Class Notes, 1 Cor 4:1-21

• Potential order of events
  
  • Paul's founding visit // His "former letter" // The Corinthians letter to him // First Corinthians //
    
  • Paul's "painful visit" // His "severe letter" // Second Corinthians //Paul's anticipated visit
    

  1 Cor 4:1-5 (NIV) So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
  

• Paul used a different word for servants here (hyperetai) than he did in 3:5 (diakonoi). This word means an under-rower, a figure taken from the galley ships of the time. Slaves who rowed under the authority of the man who coordinated their individual efforts propelled the ship (Constable, 2010, p. 38)
  
• So, first of all, what is Paul's concern?
  
  • That he is faithful to God
    
  • That he gives God's message (and not his) to those tom whom he has been entrusted
    
  • Why does he say that, or what is the point?
    
    • He is not trying to curry favor
      
    • He is not trying to tell people what they want to hear
      
• Are there any other clues to Paul's motive for writing this paragraph?
  
  • "God will expose the motives of men's hearts." -- God will judge Paul for why he taught what he did
    
  • "At that time each will receive his praise from God." -- Paul is not trying to please men but God
    
• Constable speculates that the Corinthian church was disillusioned with its minister because he lacked "charismatic" qualities
  

  1 Cor 4:6-7 (NIV) Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
  

• The word "arrogant" or "puffed up" appears a number of times in this letter, and gives us a clue to the church's primary issue
  
• Paul begins to deal with this of pride. What are his main points?
  
  • First of all, they should not go beyond the scripture
    
  • There were truths (secret and hidden) which God reveals in the NT. Paul says that he is one of those individuals that God has entrusted with those truths
    
  • But ultimately, even the mysteries of scripture were hinted at in the OT
    
  • Paul makes three points regarding the Corinthians using questions
    
    • They are no different than anyone else
      
    • Everything they have they have received (including knowledge). It did not come from within
      
    • Since they received it, why are they boasting? If the knowledge came from God, then why take pride in the knowledge
      

  1 Cor 4:8-13 (NIV) Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings — and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
  

• Paul does not often use irony and sarcasm, although that was a common mode of discourse in Greco-Roman antiquity (Keener, 2005, p.45)
  
• Why is verse 8 so over the top; what is he saying?
  
  • One, they are so prideful
    
  • Two, they are living lives as if their already experiencing their reward here on earth
    
• How, on the other hand, is Paul living?
  
  • They are like fools at the end of the process. The bottom of the pit. People laugh at them
    
  • Paul contrasts the apostles to the Corinthians
    
    • We are fools for Christ -- you are so wise (problem one: they aren't, they just think they are)
      
    • We are weak -- you are so strong (actually, life might be good, but that does not mean they are strong. In fact, their faith is probably very weak)
      
    • We are dishonored -- you are honored (they look distinguished and important, the apostles look unimportant)
      
  • Paul lived
    
    • Hungry, thirsty, in rags, brutally treated, homeless, working with their own hands
      
    • Blessing those who curse them
      
    • Enduring persecution
      
    • Answering kindly to slander
      
    • Being treated and the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world ("dog poop")
      
• APPLICATION: Paul is contrasting his role and an under-rower (and servant) to the Corinthian's role as victors enjoying the plunder. God has put us all in unique situations and we need to use whatever situation he has put us in for good. But the real danger is when we begin to think we are experiencing our reward on earth. Or when we love our life so much more than we love serving our savior.
  

  1 Cor 4:14-17 (NIV) I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
  

• Now we are getting to the heart of what Paul is trying to say to them. What is his main point?
  
  • You need to listen to and imitate me, and not those who think they are so knowledgeable
    
  • In their arrogance, they have gone beyond the word. They have created doctrines that are wrong. In context, it really sounds like the health and wealth gospel, at least given the contrast that Paul is making between his life and theirs
    
    • It sounds like -- "God wants to bless you materially; God wants you to be rich; God wants you be healthy"
      
    • Paul says -- "I am warning you, imitate me"
      
• Paul is sending Timothy to remind them (they already heard it once) of
  
  • Paul's way of life in Christ Jesus
    
  • Teaching that agrees with what has been taught in all the churches (but doesn't seem evident in Corinth any more)
    
• APPLICATION: I wonder if wealth and sexual immorality, which Corinth had as an environment, is a breeding ground for this type of thinking. If so, America should take heed to this message
  

  1 Cor 4:18-21 (NIV) Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
  

• Obviously, the heart of the problem is what?
  
  • Arrogant teachers who have a different wisdom than Paul, some great hidden secret, that they are teaching others, and they believe is better teaching than Paul's teaching
    
  • Paul promises, Lord willing, to come and confront the teaching and the teachers
    
• What is Paul suggesting to them?
  
  • They should confront it themselves, rather than wait for Paul to come for an unpleasant visit
    

  Keener, Craig S. 1—2 Corinthians. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005.