1 Corinthians 4:11-13

1 Corinthians 4:11-12 a. ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας … ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶν describes the ἄτιμοι, reduced to this position by the world's contempt and with no means of winning its respect a life at the farthest remove from that of the Gr [734] gentleman. The despicableness of his condition touches the Ap. New features are added to this picture in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33. On ἄρτι, see note to ἤδη, 1 Corinthians 4:8; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:13. Hunger, thirst, ill-clothing the common accompaniments of poverty; blows, homelessness, manual toil specific hardships of Paul's mission. The sentences are pl [735] : all Christian missionaries (1 Corinthians 4:9) shared in these sufferings, P. beyond others (1 Corinthians 15:10). γυμνιτεύω (later Gr [736]) denotes light clothing or armour; cf. γυμνός, Matthew 25:36; James 2:15 (ill-clad). κολαφίζω (see parls.), to fisticuff, extended to physical violence generally sometimes lit [737] true in Paul's case. ἀστατέω, to be unsettled, with no fixed home to Paul's affectionate nature the greatest of privations, and always suspicious in public repute to be a vagrant. On ἐργαζ. τ. ἰδ. χερσίν at Eph. now (Acts 20:34), at Cor [738] formerly (Acts 18:3) see note, 1 Corinthians 9:6; manual labour was particularly despised amongst the ancients: “Non modo labore meo victum meum comparo, sed manuario labore et sordido” (Cv [739]).

[734] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[735] plural.

[736] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[737] literal, literally.

[738] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[739] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

1 Corinthians 4:12 b, 1 Corinthians 4:13. Beside their abject condition (1 Corinthians 4:11-12 a), the world saw in the meekness of the App. the marks of an abject spirit, shown in the three particulars of λοιδορούμενοι … παρακαλοῦμεν : “id mundus spretum putat” (Bg [740]). λοιδορ. (reviled to our faces) implies insulting abuse, δυσφημούμενοι (defamed) injurious abuse: for the former, cf. 1 Peter 2:23. διωκόμενοι ἀνεχόμεθα, “persecuted, we bear with (lit [741] put-up with) it” implying patience, while ὑμομένω (1 Corinthians 13:7, etc.) implies courage in the sufferer. The series of ptps. is pr [742], denoting habitual treatment not “when” but “while we are reviled,” etc. εὐλογοῦμεν … παρακαλοῦμεν : to revilings they retort with blessings, to calumnies with benevolent exhortation; “they beg men not to be wicked, to return to a better mind, to be converted to Christ” (Gd [743]); cf. the instructions of Luke 6:27 ff. “It is on this its positive side that” Christian meekness “surpasses the abstention from retaliation urged by Plato” (Crit., p. 49: Ed [744]). ὡς περικαθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου … πάντων περίψημα (from περι - καθαίρω, - ψάω respectively, to cleanse, wipe all round, with - μα of result): the ne plus ultra of degradation; they became “as rinsings of the world, a scraping of all things” (purgamenta et ramentum, Bz [745]), the filth that one gets rid of through the sink and the gutter.

[740] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[741] literal, literally.

[742] present tense.

[743] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[744] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[745] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

The above terms may have a further significance: “the Ap. is carrying on the metaphor of ἐπιθανατίους above. Both περικαθ. and περίψ. were used esp. 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” (Lt [746]). περικάθαρμα (for the earlier κάθαρμα) occurs in this sense in Arr.-Epict., III., xxii., 78; also in Proverbs 21:11 (LXX). This view is supported by Hesychius, Luther, Bg [747], Hn [748], Ed [749]; rejected, as inappropriate, by Er [750], Est., Cv [751], Bz [752], Mr [753], Gd [754], El [755] Certainly P. does not look on his sufferings as a piaculum; but he is expressing the estimate of “the world,” which deemed its vilest fittest to devote to the anger of the Gods. Possibly some cry of this sort, anticipating the “Christiani ad leones” of the martyrdoms, had been raised against P. by the Ephesian populace (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:32; also Acts 22:22). ἕως ἄρτι, repeated with emphasis from 1 Corinthians 4:11, shows P. to be writing under the smart of recent outrage. With his temper, Paul keenly felt personal indignities.

[746] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[747] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[748] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[749] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians.

[750] Erasmus' In N.T. Annotationes.

[751] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[752] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[753] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[754] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[755] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.