1 Corinthians 4:8

Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. Irony. Translate [ eedee (G2235) kekoresmenoi (G2880)], 'Already ye are filled full (with spiritual food), already ye are rich, ye have made yourselves kings, without us.' Ye act as if ye needed no more to "hunger after righteousness," as though already ye had reached the "kingdom" for which Christians have to strive and suffer. Ye are so puffed up with your favourite teachers, and your own fancied attainments in knowledge through them, that ye feel like those 'filled full' at a feast, or as a "rich" man glorying in his riches; so ye feel ye can now do "without us," your first spiritual fathers ...

8._Now ye are full _Having in good earnest, and without the use of any figure, beat down their vain confidence, he now also ridicules it by way of irony, (230) because they are so self-complacent, as if they were the happiest persons in the world. He proceeds, too, step by step, in exposing their insolence. In the first place, he says, that they were_full_: this refers to the past. He then adds, _Ye are rich_: this applies to the future. _Lastly_, he says, that they had _reigned as kings _this is much more than either of those two. It is as though he had said, “_What _will you attain to, when you appear to be not merely _full _for the present, but are also _rich _for the future — nay more, are _kings _?_” _At the same time, he tacitly upbraids them with ingratitude, because they had the audacity to despise _him_, or rather _those_, through means of whom t

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 su...

Verse 1 Corinthians 4:8. _NOW YE_] Corinthians _are full_ of secular wisdom; _now_ _ye are rich_, both in wealth and spiritual gifts; (1 Corinthians 14:26:) _ye have reigned as kings_, flourishing in the enjoyment of these things, in all tranquillity and honour; _without_ any want of _us:_ _and I would to God ye did reign_, in _deed_, and not in _conceit_ only, _that we also_, poor, persecuted, and despised apostles, _might reign_ _with you_.-Whitby. Though this paraphrase appears natural, yet I am of opinion that the apostle here intends a strong _irony_; and one which, when taken in conjunction with what he had said before, must have stung them to the heart. It is not an unusual thing for many

NOW YE ARE FULL - It is generally agreed that this is spoken in irony, and that it is an indignant sarcasm uttered against the false and self-confident teachers in Corinth. The design is to contrast them with the apostles; to show how self-confident and vain the false teachers were, and how laborious and self-denying the apostles were; and to show to them how little claim they had to authority in the church, and the real claim which the apostles had from their self-denials and labors. The whole passage is an instance of most pungent and cutting sarcasm, and shows that there may be occasions when irony may be proper, though it should be rare. An instance of cutting irony occurs also in regard to the priests of Baal, in 1 Kings 18:27. The word translated “ye are full” (κεκορεσμένοι kekoresmenoi) occurs only

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 4:1 _Judgments, human and Divine, respecting ministers._ 1 CORINTHIANS 4:1 LET A MAN SO ACCOUNT OF US. Since it is inevitable that Christians should form some estimate of the position of their ministers, he proceeds to tell them what that estimate should be. Ministers are not to be unduly magnified, for their position is subordinate; they are not to be unduly depreciated, for if they are faithful they may appeal from frivolous human prejudices and careless depreciations to that only Judge and Master before whom they stand or fall. MINISTERS; here _huperetas; _in...

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 so...

NOW YE ARE FULL _"Already are ye filled; already are ye become rich."_ Contrast (1 Corinthians 4:9); (1 Peter 1:4)....

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Servants of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1)._ 2. Contrast Between Self-Glorification and Humiliation. (1 Corinthians 4:6). 3. Admonition to Beloved Children. (1 Corinthians 4:14). Paul speaks of himself and the fellow workmen as servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. They were serving under Christ. Apollos, though not an Apostle, is included by Paul. Apollos with his great eloquence probably appealed strongly to the Corinthians and thus the party spirit had been fostered among them. But Paul classes Apollos with himself; he might have told the Corinthians that Apollos was not an Apostle and

PAUL WILL ACCEPT NO JUDGMENT BUT CHRIST'S. THE FORTUNATE LOT OF THE CORINTHIANS CONTRASTED WITH THE MISERABLE CONDITION OF THE APOSTLES. This section is concerned with the attitude of the Corinthians to Paul. Some were critical, there may have been a suggestion to put him on his trial before the church. He first states the criterion that ought to be applied in judging him and his colleagues. They are mere subordinates (a different Gr. word from that in 1 Corinthians 3:5), entrusted with a stewardship. The main qualification for such a position is not brilliant gift but incorruptible fidelity. However, what judgment they or any men pass upon him is a matter of indifference; he does not, though he knows himself so much more intimately than they can, venture to pass judgment even on himself. True, his conscience is clear, yet God alone is competent to pronounce him righteous. So they sh