So let a man think of us as Christ's servants, and stewards of God's mysteries.
KJV
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Commentary
Commentary
In this chapter the apostle,
I. Directs them how to account of him and his fellow-ministers, and
therein, tacitly at least, reproves them for their unworthy carriage
towards him, ver. 1-6 .
II. He cautions them against pride and self-elation, and hints at the
many temptations they had to conceive too highly of themselves, and
despise him and other apostles, because of the great diversity in their
circumstances and condition, ver. 7-13 .
III. He challenges their regard to him as their father in Christ, ver. 14-16 .
IV. He tells them of his having sent Timothy to them, and of his own
purpose to come to them shortly, however some among them had pleased
themselves, and grown vain, upon the quite contrary expectation, ver. 17 to the end .
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, Matt. xxiii. 8, 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.
7 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? 8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings
without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might
reign with you.
9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as
it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the
world, and to angels, and to men.
10 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.
11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and
are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
12 And 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, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
Here the apostle improves the foregoing hint to a caution against pride
and self-conceit, and sets forth the temptations the Corinthians had to
despise him, from the difference of their circumstances.
I. He cautions them against pride and self-conceit by this
consideration, that all the distinction made among them was owing to
God: Who maketh thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou didst
not receive? v. 7 .
Here the apostle turns his discourse to the ministers who set
themselves at the head of these factions, and did but too much
encourage and abet the people in those feuds. What had they to glory
in, when all their peculiar gifts were from God? They had received
them, and could not glory in them as their own, without wronging God.
At the time when they reflected on them to feed their vanity, they
should have considered them as so many debts and obligations to divine
bounty and grace. But it may be taken as a general maxim: We have no
reason to be proud of our attainments, enjoyments, or performances; all
that we have, or are, or do, that is good, is owing to the free and
rich grace of God. Boasting is for ever excluded. There is nothing we
have that we can properly call our own: all is received from God. It is
foolish in us therefore, and injurious to him, to boast of it; those
who receive all should be proud of nothing, Ps. cxv. 1 .
Beggars and dependents may glory in their supports; but to glory in
themselves is to be proud at once of meanness, impotence, and want.
Note, Due attention to our obligations to divine grace would cure us of
arrogance and self-conceit.
II. He presses the duty of humility upon them by a very smart irony, or
at least reproves them for their pride and self-conceit: " You are
full, you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us. You have
not only a sufficiency, but an affluence, of spiritual gifts; nay, you
can make them the matter of your glory without us, that is, in
my absence, and without having any need of me." There is a very elegant
gradation from sufficiency to wealth, and thence to royalty, to
intimate how much the Corinthians were elated by the abundance of their
wisdom and spiritual gifts, which was a humour that prevailed among
them while the apostle was away from them, and made them forget what an
interest he had in all. See how apt pride is to overrate benefits and
overlook the benefactor, to swell upon its possessions and forget from
whom they come; nay, it is apt to behold them in a magnifying-glass:
" You have reigned as kings, " says the apostle, "that is, in your
own conceit; and I would to God you did reign, that we also might
reign with you. I wish you had as much of the true glory of a
Christian church upon you as you arrogate to yourselves. I should come
in then for a share of the honour: I should reign with you: I
should not be overlooked by you as now I am, but valued and regarded as
a minister of Christ, and a very useful instrument among you." Note,
Those do not commonly know themselves best who think best of
themselves, who have the highest opinion of themselves. The Corinthians
might have reigned, and the apostle with them, if they had not been
blown up with an imaginary royalty. Note, Pride is a great prejudice to
our improvement. He is stopped from growing wiser or better who thinks
himself at the height; not only full, but rich, nay, a king.
III. He comes to set forth his own circumstances and those of the other
apostles, and compares them with theirs.
1. To set forth the case of the apostles: For I think it hath
pleased God to set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to
death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to
men. Paul and his fellow-apostles were exposed to great hardships.
Never were any men in this world so hunted and worried. They carried
their lives in their hands: God hath set forth us the apostles
last, as it were appointed to death, v. 9 .
An allusion is made to some of the bloody spectacles in the Roman
amphitheatres, where men were exposed to fight with wild beasts, or to
cut one another to pieces, to make diversion for the populace, where
the victor did not escape with his life, though he should destroy his
adversary, but was only reserved for another combat, and must be
devoured or cut in pieces at last; so that such wretched criminals (for
they were ordinarily condemned persons that were thus exposed) might
very properly be called epithanatioi -- persons devoted
or appointed to death. They are said to be set forth last, because
the meridian gladiators, those who combated one another in the
after-part of the day, were most exposed, being obliged to fight naked;
so that (as Seneca says, epist. 7) this was perfect butchery,
and those exposed to beasts in the morning were treated mercifully in
comparison with these. The general meaning is that the apostles were
exposed to continual danger of death, and that of the worst kinds, in
the faithful discharge of their office. God had set them forth, brought
them into view, as the Roman emperors brought their combatants into the
arena, the place of show, though not for the same purposes. They did it
to please the populace, and humour their own vanity, and sometimes a
much worse principle. The apostles were shown to manifest the power of
divine grace, to confirm the truth of their mission and doctrine, and
to propagate religion in the world. These were ends worthy of
God--noble views, fit to animate them to the combat. But they had like
difficulties to encounter, and were in a manner as much exposed as
these miserable Roman criminals. Note, The office of an apostle was,
as an honourable, so a hard and hazardous one: " For we are made a
spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men, v. 9 .
A show. We are brought into the theatre, brought out to the
public view of the world. Angels and men are witnesses to our
persecutions, sufferings, patience, and magnanimity. They all see that
we suffer for our fidelity to Christ, and how we suffer; how great and
imminent are our dangers, and how bravely we encounter them; how sharp
our sufferings, and how patiently we endure them, by the power of
divine grace and our Christian principles. Ours is hard work, but
honourable; it is hazardous, but glorious. God will have honour from
us, religion will be credited by us. The world cannot but see and
wonder at our undaunted resolution, our invincible patience and
constancy." And how contentedly could they be exposed, both to
sufferings and scorn, for the honour of their Master! Note, The
faithful ministers and disciples of Christ should contentedly undergo
any thing for his sake and honour.
2. He compares his own case with that of the Corinthians: " We are
fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but
you are strong; you are honourable, but we are despised, v. 10 . We are fools for Christ's sake; such in common account, and we
are well content to be so accounted. We can pass for fools in the
world, and be despised as such, so that the wisdom of God and the
honour of the gospel may by this means be secured and displayed." Note,
Faithful ministers can bear being despised, so that the wisdom of God
and the power of his grace be thereby displayed. " But you are wise
in Christ. You have the fame of being wise and learned Christians,
and you do not a little value yourselves upon it. We are under disgrace
for delivering the plain truths of the gospel, and in as plain a
manner: you are in reputation for your eloquence and human wisdom,
which among many make you pass for wise men in Christ. We are weak,
but you are strong. We are suffering for Christ's sake" (so being
weak plainly signifies, 2 Cor. xii. 10 ),
"when you are in easy and flourishing circumstances." Note, All
Christians are not alike exposed. Some suffer greater hardships than
others who are yet engaged in the same warfare. The standard-bearers in
an army are most struck at. So ministers in a time of persecution are
commonly the first and greatest sufferers. Or else, "We pass upon the
world for persons of but mean endowments, mere striplings in
Christianity; but you look upon yourselves, and are looked upon by
others, as men, as those of a much more advanced growth and confirmed
strength." Note, Those are not always the greatest proficients in
Christianity who think thus of themselves, or pass for such upon
others. It is but too easy and common for self-love to commit such a
mistake. The Corinthians may think themselves, and be esteemed by
others, as wiser and stronger men in Christ than the apostles
themselves. But O! how gross is the mistake!
IV. He enters into some particularities of their sufferings: Even to
this present hour; that is, after all the service we have been
doing among you and other churches, we hunger and thirst, and are
naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place, and
labour, working with our own hands, v. 11, 12 .
Nay, they were made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring
of all things, v. 13 .
They were forced to labour with their own hands to get subsistence, and
had so much, and so much greater, business to mind, that they could not
attend enough to this, to get a comfortable livelihood, but were
exposed to hunger, thirst, and nakedness--many times wanted meat, and
drink, and clothes. They were driven about the world, without having
any fixed abode, any stated habitation. Poor circumstances indeed, for
the prime ministers of our Saviour's kingdom to have no house nor home,
and to be destitute of food and raiment! But yet no poorer than his who
had not where to lay his head, Luke ix. 58 .
But O glorious charity and devotion, that would carry them through all
these hardships! How ardently did they love God, how vehemently did
they thirst for the salvation of souls! Theirs was voluntary, it was
pleasing poverty. They thought they had a rich amends for all the
outward good things they wanted, if they might but serve Christ and
save souls. Nay, though they were made the filth of the world, and
the off-scouring of all things. They were treated as men not fit to
live, perikatharmata. It is reasonably thought by the
critics that an allusion is here made to a common custom of many
heathen nations, to offer men in sacrifice in a time of pestilence, or
other like grievous calamity. These were ordinarily the vilest of men,
persons of the lowest rank and worst character. Thus, in the first
ages, Christians were counted the source of all public calamities, and
were sacrificed to the people's rage, if not to appease their angry
deities. And apostles could not meet with better usage. They suffered
in their persons and characters as the very worst and vilest men, as
the most proper to make such a sacrifice: or else as the very dirt of
the world, that was to be swept away: nay, as the off-scouring of
all things, the dross, the filings of all things. They were the
common-sewer into which all the reproaches of the world were to be
poured. To be the off-scouring of any thing is bad, but what is it to
be the off-scouring of all things! How much did the apostles resemble
their Master, and fill up that which was behind of his afflictions,
for his body's sake, which is the church! Col. i. 24 .
They suffered for him, and they suffered after his example. Thus poor
and despised was he in his life and ministry. And every one who would
be faithful in Christ Jesus must prepare for the same poverty and
contempt. Note, Those may be very dear to God, and honourable in his
esteem, whom men may think unworthy to live, and use and scorn as the
very dirt and refuse of the world. God seeth not as man seeth, 1 Sam. xvi. 7 .
V. We have here the apostles' behaviour under all; and the return they
made for this mal-treatment: Being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat, v. 12, 13 .
They returned blessings for reproaches, and entreaties and kind
exhortations for the rudest slanders and defamation, and were patient
under the sharpest persecutions. Note, The disciples of Christ, and
especially his ministers, should hold fast their integrity, and keep a
good conscience, whatever opposition of hardships they meet with from
the world. Whatever they suffer from men, they must follow the example,
and fulfil the will and precepts, of their Lord. They must be content,
with him and for him, to be despised and abused.
14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved
sons I warn you. 15 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.
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
Here Paul challenges their regard to him as their father. He tells
them,
1. That what he had written was not for their reproach, but admonition;
not with the gall of an enemy, but the bowels of a father
( v. 14 ): I write not to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. Note, In reproving for sin, we should have a tender regard to the
reputation, as well as the reformation, of the sinner. We should aim to
distinguish between them and their sins, and take care not to discover
any spite against them ourselves, nor expose them to contempt and
reproach in the world. Reproofs that expose commonly do but exasperate,
when those that kindly and affectionately warn are likely to reform.
When the affections of a father mingle with the admonitions of a
minister, it is to be hoped that they may at once melt and mend; but to
lash like an enemy or executioner will provoke and render obstinate. To
expose to open shame is but the way to render shameless.
2. He shows them upon what foundation he claimed paternal relation to
them, and called them his sons. They might have other pedagogues or
instructors, but he was their father; for in Christ Jesus he had
begotten them by the gospel, v. 15 .
They were made Christians by his ministry. He had laid the foundation
of a church among them. Others could only build upon it. Whatever other
teachers they had, he was their spiritual father. He first brought them
off from pagan idolatry to the faith of the gospel and the worship of
the true and living God. He was the instrument of their new birth, and
therefore claimed the relation of a father to them, and felt the bowels
of a father towards them. Note, There commonly is, and always ought to
be, an endeared affection between faithful ministers and those they
beget in Christ Jesus through the gospel. They should love like parents
and children.
3. We have here the special advice he urges on them: Wherefore I
beseech you be you followers of me, v. 16 .
This he elsewhere explains and limits
( ch. xi. 1 ):
" Be you followers of me, as I also am of Christ. Follow me as
far as I follow Christ. Come up as close as you can to my example in
those instances wherein I endeavour to copy after his pattern. Be my
disciples, as far as I manifest myself to be a faithful minister and
disciple of Christ, and no further. I would not have you be my
disciples, but his. But I hope I have approved myself a faithful
steward of the mysteries of Christ, and a faithful servant of my master
Christ; so far follow me, and tread in my steps." Note, Ministers
should so live that their people may take pattern from them, and live
after their copy. They should guide them by their lives as well as
their lips, go before them in the way to heaven, and not content
themselves with pointing it out. Note, As ministers are to set a
pattern, others must take it. They should follow them as far as they
are satisfied that they follow Christ in faith and practice.
17 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 every where
in every church.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will
know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love,
and in the spirit of meekness?
Here,
I. He tells them of his having sent Timothy to them, to bring them
into remembrance of his ways in Christ, as he taught every where in
every church ( v. 17 )--
to remind them of his ways in Christ, to refresh their memory as to his
preaching and practice, what he taught, and how he lived among them.
Note, Those who have had ever so good teaching are apt to forget, and
need to have their memories refreshed. The same truth, taught over
again, if it give no new light, may make new and quicker impression. He
also lets them know that his teaching was the same every where, and
in every church. He had not one doctrine for one place and people,
and another for another. He kept close to his instructions. What he
received of the Lord, that he delivered, ch. xi. 23 .
This was the gospel revelation, which was the equal concern of all men,
and did not very from itself. He therefore taught the same things in
every church, and lived after the same manner in all times and places.
Note, The truth of Christ is one and invariable. What one apostle
taught every one taught. What one apostle taught at one time and in one
place, he taught at all times and in all places. Christians may mistake
and differ in their apprehensions, but Christ and Christian truth are the same yesterday, today, and for ever, Heb. xiii. 8 .
To render their regard to Timothy the greater, he gives them his
character. He was his beloved son, a spiritual child of his, as
well as themselves. Note, Spiritual brotherhood should engage affection
as well as what is common and natural. The children of one father
should have one heart. But he adds, " He is faithful in the
Lord --trustworthy, as one that feared the Lord. He will be faithful
in the particular office he has now received of the Lord, the
particular errand on which he comes; not only from me, but from Christ.
He knows what I have taught, and what my conversation has been in all
places, and, you may depend upon it, he will make a faithful report."
Note, It is a great commendation of any minister that he is faithful in
the Lord, faithful to his soul, to his light, to his trust from God;
this must go a great way in procuring regard to his message with those
that fear God.
II. He rebukes the vanity of those who imagined he would not come to
them, by letting them know this was his purpose, though he had sent
Timothy: " I will come to you shortly, though some of you are so
vain as to think I will not." But he adds, if the Lord will. It
seems, as to the common events of life, apostles knew no more than
other men, nor were they in these points under inspiration. For, had
the apostle certainly known the mind of God in this matter, he would
not have expressed himself with this certainty. But he sets a good
example to us in it. Note, All our purposes must be formed with a
dependence on Providence, and a reserve for the overruling purposes of
God. If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this and that, Jam. iv. 15 .
III. He lets them know what would follow upon his coming to them: I
will know, not the speech of those that are puffed up, but the
power, v. 19 .
He would bring the great pretenders among them to a trial, would know
what they were, not by their rhetoric or philosophy, but by the
authority and efficacy of what they taught, whether they could confirm
it by miraculous operations, and whether it was accompanied with divine
influences and saving effects on the minds of men. For, adds he, the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. It is not set up, nor
propagated, nor established, in the hearts of men, by plausible
reasonings nor florid discourses, but by the external power of the Holy
Spirit in miraculous operations at first, and the powerful influence of
divine truth on the minds and manners of men. Note, It is a good way in
the general to judge of a preacher's doctrine, to see whether the
effects of it upon men's hearts to be truly divine. That is most likely
to come from God which in its own nature is most fit, and in event is
found to produce most likeness to God, to spread piety and virtue, to
change men's hearts and mend their manners.
IV. He puts it to their choice how he should come among them, whether with a rod or in love and the spirit of meekness ( v. 21 );
that is, according as they were they would find him. If they continued
perverse among themselves and with him, it would be necessary to come
with a rod; that is, to exert his apostolical power in chastising them,
by making some examples, and inflicting some diseases and corporal
punishments, or by other censures for their faults. Note, Stubborn
offenders must be used with severity. In families, in Christian
communities, paternal pity and tenderness, Christian love and
compassion, will sometimes force the use of the rod. But this is far
from being desirable, if it may be prevented. And therefore the apostle
adds that it was in their own option whether he should come with a rod
or in a quite different disposition and manner: Or in love and the
spirit of meekness. As much as if he had said, "Take warning, cease
your unchristian feuds, rectify the abuses among you, and return to
your duty, and you shall find me as gentle and benign as you can with.
It will be a force upon my inclination to proceed with severity. I had
rather come and display the tenderness of a father among you than
assert his authority. Do but your duty, and you have no reason to avoid
my presence." Note, It is a happy temper in a minister to have the
spirit of love and meekness predominant, and yet to maintain his just
authority.
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 4
The chief heads of this chapter are the account that ought to be had of the ministers of the Gospel; cautions against censoriousness, rash judgment, pride, and self-conceit; the uncomfortable circumstances and situation of the ministers of the Gospel for the sake of preaching it; the apostle's fatherly affection to the Corinthians, and his authority over them; his resolution in submission to the will of God of coming to them, and the manner in which it might be expected he would come. The apostle exhorts to have in proper esteem the preachers of the Gospel, and that because they are Christ's ministers and stewards of his grace, and faithful in the discharge of their duty, 1Co 4:1. And as for himself, whom he includes in the number of the faithful dispensers of the word, he cared not what judgment was passed upon him; nor should he think fit to be set down by it, partly because it was human, and arose from an ill spirit; and partly because he judged himself; as also because his conscience testified that he faithfully discharged his office; and besides, the Lord was his judge, 1Co 4:3 who in his own time would judge him; and he, as every other faithful minister, shall have praise of God, and therefore before that time judgment was not to be passed by men, 1Co 4:5 and then gives a reason why he had mentioned his own name, and the name of Apollos, under such figurative expressions as he had done in the preceding chapter, that they might be examples of modesty and humility for others to follow, 1Co 4:6 and expostulates with those who were vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds; that seeing they were no better than others, and what gifts they had were not of themselves, but of God, they had no reason to glory and vaunt it over others, 1Co 4:7 and in an ironical way expresses the exalted and flourishing condition they were in, and which he rather wishes than asserts, and which carries in it a sort of a denial of it, 1Co 4:8 and goes on to represent the miserable condition that the faithful preachers and followers of Christ were in, and that in order to abate the pride and swelling vanity of these men, 1Co 4:9 showing, that it was far from being a reigning time in the churches of Christ; his end in mentioning which, as well as the sharpness he had used in reproving, were not in order to expose them to shame, but for their admonition, 1Co 4:14 and that he did not take too much upon him in dealing thus freely and roundly with them, appears from the spiritual relation he stood in to them, as a father, 1Co 4:15 and therefore it became them as children to submit to him, and imitate him, 1Co 4:16 and an instance of his paternal care of them, and love to them, was his sending Timothy among them, whose character he gives, and whose work and usefulness he points out to them, 1Co 4:17, and closes the chapter with a promise of coming to them, if it was agreeable to the will of God; and the rather he was bent upon it, because some had given out he would not come, and rejoiced at it; wherefore, in order to try them, whether they were only verbal or powerful professors, he was desirous of coming to them, 1Co 4:18 since religion did not lie in talking, but in an inward powerful experience of things, 1Co 4:20 which he feared was wanting in some by their outward conversation; and therefore puts a question in what way they would chose he should come unto them, and hence should accordingly order their conversation and behaviour, 1Co 4:21.
Ver. 1. 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.
1 Corinthians 4:2
Ver. 2. Moreover, it is required in stewards,.... Upon mentioning that part of the character of Gospel preachers, as stewards, the apostle is put in mind of, and so points out that which is principally necessary in such persons: as,
that a man be found faithful; to the trust reposed in him; to his Lord and master that has appointed him to this office; and to the souls that are under his care: and then may a minister be said to be so, and which is his greatest glory, when he preaches the pure Gospel of Christ without any human mixtures, the doctrines and inventions of men; and the whole Gospel, declaring all the counsel of God, keeping back nothing which may be profitable to souls; when he seeks not to please men, but God; and not his own glory, and the applause of men, but the honour of Christ, and the good of souls: and such a faithful steward was the apostle himself.
1 Corinthians 4:3
Ver. 3. But with me it is a very small thing,.... It stood for little or nothing, was of no account with him, what judgment and censures were passed on him by men with regard to his faithfulness in the ministry not even by the Corinthians themselves:
that I should be judged of you; not that the apostle declined, or despised the judgment of a church of Christ, rightly disposed, and met together in the fear of God, to try prove, and judge of his ministry, and his fidelity in it; but he made no account of theirs, and slighted it as being under bad influence, the influence of the false teachers, who had insinuated many things among them to the prejudice of the apostle's character; wherefore he set it at nought and rejected it, and rightly refused to submit to it, and, indeed, to any mere human judgment:
or of man's judgment: it is in the Greek text, "or of man's day": in distinction from the day of the Lord, or the day of judgment; and because that men have their stated days for judgment, and because of the clearness of evidence, according to which judgment should proceed. This is not a Cilicism, as Jerom thought, but an Hebraism; so the Septuagint render vwna Mwy, in Jer 17:16
hmeran anyrwpou, "man's day"; and very frequently in the Talmud {r} is the distinction of Mymv ynyd, "the judgments of God" and
Mda ynyd, "the judgments of men"; the former the apostle was willing to be subject to, but not to the latter; he appealed from men to God; he cared not what any man thought or said, or judged of him; he not only was indifferent to the judgment of the Corinthians concerning him, whether they did or did not praise him, but of any other person; and so the Syriac version renders it,
vna rb lk Nm wa, "or of any man": he adds,
yea I judge not mine own self; for though as a spiritual man he judged all things, and so himself, his conduct, state, and condition; examined his own heart and ways, and was able to form a judgment of what he was and did; yet he chose not to stand and fall by his own judgment; and since he would not abide by his own judgment, who best knew himself, much less would he be subject to theirs, or any human judgment, who must be greater strangers to him; and this he said, not as conscious to himself of any unfaithfulness in his ministerial work.
{r} T. Bab Bava Koma, fol. 22. 2. 29. 1. 47. 2. 55. 2. 56. 1. 91. 1. 98. 1. & Bava Metzia, fol. 82. 2.
1 Corinthians 4:4
Ver. 4. For I know nothing by myself,.... Which must be understood with a restriction to the subject he is upon, faithfulness in the ministry; otherwise he knew much by himself of indwelling sin, and the corruption of his nature, which he sometimes found very strong and prevalent in him, and of the daily infirmities of life; but as to his ministerial service, he was pure from the blood of all men; he honestly declared what he knew to be the mind of God, and concealed nothing that might be useful to men; in this he had a clear conscience, void of offence both towards God and men,
Yet am I not hereby justified; from all fault and blame, which might possibly escape his knowledge and observation; for in many things all offend, and no man can understand all his errors; and there might be some mistakes which the apostle was not privy to, or conscious of; and were he even free from all, he declares, that such an unstained integrity, in the discharge of his ministerial work, was not the matter of his justification before God, nor did he depend upon it:
but he that judgeth me is the Lord; either who adjudges me to eternal life, justifying me through the righteousness of his Son, in which alone I desire to be found, living and dying; or he that knows my heart, and all my ways, will be my judge at the last day; and to his judgment I appeal and submit, and sit easy in the mean while under all the censures and calumnies of men. The apostle did, as his Lord and Saviour had done before him, who, when he was reviled and reproached by men, conscious of his own innocence and integrity, committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
1 Corinthians 4:5
Ver. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time,.... This is said to prevent rash and precipitate judgment, and agrees with that well know Jewish maxim, Nydb Nynwtm wwh, "be slow in judgment" {s}; not hasty to pass sentence; it is best to leave things to the great day of account, than to be free in censuring one another. There is a time "fixed" for the awful judgment, though of that day and hour knows no man: judge nothing
until the Lord come; who at the fixed time will certainly come to judgment, and that suddenly, at unawares, in an hour no man knows of:
who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness; meaning not so much vices, immoralities, wickedness of all sorts committed in the dark, and which it is a shame to speak of; but those hidden things of dishonesty, those secret arts and private methods which false teachers have made use of to conceal themselves, and carry on their base designs to the injury of truth, the souls of men, and the cause of Christ:
and will make manifest the counsels of the heart; what were the views and intentions, the aims and ends of these men in taking upon them to be preachers of the word; when it will appear that these were not the glory of God, and the good of the souls of men, but filthy lucre, popular applause, or some such mercenary view, and sinister end.
And then shall every man have praise of God. Every regenerated soul; everyone that is a Jew inwardly; everyone that has the circumcision of the Spirit; and particularly every faithful minister, who is more especially designed; to whom it will be said, "well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord". The apostle, in these words, has respect to the false teachers who sought the praise of men, and not the honour which comes from God; and which the true ministers of the word will have another day, however despised and criticised by men now.
{s} T. Bab Sanhed, fol. 7. 2. & Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 1.
1 Corinthians 4:6
Ver. 6. And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred,.... Not what he had said concerning the different factions at Corinth, one being for Paul, and another for Apollos, and another for Cephas, as if these several parties did not really go by those names, but by those of others, the false teachers; only the apostle, to decline everything that looked like reflection, put these, as the Syriac version renders it, "upon" his own "person", and Apollos's, the sooner and better to put an end to such divisions; for it is certain, from his way of arguing and reasoning, that these are not fictitious names, but they were really divided, and were quarrelling among themselves about himself, Apollos, and Cephas: but his meaning is, when he says,
I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos these things; that he had "brought these comparisons", as the Arabic version reads it, concerning himself and Apollos; namely, that one was a planter, and another a waterer; that they were both labourers and builders, ministers or servants, and stewards: and these similes, and such a figurative way of speaking he had made use of, as he says,
for your sakes; for the sake of the members of this church, that they might have right notions of them, and accordingly account of them, and behave towards them: or, as he adds,
that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written: meaning, either in the word of God in general; or in some particular passages of Scripture he might have respect to; or rather in the above places in this, and the foregoing chapter, where he gives the fore mentioned characters of ministers; where, in the apostles themselves, in their own words, from their own account, they might learn, on the one hand, not to ascribe too much to them, nor, on the other hand, to detract from their just character and usefulness: and also,
that no one of you be puffed up for one against the other; speak great swelling words of vanity, and envy, for one minister against another; when they are all one, bear the same character, are in the same office, and are jointly concerned in the same common cause of Christ and the good of immortal souls.
1 Corinthians 4:7
Ver. 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another,.... This question, and the following, are put to the members of this church, who were glorying in, and boasting of the ministers under whom they were converted, and by whom they were baptized, to the neglect and contempt of others; when the apostle would have them consider, and whatever difference was made between them and others, was made, not by man, but God; that whatever good and benefit they had enjoyed under their respective ministers, were in a way of receiving, and from God; and therefore they ought not to glory in themselves, nor in their ministers, but in God, who had distinguished them by his favours: whatever difference is made among men, is of God; it is he that makes them to differ from the rest of the creation; from angels, to whom they are inferior; and from beasts, to whom they are superior; and from one another in their person, size, shape, and countenance, which is a physical, or natural difference. It is God that makes them to differ from one another in things of a civil nature; as kings and subjects, masters and servants, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, which may be called a political, or civil difference; and there is an ecclesiastical difference which God makes in his own people, who have gifts differing one from another; there are diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations among them, and all from the same spirit: but the grand distinction God has made among men, lies in his special, distinguishing, and everlasting love to some, and not others; in his choice of them in Christ unto everlasting salvation; in the gift of them to Christ in the eternal covenant; in the redemption of them by his blood; in his powerful and prevalent intercession for them; in God's effectual calling of them by his grace; in his resurrection of them from the dead to everlasting life, placing them at Christ's right hand, and their entrance into everlasting glory; when the distinction will be kept up, as in the above instances, throughout the endless ages of eternity; all which is owing, not to anything of man's, but to the free grace, sovereign will, and good pleasure of God.
And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? whatever mercies and blessings men enjoy, they have in a way of receiving, and from God the Father of all mercies: all natural and temporal mercies are received from him; even such as respect the body, the make, form, and shape of it, perfection of limbs, health, strength, food, raiment, preservation of life, continuance in being, with all the comforts of it: and such as relate to the soul, its formation, which is by the father of spirits, its powers and faculties, natural light, reason, and understanding, all its endowments, abilities, all natural parts, and sharpness of wit; so that no man ought to glory in his wisdom, as if it was owing to himself, when it is all of God. All supernatural and spiritual blessings are received from God; such as a justifying righteousness, sanctifying grace, remission of sin, the new name of adoption, strength to perform good works, to bear and suffer reproach and persecution for Christ, and to persevere to the end, with a right and title to eternal glory.
Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? To glory in any mercy, favour, or blessing received from God, as if it was not received from him, but as owing to human power, care, and industry, betrays wretched vanity, stupid and more than brutish ignorance, horrid ingratitude, abominable pride and wickedness; and is contrary to the grace of God, which teaches men humility and thankfulness. To God alone should all the blessings of nature, providence, and grace be ascribed; he ought to have all the glory of them; and to him, and him only, praise is due for them. That proud Arminian, Grevinchovius {t}, in answer to this text, said,
"I make myself to differ; since I could resist God, and divine predetermination, but have not resisted, why may not I glory in it as of my own?''
{t} Contr. Ames. p. 253.
1 Corinthians 4:8
Ver. 8. Now ye are full,.... That is, in their own opinion: these words, and some following expressions, are an ironical concession. They were not full of God, and divine things; nor of Christ, and of grace out of his fulness; nor of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, as Stephen and Barnabas are said to be; nor of joy and peace in believing; nor of goodness and spiritual knowledge; but they were full of themselves, and were pulled up in their fleshly minds with an opinion of their abilities, learning, oratory, and eloquence, of their ministers, and of their own great improvements in knowledge under their ministrations. They fancied they had got to a perfection in knowledge and were brimful of it; and as the full stomach, from which the metaphor is taken, loathes the honeycomb, so these persons loathed the apostle's ministry, and the pure preaching of the Gospel; imagining that they had attained to something above it, and stood in no need of it; when, alas! they were but babes, children in understanding, and needed milk instead of strong meat; so far were they from being what they thought themselves to be.
Now ye are rich; not in faith; nor in good works; nor in spiritual gifts and knowledge, though some among them were; but that is not here intended: the meaning is, they were rich, and abounded in knowledge in their own account. Like the Laodiceans, they conceited themselves to be rich, and increased with goods, when they were poor, and wretched, and miserable.
Ye have reigned as kings without us. The saints, in the best sense, are kings, made so by Christ; and have not only the name, and the ensigns of royalty, as crowns and thrones prepared for them, but kingdoms also: they have a kingdom of grace, which they enjoy now, and shall never be removed; in which they reign as kings under the influence of the Spirit of God, over the corruptions of their own hearts, which are laid under the restraints of mighty grace; and over the world, which they have under the feet; and over Satan, who is dethroned and cast out of them; and they shall inherit the kingdom of glory hereafter; but nothing of this kind is here intended. The sense of the words is, that these persons imagined that they had arrived to such a pitch of knowledge, as to be independent of the apostles; needed no instructions and directions from them, and were in great tranquillity and ease of mind, and attended with outward prosperity, so that they lived, as kings, the most happy life that could be desired; upon which the apostle expresses his hearty wish for them:
and I would to God ye did reign; not in carnal security, and in affluence of worldly enjoyments, which the apostle was not desirous of for himself, and other his fellow ministers; nor in a spiritual sense, merely as believers in common, and as he then did; but with Christ in his kingdom state here on earth:
that we also might reign with you; for all the saints will be together when Christ takes to himself his great power, and reigns; they will all reign with him on earth a thousand years; this is a faithful saying, nothing more true, or to be depended on, that those that suffer with him shall also reign with him; and not a part of his people only, but the whole body: hence the apostle wishes, that this reigning time for the church of Christ was come, then he and the rest of the apostles would reign also: but, alas! it was a plain case, from the condition they were in, of which the following words give a narrative, that this time was not yet.
1 Corinthians 4:9
Ver. 9. For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last,.... Meaning either in time, in respect to the prophets and patriarchs under the former dispensation; and to the apostles, who were sent forth by Christ when on earth; when he, and Barnabas, and others, had received their mission since his ascension; or in state and condition, who though they were set in the first place in the church, yet were the least in the esteem of men; and were treated as the most mean, vile, and abject of creatures; were set or showed forth to public view, and made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions. And
as it were appointed to death; were continually exposed unto it; were in death oft, always carrying about with them the dying of the Lord Jesus; and were all the day long killed for his sake; all which the apostle not only thought, but believed, were not casual things, fortuitous events, but the determinations and appointments of God; and were brought about in his wise providence to answer some valuable ends, which made him the more easy under them, and reconciled unto them.
For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. The word translated "spectacle" signifies a "theatre"; and the allusion is to the Roman theatres, in which various exercises were performed, for the gratification of the numerous spectators, who were placed around in a proper distance to behold; and not so much to the gladiators who fought, in such places, for the diversion of the multitude, as to those unhappy persons who were cast to the wild beasts, let loose upon them to devour them; which horrid barbarities were beheld by the surrounding company with great pleasure and satisfaction; and such a spectacle were the apostles in their sufferings and persecutions to the "whole" world, distinguished into "angels" and "men". By "angels" may be meant the devils, who stirred up the princes of this world against the apostles, to persecute and afflict them; than which nothing was a greater pleasure to these envious and malicious spirits: though good angels may be also included, as witnesses of the faith, courage, and constancy of the saints, and as comforters of them in all their tribulations; but evil angels seem chiefly designed: and by "men" are meant wicked men, who are as much pleased to behold the barbarities and butcheries committed upon the people of God, as the Romans in their theatres were to see the tragical scenes that were acted there.
1 Corinthians 4:10
Ver. 10. We are fools for Christ's sake,.... They were so in the esteem of men, for their close attach merit to a crucified Christ; and for preaching the doctrine of salvation by him; and for enduring so much reproach, affliction, and persecution, for his sake and the Gospel's:
but ye are wise in Christ. This is ironically said; for his meaning is not that they were truly wise in Christ, in the knowledge and faith of him, in preaching his Gospel, or professing his name; but they were so in their own eyes, and made use of much worldly wisdom and carnal policy in their profession of religion. Their ministers took care to preach, and they to profess Christ, in such a manner as to retain the favour of the world, and to escape reproach and persecution.
We are weak; in your account; our bodily presence is weak, and speech contemptible; we are men of mean capacities and abilities; nor are we able to express ourselves in that strong and masculine way, with those masterly strokes of eloquence and oratory your ministers do; or we are pressed down with infirmities, and afflictions, and persecutions.
But ye are strong; your ministers are men of great parts, strong voice, masculine language, and powerful oratory; and you abound in outward prosperity, and are free from persecution for the cross of Christ.
Ye are honourable; high in the favour and esteem of men for your wisdom and learning, your riches and wealth, power and grandeur.
But we are despised; are in dishonour and disgrace, for the mean appearance we make, the Gospel we preach, and the cross we bear.
1 Corinthians 4:11
Ver. 11. 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.
1 Corinthians 4:12
Ver. 12. And labour, working with our own hands,.... As the apostle did at Corinth, Ac 18:3 and elsewhere; partly to minister to his own necessities, and those of others; and partly that he might not be burdensome to the churches; and also to set an example of diligence and industry to others; though he had a right and power to claim a maintenance of those to whom he ministered.
Being reviled, we bless; as Christ commanded, Mt 5:44 and the apostle himself directed and exhorted to, Ro 12:14
being persecuted, we suffer it; that is, patiently; neither resisting our persecutors, nor murmuring and repining at our unhappy circumstances; but taking all in good part, as what is the will of God, and will make for his glory.
1 Corinthians 4:13
Ver. 13. Being defamed, we entreat,.... Being blasphemed, as the word signifies, being evil spoken of, our good name taken away, and characters hurt; we entreat or pray to God for them, that he would convince them of their evil, give them repentance unto life, and remission of their sins, according to Christ's direction, Mt 5:44 and in imitation of his example, Lu 23:34 or we entreat them; so the Syriac version reads it, Nwhnm Nnyeb, "we beseech them": not to blaspheme and speak evil of us, since it will be to their own hurt; we give them smooth words, and soft language, not rendering railing for railing, or reviling for reviling:
we are made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things unto this day; referring, as some think, to La 3:45 or to the lustrations and expiations among the Heathens, who when any calamity was upon them, particularly a plague among them, used to take one of the refuse of the people, and sacrifice him by way of expiation; or any living creature, as a sheep which with imprecations they cast into a river, or into the sea, fancying it carried away all the contagion along with it; hence, by way of reproach, such that were under disgrace, and were ejected, and exiled, were called kayarmata, "purgations"; the refuse of the people, by which the rest were purged {u} or the reference is to any dirt, or filth in common, swept out of houses, and trodden under foot; and so expresses the mean and abject condition of the apostles, and with what disdain and contempt they were treated in the world: all which shows that they were far from reigning as kings; and whilst this was their case, who were at the head of the interest of Christ, it must be a vain conceit of the Corinthians, that they reigned as kings without them.
{u} Vid. Turnebi Adversaria, l. 19. c. 22. & 26. 7. & 27. 16.
1 Corinthians 4:14
Ver. 14. I write not these things to shame you,.... Though they had a great deal of reason to be ashamed of the vain opinion they had of themselves, and that they suffered the faithful ministers of Christ to want the necessaries of life, when they abounded so much with the good things of it; and though the apostle's view in giving this narrative was to bring them under a sense of their faults, and to a conviction of them, and so to shame for them, in order to their future reformation and amendment; yet it was not merely to put them to the blush, but to admonish and instruct them, that he enlarged on these things:
but as my beloved sons I warn you; they being his children in a spiritual sense, for whom he had the strongest love and affection, as their spiritual Father; and as it was his place, and became him standing in such a relation to them, he warned, admonished, and put them in mind of their obligations and duty to him.
1 Corinthians 4:15
Ver. 15. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ,.... Or "schoolmasters"; by whom he means the false teachers, whom, for argument sake, he admits to be instructors in Christ, or ministers of his, as in 2Co 11:23 and who were many, and of whose number the Corinthians boasted; though they were not so numerous as here supposed; for the expression is hyperbolical: perhaps some reference may be had to the multitude of schoolmasters, tutors, and governors, and who also were called twba, "fathers", which those that were Jews of this church at Corinth had before they believed in Christ; as the members of the great sanhedrim, the great number of doctors, wise men, Scribes and Pharisees, who pretended to instruct them: now though it should be allowed, that the present teachers among them were instrumental in instructing them further in the knowledge of Christ; or as the Arabic version reads it, "in the love of Christ"; yet they had no hand in their conversion; the apostle first preached the Gospel to them, and ministerially laid Christ the foundation among them, and directed them unto him, and was the minister by whom they believed; these teachers at most and best built on his foundation, and that only wood, hay, and stubble; and whereas they were only a sort of schoolmasters, and not fathers, they taught with mercenary views, and for lucre's sake, and with severity, as such men do; and not with such a single eye to their good, and with that tenderness and affection a parent has, and in which relation he stood to them:
yet have ye not many fathers; as it is in nature, so it is in grace; how many masters and instructors soever a child may have, whether together or successively, he has but one father; and so how many after instructors, either nominally or really, believers may have to lead them on, or who pretend to lead them on to a further knowledge of Christ; yet have they but one spiritual father, who has been the happy instrument and means of their conversion, as the Apostle Paul was to the Corinthians;
for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel; which is to be understood of regeneration, a being born again, and from above; of being quickened when dead in trespasses and sins; of having Christ formed in the soul; of being made a partaker of the divine nature, and a new creature; which the apostle ascribes to himself, not as the efficient cause thereof, for regeneration is not of men but of God; not of the will of the flesh, of a man's own free will and power, nor of the will of any other man, or minister; but of the sovereign will, grace, and mercy of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father of Christ beget us again according to his abundant mercy; and the Son quickens whom he will; and we are born again of water and of the Spirit, of the grace of the Spirit; hence the washing of regeneration, and renewing work are ascribed to him: but the apostle speaks this of himself, only as the instrument or means, which God made use of in doing this work upon the hearts of his people; and which the other phrases show: for he is said to do it "in Christ"; he preached Christ unto them, and salvation by him, and the necessity of faith in him; he directed them to him to believe in him, and was the means of bringing of them to the faith of Christ; and it was the power and grace of Christ accompanying his ministry, which made it an effectual means of their regeneration and conversion: and which were brought about "through the Gospel"; not through the preaching of the law; for though by that is the knowledge of sin, and convictions may be wrought by such means; yet these leave nothing but a sense of wrath and damnation; nor is the law any other than a killing letter: no regeneration, no quickening grace, no faith nor holiness come this way, but through the preaching of the Gospel; in and through which, as a vehicle, the Spirit of God conveys himself into the heart, as a spirit of regeneration and faith; and God of his own will and rich mercy, by the word of truth, by the Gospel of grace and truth, which came by Christ, so called in distinction from the law which came by Moses, begets us again as his new creatures; which shows the usefulness of the Gospel ministry, and in what account Gospel ministers are to be had, who are spiritual fathers, or the instruments of the conversion of men.
1 Corinthians 4:16
Ver. 16. Wherefore, I beseech you,.... Though he might have used the power and authority of a father, yet he chose rather to entreat and beseech them; saying,
be ye followers of me; for who should children follow, but their parents? The Vulgate Latin, adds, "as I am of Christ"; so Chrysostom in his time read it; and Beza says he found it so written in one Greek exemplar; and so it is in one of Stephens's; it seems to have crept in from 1Co 11:1. However, though it might not be now expressed by the apostle, it is to be supposed; for he never desired any to follow him any more, or further than he followed Christ; particularly he was desirous that these his spiritual children would follow him, and abide by him in the doctrine of a crucified Christ, he had preached among them, and not the false apostles, who had represented his ministry as weak and foolish; and in his life and conversation, especially in his humble carriage and deportment among them, and in his tender love and affection for them; observing their growing pride, haughtiness, and vain opinion of themselves, and those unnatural divisions and animosities which were fomented among them; and also in bearing reproach and persecution cheerfully and patiently, for the Gospel of Christ; a detail of which he had given them in some preceding verses.
1 Corinthians 4:17
Ver. 17. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus,.... This is an instance of his care of them, concern for them and respect unto them; that he not only writes unto them, giving his best advice and counsel, promising to come unto them; but in the mean while sends Timothy to them, whose character is here given as one dear to him, and in all things trusty and faithful:
who is my beloved son; so, in his epistles to him, he often styles him his son, his own son in the faith, his dearly beloved son; not that he was the instrument of his conversion, for he was a disciple of Christ before the apostle was acquainted with him; see Ac 16:1 but either because of his age, he being younger than he; or because of his great affection for him; and chiefly because, as a son with a father, he served him in the Gospel, Php 2:22 and since he was so familiar with him, and so much loved by him, it might reasonably be thought he full well knew his ways and methods of doctrine and practice.
And faithful in the Lord; a faithful steward of the mysteries of grace; faithful in the Gospel of Christ, and to the souls of men; a faithful minister of the Lord's; one who had been tried, proved, and found faithful, and therefore might be trusted to, and depended upon:
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways; his way of preaching, and the doctrines he taught; and what should be the manner of life and conversation agreeably thereunto, and to his own; and all those rules and orders he gave for the discipline and management of the affairs of churches; all which he had formerly delivered to them, though they, through length of time, and the ministry of the false teachers among them, had greatly forgotten them: wherefore Timothy is sent, not to teach them new ways, nor, indeed, to teach at all, whose youth they might be tempted to despise; but only to put them in mind of what the apostle had formerly taught them: and which are recommended by their being such ways,
which be in Christ; the doctrines he had preached among them, the sum and substance of them were Christ, and him crucified; the ordinances he had delivered to them were what he had received from Christ; and all the rules and methods he had proposed to them for the regulation of their conduct, and the management of their ecclesiastical affairs, were such as were agreeably to the mind of Christ, and tended to his glory; he took no step, nor proposed any to be taken, but in Christ, and for the good of his interest: and he adds,
as I teach everywhere, in every church; the faith he delivered everywhere was one and the same; the Son of God, preached by him, was not yea and nay; the trumpet he blew always gave a certain sound; the rules prescribed by him, and orders he laid down, for the conduct of life, and government of churches, were exactly alike in all places; he taught no doctrines at Corinth, nor enjoined the observance of any rule, but what all other churches were taught and directed to; his plan of doctrine and discipline was the same everywhere.
1 Corinthians 4:18
Ver. 18. Now some are puffed up,.... Some with their gifts, learning, and eloquence, and with the high station they were in, in the church; believing they should continue therein undisturbed, thinking them selves safe and secure through the absence of the apostle, and which they flattered themselves would always be the case:
as though I would not come to you; and others that were for Apollos and Cephas against Paul, were puffed up against their fellow members on the same account; hoping they should never see him more, to put them in any other situation than what they were in, by demolishing their factions and parties; and others, as the incestuous person, and those that took encouragement to sin by his example, were also puffed up upon this score, and mourned not over, nor repented of their iniquities, but remained secure and hardened; believing the apostle would never more come among them, to call them to an account for their malpractices.
1 Corinthians 4:19
Ver. 19. But I will come to you shortly,.... This he said as threatening them, but not by way of prophecy; for it is not certain that he ever did come to them after this; but by way of promise, as it was then the real intention, inclination, and resolution of his mind, though with this condition,
if the Lord will; which is rightly put, and what the apostle had a continual regard unto, in all things he was concerned; see Ro 1:10 and though it is not absolutely necessary that this should be expressed by us always in so many words; though should it, as the sentence is short and full, there would be no impropriety in it; yet this should always be the sense of our minds and conduct in all the affairs of life; see Jas 4:13
and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power; meaning chiefly the false teachers; and that his concern would be, not so much to observe their masterly language, the eloquence of their speech, the quaintness of their expressions, the cadency of their words, how nicely they were put together, and how fitly pronounced; but what life there was in their ministry, what power went forth with their words, and how effectual their preaching was to the, conversion of sinners, and the edifying of the church of God.
1 Corinthians 4:20
Ver. 20. For the kingdom of God,.... By "the kingdom of God" is not meant the kingdom of heaven, or the ultimate glory and happiness of the saints; though that is a kingdom prepared by God, which he gives to his children, calls them to by his grace, and will give them an abundant entrance into, when time shall be no more with them; and though that is not attained to "in", or "by word", by mere talk and profession; not everyone that says Lord, Lord, shall enter into it; or that professes the name of Christ, and prophesies in it; but "in" or "by power"; through the power of God, beginning, carrying on, and finishing a work of grace upon the soul, and keeping it, through faith, unto salvation: nor the kingdom of grace, or that internal principle of grace in the soul, which reigns, and by which Christ reigns there, and by which the saints appear to be kings as well as priests unto God: though this also does not lie "in word", in a profession of faith, in talking about love, and in making pretensions to the knowledge of divine things; nor merely in deeds, and outward actions, in bodily exercise, in a form of godliness, and a round of religion, and a show of righteousness;
but in power: in internal powerful godliness; for true godliness is a powerful thing; faith is powerful, and so is love; and so is prayer, and preaching; and so is all religion, internal and external, where there is the life and truth of grace, and that in exercise. But I rather think the Gospel is here meant, often in Scripture called the kingdom of God, and the doctrines of it, the mysteries of the kingdom; because it is a message from the King of kings; the means of setting up the kingdom or grace in the heart; its subjects are things concerning the kingdom of God; it is what has brought life and immortality, or an immortal life to light; and gives the best account of the invisible glories of the heavenly state, and points out the saints' meetness for it, and title to it; declaring that except a man is born again, and has a better righteousness than his own, even that of Christ's, he shall neither see nor enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now the Gospel is not in "word"; though it lies in the word of God, the Scriptures of truth: and treats of the essential word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ; and cannot be preached without words, even the words of men; yet is not to be preached with wisdom of words, with enticing words of man's wisdom, or in the words which man's wisdom teacheth; nor does the efficacy of it lie in, or depend upon the words of the preacher, or on mere moral persuasion: for whenever it is effectual, it comes not "in word only, but also in power"; 1Th 1:5 and by "power" is meant, not a power of working miracles the first preachers of the Gospel had, and by which it was greatly confirmed; nor a godly life and conversation which that enforced upon, and engaged both ministers and people to; but the powerful efficacy of the Spirit, attending the preaching of the Gospel to the quickening of dead sinners, the enlightening of blind eyes, and unstopping of deaf ears; the softening of hard hearts, the delivering of persons from the slavery of sin and Satan, the transforming and renewing of them both inwardly and outwardly; and to the comforting, enlivening, strengthening, and establishing of the saints; all which can never be ascribed to the persuasive language of men, but to the power of God; and which is the more apparent when it is observed what mean and despicable instruments in the eyes of men are made use of: what the doctrines are that are preached, not being of man, nor agreeably to his carnal reason, but esteemed foolishness by him; and the manner in which they are propagated, not in a carnal way, by outward force, but by the foolishness of preaching: and the opposition made to it both by the enmity of man's heart unto it, by the men of the world, and by Satan and his principalities and powers.
1 Corinthians 4:21
Ver. 21. What will ye?.... Or "how will ye, that I should come unto you?" as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read it: since the apostle had determined upon his coming to them: and had made mention of it, he puts it to them, in what manner they themselves would choose he should come unto them;
shall I come unto you with a rod; either as a schoolmaster, as were their false teachers, with a "ferula"; or as a father with a rod of correction and chastisement, assuming his paternal authority, putting on severe looks, and using roughness; or rather as an apostle with the apostolical rod; by which is meant not excommunication, which is what belongs to a whole community, and not any single person; but a power of inflicting punishment on the bodies of delinquents, by smiting with diseases, and even with death itself; for as the prophets of the Old Testament had a power from God of inflicting diseases and death upon offenders; so had the apostles of the New, as appears from the instances of Ananias, and Sapphira, and Elymas the sorcerer:
or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? with the affection of a father, with a pleasant countenance, and a meek spirit; in opposition to that roughness and sharpness, he had an authority, as an apostle of Christ, to use in proper cases; and therefore as the latter would be most eligible by them, his suggestion is, that they would behave accordingly, that there might be no occasion to come to them in the former manner, which was not desirable by him, There seems to be an allusion to a practice among the Jews, in the punishing of a drunkard or gluttonous person; the rule for which was this {w},
"they first correct him jbvb wa Myrbdb "with words", or "with a rod", as it is written, De 21:18 and have chastened him; but if he adds and repeats (i.e. goes on in his sin), then they stone him.''
Or rather the allusion is to the judges in the sanhedrim, one of the instruments or ensigns of whose office was "a rod or staff" to smite with; it is said {x} of R. Hona, when he went to the sanhedrim, he used to say, bring me the instruments of the Tabernae (the place where the sanhedrim sat); what are they? "the staff" (in Cocceius's edition it is yrjwx, "the rods", and the sandals, the trumpets, and the thongs); the gloss is, "the thong" for scourging, "the staff" (or rods) for beating the rebellious until they return, the "trumpets" for excommunication, and the "sandals" for plucking off the shoe; things in which the judges of the court were concerned, and here the apostle proposes to come as judge; see 1Co 5:3.
{w} R. Elias in Adderet apud Trigland. de sect. Karaeor. c. 10. p. 161. {x} T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 7. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Apostles were no more than servants of Christ,
but they were not to be undervalued. They had a great trust, and for
that reason, had an honourable office. Paul had a just concern for
his own reputation, but he knew that he who chiefly aimed to please
men, would not prove himself a faithful servant of Christ. It is a
comfort that men are not to be our final judges. And it is not judging
well of ourselves, or justifying ourselves, that will prove us safe and
happy. Our own judgment is not to be depended upon as to our
faithfulness, any more than our own works for our justification.
There is a day coming, that will bring men's secret sins into open
day, and discover the secrets of their hearts. Then every slandered
believer will be justified, and every faithful servant approved and
rewarded. The word of God is the best rule by which to judge as to
men. Pride commonly is at the bottom of quarrels. Self-conceit
contributes to produce undue esteem of our teachers, as well as of
ourselves. We shall not be puffed up for one against another, if we
remember that all are instruments, employed by God, and endowed
by him with various talents. MWHBC 1067.2
1 Corinthians 4:7-13 We have no reason to be proud; all we have,
or are, or do, that is good, is owing to the free and rich grace of
God. A sinner snatched from destruction by sovereign grace alone,
must be very absurd and inconsistent, if proud of the free gifts of
God. St. Paul sets forth his own circumstances, ver. 9. Allusion is
made to the cruel spectacles in the Roman games; where men
were forced to cut one another to pieces, to divert the people; and
where the victor did not escape with his life, though he should
destroy his adversary, but was only kept for another combat, and
must be killed at last. The thought that many eyes are upon
believers, when struggling with difficulties or temptations, should
encourage constancy and patience. "We are weak, but ye are
strong." All Christians are not alike exposed. Some suffer greater
hardships than others. The apostle enters into particulars of their
sufferings. And how glorious the charity and devotion that carried
them through all these hardships! They suffered in their persons
and characters as the worst and vilest of men; as the very dirt of the
world, that was to be swept away: nay, as the offscouring of all
things, the dross of all things. And every one who would be faithful
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in Christ Jesus, must be prepared for poverty and contempt.
Whatever the disciples of Christ suffer from men, they must follow
the example, and fulfil the will and precepts of their Lord. They must
be content, with him and for him, to be despised and abused. It is
much better to be rejected, despised, and ill used, as St. Paul was,
than to have the good opinion and favour of the world. Though cast
off by the world as vile, yet we may be precious to God, gathered
up with his own hand, and placed upon his throne.\
Apostles were no more than servants of Christ,
but they were not to be undervalued. They had a great trust, and for
that reason, had an honourable office.
Paul was,
than to have the good opinion and favour of the world. Though cast
off by the world as vile, yet we may be precious to God, gathered
up with his own hand, and placed upon his throne.\
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary