Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. [Paul here gives the rule by which apostles and evangelists are to be estimated. They are not to be magnified, for they are servants, nor are they to be deprecated because of the value and importance of that... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. [It was not expected of the steward that he would procure or provide; he was merely to distribute that which was provided by the master. The apostles were not philosophers burdened with the discovery and invention of truth, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's Judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.... [ Continue Reading ]
For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. [Paul is not arrogantly vaunting himself as disdaining the good or bad opinion of the Corinthians, but pointing out the inadequacy of all human judgment, even his own, to decide that which God alone... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God. [The revelation or manifestation of things which shall accompany the Lord's coming... [ Continue Reading ]
Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. [Though neither Paul nor Apollos had headed a faction in Corinth, P... [ Continue Reading ]
For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? [God had made them to differ both in natural and in spiritual gifts (Romans 12:3-8). If, then, one had more subtle reasoning faculties th... [ Continue Reading ]
Already ye are filled [with self-satisfaction]_, already ye are become rich_ [with intellectual pride], _ye have come to reign without us_ [Ye have so exalted yourselves that we poor apostles have become quite needless to your lordly independence. The inflated self-esteem of the Corinthians was like... [ Continue Reading ]
For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, both to angels and men. [As, after the end of the performance, condemned criminals were brought into the amphitheater and made a gazing-stock to the populace before their... [ Continue Reading ]
We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonor. [In this verse Paul resumes his satire, contrasting the vain imaginations of the Corinthians with the real condition of the apostles, himself in particular.]... [ Continue Reading ]
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted [smitten with the clenched fist], _and have no certain dwelling-place_ [Matthew 8:20; Matthew 10:23];... [ Continue Reading ]
and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless [Luke 6:27; 1 Peter 2:23]; _being persecuted, we endure_;... [ Continue Reading ]
being defamed, we entreat [Matthew 5:44]: _we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now_. ["Filth" indicates either rubbish swept up, or such foulness as is cleansed by washing. "Offscouring" indicates dirt removed by scraping or scouring. Each neighborhood to... [ Continue Reading ]
I write not these things to shame you [to make you feel how contemptible you are in adding to my many sorrows and burdens], _but to admonish you as my beloved children_. [As to the foolishness of your conceit.]... [ Continue Reading ]
Though ye have ten thousand tutors [literally, pedagogues: the large number rebukes their itch for teachers] _in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers_ [they had but one--Paul]; _for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel_. [In the first, or highest, sense disciples are begotten by the will o... [ Continue Reading ]
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me. [Again, in the highest sense we can only be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1); but in a secondary sense the Corinthians could imitate Paul--his humility, faithfulness, self-sacrifice and industry, as did the Thessalonians-- 1 Thessalonians 1:6]... [ Continue Reading ]
For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church. [To aid you in imitating me, I have sent Timothy. He can tell you how I teach, not accommodating... [ Continue Reading ]
Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.... [ Continue Reading ]
But I will come to you shortly [as he did],_ if the Lord will_ [James 4:15]; _and I will know, not the word of them that are puffed up, but the power_. [I will test not their rhetorical ability, but their power, whether they can stand against that which I possess as an apostle.]... [ Continue Reading ]
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.... [ Continue Reading ]
What will ye? [which do you choose or prefer?] _shall I come unto you with a rod_ [to punish you], _or in love and a spirit of gentleness?_ [Because ye will have repented of your factious spirit.]... [ Continue Reading ]