1 Corinthians 4 - Introduction

In what account ministers ought to be had. We have nothing which we have not received. The Apostles are spectacles to the world, angels, and men; the filth and off-scouring of the world; yet are they our fathers in Christ, whom we ought to follow.

Anno Domini 57.

LEST, from what was said in the preceding Chapter s, concerning the inspiration of the Apostles by the Spirit, the Corinthians might have imagined that St. Paul claimed to himself and to his brethren, an authority not derived from Christ, he began this chapter with telling them that they were to consider the Apostles only as servants of Christ, and as stewards of the mysteries of God, 1 Corinthians 4:1—And, that the thing required of every such steward is, that he be faithful in the dispensing of these mysteries according as his disciples are able to receive them, 1 Corinthians 4:2.—Therefore, although the falseteacher accused St. Paul of unfaithfulness, because he had taught the Corinthians the first principles only, and notthe deeper and most spiritual doctrines of the Gospel, he told them, it was a very small matter in his eyes, to be condemned as unfaithful by them, or by any man's judgment, seeing he did not condemn himself, 1 Corinthians 4:3.—For he was conscious to himself of no unfaithfulness; yet by this he was not justified; he meant in the eyes of the faction, who could not see his heart. At the same time he told them, that the only person who had a right to condemn him, at least in respect to his heart, if he proved unfaithful, was the Lord his Master, 1 Corinthians 4:4.—This being the case, he desired the faction not to condemn him, till the Lord should come to judgment, who will bring to light every thing most secret, and lay open the designs of the heart, of which they were no judges, 1 Corinthians 4:5.

Next, to prevent the Corinthians from mistaking what he had said, concerning their boasting in himself and Apollos, as the heads of the factions, (chap. 1 Corinthians 1:12 1 Corinthians 3:4.) he declared, thathe had applied these things to himself and Apollos figuratively only, for their sakes, that by disclaiming all pretensions to be the heads of parties, the Corinthians might learn in them, not to esteem any teacher above what he had written, chap. 1 Corinthians 3:5 namely, that Paul and Apollos were only servants of Christ, by whose ministry the Corinthians had believed; and that none of them, on account of any teacher, should be puffed up with envy and anger against another, 1 Corinthians 4:6.

In what follows, the Apostle, turninghis discourse to the false teacher, says, without naming him, Who maketh thee to differ in gifts from others? Or what spiritual gift hast thou, which thou didst not receive from some Apostle? And if thou hast received all thy gifts from the Apostles, why dost thou set thyself above them, as if thou hadst not received thy gifts from them, but wert independent of, and superior to them? 1 Corinthians 4:7.—Then to shew the Corinthians the difference between the false teacher and the true Apostles of Christ, he contrasted the ease and opulence in which that impostor and the other leaders of the faction were living at Corinth, and their imperious conduct towards the church, with the afflicted and persecuted state of the Apostles, 1 Corinthians 4:8.—And assured them, that he wrote not these things to shame them, for having increased his sufferings by their calumnious speeches, and disrespectful behaviour. But his design was, affectionately to instruct them, that they might not be seduced by teachers, whose character and relation to them were so different from his, 1 Corinthians 4:14.—For he told them, though they had ten thousand instructors in the Christian doctrine, yetthey had not many fathers. He was their spiritual father, 1 Corinthians 4:15.—And therefore he besought them to imitate him, 1 Corinthians 4:16. To conclude, because the false teacher had boasted, that Paul, being afraid to encounter such learned and eloquent opposers, durst not return to Corinth, he assured the Corinthians that he would come soon, and make trial, not of the speech of that insolent person, but of his supernatural power, 1 Corinthians 4:18.—For, said he, the Gospel is not established by the boasting speeches of its preachers, but by the miraculous powers which they exercise for its confirmation, and by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 4:20.—Then, to strike terror into the faction, he asked them, whether they chose that he should come and exercise his supernatural power in punishing them; or come in the spirit of peace on account of their amendment? 1 Corinthians 4:21.