separate himself from the mess of sinful human nature and make a beginning of his own salvation, by his own efforts and his own natural strength, as the Pelagians and Semi-pelagians held.
It is, then, not the powers of nature but God that separates the man justified from the man not justified; for God is the great First Cause of all the gifts that the justified has, in such a way that he has nothing to mark him off from the non-justified, save what he has received from God. He is, therefore, debarred from all boasting. This, however, does not remove the fact that all this at the same time depends for its efficacy on the free co-operation if our will. For as S. Augustine lays down, through free-will assisted by grace, he who is converted can separate himself from him that is not. He says (de Spir. et Lit.c. 34): “To yield to the call of God, or to resist it, is an act of my own will. And this not only does not weaken the force of the words, ‘What hast thou that thou didst not receive?’ it even strengthens them. The soul cannot receive and have the gifts spoken of here except by consenting; and through this consent what it has, and what it receives, are of God. For to receive and to have are the acts of one that receives and has.” In other words they are the acts of one that consents freely to the grace of God calling him. S. Bernard (de Grat. et lib. Arbit.) says tersely: “What God gives to our free-will can no more be given without the consent of the receiver than without the grace of the Giver.”
If then it be asked: What makes a man that believes to differ from one that refuses to believe, it being understood that each received from God an equal grace of calling to faith,-I should reply: He that believes does so through free-will, and not through his natural powers, as Pelagius supposed, and through the strength given him by Grace he makes himself to differ from one that believes not. For it was in his own power to assent, or not to assent, to grace, and therefore to believe or not to believe: when, then, he believes, he does so freely: he assents freely to the grace of God; he freely distinguishes himself from him that believes not.
It may be said that he can boast himself, then, of having so distinguished himself from the other. But I answer that boasting is excluded, since he should attribute the chief glory, nay, the whole to God, by whose grace he has so separated himself. The reason is that by the strength of grace alone, not by natural powers, did he perform, or have power to do, or to wish for, the act by which he separated himself. From the same source came his strength for the embracing of grace, which is not distinguishable from assent to it, and for any attempt, or movement, or inclination towards it. For in that act there is not the least ground for saying that it has been effected by the power of free-will alone; for the whole of it, as far as its substance and real modes is concerned, is of grace and all of free-will; just as every work is wholly from God as its first cause, and wholly also from its secondary cause. But from grace it has it that it is supernatural and meritorious, and thence comes all its worth; it has from free-will its freedom only. As, then, the act itself and the co-operation with them, a man can no more boast of his co-operation and election than a beggar who is offered a hundred pieces of gold can boast of his having accepted them. And all that the Apostle means is that no one can so boast himself of anything as though he had nor received it from God. Otherwise, all virtue by itself, and the virtuous man by himself, are worthy of praise and honour; but this praise and virtue must be attributed to God; for whoever converts himself and separates himself from others does so not by his own natural abilities but by the power of the grace of God.
Nor is it to be said that the Apostle’s meaning is otherwise from the fact of his speaking literally, as I said before, of differences in wisdom, eloquence, and other natural gifts, which undeniably a man can acquire, or excel in by his own labours, zeal, and industry, and so make himself to differ from others less learned, and can also therefore give his own labour and zeal the credit, and boast moderately of his advancement. The Apostle is merely excluding that boasting which arises from pride and contempt of others: as if, for instance, you were to arrogantly boast that what you have is your own and came not from God. This is evidently S. Paul’s meaning, from the words he adds: “Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” If, then, you accommodate this sentence to supernatural things, it only excludes, according to S. Paul’s meaning, that boasting which arises from a pride despising others, attributing all to itself, and not referring everything to God and His grace as the Well-spring of all. But you do not do this if you say that by the power of God’s grace you have freely distinguished and divided yourself from sinners who prefer to remain in their sin; for you then give the praise and glory first and last to God and His Grace. All the same, however, free-will has its own praise and glory, though that praise and glory, be it recollected, was received by the grace of God.
From what has been said it follows that he who is converted is to be distinguished from him who is not, and that he is converted as well by grace as by free-will. For although both have prevenient grace, which is often equally exerted on many, yet the one has as well co-operating grace, which is wanting to the other who has no wish to be converted, and by this he is freely distinguished from the other and converted. Moreover, it was foreseen that his prevenient grace would be effectual in him here and now; and because God foresaw this, He predestinated him to it, knowing that with it he would most surely co-operate and be converted: but such grace He does not give to another man who is nit converted. We are, therefore, in general to think of this as the actual cause of our conversion and salvation. For this effectual grace is peculiar to the predestinate and the elect, if only it remains with them to the end of their life, as S. Augustine says. Hence, it is clear that it id not so much free-will as grace that divides the just from the unjust: for grace effects the conversion and justification of the righteous man who does not hinder the efficacious working of grace, but freely consents to it. But grace does not do this with the unjust, because he places an opposing barrier in the way of grace in refusing to consent to it and co-operate with it, and so grace becomes in him ineffectual and vain. Wherefore S. Ephrem’s advice in c. 10 of the tractate, “Look to thyself,” is wise, “Have charity with all, and abstain from all.” For these two, benevolence and continence, are the principal mark of holiness, which soften the most barbarous of men and bind them to themselves.
Ver. 8.-Now ye are full. This is, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Anselm say, ironical. Ye are filled with wisdom and grace, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and so it is your boast that you are not so much Corinthians as teachers, having nothing further to learn of Christianity. You think yourselves perfect as teachers when you are scarcely disciples at all of the true and perfect wisdom. S. Chrysostom says, To be satisfied with little is the mark of a weak mind: and to think one’s self rich by a small addition of means is the mark of one that is sick and miserable; but true godliness is never satisfied.”
S. Thomas notices that S. Paul here points out four kinds of pride in the Corinthians, or rather in their teachers. First, when one thinks that he has from himself and not from God whatever good he possesses: this is alluded to in the words, “Why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” In these words also is contained the second, which is, when any one attributes to his own merits whatever good he has. The third is when one boasts that he has what he has not, and this is touched in the words, “Now ye are full; now ye are rich.” The fourth is when one despises others, and wishes to stand in a class by himself: this is pointed at in the words, “Ye have reigned as kings without us.”
Ye have reigned as kings without us. Without our help, you think, O Corinthians, that you triumphantly excel over all God’s saints; and especially you, O teachers, as if you had been given a kingdom, claim for yourselves, while excluding us, a supreme dignity.
And I would to God that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. As your followers and rivals, or better as being your fathers: for this as a matter of fact we are. So Theophylact, Chrysostom, and Anselm. He does not decline to have partners in the kingdom of God, i.e., in the government of the Church; he only requires them to rule as they ought, that is, to devote themselves to the salvation of the faithful.
Ver. 9.-For I think that God hath set forth us, the Apostles, last, as it were appointed to death. (1.) He contrasts himself and the true Apostles with those vain teachers who sought their own glory and their own advantage. I would, he says, that we Apostles were reigning with you; for so far, I think, are we from reigning triumphantly, that God has exhibited us to the world as the last and most despised of all, as though destined to a well-deserved death. (2.) The simpler meaning is, we are the last to have been sent into the world in these last times. We have been marked out by God for death, as. e.g., by means of wild beasts-not for a kingdom or triumphs, but for death, persecution, and martyrdom. So Tertullian understands it.
Observe that the Apostles are called last, as comperes with those Prophets that went before them, as Isaiah and Jeremiah and others, who were sent by God as Apostles to the Jews and others (Isa. vi. 9). Especially does he call himself last of all, as having been called to his Apostleship by Christ ascended, after the other Apostles had been called by Christ living on the earth.
Moreover, “set forth” denotes (1.) marked out, (2.) made or exhibited, and, as Ephrem terms it, appointed. Cf. Psa 60:3 and Psa 71:20. (3.) It denotes put forward publicly as an example to others. Hence it follows-
For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. They were placed, as it were, in a theatre, like those condemned to die by fighting with wild beasts before the eyes of the populace. There seems to be as allusion here to the public games of Rome and other places, where men fought with wild beasts in the arena. The world, he says, delights to regard us as fools, dealers in secret arts, or babblers of novelties, or better still, as men condemned to the beasts.
Observe that “the world” here is a generic name for “angels and men” for they were the only beings to gaze upon the Apostles. Hence, in the Greek, “world” has the article, and the two other terms are without it. We are made, he says, to the good angels an object of compassionate regard, as well as of worthy admiration and honour. But since evil angels and evil men rejoice in our being despised, persecuted, and put to death, we are made a spectacle to evil angels of hatred and rejoicing, as well as of confusion and terror. To good men we are a spectacle and example of fortitude, faith, innocence, patience, meekness, constancy, and holiness of life. So Titelmann.
S. Chrysostom (Hom. 12 in Moral.) applies thus to the theatre of this life, in which we do everything in the presence of God. So, Suetonius says. S. Augustine, when about to die, said to his friends standing round him, “Have I played my part pretty well on this stage and in the theatre?”-“Very well,” his friends replied. Then he rejoined, “Applaud me, therefore, as I take my departure;” and having said this he gave up the ghost. Better and still more appropriate was the use of these words made by Edmund Campian, England’s noble martyr, well named Campianus, a true wrestler and champion of Christ, who, when about to suffer martyrdom, publicly gave out these words as the text of his last sermon. Such a theatrical spectacle was what the Apostles here primarily intends. Cicero says (qu. 2, Tuesul.) that there is no fairer sight than that of a virtuous and conscientious life, and so among Christians there is nothing more beautiful than martyrdom.
The illustrious Paula appositely and piously replied, as S. Jerome says in his eulogy of her, to some caviller who suggested that she might be considered by some insane, because of the fervour of her virtues: “We are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men; we are fools for Christ’s sake; but the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Hence, too, the Saviour said to His Father, ‘Thou knowest My foolishness!’ and again, ‘I was made as it were a monster unto many, but be Thou My strong helper. I became as a beast before Thee, and I am always with Thee'”
Lastly, S. Chrysostom (in Ep. ad Rom. Hom. 17) teaches from this that we ought to fly from eye-service, that is, from serving the eyes of men, that so we turn our eyes towards the eyes of God, and live perpetually in His sight and before Him. There are, he says, two theatres: one most spacious, where sits the King of kings, surrounded by His shining hosts, to view us; the other most insignificant, where stand a few Ethiopians, i.e., men ignorant of what is going on. It is, therefore, the height of madness to pass by this mist spacious theatre of God and of the angels, and to be content with the theatre of a few Ethiopians, and laboriously to strive to please them. When you have a theatre erected for you in the heavens, why do you gather together spectators for yourself on earth? S. Bernard (Serm. 31 inter parvos) treats these words somewhat differently, though his application of them is the same. He says: “We are made a spectacle unto the world, to angels and to men, good and bad alike. The passion of envy inflames the one, the compassion born of pity makes the others minister to us continually; the one desires to see our fall, the other our upward flight. We are undoubtedly half-way between heaven and hell, between the cloister and the world. Both consider diligently what we do, both say, ‘Would that he would join us!’ Their intention is different, but their wishes, perhaps, not unlike. But if the eyes of all are thus upon us, whither have our friends gone, or why did they alone go from us? . . . Let us, then, before it is too late, brethren, rise, nor receive in vain our souls for which, whether for good or evil, others so zealously watch.”
Ver. 10.-We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. This is a continuation of the irony of ver. 8. We are reckoned fools because of Christ crucified, whom we preach, and for whose sake we seem to expose ourselves rashly to so many dangers. For the Cross is to the Greeks foolishness. But you in your own eyes are wise in the Gospel of Christ, because of the eloquence and philosophy which you mingle with it, and because you take care to so preach Christ that you run no risk for His sake.
We are weak, as bearing without resistance many grievous adversities, such as hunger, thirst, nakedness, toils, injuries, cursings, persecutions, as is said in ver. 11.
But ye are strong. For you easily by your worldly eloquence, wisdom, and friendship turn the edge of all evils that attack you.
Ye are honourable, but we are despised. You are honoured, we are held in no honour. He teaches modestly, but yet sternly by his own example as a teacher, that the Christian’s boast must not be in renown, wealth, wisdom, eloquence, or the applause of men, but in being despised by others, and in despising glory, and in the Cross of Christ; and especially is this true of the Christian teacher and preacher. So S. Chrysostom. And in this way he endeavours to shame these self-indulgent, vain, and luxurious teachers, and also the Corinthians who preferred to follow such men, rather than the Apostles of Christ, who were giving for them their strength, their substance, and their lives. So Isaiah (Isa 8:18) says, in the name of himself and the other Prophets, as well as of Paul and the Apostles, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel.” And as the Annales Minorum relate, S. Francis used to say that he was a despised fool of Christ’s in the world, and was for this beloved of Christ Himself.
Ver. 11.-Even unto this present hour we . . . have no certain dwelling-place. This remarkable description of the Apostle’s life is very like that contained in the Second Epistle (xi. 23), which those that are called to the ministry ought to put before them as an example, as the Apostolic men of great zeal do in England, Holland, India, and Japan.
S. Chrysostom (Hom. 52 on Acts of the Apostles) says excellently on the words of xxvi. 29: “Such is the soul that is raised on high by celestial love that it thinks itself a prisoner for Christ because of the greatness of the promised glory. For as one in love has no eyes for any save her he loves, who is to him everything, so he who has been laid hold of by Christ’s fire becomes like one who should be living alone on the earth, caring nothing for glory and shame. For he so utterly despises temptations and scourgings and imprisonment that it is as though another body endured them, or as though he possessed a body made of granite. For he laughs at those things which are pleasant in this life; he does not feel their force as we do; his body is to him as the body of one dead. So far is he from being taken captive by any passion, as gold that has been purified in the fire is from showing any stain. All this is effected by the love of man for God, when it is great.” But we do not attain this height because we are cold, and ignorant of this Divine philosophy. The philosopher Diogenes saw this, though but darkly and afar off, for then he was asked what men were the noblest, he replied, ” They that despise riches and glory and pleasure and life; they that draw their force from the opposite things to these, from poverty, obscurity, hunger, thirst, toil and death.” Diogenes saw this, but could not practise it, for he was himself a slave to vain-glory.
Ver. 12.-Being reviled, we bless. Infidels and Jews mock us, and call down imprecations on us, saying, “Let these new preachers of a crucified God be slain, let then perish and hang on the accursed cross.” We, however, pray for their peace, that God would give them His light, His grace, and salvation. S. Basil (in Reg. Brevior. 226) points out that to do evil and to do good are connoted by reviling and blessing. He says: “We are bidden to be patient towards all, and to return kindly deeds to those who persecute us unjustly. We are to love fervently, not only those that curse us, but whosoever shows us unkindness in any way whatever, that so we may obey the precept, ‘Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.'”
Ver. 13.-Being defamed, we entreat. When we are reviled, called evil dealers in evil arts, and railed at. The word “blaspheme” has this meaning also in Tit 3:2. When thus treated we speak the meekness after the manner of suppliants, as the Greek Fathers take it, or else we entreat God for them. But the first is nearer the Greek. S. Basil (Reg.226, quoted above) renders it “comfort,” in the sense of filling their minds with a perception of the truth. Comfort is used in this sense in Rom 1:12.
We are made as the filth of the world. We are made, as Theophylact and Theodoret say, as it were the excrement of the world-not once, but always, down to this present hour. We are made like filth that has been collected from all sides, is the literal force of the Greek. We are reckoned as most contemptible, as wretches unworthy of man’s society, fit only to be driven away and destroyed.
S. Paul is here alluding to Lam 3:45: “Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.” For Jeremiah was imprisoned by the Jews, cast off, and rejected, and so was a type of Paul and the Apostles, imprisoned, rejected, and at length slain by the Jews and Gentiles.
But Gagneius and others translate this word “expiatory victims.” Hence S. Ambrose, too, commenting on Psa 119:8, reads it, “We are made for the world’s purging.” We should notice that the Greek word here used was applied to the wicked men and others doomed to sacrifice by the Gentiles, in order to get rid of famine or tempests of any other public calamity. So, for instance, did the Decii devote themselves for their country, and Curtius, who, to banish a common plague and appease the Deity, leaped in full armour into a gulf in Rome. So, to, Servius, on the line of the neid, “O accursed thirst for gold, to what villainy do you not impel the hearts of men?” notes that famine is called accursed or sacred after the manner of the Gauls. For when the citizens of Marseilles were suffering from pestilence, a certain poor man offered himself to the state to be fed for a full year on the best food at the public expense, and then to be led through the city with execration, clothed with evergreens and sacred garments, that on his head might fall all the evils of the state; and then he was either sacrificed or drowned. Hence Budus, following Suidas and others, says that were men dedicated to death, and thrown into the sea, bearing the burden of all the wickedness of the state, and so sacrificed to Neptune, with the words added: “Be thou our expiatory victim.” Such a victim was the goat sent into the wilderness by the Hebrews (Lev 16:21). But the Greek and Latin versions support the first meaning in preference, and that gives the more literal and simple sense. For S. Paul is here treating of the contempt meted put to him and his companions, whereby they were spurned by tongue and foot as the vilest wretches living.
And are the offscouring of all things unto this day. Offscouring is the translation of a word which denoted such things as scabs, nail-pairings, and such worthless things as are cast aside and trodden under foot by all. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. cumenius understands it to mean a little rag or cloth by which sweat is wiped off the face; others follow Budus, and take it to mean “expiatory victim,” as I have said. This is supported, too, by the Syriac Version.
Vers. 14, 15.-I write not these things . . . for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. And therefore I alone am your spiritual father. Other teachers are but schoolmasters who educate the child sent them by the father. Paul hints that the Corinthians should be ashamed of themselves for passing by the Apostles, who had converted them to Christ, and who were suffering so much for their sake, and for following after vain-glorious teachers, and for wishing to be called their disciples.
Ver. 17.-Who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways. My doctrine and Christian life, say S. Thomas and Anselm.
In Christ. In Christ’s religion.
Ver. 20.-For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power. The spiritual energy and Christian, and especially Apostolic perfection, in which God reigns, and displays in us and in the Church the effectual working of the Gospel of His grace and Spirit, are not to be found in eloquence, but in the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, viz., in convincing speech, in the power of miracles, in the expulsion of demons, and, as Theophylact and Cajetan say, still more in the sufferings of the Apostle’s life described in vers. 9-11, and in conversion of character and in holy living. So, too, say S. Chrysostom and Anselm: For S. John Baptist did no miracle, and yet began to preach the Kingdom of God in the power of a holy life, in the spirit and efficacy of preaching and exhortation. Cf. the parallel expression in Rom 14:17.
Ver. 21.-What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod? Such as becomes the father I spoke of in ver. 15. The rod is a symbol of severity of rebuke and power of punishing. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm.
Observe here the power of punishing lodged in the Church and her prelates, and exercised by Paul in the next chapter. cumemius and Cajetan refer these words of the Apostle’s to the next chapter, in which he sternly rebukes the Corinthians for the incest of the fornicator. However, these words can well be joined with the preceding, in which he reproved the Corinthians for their pride.
Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary
4:1 Let {1} a {a} man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
(1) He concludes the duty of the hearers towards their ministers: that they do not esteem them as lords. Yet nonetheless they are to give ear to them, as to those that are sent from Christ. Sent I say to this end and purpose, that they may receive as it were at their hands the treasure of salvation which is drawn out of the secrets of God.
(a) Every man.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Judging God’s servants 4:1-5
"The first paragraph (1Co 4:1-5) leads the way by making an application of the servant model and showing how that relates to their treatment of him [Paul]. He changes images from farm to household and insists that he is God’s servant, not theirs; and they are not allowed to judge another’s servant. While on the theme of judgment, he gently broadens the perspective to remind them again of the future judgment that all must experience." [Note: Ibid., p. 156.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Learners should view teachers as servants of God and stewards of God’s mysteries rather than as party leaders. Paul used a different word for servants here (hyperetai) than he did in 1Co 3:5 (diakonoi). This word means an under-rower, a figure taken from the galley ships of the time. Slaves who rowed under the authority of the man who coordinated their individual efforts propelled the ship. The ship sailed straight ahead rather than in circles as the slaves followed the instructions of their leader. The other word (diakonoi) is the normal word for a servant.
A steward ("those entrusted with," NIV) was a servant whom his master entrusted with the administration of his business or property. His job was to devote his time, talents, and energy to executing his master’s interests, not his own. The figure stresses both the apostles’ humble position as belonging to Christ and their trusted yet accountable position under God. The mysteries of God refer to the truths of the Christian faith.
"(’Mysteries’ appear often in this letter, 1Co 2:7; 1Co 4:1; 1Co 13:2; 1Co 14:2; and perhaps 1Co 2:1; this is consistent with their interest in Hellenistic wisdom [cf. Wis 2:22; Wis 6:22; as opposed to pagan mysteries in Wis 14:15; Wis 14:23].)" [Note: Keener, p. 43.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 7
THE MINISTRY
So keenly alive is Paul to the danger and folly of party spirit in the Church, that he has still one more word of rebuke to utter. He has shown the Corinthians that to give their faith to one teacher, and shut their ears to every other form of truth than that which he delivers, is to impoverish and defraud themselves. All teachers are theirs, and are sent, not to win disciples to themselves, who may spread their fame and reflect credit on their talents, but to serve the people, and be merged in self-obliterating toil. The preachers, Paul tells them, exist for the Church: not the Church for the preachers. The people are the primary consideration, the main end to which the preachers are subordinate. The mistake often made in things civil, that the people exist for the king, not the king for the people, is made also in things ecclesiastical, and has, in some instances, attained such dimensions that the “Church” means the clergy, not the laity, and that when a man enters the ministry he is said to enter the Church, -as if already he were not in it as a layman.
Paul now proceeds to demonstrate the futility of the judgment passed upon their teachers by the Corinthians. Paul and the rest were servants of Christ, stewards sent by Him to dispense to others what He had entrusted to them. The question therefore was, were they faithful, did they dispense what they had received in conformity with Christs purpose? The question was not, were they eloquent, were they philosophical, were they learned? Criticism no preacher need expect to escape. Sometimes one might suppose sermons were of no other use than to furnish material for a little discussion and pleasant exercise of the critical faculty. Everyone considers himself capable of this form of criticism, and once a sermon has been sorted and labelled as of this, that, or the other quality, it is too often put permanently, aside. In such criticism, Paul reminds us, it is a great matter to bear in mind that what has no great attraction for us may yet serve some good purpose. The gifts dispensed by Christ are various. The influence of some ministers is most felt in private, while others are shy and stiff, and can only utter themselves freely in the pulpit. In the pulpit again various gifts appear, some having good nerve and a ready and felicitous address which reaches the multitude; while others have more power of thought, and a finer literary gift, or a sympathetic manner of handling peculiarities of spiritual experience. Who shall say which of these styles is most edifying to the Church? And who shall say which teacher is most faithfully serving his Master? Who shall determine whether this preacher or that is the better steward, most truly seeking his Lords glory, and careless of his own? May it not be expected that when the things at present hidden in darkness, the motives and thoughts of the heart, are brought to light in Christs judgment, many that are first shall be last, and the last first?
He who is conscious that he is the servant of Christ and must give account to Him, can always say with Paul, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of mans judgment,” whether for acquittal and applause or condemnation and abuse. He who utters what is peculiar to himself must expect to be misjudged by those who do not look at things from his point of view. A teacher who thinks for himself and is not a mere echo of other men, finds himself compelled to utter truths which he knows will be misunderstood by many; but so long as he is conscious that he is faithfully delivering what has been made known to himself, the condemnation of the many can trouble him very little or not at all. It is to his own Master he stands or falls; and if he feels sure that he is doing his Masters will, he may regret the opposition of men, but he can neither be greatly astonished nor greatly perturbed by it. And, on the other hand, the approval and applause of men come to him only as a reminder that there is no finality in mans judgment, and that it is only Christs approval which avails to give permanent satisfaction. A sympathetic audience every teacher needs, but general approval will be his in the inverse ratio of the individuality of his teaching.
In his whole discussion of this subject Paul has named only himself and Apollos, but he means that what he has said of them should be applied to all. “These things I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.” But great difficulty has always been experienced in tracing the similarities and distinctions which exist between the Apostles and the ordinary ministry of the Church, and had Paul been writing this epistle in our own day he would have felt himself compelled to speak more definitely on these points. For what makes union hopeless in Christendom at present is not that parties are formed round individual leaders, but that Churches are based on diametrically opposed opinions regarding the ministry itself. The Church of Rome unchurches all the rest, and defends her action by the simplest process of reasoning. There can be no true Church, she says, where there are no forgiveness of sins and no sacraments, and there can be no forgiveness and no sacraments where there are no true ministers to administer them, and there are no true ministers save those who can trace their orders to the Apostles. This theory of the ministry proceeds on the idea that the Apostles received from Christ a commission to exercise the apostolic office, and along with it a deposit of grace, with powers to communicate this to those who should succeed them. This deposit of grace derived from Christ Himself has been handed down from generation to generation, through a line of consecrated persons, each member of the series receiving at his ordination, and irrespective of his moral character, both the commission and the powers which belonged to his predecessor in office.
This theory of the efficacy of ministration in the Church, with its entirely external account of its transmission, is but one manifestation of the old superstition that confounds the outward symbol of Christian grace with that grace itself. It is a survival from a time in which religion was treated as a kind of magic, in which it was only needful to observe the right words of incantation and the right outward order. Even supposing that any priest now alive could trace his orders back to the Apostles, which no priest can, is it credible that the mere observance of an outward form should secure the transmission of the highest spiritual functions to those who may or may not have any spirituality of mind? However much grace the ordaining bishop may himself possess, however many of the qualifications of a good minister of Christ he may have, he can transmit none of these by the laying on of his hands. He can confer the external authority in the Church which belongs to the office to which he ordains, but he cannot communicate that which fits a man to use this authority. The laying on of hands is the outward symbol of the bestowed of the Holy Spirit, but it does not confer that Spirit, which is given, not by man, but by Christ alone. The laying on of hands is a fit symbol to use at ordination when those who use it have satisfied themselves that the ordained person is in possession of the Spirit. It is the expression of their reasonable belief that the Spirit is given.
In some Churches reaction against the theory of apostolical succession has led men to distrust and repudiate ordination altogether, and to maintain that any man may preach who can get people to listen to him, and may administer the sacraments to any who apply for them. No outward recognition by the Church is deemed necessary. The middle course is safer, which acknowledges not only the supreme necessity of an inward call, but also the expediency of an outward call by the Church. By an inward call it is meant that it is the inward and spiritual fitness of any person which constitutes his main right of entrance to the ministry. There are certain mental and moral endowments, certain circumstances and educational advantages, personal inclinations and leanings, which, when they meet in a boy or young man, point him out as suited for the work of the ministry. The evidence that Christ means that anyone should take office in His Church, -in other words calls him to office, – is the fact that He bestows on that person the gifts which fit him for it.
But besides this inward persuasion wrought in the mind of the individual, and which constitutes the inward call, there must be an outward call also by the Churchs recognition of fitness and communication of authority. Any man who, at his own instance and on his own authority, gathers a congregation and dispenses the sacraments is guilty of schism. Even Barnabas and Paul were ordained by the Church. As in the State a prince though legitimate does not succeed to the throne without formal consecration and coronation, so in the Church there is needful a formal recognition of the title which anyone claims to office. It is not the consecration which constitutes the princes right; that he already possesses by birth: so, neither is it the Churchs ordination which qualifies and entitles the minister to his office; this he already has by the gift of Christ; but recognition by the Church is needed to give him due authority to exercise the functions of his office. It is a matter of expediency and of order. It is calculated to maintain the unity of the Church. Admission to the ministry being regulated by those already in office, schisms are less likely to occur. Ordination has been a bulwark against fanaticism, against foolish private opinions and doctrines, against divisive courses in worship and in organisation. If the Church was to be kept together and to grow as a consistent whole, it was necessary that those already in office should be allowed to scrutinise the claims of aspirants to office, and should not have their order invaded, their work thwarted and obstructed, their doctrine denied and contradicted by everyone who might profess to have an inward call to the ministry.
It would therefore seem to be everyones duty to inquire, before he gives himself to another profession or business, whether Christ is not claiming him to serve in His Church. The qualifications which constitute a call to the ministry are such as these: an interest in men, in their ways, and habits, and character; a social disposition, inclining you to mix with other people, to take pleasure in their thoughts and feelings, to be of service to them, to talk frankly with them; a liking for reading, if not for hard study; some capacity for thinking and arranging your thoughts and expressing them, which, however, is to so great an extent the result of study and practice that you may find it impossible to say whether you have it or not. There are negative qualifications equally important, such as an indifference to money making, a shrinking from the eager competition and hurry of a business life. And, above all, there are the deeper and essential qualifications which are the fruit of the Spirits sanctifying energy: some genuine sense of your indebtedness to Christ; a strong desire to serve Him; an ambition to preach Him, to proclaim His worth, to invite men to appreciate and love Him. If you have these desires, and if you would fain be of use in things spiritual to your fellow men, then it would seem that you are called by Christ to the ministry. I do not say that all ministers are so qualified, but only that anyone who is so qualified should be careful how he chooses some other calling in preference to the ministry.
Paul concludes this portion of his Epistle with a pathetic comparison of his condition as an Apostle with the condition of those in Corinth who were glorying in this or that teacher. They spoke as if they needed his instructions no more, and as if already they had attained the highest Christian advantages. “Already ye are full; already ye are rich: ye have reigned as kings without us.” They behave as if all the trial of the Christian life were over. With the frothy spirit of young converts, they are full of a triumph which they despise Paul for not inculcating. By one leap they had attained, or thought they had attained, a superiority to all disturbance, and to all trial, and to all need of teaching, which, in fact, as Pauls own experience taught him, could only be attained in another life. While they thus triumphed, he who had begotten them in Christ was being treated as the offscouring and filth of the world.
Paul can only compare himself and the other Apostles to those gladiators who were condemned to die, and who came into the arena last, after the spectators had been sated with other exhibitions and bloodless performances. “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.” They came into the arena knowing they should never leave it alive, that they were there for the purpose of enduring the worst their enemies could do to them. It was no fight with buttoned foils Paul and the rest were engaged in. While others sat comfortably looking on, with curtains to shade them from the heat and refreshments to save them from exhaustion or from faintness at the sight of blood, they were in the arena, exposed to wounds, ill usage, and death. They had as little hope of retiring to live a quiet life as the gladiators who had said farewell to their friends and saluted the Emperor as those about to die. Life became no easier, the world no kinder, to Paul as time went on. “Even unto this present hour of writing,” he says, “we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place.” Here is the finest mind, the noblest spirit, on earth; and this is how he is treated: driven from place to place, thrust aside as interrupting the proper work of men, passed by with a sneer at his rags, refused the commonest charity, paid for his loving words in blows and insolence. And yet he goes on with his work, and lets nothing interrupt that. “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat.” Nay, it is a life which he is so far from giving up himself, that he will call to it the easy-going Christians of Corinth. “I beseech you,” he says, “be ye followers of me.”
And if the contrast between Pauls precarious and self-sacrificing life and the luxurious and self-complacent life of the Corinthians might be expected to shame them into some vigorous Christian service, a similar contrast candidly considered may accomplish some good results in us. Already the Corinthians were accepting that pernicious conception of Christianity which looks upon it as merely a new luxury, that they who are already comfortable in all outward respects may be comforted in spirit as well and purge their minds from all anxieties, questionings, and strivings. They recognised how happy a thing it is to be forgiven, to be at peace with God, to have a sure hope of life everlasting. For them the battle was over, the conquest won, the throne ascended. As yet they had not caught a glimpse of what is involved in becoming holy as Christ is holy, nor had steadily conceived in their minds the profound inward change which must pass upon them. As yet it was enough for them that they were called to be Gods children, provided for by a heavenly Father; and Christs own view of life and of men had not yet possessed or even dawned upon their soul, causing them to feel that until they could live for others they had no true life.
Are there none still who listen to Christianity rather as a voice soothing their fears than as a bugle summoning them to conflict, who are satisfied if through the Gospel they are enabled to comfort their own soul, and who do not yet respond to Christs call to live under the power of that Spirit of His which prompted Him to all sacrifice? Paul does not summon the whole Church to be homeless, destitute, comfortless, outcast from all joy; and yet there is meaning in his words when he says, “Be ye followers of me.” He means that there is not one standard of duty for him and another for us. All is wrong with us until we be made somehow to recognise, and make room in our life for the recognition, that we have no right to be lapping ourselves round with all manner of selfish aggrandisement while Paul is driven through life with scarcely one days bread provided, that in some way intelligible to our own conscience we must approve ourselves to be his followers, and that no right is secured to any class of Christians to stand selfishly aloof from the common Christian cause. If we be Christs, as Paul was, it must inevitably come to this with us: that we cordially yield to him all we are and have; our very selves, with all our tastes and aptitudes and with all we have made by our toil; our life, with all its fruits, we gladly yield to Him. If our hearts be His, this is inevitable and delightful; unless they be so, it is impossible, and seems extravagant. It is vain to say to a man, Serve only yourself in life, seek only to make a reputation for yourself and gather comforts round yourself, and make it the aim of your life to be comfortable and respectable-it is vain to bid a man thus limit and impoverish his life if at the same time you show him a person so attracting human allegiance as Christ does, and so opening to men wider and eternal aims as He floes, and if you show him a cause so kindling every right ambition as Christs cause does.
It was Christs own self-sacrifice that threw such a spell over the Apostles and gave them so new a feeling towards their fellow men and so new an estimate of their deepest needs. After seeing how Christ lived, they could never again justify themselves in living for self. After seeing His regardlessness of bodily comfort, His superiority to traditional necessities and customary luxuries, after witnessing how veritably He was but passing through this world, and used it as the stage on which he might serve God and men, and counted His life best spent in giving it for others, they could not settle down into the old life and aim only at passing comfortably, reputably, and religiously through it. That view of life was made forever impossible to them. The life of Christ had made a new way for itself into a new region, and the horizon rent by the passage never again closed to them. That life became the only spiritual reality to them. And it is because we are so sunk in self-seeking and worldliness, and so blinded by the customs and traditional ideas about spending life, about acquitting ourselves well and making a name, about earning a competence, about everything which turns the regard in upon self instead of outwards upon objects worthy of our exertion-it is therefore that we continue so unapostolic, so unprofitable, so unchanged.
It might encourage us to bring our life more nearly into the line of Pauls were we to see clearly that the cause he served is really inclusive of all that is worth working for. We can scarcely apprehend this with any clearness without feeling some enthusiasm for it. The kind of devotedness expected of the Christian is illustrated in the lives of all men of any force of character; the Christians devotedness is only given to a larger and more reasonable object. There have been statesmen and patriots, and there still are such, who, though possibly not absolutely devoid of some taint of selfish ambition, are yet in the main devoted to their country; its interests are continually on their mind and heart, their time is given wholly to it, and their own personal tastes and pursuits are held in abeyance and abandoned to make room for more important labour. You have seen men become so enamoured of a cause that they will literally sell all they have to forward it, and who obviously have it on their hearts by night and by day, who live for that and for nothing else; you can detect as often as you meet them that the real aim and object of their life is to promote that cause. Some new movement, political or ecclesiastical, some literary scheme, some fresh enterprise of benevolence, some new commercial idea, or no matter what it is, you have seen again and again that men throw themselves so thoroughly into such causes that they cannot be said to be living for themselves. They will part with time, with property, with other important objects, with health, even with life itself, for the sake of their cherished, chosen cause. And when such a cause is worthy, such as the reformation of prison discipline, or the emancipation of slaves, or the liberating of an oppressed nation, the men who adopt it seem to lead the only lives which have some semblance of glory in them; and the sacrifices they make, the obloquy they incur, the toils they endure, make the heart burn and swell as we hear of them. Everyone instinctively acknowledges that such self-forgetful and heroic lives are the right and model lives for all. What a man does for himself is jealously examined, criticised, and passed at the most with an exclamation of wonder; but what he does for others is welcomed with acclamation as an honour to our common humanity. So long as a man labours merely for himself, to win himself a name, to get for himself a possession, he makes no valuable contribution to the worlds good, and only by accident effects anything for which other men are thankful; but let a man even with small means at his command have the interests of others at his heart, and he sets in motion endless agencies and influences that bless whatever they touch.
It is this then that our Lord does for us by claiming our service; He gives us the opportunity of sinking our selfishness, which is in the last analysis our sin, and of living for a worthier object than our own pleasure or our own careful preservation. When He tells us to live for Him and to seek the things that are His, He but tells us in other words and in a more attractive and practical form to seek the common good. We seek the things that are Christs when we act as Christ would act were He in our place, when we let Christ live through us, when we, by considering what He would have us do, let His influence still tell on the world and His will still be done in the world. This should be so done by each and every Christian that the result would be the same as if Christ had personally at command all the resources for good that are possessed by His people, as if He were Himself spending all the money, energy, and time that are being expended by His people, so that at every point where there is a Christian Christs purposes might be being forwarded. This is the devotedness we are called to; this is the devotedness we must cultivate until we do make some considerable attainment in it.