1 Corinthians 4
4
1LET a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.
2Here now it is required among the dispensers, that a man be found faithful.
3But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day; but neither do I judge my own self.
4For I am not conscious to myself of any thing, yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me, is the Lord.
5Therefore judge not before the time; until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God.
6But these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollo, for your sakes; that in us you may learn, that one be not puffed up against the other for another, above that which is written.
7For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
8You are now full; you are now become rich; you reign without us; and I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
9For I think that God hath set forth us apostles, the last, as it were men appointed to death: we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men.
10We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honourable, but we without honour.
11Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode;
12And we labour, working with our own hands: we are reviled, and we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it.
13We are blasphemed, and we entreat; we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all even until now.
14I write not these things to confound you; but I admonish you as my dearest children.
15For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, I have begotten you.
16Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.
17For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my dearest son and faithful in the Lord; who will put you in mind of my ways, which are in Christ Jesus; as I teach every where in every church.
18As if I would not come to you, so some are puffed up.
19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will: and will know, not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power.
20For the kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.
21What will you? shall I come to you with a rod; or in charity, and in the spirit of meekness?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
1 Corinthians 4
4
1So think of us as Christ's servants given the responsibility for “the mysteries of God.”#4:1. Again, in the NT mysteries are the revealed truths of God. 2More than this, those who have such responsibilities are required to be trustworthy. 3Personally it hardly matters to me if you or anyone else judges me—in fact I don't even judge myself. 4I don't know of anything I've done wrong, but that doesn't make me morally right. It's the Lord who judges me. 5So don't judge anything before the right time—when the Lord comes. He will bring to light all the darkest secrets that are hidden, and he will reveal people's motives. God will give everyone whatever praise they deserve.
6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied this to Apollos and myself as an example for you. That way you will learn not to go beyond what has been written, and not in arrogance prefer one over the other.#4:6. The meaning of original is debated. This is shown in the many differences in translations. 7Who made you so special? What do you have that you weren't given? Since you were given it, why do you proudly claim you weren't? 8You think you have all you need. You think you're so wealthy. You think you're kings already, and don't need us.#4:8. Literally, “without us.” I wish you were really ruling as kings, so we could rule with you! 9The way I see it, God has put us apostles on display as the last in the line, condemned to die. We have been made a public show before the entire universe, to angels and to human beings. 10We're Christ's fools, but you are so wise in Christ! We're the weak ones, but you are so strong! You have the glory, but we are despised!#4:10. From the context Paul appears to be speaking rather ironically. 11Right up till now we're hungry and thirsty. We have no clothes. We're badly beaten up, and we have no place to call home. 12We struggle on doing manual work. When people curse us, we bless them. When they persecute us, we put up with it. 13When they insult us, we respond with kindness. Even now we are treated like dirt, the worst trash in the whole world.
14I'm not writing like this to make you feel ashamed, but to caution you as my children whom I love so much. 15Even though you may have thousands of Christian instructors, you don't have many fathers—it was in Christ Jesus that I became your father when I shared the good news with you. 16So I'm pleading with you to imitate me!
17That's why I sent Timothy to you, my trustworthy son in the Lord whom I love so much. He will remind you about the way I follow Christ, just as I always teach in every church I visit. 18Some among you have become arrogant, thinking I wouldn't bother coming to see you. 19But I am coming to visit you soon, if that's what the Lord wants. Then I'll find out what these arrogant people are saying, and what kind of power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not about mere words, but about power. 21So what do you want? Shall I come with a stick to beat you, or in love and a gentle spirit?
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com