1 Corinthians 4
4
Apostles of Christ
1This is what people should think about us: We are servants of Christ. We are the ones God has trusted with his secret truths. 2A person who is trusted with something must show that he is worthy of that trust. 3I do not care if I am judged by you or if I am judged by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4I know of no wrong that I have done. But this does not make me innocent. The Lord is the One who judges me. 5So do not judge before the right time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light things that are now hidden in darkness. He will make known the secret purposes of people’s hearts. Then God will give everyone the praise he should get.
6Brothers, I have used Apollos and myself as examples. I did this so that you could learn from us the meaning of the words, “Follow only what is written in the Scriptures.” Then you will not be proud of one man and hate another. 7Who says that you are better than others? Everything you have was given to you. And if this is so, why do you brag as if you got these things by your own power?
8You think you have everything you need. You think you are rich. You think you have become kings without us. I wish you really were kings! Then we could be kings together with you. 9But it seems to me that God has given me and the other apostles the last place. We are like men sentenced to die. We are like a show for the whole world to see—angels and people. 10We are fools for Christ’s sake. But you think you are very wise in Christ. We are weak, but you think you are strong. You receive honor, but we are hated. 11Even now we still do not have enough to eat or drink or enough clothes. We are often beaten. We have no homes. 12We work hard with our own hands for our food. People curse us, but we bless them. They hurt us, and we accept it. 13They say evil things against us, but we say only kind things to them. Even today, we are treated as though we are the garbage of the world—the dirt of the earth.
14I am not trying to make you feel ashamed. I am writing this to give you a warning as if you were my own dear children. 15For though you may have 10,000 teachers in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus. 16So I beg you, please be like me. 17That is why I am sending Timothy to you. He is my son in the Lord. I love Timothy, and he is faithful. He will help you remember the way I live in Christ Jesus. This way of life is what I teach in all the churches everywhere.
18Some of you have become proud, thinking that I will not come to you again. 19But I will come very soon if the Lord wants me to. Then I will see what those who are proud can do, not what they say. 20I want to see this because the kingdom of God is not talk but power. 21Which do you want: that I come to you with punishment, or that I come with love and gentleness?
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
1 Corinthians 4
4
1 So let a man think of us as Messiah’s servants and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don’t even judge my own self. 4For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
6 Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. 7For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you! 9For I think that God has displayed us, the emissaries, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10We are fools for Messiah’s sake, but you are wise in Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
14 I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though you have ten thousand tutors in Messiah, you don’t have many fathers. For in Messiah Yeshua, I became your father through the Good News. 16I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. 17Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Messiah, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly. 18Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. 21What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
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