1 Corinthians 4:2

“Now what remains to require of stewards is, that a man be found faithful.” The meaning of the received reading (ὃ δὲ λοιπὸν ζητεῖται... ἵνα) is this: “As to what may be required moreover (λοιπόν, for the rest) of stewards, it is that...” According to this reading, the apostle means: the ministry of teaching being once confided by God to a man, the question is no longer if he is more or less eloquent, more or less profound, more or less captivating,

God, who chose and sent him, has alone to do with all these questions, but only if he is faithful, that is to say, if he gives out conscientiously what is committed to him, if he puts all the gifts and powers with which he is endowed into the service of this task; if, as a devoted servant, he has only one interest, the cause of his Master. He can only be called to account for the conscientious use of what he has received.

This clear and natural meaning suits the context and leaves nothing to be desired. But several Mjj. of the three families present different readings. Some (A C D F G P) read ὧδε λοιπὸν ζητεῖτε, which would signify: “For the rest in these circumstances seek in stewards that each be found faithful...” This meaning is inadmissible. In such a sentence two things, it is plain, are mixed up: an exhortation addressed to particular persons, the Corinthian readers (seek), and a general principle (in stewards; each, τίς). The Sinaït. attempts to remedy this awkwardness by introducing after λοιπόν a τι, which can only be taken in an interrogative sense: “In these circumstances, moreover, what else seek ye in stewards, than that each...?” The meaning is good in itself; only, instead of in stewards, there would need to be in us. For if this question expresses a consequence to be drawn from 1 Corinthians 4:1, as the word ὧδε would demand in this state of things, it would require to be in us (these particular stewards), and not in stewards in general. The τις following is likewise suitable only to a maxim.

There remains the reading of B: ὧδε λοιπὸν ζητεῖται ἵνα : “In this state of things, the only thing sought (λοιπόν, the only thing which remains) in stewards is that...” This reading, though admitted by most commentators of our day, is no more admissible than the preceding, and for the same reason. The ὧδε, in this state of things, can relate only to the case of 1 Corinthians 4:1, and consequently to the ministers denoted by the ἡμᾶς, us (Paul and Apollos), while the words: in stewards, give to this saying the character of an entirely general rule of conduct. We must therefore return to the reading and sense of the T. R. This is one of those cases in which all the presumptions of external criticism are of no avail, whatever may be said against exegetical reasons. It is easy enough to explain what has given rise to the corruption of the text in part of the documents of the three families, and so early as in the old versions. The beginning was made by substituting for ζητεῖται, is sought, the imperative ζητεῖτε, seek, either to continue the series of the preceding imperatives (καυχάσθω, λογιζέσθω), and to give to the sentence a hortative turn (the same error as in most of the Mjj., Romans 5:1: ἔχωμεν, and 1 Corinthians 15:49: φορέσωμεν), or as a mistake arising from the pronunciation of αι (in ζητεῖται) as ε. The imperative once admitted, led to the change of ὃ δέ into ὧδε to make this verse an application of the idea of the preceding verse.

Λοιπόν, moreover, that is to say: beyond what God and Christ give to their agents; comp. the expressions: “the grace given unto me,” 1 Corinthians 3:10, and the ὡς ἔδωκεν, 1 Corinthians 3:5.

The relation between the two ideas of seeking and finding is evident. It is this relation which justifies the use of the conjunction ἵνα, that. Men seek with the view of finding.

The idea of the verse therefore is: that the only thing for which the steward is responsible, is his fidelity. Now this is the very point on which man's judgment is incompetent, 1 Corinthians 4:3-5.