1 Corinthians 4:1

“Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

After explaining what preachers are not, to show that no man should make himself dependent on them, the apostle declares what they are, to withdraw them from the rash judgments of the members of the Church. He does so first by continuing to speak of himself and Apollos (us; comp. 1 Corinthians 6:6), then he speaks singly of himself (me, 1 Corinthians 5:3).

The word οὕτως, thus, which begins this passage, has been understood in the sense of so then. Thus taken, it would connect this passage with the preceding, announcing a consequence drawn from it. But 1 Corinthians 4:21 had already drawn the consequence (ὥστε, 1 Corinthians 4:21) from the preceding exposition. And the logical relation between what follows and what precedes would rather be that of contrast. The end of v23 had raised the readers to such a height, that the apostle does not care to connect with it what follows by any particle whatever, and continues by an asyndeton. It seems to me indeed, as to Rückert, that the οὕτως is nothing else than the antecedent of of the ὡς, as, which follows; comp. John 7:46; Ephesians 5:33; James 2:12, etc. The meaning is: “ See how you ought to regard us.”

The word ἄνθρωπος might be translated by the French pronoun on; perhaps it is better rendered by each; comp. 1 Corinthians 11:28. Edwards sees in the use of the word an imitation of the Hebrew Isch. Bengel thinks that the term is intended to contrast man's judgment with that of God. I think the apostle wishes it to be felt that he is addressing the Church in the person of each of its members, and recalling to their minds the notion of ignorance and weakness attached to the condition of man.

The term ὑπηρέτης, which we translate by minister, strictly denotes a man who acts as rower under the orders of some one (ὑπό and ἐρέσσω); he is a man labouring freely in the service of others: it here denotes the acting and laborious side of the Christian ministry. The term οἰκονόμος, steward, dispenser, denotes, among the ancients, a confidential slave to whom the master intrusts the direction of his house, and in particular the care of distributing to all the servants their tasks and provisions (Luke 12:42). This second term designates preachers as administrators of a truth which is not theirs, but their master's. It relates to the inward and spiritual side of the work of the ministry. The trust administered by them is the mysteries of God. This term mystery, in the singular, denotes the plan of salvation in general (see on 1 Corinthians 2:7). In the plural, it relates to the different designs included in this plan. The plural is here connected with the idea of distribution associated with that of steward. Perhaps Paul makes allusion to the choice which Apollos and he required to make among the manifold materials of Christian teaching, in order to use in every case only those which were appropriate to the state of the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3:2).

The genitives of Christ and of God, which are certainly related to those of 1 Corinthians 3:23, remind us that preachers, as labouring in the active service of Christ, the Head of the Church, and charged with distributing to it the truths of God, have to give account before these supreme authorities and not before the members of the Church. They go where Christ sends them, and deliver what God has given them. They are not to be judged in this respect. The only thing that can be asked of them, is to be faithful in the way in which they fulfil the missions confided to them, and in which they conform their teaching to the measure of light which they have received.