1 Corinthians 4:21

What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

The apostle had written the last passage in holy indignation; like a stream, his speech had poured forth portraying the afflictions which were heaped upon the ministers of the Lord. And he can almost feel the deep humiliation, the feeling of confusion which must enter the hearts of his readers at this point. As a wise teacher, therefore, he adds a section which is intended to prevent their becoming embittered. He could indeed not bring out his rebuke without making them feel humiliated, but this feeling should lead to a true childlike reverence of his position and words. His severity springs from the anxious heart of a father that feels the deepest concern for his children: Not by way of shaming you do I write this, but by way of warning you as my beloved children. He regarded them still with the fullness of paternal affection, and it grieved him that they should be showing evidence of such unfilial behavior, hence his urgent appeal to them.

Paul substantiates his right to such fatherly admonition: For though you had ten thousand pedagogues in Christ, yet not many fathers. The word pedagogue, in those days, denoted the family slave whose duty it was to bring the boys to school and to accompany them home. They had charge of the boys also during the hours not spent in school and thus assisted in their training. St. Paul here applies the word to the other teachers that may have been in Corinth, good and legitimate teachers indeed, doing their work in Christ and for His glory. Of these they may have had ever so many, yet they had only one father, only one that could be connected with them in the bonds of true fatherly affection: For in Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, I have begotten you. They were his spiritual children, their call to the fellowship of Jesus Christ, their regeneration was due to his personal work; that is what makes them so near and dear to him. See 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; John 6:63.

Of his right as father the apostle now makes use: I beseech you, then, become imitators of me, v. 16. The children should show the character of the father, they should make him their model, they should imitate him, they should follow him in his conduct as a Christian and true disciple of the Lord. If this way was one of cross and affliction (vv. 9 -, it would incidentally serve to strengthen their character and to make them safer against denial, now and in the days to come. In order that this object might be accomplished, Paul had either just sent, or was sending with this letter, his young assistant, whom he calls a beloved child of his and faithful in the Lord, 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2. Timothy had also been converted through the work of Paul, had through his efforts derived spiritual life, and was therefore regarded by the apostle as a true son. And since his characteristic, through the agency of the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, was faithfulness in his Christian conduct, therefore he was the very man for this mission: Who shall remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere, in every congregation. The Corinthians had evidently forgotten, not only a large part of Paul's doctrine, but also his habits of life which he showed in their midst; their knowledge had been repressed by those evil influences which Paul has spoken of throughout the letter. No more fitting person, therefore, could have been found to recall both the conduct and the words of Paul than the man whom Paul had selected as his representative, who would do his reminding in accordance with Paul's teaching, for this was uniform in all the Gentile congregations. For they surely did not want to separate themselves from that apostolic doctrine which was in vogue everywhere; they would surely heed the kind admonition of his personal representative and return to proper Christian sanity.

And lest some of the Corinthians might be tempted to misconstrue the mission of Timothy, Paul hastens to add: But as though I am not coming to you, some have been puffed up. Since the apostle was not coming in person at this time, a group of persons, probably hostile to Paul's ways, were beginning to spread bragging surmises. They conducted themselves all the more insolently as they thought that Paul might be afraid of them. But their presumption was destined speedily to come to naught, for the apostle announces his intention to come speedily, just as soon as he can make arrangements to that effect. This he writes in emphatic calmness and in the consciousness of the office which he is filling. But the spirit of deferring in everything to the Lord and having His will govern all his actions causes Paul to add: If the Lord will. See Acts 18:21. For he was not so conceited as to deem himself indispensable in the Church, and without the Lord he did not intend to attempt any move. But when he did come, then he would know, pay the proper attention to, not the word of the inflated ones (the blowers), but the power. About their words he was not concerned, with them he was sufficiently acquainted, hollow pretensions did not affect him at all. He wanted to ascertain only if there were some evidence of the Spirit of God in the actions that followed their bragging words. He wanted to find out whether these pretended leaders in the congregation at Corinth were showing results in their fight with sin, whether they were exhibiting actual proofs of faith and of patience in tribulation. And this he felt himself obliged to do, since not in word lies the kingdom of God, but in power. The Corinthians were placing their faith in externals, they were assuming that the kingdom of Christ, the Church in its real sense, was a visible, concrete substance. But in this they, like their modern followers, were wrong. The kingdom of Christ does not consist in paltry eloquence, in great, swelling words of vanity, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, exerted through the Word upon the hearts of men. Where this power rules, there is the kingdom of the Savior. "Faith is a living, substantial thing, renews a person entirely, changes his mind and converts him altogether. It goes down to the bottom and effects there a renewing of the whole man, that, as before I saw a sinner, I now see in his different conduct, in his different ways, in his different life, that he believes. Such a great thing it is about faith. And in this way the Holy Ghost has caused the insistence upon good works, since they are witnesses of faith. In whose case, therefore, works are not noticeable, there we can soon say and conclude: They have heard about faith, but it did not sink down to the bottom. For if thou wilt remain lying in pride and unchastity, in avarice and anger, and yet prate much of faith, St. Paul will come and say: Hear, my dear friend, the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power and deeds; it wants to live and be done, and not be performed in empty talk. " And therefore Paul asks, in conclusion: What would you? What do you prefer? With a rod am I to come to you, or in love as well as in a spirit of meekness? That he will come he does not leave to their decision, that is a matter of his office. But it depends upon their conduct in what way he will come. If they continue in their vain and presumptuous ways, then he will be obliged to come to them with a sharp rebuke, Titus 1:13, in order that they might feel their disobedience. But Paul would much prefer to come with all meekness and gentleness, the evidence of his love in kindness being much more pleasant to him than sternness. He intimates to them, therefore, that they should accept the present gentle hint and warning and thus save him a disagreeable task. Note the force of the passage. "For nerve and vigor, for dignity and composed confidence, this passage cannot be easily paralleled even in Demosthenes himself. " (Bloomfield.)

Summary. Paul shows the relation of the ministers of Christ to the Lord Himself, sketches the treatment usually accorded them in the world, and, as a true spiritual father, administers a rebuke to the Corinthians for their negligence in sanctity.