1 Corinthians 4:8

Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have come to reign without us: yea and. would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

'Already are ye filled' -'You seem to think you already have all the spiritual food you need' (Tay) 'You Corinthians, have your heart's desire already, have you?' (Mof) 'Already you have all you want',. verb that means to eat to the full. (Fee p. 172)

'We have here. picture of the self-conceit of the Corinthians--the disposition that they were spiritually self-sufficient and in need of nothing.' (Willis p. 141) How sad. The Corinthians imagined themselves to be "full and spiritually rich", and yet Paul had just called them carnal. (1 Corinthians 3:3)

'already ye are become rich' -'You are full and spiritually contented.' (Tay)

'ye have come to reign without us' -'rich kings on your thrones, leaving us far behind.' (Tay) 'The Corinthians actually imagined that they were already reigning in the heavenly kingdom. Somehow, they supposedly got there without taking the apostles with them.' (Willis p. 141)

'without us' -'apart from our help..without our having. share in it'. (Fee p. 173)

'us' -Paul and the other apostles. This seems to indicate that the Corinthians had set themselves over and above their teachers. 'Paul writes as though he marvelled their ability. All of this you have achieved without us! In some way you secured. better wisdom than we have to offer, one that has carried you up so wonderfully high!...Silly people to act as though they had left Paul, Apollos, and Peter far behind, the very men from whom they had obtained everything they really had!. (Lenski p. 180)

'and. would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.' -'and would, indeed that you reigned!' (Lenski p. 180) 'Paul's wish is that the Corinthians actually were what they thought themselves to be.' (Willis p. 142)

'might reign with you' -for it would be. much better condition than Paul and his fellow apostles were presently in. (Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12)

'And then there comes one of these winged outbursts which meet us ever and again in the letters of Paul. He turns on the Corinthians with scathing irony. He compares their pride, their self-satisfaction, their feeling of superiority with the life that an apostle lives. He chooses. vivid picture. When. Roman general won. great victory he was allowed to parade his victorious army through the streets of the city with all the trophies that he had won; he was allowed to demonstrate his triumph and achievement...but at the end there came. little group. captives who were doomed to death; they were men who had been captured and who were being taken to the arena to fight with the beasts and so to die. We who are about to die salute you! The Corinthians in their blatant pride were like the conquering general displaying the trophies of his prowess; the apostles were like the little group of captives, men doomed to die. To the Corinthians the Christ life meant flaunting their pride and their privileges and reckoning up their achievement; to Paul it mean. humble service, ready to die for Christ.' [Note:. Barclay pp. 44-45]