1 Corinthians 4

The Ministry of the Apostles

1 # Rom 11.25; 16.25; 1 Cor 9.17; 2 Cor 6.4 Think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5#Rom 2.1, 29; 2 Cor 10.18Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

6I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us what “Not beyond what is written” means, so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7#Rom 12.3, 6For who sees anything different in you?#4.7 Or Who makes you different from another? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive?

8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! If only you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! 9#Rom 8.36; 1 Cor 15.31; 2 Cor 11.23; Heb 10.33For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to humans. 10#Acts 17.18; 1 Cor 1.18; 3.18We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible people in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. 11#Rom 8.35; 2 Cor 11.23–27To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are naked and beaten and homeless, 12#Jn 15.20; Acts 18.3; Rom 8.35; 1 Pet 3.9and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

Fatherly Admonition

14I am not writing this to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15#1 Cor 1.30; Philem 10For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. 16#Phil 3.17; 1 Thess 1.6; 2 Thess 3.9I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. 17For this reason I sent#4.17 Or am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. 19#Acts 19.21; Rom 15.32; 2 Cor 1.15But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. 21#2 Cor 1.23; 13.10What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

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