1 Corinthians 4:13

being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

The behavior of the Corinthians had resulted in a most unfortunate condition, namely, in this, that they believed themselves perfect in their congregational life and wanting in nothing. In scornful irony, Paul sets this fact before them, with an abruptness which shows the excitement that was agitating him: Thus soon you are glutted; thus soon you have grown rich; without our aid you have obtained your kingdom! The apostle brings out an intentional climax in deriding their false contentment, their vain self-sufficiency, their lofty bearing. They thought they knew it all in spiritual matters, that all further instruction was superfluous and therefore unwelcome. So soon did they have their fill, so fully instructed they believed themselves to be, so abounding in knowledge and understanding that they resented the idea of being told a further truth. So rich in spiritual talents and graces they felt themselves to be that any intimation of spiritual poverty was extremely distasteful to them; they had all the bearing of the newly rich, an ostentation of wealth which corrupted their spiritual possessions; for any one that is satisfied with his knowledge in spiritual matters shuts himself off from further gain. But the height of their complacent foolishness was reached in this, that some of the Corinthian Christians believed themselves to have attained to a state in which they fondly and fatuously considered themselves in full possession of the promised kingdom. They had not only outgrown Paul's teaching, they not only resented the idea of his having anything more to impart to them. The disgrace of the foolish, the lowliness of the weak, the cross of the persecuted, no longer existed for them. For them the kingdom had begun, not in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, but in outward observation. Where both the unfathomable depths of sin and the unattainable heights of mercy's glory are not understood, there shallow Christians, as in our days, deceive themselves and dream of a kingdom of Christ here on earth and of the earth which, in spite of all the beautiful Scripture-phrases with which it is praised, is essentially earthly and has nothing in common with the true kingdom of Christ. But Paul, in his great grief over the blindness of the Corinthians, calls out: And I would indeed that you had come into your kingdom! If only it were true, that we also might share your reign with you! If that time were only here, in order that we might be delivered from all the evil of the present persecutions and distresses!

This bitter cry over the ingratitude of men Paul now substantiates: For in my opinion God has exhibited us, the apostles, as the last, as men appointed for death. Paul has in mind either a public procession on a great festival day, in which the condemned criminals on their way to the arena marched last, or he thinks of gladiators who, no matter how often they escaped death on one day or during one season, were always brought forth again and were thus doomed to die. That was the disgrace to which the apostles were subjected: they had become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. Just as far as the range of their labors extended, over the entire world then known, so far they were set forth to public contempt, both men here below and the invisible watchers around and above them marking the spectacle.

The apostle now names some of the details in which some of the disgrace becomes apparent: We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ, v. 10. The ministers of Christ must pass for fools, because they preach Christ crucified, a message which in no way conforms with the wisdom of the world. But the Corinthians, and many of their followers at the present time, are wise, sensible, they are very careful about keeping on good terms with the world, the confession of Christ being kept discreetly in the background. Note that the apostle speaks in a tone of irony and scorn throughout. He continues: We are weak, but you are strong. The conduct of the Corinthians intimated that they did not think Paul had made use of the proper energy in his work, that the mere preaching of the Gospel was not sufficient in their learned city. In contrast with this weakness, they were determined to show the proper spirit and power, they proudly paraded a show of ability to do the work of the Lord after their own manner. And finally: You in honor, but we in dishonor. They were splendid, glorious; their ideas of world improvement were wonderful and inclusive and projected great things for the Church of God. In comparison with them the apostles were without all esteem, in shame and disgrace. Paul felt that he and his simple, foolish Gospel had no show at all where such wonderful plans were being matured.

Purposely Paul continues in his strain of describing his own condition: To this very hour we both hunger and thirst and are ill-clad, v. 11. He shared the fate of the people poor in this world's goods, as so many of his followers have since his time. And we are violently treated, the violence sometimes extending to physical mistreatment, to blows and fisticuffs. We have no definite home; Paul might always expect to be obliged to flee on account of persecutions. And we work hard, laboring with our own hands. All the work of his ministry was hard labor; but, in addition, Paul chose to support himself with manual labor, Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34. Note that the words of the apostle find their application to this very hour, in the midst of our so-called enlightened civilization, and that many a minister endures the same afflictions, even to the last, not from choice, but from necessity more's the pity!

With this sad condition, with the specific hardships which he had to endure, agreed the spirit which Paul was wont to show at all times: Reviled to our faces, deeply insulted, we bless. What the world believes to be an abject, cowardly spirit is the mark of the servants of Christ, and it takes more character to bear an insult in silence and reply with a blessing than to revile in return. Persecuted, we endure it; the servants of Christ use neither physical force to resist the evil, nor do they try to evade it by betraying their Lord; they put up with all such conditions patiently. Being slanderously spoken of, we entreat; for defaming speeches the ministers of Christ return dissuasions. In everything their aim is, if possible, to gain the enemy: they beg men not to be wicked, but to return to a better mind, to be converted to Christ. And now the apostle presents the very climax of degradation: As the rinsings of the world we have become, as the scraping of all things. He compares himself and the other ministers of Christ to the scum, the dregs, the last sediment in a dirty kettle that must be scraped off; and to the dirt which is scraped from the shoes after one has waded through filth and mire. That is what the faithful ministers of the Gospel are in the eyes of the world, like "the filth that one gets rid of through the sink and the gutter. " And these terms, as here used, may have a further significance. For the words were used "especially of those condemned criminals of the lowest class who were sacrificed as expiatory offerings, as scapegoats in effect, because of their degraded life. It was the custom at Athens to reserve certain worthless persons who in case of plague, famine, or other visitations from heaven might be thrown into the sea, in the belief that they would 'cleanse away,' or 'wipe off,' the guilt of the nation. " (Lightfoot.) Note: The temper of the world has changed but little since the time of Paul, although there is a veneer of kindness and toleration for the ministers of the Gospel. At the slightest supposed provocation and suspicion, however, the mask is withdrawn, and it is plainly shown that, as Luther says, they are regarded "as the world's sweepings and everybody's refuse and doormat."