1 Corinthians 4: It's Up to You

Chapter Four (CSB)

1 A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God. 2 In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful. 3 It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. 4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

Paul continues to address the Corinthians’ attempts to distinguish themselves form one another. He begins by declaring both Apollos and he are merely servants of Christ—subordinate to Him—and have been given the “mysteries of God” to share with others. Since they have been made stewards of the gospel they must remain faithful to it. Numbers 12:6-8a focus on one such steward.

“He said, ‘Now hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see the form of the LORD.’” (New Jerusalem Version)

Moses receives from God because he faithful “in all [God’s] house.” His faith permits him a deep relationship with God and one that is uncluttered by riddles: God speaks to him plainly. Paul and Apollos get the straight dope from the LORD, and apostle wants the Corinthians to do the same. They struggle to understand the gospel because they are not deeply committed to God. This is why Paul has had to resort to feeding them only milk. They must grow in their faith, in their trust in the God. 

Paul then acts like most us when we hit our fifties and distinguishes himself from the Corinthians. In verse three he tells the congregation that he doesn’t care what they or any person or human authority thinks of him. Their opinion of him doesn’t matter to him. This is a product of faith. The stronger our trust in the LORD, the easier it is to disregard the negative impact that other people’s opinions have on us. The Corinthians care what others think—even their brothers and sisters in the church. Paul seeks no validation for the live of faith that he is building on the foundation of Christ. In fact he doesn’t even seek to validate himself. He just continues to build the strongest building that he can in the best way that he knows how. 

“4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.”

He doesn’t judge himself because even he may have some things in his heart that are so darkened that only Christ can reveal them. Here Paul is speaking about the motivations of the human heart. We really don’t know anyone’s true motivation for the things that they do and say—why they are building the house that they are. So often we jump to conclusions and assumptions that would be best if we ignored. Note that Paul is not contradicting the first three chapters by giving the Corinthians this command: to not prematurely judge because by their own admission they judge themselves and others by worldly standards to be better or worse They should know better based on what Paul taught them when he was with them. 

6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another. 7 For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

Paul changes his target at verse six away from individual Corinthians (“Each must decide what to build on the foundation of Christ.”) and the church collectively (“Do you not know that you are the temple of God?”) towards specific, though unnamed, members of the congregation. Of course, what is said here can easily be applied to any person’s attitude. If Paul is indeed addressing targeted people, he seems to be speaking to leaders in the congregation who are jockeying for position in the congregation’s hierarchy—commonplace for the city’s residents. This positioning is intentional because they are adding things to the instructions that they received from Paul. We do not know that those words were specifically; all we do know is that certain Corinthians were adding stipulations and conditions. 

8 You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!

A little Pauline sarcasm is always fun—if not convicting—to hear. These special people claim that they know or have more than others in the church. It is great that you have already reached the goal, that you are better off than the rest of your brothers and sisters, Paul says here; how “I wish you did reign, so that we [the people who brought you the gospel of Jesus Christ] could receive from you. Ancient sarcasm at its finest.

9 For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

Paul compares his and Apollos’s condition with that of the Corinthians; he gives them a taste of what those who follow Jesus should expect. Y’all are reigning over life, but we are “like men condemned to die.” They have become a cautionary tale and like the rebels in the closing verses of Isaiah 66, they are “a horror for all humanity.” Paul’s sarcasm continues in verse ten.

10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

Don’t forget Paul’s audience here: the church that HE brought to know Christ’s forgiveness and new life. He then provides his readers with a more specific description of the state of his life as an apostle. 

11 Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; 12 we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage.

Perhaps the Corinthians had come to accept from these arrogant people trying to lead and guide them that the life of a follower of Jesus Christ would be one of worldly blessing; it would be a prosperity gospel. Paul instructs them that the truth is quite the opposite. It is an absolute certainty that the person who is faithful to God will be blessed, but it is also an absolute certainty that God blesses in ways that are unlike any of the world’s. This reminds me of the...