Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 4:11
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place;
11. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst ] The Apostle would point out to his converts the true glory of the Christian minister. Labour and suffering for Christ’s sake are the marks of the servants of God, not self-conceit and self-praise.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Even unto this present hour – Paul here drops the irony, and begins a serious recapitulation of his actual sufferings and trials. The phrase used here unto this present hour denotes that these things had been incessant through all their ministry. They were not merely at the commencement of their work, but they had continued and attended them everywhere. And even then they were experiencing the same thing. These privations and trials were still continued, and were to be regarded as a part of the apostolic condition.
We both hunger and thirst – The apostles, like their master, were poor, and in traveling about from place to place, it often happened that they scarcely found entertainment of the plainest kind, or had money to purchase it. It is no dishonor to be poor, and especially if that poverty is produced by doing good to others. Paul might have been rich, but he chose to be poor for the sake of the gospel. To enjoy the luxury of doing good to others, we ought to be willing to be hungry and thirsty, and to be deprived of our ordinary enjoyments.
And are naked – In traveling; our clothes become old and worn out, and we have no friends to replace them, and no money to purchase new. It is no discredit to be clad in mean raiment, if that is produced by self-denying toils in behalf of others. There is no, honor in gorgeous apparel; but there is real honor in voluntary poverty and want, when produced in the cause of benevolence. Paul was not ashamed to travel, to preach, and to appear before princes and kings, in a soiled and worn-out garment, for it was worn out in the service of his Master, and Divine Providence had arranged the circumstances of his life. But how many a minister now would he ashamed to appear in such clothing! How many professed Christians are ashamed to go to the house of God because they cannot dress well, or be in the fashion, or outshine their neighbors! If an apostle was willing to be meanly clad in delivering the message of God, then assuredly we should be willing to preach, or to worship him in such clothing as he provides. We may add here, what a sublime spectacle was here; and what a glorious triumph of the truth. Here was Paul with an impediment in his speech; with a personage small and mean rather than graceful; and in a mean and tattered dress; and often in chains, yet delivering truth before which kings trembled, and which produced everywhere a deep impression on the human mind. Such was the power of the gospel then! And such triumph did the truth then have over men. See Doddridge.
And are buffeted – Struck with the hand; see the note at Mat 26:67. Probably it is used here to denote harsh and injurious treatment in general; compare 2Co 12:7.
And have no certain dwelling-place – No fixed or permanent home. They wandered to distant lands; threw themselves on the hospitality of strangers, and even of the enemies of the gospel; when driven from one place they went to another; and thus they led a wandering, uncertain life, amidst strangers and foes. They who know what are the comforts of home; who are surrounded by beloved families; who have a peaceful and happy fireside; and who enjoy the blessings of domestic tranquility, may be able to appreciate the trials to which the apostles were subjected. All this was for the sake of the gospel; all to purchase the blessings which we so richly enjoy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. We both hunger and thirst, &c.] Who would then have been an apostle of Christ, even with all its spiritual honours and glories, who had not a soul filled with love both to God and man, and the fullest conviction of the reality of the doctrine he preached, and of that spiritual world in which alone he could expect rest? See the Introduction, sect. vi.
Have no certain dwelling place] We are mere itinerant preachers, and when we set out in the morning know not where, or whether we shall or not, get a night’s lodging.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our state in the world is low and mean; though you be full, we are hungry and thirsty; though you be richly clothed, yet we
are next to naked, clothed with rags; though you be hugged and embraced by the men of the world, yet we
are buffeted; though you have rich and famous houses, yet we
have no certain dwelling-place. Thus it hath been with us from the beginning of our profession of Christ, and thus it is with us at this day, saith the apostle: from whence he gives these Corinthians and their false teachers a just reason to suspect themselves, whether they were true and sincere professors, yea or no, and to consider how it came to pass, that their lot in the world was so different from the lot of those whom the Lord had dignified with the title and office of his apostles. The condition of the most faithful and able ministers and the most sincere Christians that have been in the world, hath always been a mean and afflicted state and condition.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. (2Co11:23-27).
nakedthat is,insufficiently clad (Ro 8:35).
buffetedas a slave(1Pe 2:20), the reverse of thestate of the Corinthians, “reigning as kings” (Ac23:2). So Paul’s master before him was “buffeted” as aslave, when about to die a slave’s death (Mt26:67).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Even unto this present hour,…. What is about to be related was not what befell the apostles now and then, and a great while ago; but what for a considerable time, and unto the present time, was more or less the common constant series and course of life they were inured to:
we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked; wanted the common necessaries of life, food to eat, and raiment to put on, and gold and silver to purchase any with; which might be, when, as it was sometimes their case, they were in desert places, or on the seas; or when they fell among thieves; or had given all away, as they sometimes did, for the relief of others; or when they were not, as sometimes, taken notice of, and provided for, where they ministered, as they ought to have been.
And are buffeted; not only by Satan, as the apostle was, but by men; scourged, whipped, and beaten by them; scourged in the synagogues by the Jews with forty stripes save one; and beaten with rods by the Romans, and other Gentiles.
And have no certain dwelling place; were in an unsettled state, always moving from one place to another, and had no place they could call their own; like their Lord and master, who had not where to lay his head; and like some of the Old Testament saints, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Even unto this present hour ( ). (just now, this very minute) accents the continuity of the contrast as applied to Paul. Ten verbs and four participles from 11-13 give a graphic picture of Paul’s condition in Ephesus when he is writing this epistle.
We hunger (),
we thirst (),
are naked (), late verb for scant clothing from ,
are buffeted (), to strike a blow with the fist from and one of the few N.T. and ecclesiastical words and see on Mt 26:67,
have no certain dwelling place () from , strolling about and only here save Anthol. Pal. and Aquila in Isa 58:7. Field in Notes, p. 170 renders 1Co 4:11 “and are vagabonds” or spiritual hobos.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
We have no certain dwelling – place [] . From astatov unstable, strolling about. Only here in the New Testament. Compare Mt 8:20; Mt 10:23; Heb 11:37. Wyc., we ben unstable.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Even unto this present hour.” (achri tes arti horas) “Even up to this very present hour (time)”. As Paul closed his three year mission ministry in Ephesus and Asia Minor preaching and teaching, after having labored in Corinth, he wrote:
2) “We both hunger and thirst.” (Kai peinomen Kai dipsomen) “we even hunger and thirst.” That missionaries, pastors, and their families have often gone hungry and thirsty, in need of food and drink, while those they serve or have served live lives of luxury and even gluttony is a sin against God, Jas 4:17.
3) “And are naked and are buffeted.” (kai gumniteuomen kai kolaphizometha) “and are naked (without clothes) and buffeted or goaded.” When God’s missionaries and pastors are so neglected that they can not clothe themselves properly, God’s people and churches must take action, Jas 2:13-14; 1Jn 3:17-18.
4) “And have no certain dwelling place.” (Greek kai astatoumen) “and are not settled down” (like you). To have a home and comforts of life is not a sin, but to live in luxury and gluttony and turn a deaf ear and empty hand, and cold heart to the needy, especially faithful servants of the ministry, is so grave a sin as to incur God’s displeasure; See Luk 12:47; Mat 25:34-45.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. For to this hour. The Apostle here describes his condition, as if in a picture, that the Corinthians may learn, from his example, to lay aside that loftiness of spirit, and embrace, as he did, the cross of Christ with meekness of spirit. He discovers the utmost dexterity in this respect, that in making mention of those things which had rendered him contemptible, he affords clear proof of his singular fidelity and indefatigable zeal for the advancement of the gospel; and, on the other hand, he tacitly reproves his rivals, who, while they had furnished no such proof, were desirous, nevertheless, to be held in the highest esteem. In the words themselves there is no obscurity, except that we must take notice of the distinction between those two participles — λοιδορουμενοι και βλασφημουμενοι ( reviled and defamed.) As λοιδορια means — that harsher sort of raillery, which does not merely give a person a slight touch, but a sharp bite, and blackens his character by open contumely, there can be no doubt that λοιδορειν means — wounding a person with reproach as with a sting. (241) I have accordingly rendered it — harassed with revilings Βλασφημια signifies a more open reproach, when any one is severely and atrociously slandered. (242)
(241) λοιδορια, is supposed by Eustathius to be derived from λογος, a word, and δορυ, a spear A similar figure is employed by the Psalmist, when he speaks of words that are drawn swords (Psa 55:21.) — Ed
(242) “ Or le premier signifie non seulement se gaudir d’vn homme, mais aussi toucher son honneur comme en le blasonnant, et le naurer en termes picquans: ce que nous disons communement, Mordre en riant. Le second signifie quand on detracte apertement de quelqu’vn sans vser de couuerture de paroles;” — “Now the first means not simply to make one’s self merry at another’s expense, but also to touch his reputation, as if with the view of blackening it, and wounding it by cutting expressions, as we commonly say — to give a good humored bite. The second means when persons slander any one openly, without using any disguise of words.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) We both hunger.From the strong irony of the last verse, the Apostle here passes, in the pathethic and sad description which occupies 1Co. 4:11-13, to show how intensely true that last word despised was, as expressing his own position, not only in time past, but at the very hour of his writing. Here still there is an implied contrast between their condition (full, rich, kings, of 1Co. 4:8) and that of St. Paul himself.
Are naked.The better reading is, we are in need of sufficient clothing (as 2Co. 11:27).
Are buffetedi.e., are treated like slaves, and not like kings, as you are.
Have no certain dwellingplace.To be without a fixed home was a peculiar sign of want and degradation. (See Mat. 8:20; Mat. 10:23.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Even unto this present hour While I write to you from Ephesus I am the subject of such a life.
Buffeted Struck with the clenched fist.
No certain dwellingplace Without position, or fixed residence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and are knocked about, and have no certain dwelling place. And we toil, working with our hands. Being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we endure, being defamed we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now.’
Paul now defines the life of the Christian witness. How differently from many today those who sought first the Kingly Rule of God, and His righteousness, lived, those who walked the way of the cross. They did not feast. They hungered and thirsted and went without, they were not fashionably dressed but lived in minimum clothing, they were not pampered but were knocked about, they did not bask in luxury but toiled, working with their hands. They were regularly reviled, persecuted and defamed, and regularly misrepresented, because they thrust themselves into the spiritual battle among unbelievers. Indeed they were treated as refuse, as what men dispense with in disgust. And in return for their maltreatment they blessed their persecutors (see Luk 6:27-28), and endured, and answered in a friendly way, and continued to entreat men to come to Christ. They were those of whom the world was not worthy (Heb 11:38). Perhaps there was a deliberate hint in this that the Corinthians were not obeying their Master in this and should learn to do the same.
In this the Apostles followed Christ. He too hungered (Luk 4:2; Mat 21:18), thirsted (Joh 4:7; Joh 19:28); was naked (Mar 15:24); was knocked about (Mar 14:65); had no certain dwelling place (Luk 9:58); and was reviled, persecuted and defamed (1Pe 2:23; Joh 15:20; Mar 15:29-31).
‘Toil, working with our hands.’ This was toil resulting in calluses, weariness and fatigue (2Th 3:8), the labour of love that works itself to the bone for those it loves (1Th 1:3). There was no life of ease and relaxation for those who served Christ truly. And they wanted not to be a burden to others. The Jews respected toil. All Jewish teachers were expected to support themselves. But the Greeks tended to despise it. Such was for slaves and the lower classes. Thus Paul is indicating that they were seen as at a low level in Greek eyes.
Note Paul’s emphasis. ‘Even to this present hour — even until now’. For those who served Christ faithfully the times of plenty were not yet here, the Messianic age was not yet come, nor would it until God’s purposes were come to fruition. So if the Corinthians boasted of their prosperity and of their luxurious living it was no indication of their spiritual status but rather of their spiritual bankruptcy.
The Corinthians are a picture of all who live in prosperity and excess while the world languishes. Paul is saying that evangelists and ministers who live in luxury are a contradiction in terms. Prelates who dress splendidly are a contradiction of the Gospel. Those who bask in fame and plaudits do but demonstrate their own unspiritual state. Those who own more expensive properties than their congregations and larger cars show their unspirituality and even hypocrisy. For those who serve faithfully will be living lives of sacrifice and self-control in order that Christ may be lifted up. By their fruits (by how they live and what they produce) they will be known.
While the Scriptures nowhere condemn godly men who have wealth, they certainly condemn those who fail to use it wisely to help the needy. Consider Luk 10:33-36; Luk 12:18-19; Luk 16:9; Luk 16:19-23; Luk 18:22. And they also command us to lay up treasure, not on earth but in Heaven (Mat 6:19-20) and give us the example of the widow and her pittance which she gave to God, reminding us that God does not look at how much we give so much as at how much we have left (Mar 12:43).
‘The offscouring of all things.’ This described such things as the grease and grime wiped from pots and pans. That which was wiped off and thrown into the cesspit. See also Lam 3:45.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 4:11-13 . Down to the present hour this despised condition of ours continues uninterruptedly, manifesting itself also ( ) in all manner of privations, sufferings, and humiliations.
The assumption that we are not to understand this , as also in 1Co 4:13 , [680] in a strictly literal sense, is rash, seeing that, even apart from the fact that we have no other means of knowing the precise position of Paul at that time (comp 2Co 11:27 ), he is speaking here not of himself alone, but of the position of the apostles in general .
] i.e. we lack necessary raiment . Comp on in Mat 25:36 ; Jas 2:15 ; and Theile in loc [683] The verb , as used both in this sense and of being lightly armed, belongs to the later Greek. The form (Lachmann and Tischendorf), although vouched for by a majority of the codd [684] , is nothing but an ancient clerical error; see Fritzsche, de conform. Lachm. p. 21.
.] quite literally: we are beaten with fists . Comp Mat 26:67 ; 1Pe 2:20 ; 2Co 12:7 . A concrete representation of rude maltreatment in general.
] we are unsettled , have no abiding dwelling-place, Rufinus, Ep. 20. Theophylact: , .
. . [686] ] we toil hard, working with our own hands . Comp as regards Paul , 1Co 9:6 ff.; 2Co 11:7 ff.; 1Th 2:9 ff.; 2Th 3:8 ; Act 20:34 ; and who is in a position to deny that others of the apostles too acted in the same way? Paul includes this among the elements of their despised condition, which he adduces; and he had a right to do so, for it was such in the eyes of the world, which could not and would not recognise and honour so noble a self-denial.
. . . . [688] ] The picture of the ignominious condition of the apostles is continued, and its effect heightened by the contrast of their demeanour. We are so utterly empty and void of all honour with others, that as respects those who revile (insult, see Dissen, a [689] Dem. de Cor. p. 294), persecute, and slander us ( ., see the critical remarks, and comp 1Ma 7:41 ; Aesch. Ag. 1078; Soph. El. 1182; Eur. Heracl. 600), we do not in any wise defend ourselves or seek vengeance against them (as men do who have honour to vindicate and maintain); but, on the contrary, wish good to our revilers, remain quiet and patient towards our persecutors, and give beseeching words to our slanderers. [691] Whether Paul says this in remembrance of the words of Jesus in Mat 5:44 , Luk 6:27 f., which became known to him by tradition (Rckert and others), is very dubious, considering the difference of expression; but the disposition required by Jesus lived in him.
. . [692] ] Delineation, as a whole, of the condition hitherto from 1Co 4:11 onwards sketched in single traits: We have become as out-sweepings of the world, i.e. our experience has become such, as though we were the most utterly worthless of existing things, like dirt which men have swept off from the face of the world. The is the world of men (Rom 3:6 ; Rom 5:12 ), corresponding to the which follows. (from , to cleanse round about, on every side) means quisquiliae , what one removes by cleansing, both in a literal sense and figuratively, like our offscourings, scum (Arrian. Diss. Epict. iii. 22. 78). The simple is more common; and it especially is often found in this figurative sense in Demosthenes and later writers (see Wetstein, Loesner, Obss. p. 276 f.; comp also Khner, II. p. 26). With this rendering Erasmus, H. Stephanus, Beza, Estius, and others, including Rckert, de Wette, Ewald, Maier, Neander, Hofmann, are content, following Theodoret, Theophylact, and Oecumenius. , however, is likewise used to denote those who, in times of plague and other public calamities, were offered up to expiate the wrath of the gods (see Schol. a [694] Arist. Plut. 454; Bos, Exercitatt . p. 125 ff.; Munth. Obss. e Diod. p. 321 f.), and in Pro 21:18 , corresponds to the Hebrew , while , too, in Plato, Legg. vii. p. 815 C, means lustratio , and in Hesychius ( sub voce ), a sacrifice for purification ; and, on these grounds, Luther and many others (among them Pott, Olshausen, Osiander) assume that Paul refers here to that Greek sacrificial custom (see especially Photius, Quaest. Amphil. 155), and means by . expiatory sacrifices , the idea of “ reprobate, utterly worthless men ” being at the same time essentially involved, inasmuch as such men were taken for sacrifices of that nature (see Bos and Grotius). According to this view, the sense would be: “contemnimur ut homines, qui ad iram Deorum ab omnibus hominibus avertendam sacrificio offeruntur,” Pott; and Olshausen asserts, in spite of the , that Paul ascribes a certain power even to his sufferings. Now the current and constant word for the expiatory offering is (not ); [695] but, even supposing that Paul had conceived as piacula , he would in that case have again used the Plural in the next clause, for is synonymous with , and each individual would be a piaculum . If, on the other hand, he conceived as offscourings, castings away , he could very suitably interchange this phrase afterwards with the collective singular ( rubbish ).
-g0- -g0- .] The refuse of all . The emphasis lies on , and is to be supplied again before it. (what is removed by wiping) being substantially the same in meaning with (see Photius, s.v. , Tob 5:18 , and Fritzsche in loc [696] ), has been as variously interpreted by the commentators.
] belongs to ., and repeats with emphatic force at the close of the description the selfsame thought with which it had began in 1Co 4:11 .
The torrent is at an end; now again we have the gentle stream of fatherly kindness, which, however, in 1Co 4:18 once more swells into sternness and threatening. Observe how Paul at this point abandons the comprehensive plural form ( ), in order now at the close of the section to make his readers feel again, in the most impressive way, that personal relation of his to them, which he, as being the founder of the church, was entitled in truth to urge on their attention, despite of all the party-strife which had crept in.
[680] The two expressions are synonymous; hence, too, this passage is a proof that the distinction between and , maintained by Tittmann, Synon. p. 33 ff., is erroneous. See Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. 308 ff.
[683] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[684] odd. codices or manuscripts. The uncial manuscripts are denoted by the usual letters, the Sinaitic by .
[686] . . . .
[688] . . . .
[689] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[691] : being slandered, we entreat . See regarding ., to entreat , Bleek on Heb. II. 1, p. 454 ff. Theophylact puts it happily: . Comp. Act 16:39 . Grotius explains it: Deum pro ipsis precamur . But Deum and pro ipsis are unwarrantably inserted on the ground of Mat 5:10 ; Mat 5:44 . Compare rather 2Ma 13:23 : , he gave good words to the Jews .
[692] . . . .
[694] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[695] Hence Valckenaer holds the reading of G, min., , to be the true be, because Paul “ritus Graecos noverat et linguam.”
[696] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
Ver. 11. Even to this present ] Thus he complaineth, not out of impatience (for he was active in his sufferings), but to stain their pride, that permitted it so to be, when it was in their power to have relieved him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 13 .] He enters into the particulars of this state of affliction, which was not a thing past, but enduring to the present moment.
11 .] . is evidently not to be taken strictly as indicative of the situation of Paul at the time of writing the Epistle, but as generally describing the kind of life to which, then and always, he and the other Apostles were exposed: , . Chrys See, on the subject-matter, 2Co 11:23-27 .
. ] are in want of sufficient clothing : cf. . , 2Co 11:27 . Meyer (after Fritzsche) believes to be a mistake in writing the word, of very ancient date: but surely we are not justified, in such a conventional matter as the form of writing a word, to desert the unanimous testimony of the oldest MSS. And we have the forms , and : why not then ?
. ] are buffeted see reff., there is no need to press the strict meaning.
. ] , , . Theophyl.
1Co 4:11-12 a . describes the , reduced to this position by the world’s contempt and with no means of winning its respect a life at the farthest remove from that of the Gr [734] gentleman. The despicableness of his condition touches the Ap. New features are added to this picture in 2Co 11:23-33 . On , see note to , 1Co 4:8 ; cf. 1Co 4:13 . Hunger, thirst, ill-clothing the common accompaniments of poverty; blows, homelessness, manual toil specific hardships of Paul’s mission. The sentences are pl [735] : all Christian missionaries (1Co 4:9 ) shared in these sufferings, P. beyond others (1Co 15:10 ). (later Gr [736] ) denotes light clothing or armour; cf. , Mat 25:36 , Jas 2:15 ( ill-clad ). (see parls.), to fisticuff , extended to physical violence generally sometimes lit [737] true in Paul’s case. , to be unsettled, with no fixed home to Paul’s affectionate nature the greatest of privations, and always suspicious in public repute to be a vagrant. On . . . at Eph. now (Act 20:34 ), at Cor [738] formerly (Act 18:3 ) see note, 1Co 9:6 ; manual labour was particularly despised amongst the ancients: “Non modo labore meo victum meum comparo, sed manuario labore et sordido” (Cv [739] ).
[734] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[735] [736] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[737] [738] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[739] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
1Co 4:12 b , 1Co 4:13 . Beside their abject condition (1Co 4:11-12 a ), the world saw in the meekness of the App. the marks of an abject spirit , shown in the three particulars of : “id mundus spretum putat” (Bg [740] ). . ( reviled to our faces ) implies insulting abuse, ( defamed ) injurious abuse: for the former, cf. 1Pe 2:23 . , “persecuted, we bear with (lit [741] put-up with) it” implying patience , while (1Co 13:7 , etc.) implies courage in the sufferer. The series of ptps. is pr [742] , denoting habitual treatment not “when” but “while we are reviled,” etc. : to revilings they retort with blessings , to calumnies with benevolent exhortation; “they beg men not to be wicked, to return to a better mind, to be converted to Christ” (Gd [743] ); cf. the instructions of Luk 6:27 ff. “It is on this its positive side that” Christian meekness “surpasses the abstention from retaliation urged by Plato” ( Crit. , p. 49: Ed [744] ). (from – , – respectively, to cleanse, wipe all round , with – of result): the ne plus ultra of degradation; they became “as rinsings of the world, a scraping of all things” ( purgamenta et ramentum , Bz [745] ), the filth that one gets rid of through the sink and the gutter.
[740] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
[741] [742] present tense.
[743] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
[744] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[745] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).
The above terms may have a further significance: “the Ap. is carrying on the metaphor of above. Both . and . were used esp. of those condemned criminals of the lowest class who were sacrificed as expiatory offerings, as scapegoats in effect, because of their degraded life. It was the custom at Athens to reserve certain worthless persons who in case of plague, famine, or other visitations from heaven, might be thrown into the sea, in the belief that they would ‘cleanse away,’ or ‘wipe off,’ the guilt of the nation” (Lt [746] ). (for the earlier ) occurs in this sense in Arr.-Epict., III., xxii., 78; also in Pro 21:11 (LXX). This view is supported by Hesychius, Luther, Bg [747] , Hn [748] , Ed [749] ; rejected, as inappropriate, by Er [750] , Est., Cv [751] , Bz [752] , Mr [753] , Gd [754] , El [755] Certainly P. does not look on his sufferings as a piaculum; but he is expressing the estimate of “the world,” which deemed its vilest fittest to devote to the anger of the Gods. Possibly some cry of this sort, anticipating the “Christiani ad leones” of the martyrdoms, had been raised against P. by the Ephesian populace ( cf. 1Co 15:32 ; also Act 22:22 ). , repeated with emphasis from 1Co 4:11 , shows P. to be writing under the smart of recent outrage. With his temper, Paul keenly felt personal indignities.
[746] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).
[747] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
[748] [749] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians .
[750] Erasmus’ In N.T. Annotationes .
[751] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[752] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).
[753] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).
[754] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
[755] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .
Even unto = Up to, or until. Greek. achri.
this = the.
present. Greek. arti = now.
are naked = are scantily clothed. Greek. gumneteuo. Only here.
are buffeted. Greek. kolaphizo. Here, Mat 26:67. Mar 14:65. 2Co 12:7. 1Pe 2:20.
have no certain dwellingplace. Greek. astateo = to be a wanderer. Only here.
11-13.] He enters into the particulars of this state of affliction, which was not a thing past, but enduring to the present moment.
1Co 4:11. , we are naked) The highest degree of poverty, 2Co 11:27. [So far were the heralds of the kingdom of Christ from being adorned with any splendour. We imagine ourselves to be quite the reverse of all this.-V. g.]-, we are buffeted) as slaves, therefore we are not kings.
1Co 4:11
1Co 4:11
Even unto this present hour-[The emphasis is on the ceaselessness of the hardships, privations, sufferings, and humiliations to which the apostles were subjected. The fact that Paul gladly submitted to all these afflictions presented his case in glaring contrast with that of his opposers at Corinth, who exposed themselves to no such sufferings out of zeal for Christ.]
we both hunger, and thirst,-Like their Master, the apostles were poor, and in traveling from place to place, it often happened that they scarcely found entertainment of the poorest kind. Of this his own language is the best comment: In hunger and thirst, in fastings often. (2Co 11:27).
and are naked,-[They were insufficiently clad. In their labors their clothing became old and badly worn, and they had no friends to replace them, neither had they money with which to buy new ones.]
and are buffeted,-[Slapped in the face. Such insults, together with scourgings, frequently fell to the lot of Paul (Act 16:23; Act 23:2), and the other apostles. It shows the utter contempt with which they were treated.]
and have no certain dwellingplace;-[This homelessness was among the severest of all trials. They wandered in distant lands; when driven from one place they went to another; and thus they led a wandering, uncomfortable life amidst strangers and foes. All this was for the sake of the gospel that men might have eternal life.]
unto: 1Co 9:4, 2Co 4:8, 2Co 6:4, 2Co 6:5, 2Co 11:26, 2Co 11:27, Phi 4:12
and are naked: Job 22:6, Rom 8:35
and are buffeted: Act 14:19, Act 16:23, Act 23:2, 2Co 11:23-25, 2Ti 3:11
and have: Mat 8:20
Reciprocal: 1Ki 13:14 – sitting Psa 25:17 – General Pro 13:7 – that maketh himself poor Mat 11:8 – A man Mat 20:12 – borne Mat 26:52 – Put Luk 6:21 – ye that hunger Luk 6:22 – for Luk 6:29 – smiteth Luk 16:21 – desiring Act 3:6 – Silver 1Co 9:6 – have 1Co 9:12 – but 1Co 9:27 – I keep 2Co 12:7 – to buffet Phi 4:11 – in respect 2Ti 4:13 – cloak 1Pe 2:20 – buffeted
1Co 4:11. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-placehaving often scarce the necessaries of life.
Observe here, 1. The several kinds of sufferings which the holy apostles were exposed to, and exercised with; namely, hunger, and want, poverty, and reproach, persecution, and death. They suffered in their bodies by hunger, and nakedness, and stripes; in their names, by scandals and reproaches, being accounted the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things.
The word, say some, signifies that dirt and filth which scavengers do rake together in the streets, and carry to the dung-hill. Others think it an allusion to the sacrifices which the heathens used for the lustration of a city, who when their city was under any great calamity, chose out some very base, vile, and nasty person, and burnt him in a ditch, and cast his ashes into the sea, as a sacrifice unto Neptune, saying, Be thou a purgation for us. Such a base and vile esteem had the world of the holy apostles and messengers of Christ.
Lord! to see such a man as St. Paul going up and down the world with a naked back and empty belly, without a house of settled abode to hide his head in; one that did more service for God in his day, than perhaps we have done him all our days: can we, the ministers of Christ, complain of hard usage form the world, when we consider that this great apostle suffered in the world?
Observe, 2. The duration and continuance of the apostles’ sufferings, Even unto this day, and unto this present hour. It was not only at their first entrance upon the apostolical office, when all the world was set against Christianity, that they met with this usage, but all along, from the first hour they began to preach the gospel, even unto this hour, did they meet with opposition and persecution.
As long as there is a devil in hell, and wicked men upon earth, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution: but surely the dregs in this cup have in all ages been reserved for the ministers of Christ Jesus; as if to preach were nothing else but to stir up the rage, and be blotted with the obloquies of men.
Observe, 3. The holy and humble behaviour, the meek and patient carriage and demeanour, of the apostles, under all this load and burden of reproach and scorn, disgrace and shame, persecution and ill usage: being reviled, we bless. When we meet with opprobrious words, we are so far from rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, that we speak well of, and wish well to, the persons that are thus injurious to us: Being persecuted by them, we suffer it patiently from them; being defamed by any of them, we entreat God for them, to pity and pardon them; and we entreat them to pity themselves.
To publish invectives against those, though the worst of men, who reproach and persecute us, is a modern piece of zeal, which the blessed apostles and holy sufferers in the primitive times were not only little acquainted with, but perfect strangers to.
Vv. 11-13. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, are naked, buffeted, without certain dwelling – place; 12. labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; 13. being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all, even until now.
The first words, even to this present hour, reproduce the thought of the whole passage: As for us, up to this hour, we are little aware that the dispensation of triumph has already begun. The following enumeration bears, in the first place, on the privations and sufferings of all kinds endured by the apostles (1Co 4:11-12 a). To the want of suitable food and clothing there is sometimes added bad treatment; the word may denote either blows with the fist or with the palm of the hand. Besides, as the rule, want of a fixed dwelling-place, of a home. Finally (1Co 4:12 a), the manual labour imposed on Paul, especially the voluntary obligation to gain his livelihood by his own work (1Co 9:6).
The enumeration goes on by indicating the humble and patient conduct of the apostles in the midst of these sufferings (1Co 4:12-13). Three particulars form a double gradation: insults with sneering (), persecutions in a judicial form (), calumnies which assail honour (). The T. R. reads ; but as the verb is much more rarely used in the New Testament, and as it is found in almost all the Mjj., it deserves the preference.
To sneering the apostles reply with blessing. The word in the New Testament signifies to wish well, and that in the form which alone can render the wish efficacious, that of prayer.
To ill-treatment they reply by suffering (, to exercise self-control); they do not even complain. Finally, they oppose to calumnies kindly intreating; they beseech men not to be so wicked, to return to better feelings, to be converted to Christ.
But with this way of acting what do they get from the world? They become the object of its more complete disdain. This is what is expressed by 1Co 4:13 b. The term , filth, denotes literally what is collected by sweeping all round the chamber (); and the dirt which is detached from an object by sweeping or scraping it all round. These two figures therefore represent what is most abject. It has been sought to give to these two terms a tragical meaning, that of an expiatory victim, a sense in which they were sometimes taken among the Greeks. At times of public calamity, a criminal was chosen who was devoted to the angry gods to appease their wrath. This man, who was, as it were, the defilement of the people incarnate, bore the curse of all and perished for all. He was designated by the terms or . The formula with which the priest hurled him into the sea was this (according to Suidas): , (be our expiatory victim, and so our salvation and deliverance). Did Paul mean to allude to the religious sense of the two terms which he uses? I do not think so; the saying thus understood would take an emphasis which hardly suits the sorrowful humility of the whole passage.
The plural of the first substantive relates to the different apostles, while the second substantive in the singular makes them one mass, an object of contempt, which is still more forcible. The adjuncts of the world and of all both indicate the totality to which the apostles naturally belong, but from which they are distinguished as being the most contemptible it contains. To the plural, sweepings (filth), there corresponds the singular, of the world; and to the singular, the offscouring, the plural, of all: They are what Paul says: each for all, and all for each.
The last words, even until now, betray yet once more before closing the feeling of sorrowful irony which inspired the whole passage. They are the counterpart of the , now, with which he had begun, and they sum it up likewise as a whole. Rckert cannot approve of the sarcastic tone of this passage. He says, frankly (pp. 124, 125): This passage of Paul’s has always produced on me a repulsive impression….There are found in it undeniable traces of wounded personal feeling, of irritation caused him by the loss of the consideration which he enjoyed at Corinth…everywhere there reigns concern about his own personality. I am pained to have to pass such a judgment on this great man; but he too was human… This eminent commentator has not considered,1. that as against proud infatuation, the weapon of ridicule is often the only efficacious one; 2. that the indignation which inspired this passage bore on a state of things which was not only an attack on the apostle’s person, but a mortal danger to the spiritual life and the whole future of the Church; 3. that the following words, expressive of incomparable fatherly tenderness and solicitude, do not well agree with those wholly personal feelings, which he ascribes so daringly to the apostle.
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted [smitten with the clenched fist], and have no certain dwelling-place [Mat 8:20; Mat 10:23];
11. Unto this hour we hunger and thirst. When they had nothing to eat, they rejoiced in a fast and profited by it spiritually. If I ate like other people, I could not do the work God has given me. I am editor in the morning, teacher in the afternoon, and preacher at night. Hence one meal and a lunch are all I can manage. We are naked. This is literal. Of course, it is to be understood in a modified sense. The Orientals do not clothe the entire body like the Occidentals. At that time there were no factories, therefore clothing was scarce and costly. We can not evade the conclusion that the apostles suffered much from insufficient clothing. Their overland traveling was all on foot, which was decidedly in their favor. They were great walkers. We are buffeted; i. e., they were often cruelly flogged (2Co 11:25). We tramp. When you turn with disgust from tramps, remember the apostles were tramps. If Jesus were now on earth, He would everywhere be so considered. If Christ and His apostles were now on earth, walking from place to place their clothing meager, cheap, poor and insufficient, peculiar to the poorest people, soiled and untidy, preaching on the streets and in the hovels of the peasantry, denouncing sin in the clergy as well as the laity they would be shunned by the influential, shut out of the churches, ostracized from society, and very probably arrested, punished and imprisoned, as when they were on the earth; going into a popular church and speaking, as was their custom, the officers would lead them out, and the service go right on as if nothing had happened.
1Co 4:11-13. Development of dishonoured, 1Co 4:10; and justification of the metaphor of 1Co 4:9. Until the present hour and until now lay emphasis on the ceaselessness of these hardships, and remind the readers of Paul’s position at the moment of writing.
Hungry, thirsty, etc.: 2Co 11:23-27.
Without-sufficient-clothing: we shiver in the cold, Stanley: literally, naked, denoting in Greek without clothing, or lightly or insufficiently clad; Mat 25:36; Joh 21:7; Jas 2:15. Cp. Seneca, On Benefits 1Co 4:13 : He that has seen a man badly clothed and ragged says that he saw him naked.
Smitten: see 2Co 12:7.
Homeless: Or, driven about from place to place.
Working with our own hands: so 1Co 9:6 ff; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8 ff; and, an important coincidence, Act 18:3; Act 20:34. That Barnabas also did this, we learn from 1Co 9:6. In the eyes of men around, this was a further mark of degradation. For Paul seemed to be so little valued by his disciples that they refused to maintain him.
We bless: speak smoothly, as in Rom 16:18. See Rom 1:25.
We endure it; not repelling the attack of our enemies.
We entreat, or exhort, as in 1Co 1:10 : stronger than we bless. We beg a favor from those who speak hurtfully of us, as though utterly at their mercy. To return smooth words for rough ones, to submit to, instead of resisting, the attacks of enemies, to ask favors from, instead of spurning, those who revile us, arises usually from the absolute helplessness of men who dare not defend themselves. And Paul’s forbearance would be thus interpreted. It was, therefore, a mark of the humiliation of his position.
Offscourings, refuse: that which, for the sake of cleanliness, must be removed. Cp. Act 22:22. Paul was treated as one who must be cast out, as defiling, not merely from his nation, but from the world, from all contact with men. Such was the position cheerfully accepted by those who held the first rank in the church. They were incessantly exposed to hunger, thirst, cold, and personal violence: they wandered about like men without a home: they had to depend for maintenance upon the labor of their hands: they had no angry words, or resistance, for those who reproached and attacked them: nay, they actually sought favor from those who defamed their character. In a word, they were looked upon as the world’s refuse, unworthy to be even trampled under foot, which must be removed from the presence of men.
Notice the modesty with which, by using the words we and us, Paul implies that his own hardships were not a solitary case among the apostles. What a vista this opens of early Christian endurance unknown to us!
Notice also how severely this description rebukes the self-conceit of the Christians. In the presence of such tremendous earnestness and such forgetfulness of self, they could not but feel how utterly contemptible was all thought of their own learning or skill. And in these days, amid much that tends to foster an extravagant self-estimate, we need ever to feel the purifying influence of the example of the martyrs.
Paul proceeded to detail the dishonor that befalls those who bear the message of the cross. The Greeks despised people who did manual labor, as Paul had done in Corinth (cf. 1Co 9:4-18; Act 18:3; Act 18:5; 2Co 11:9; 2Co 12:13-17); they regarded it as the work of slaves. [Note: Morris, p. 81.] To the world it is foolish to bless those who curse us, but that is what Paul did following the teaching and example of Jesus (cf. Luk 6:28; Luk 23:34). All of these descriptions of the apostles emphasize the depths to which they were willing to stoop to proclaim the gospel (cf. Philippians 2). They did so even though people who viewed things naturally called them fools.
In this section (1Co 4:6-13) Paul contrasted the viewpoint of the Corinthians with that of the apostles. The viewpoint of the Corinthians was virtually identical to that of natural, unsaved people. The viewpoint of the apostles, whom his readers professed to venerate and follow, was quite different. Not only were the Corinthians unwise, but they were also proud.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)