1 Corinthians 4
Paul began by telling the Corinthian believers how he and the other Christian workers should be regarded: as servants and stewards of Christ entrusted with the mysteries revealed by God.
As servants, they were to carry out the instructions of the master. As stewards, they were to manage the resources of the master.
The most important qualification of a steward is faithfulness. Hemust give an account to the master of how he has managed what has been entrusted to him. In the case of Apostle Paul, he was the stewardof God, and he had to be faithful to the message of the gospel and to communicate it according to the masterʼs desires and goal. Paul had to answer only to the Master who will judge him.
As servants, they were to carry out the instructions of the master.
Paul was not the servant of the church in Corinth; the church in Corinth had no right to judge him. Even Paul did not even judge himself, for he knew his judgement would not be reliable as he might not be fully conscious of any possible failures in his life. This does not mean that Paul was never self-critical and that he did not constantlyexamine himself to keep a clear conscience before God and man. Paul knew that there would be a day when God would judge, not only him,but all His servants. Hence the Corinthian believers should not make any premature judgement on Godʼs workers.
We are reminded that what God is looking for, in the Church andin her leaders is faithfulness. He is far more interested in the motives of the heart than in external signs. His yardstick in judgment will not be outward appearance and success but godly faithfulness which may not be so obvious to the world at large, even to the believers in general.
The church in Corinth was warned by Paul not to be puffed up in favour of one against another; she was not to go beyond what had been revealed in Scriptures. There was no place for boasting, as all ha dbeen received from the hand of God.
Verses 8-10 are full of irony. The Corinthian believers were claiming that they already had everything in their possession: wisdomand power. They were reigning as ʻkingsʼ with all spiritual authority!
All the blessings in heaven were already theirs. What God, in the Scriptures, had promised for the end of time for believers was in their hands already, so they claimed.
The Apostle Paul derided their boasts. He had told them previously that they were in fact immature and worldly. An overemphasis on the ʻalreadyʼ leads to triumphalism. They prematurely claimedperfection, either moral (being sinless) or physical (complete health), which belongs only to the consummated kingdom, in the new heavenand the new earth, the ʻnot yetʼ.
We see triumphalism not only in the church in Corinth. Today, some teach that all sicknesses should be healed now and Godʼs people should be reigning with all spiritual authority and prosperity.
They forget that the devil is still very active. Our fallen nature (the old man) continues to assert itself and death will go on claiming us until Christ comes again. The power of sin and death has been broken. They have been overthrown, but they have not been abolished.
The Corinthians, with a false sense of their importance and achievements, wanted to be rich and to be kings. They forgot the gospel and actually resented taking up their cross daily to follow in the stepsof their Lord and Master.
Paul then contrasted the triumphalism of the Corinthian Church with the life of an apostle, marked by humiliation and considered as the scum of the earth. Whereas the Corinthians were seen as choosing wisdom, strength and honour, the apostles were seen as foolish, weak and dishonoured. The apostles suffered physical deprivation, homelessness and rough treatment. Paul himself worked hard with his own hands to support himself. When reviled, they blessed their revilers; when persecuted, they endured; and when slandered, they answered kindly. The power and wisdom of God is seen in such a response to the world’s hostility.
In effect, Paul was describing lives focused on the cross and Christ crucified, lives that are participating in the sufferings of Christ.The cross may speak of death but it includes a life of self-denial. To deny oneself is to turn away from a life of self-centredness. It implies death to self, putting an end to a me-centred life.
We ourselves must deliberately put to death our old nature,though by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul says, ʻI die dailyʼ. It means, on the one hand, dying for Jesusʼ sake and, on the other hand,experiencing the resurrection power which He makes perfect in our weakness.
We began 1 Corinthians by focusing on grace. The purpose ofgrace is to restore our relationship with God. The work of grace aims at an ever deeper knowledge of God, and an ever closer fellowship with Him. Grace is God drawing us sinners closer and closer to Himself.
God does this by not shielding us from the assault of the world,the sinful nature and the devil, not by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating situations, not by shielding us from troubles. Rather, He shows us grace by exposing us to all these, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to depend entirely on Him. We see this grace of God in the lives of the apostles. It is a life centred on the cross and the lifestyle of those under the cross.
Paul ended this chapter by reminding the Corinthian believers that he was their spiritual father. His love for them caused him to rebuke them and to exhort them to follow his example. He wished to come to them in gentleness and not with a rod of discipline. It would depend on their response.