1 Corinthians 4:11 Kommentar

In this chapter the apostle, I. Directs them how to account of him and his fellow-ministers, and therein, tacitly at least, reproves them for their unworthy carriage towards him (Co1 4:1-6). II. He cautions them against pride and self-elation, and hints at the many temptations they had to conceive too highly of themselves, and despise him and other apostles, because of the great diversity in their circumstances and condition (Co1 4:7-13). III. He challenges their regard to him as their father in Christ (Co1 4:14-16). IV. He tells them of his having sent Timothy to them, and of his own purpose to come to them shortly, however some among them had pleased themselves, and grown vain, upon the quite contrary expectation (Co1 4:17 to the end).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 4 The chief heads of this chapter are the account that ought to be had of the ministers of the Gospel; cautions against censoriousness, rash judgment, pride, and self-conceit; the uncomfortable circumstances and situation of the ministers of the Gospel for the sake of preaching it; the apostle's fatherly affection to the Corinthians, and his authority over them; his resolution in submission to the will of God of coming to them, and the manner in which it might be expected he would come. The apostle exhorts to have in proper esteem the preachers of the Gospel, and that because they are Christ's ministers and stewards of his grace, and faithful in the discharge of their duty, Co1 4:1. And as for himself, whom he includes in the number of the faithful dispensers of the word, he cared not what judgment was passed upon him; nor should he think fit to be set down by it, partly because it was human, and arose from an ill spirit; and partly because he judged himself; as also because his conscience testified that he faithfully discharged his office; and besides, the Lord was his judge, Co1 4:3 who in his own time would judge him; and he, as every other faithful minister, shall have praise of God, and therefore before that time judgment was not to be passed by men, Co1 4:5 and then gives a reason why he had mentioned his own name, and the name of Apollos, under such figurative expressions as he had done in the preceding chapter, that they might be examples of modesty and humility for others to follow, Co1 4:6 and expostulates with those who were vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds; that seeing they were no better than others, and what gifts they had were not of themselves, but of God, they had no reason to glory and vaunt it over others, Co1 4:7 and in an ironical way expresses the exalted and flourishing condition they were in, and which he rather wishes than asserts, and which carries in it a sort of a denial of it, Co1 4:8 and goes on to represent the miserable condition that the faithful preachers and followers of Christ were in, and that in order to abate the pride and swelling vanity of these men, Co1 4:9 showing, that it was far from being a reigning time in the churches of Christ; his end in mentioning which, as well as the sharpness he had used in reproving, were not in order to expose them to shame, but for their admonition, Co1 4:14 and that he did not take too much upon him in dealing thus freely and roundly with them, appears from the spiritual relation he stood in to them, as a father, Co1 4:15 and therefore it became them as children to submit to him, and imitate him, Co1 4:16 and an instance of his paternal care of them, and love to them, was his sending Timothy among them, whose character he gives, and whose work and usefulness he points out to them, Co1 4:17, and closes the chapter with a promise of coming to them, if it was agreeable to the will of God; and the rather he was bent upon it, because some had given out he would not come, and rejoiced at it; wherefore, in order to try them, whether they were only verbal or powerful professors, he was desirous of coming to them, Co1 4:18 since religion did not lie in talking, but in an inward powerful experience of things, Co1 4:20 which he feared was wanting in some by their outward conversation; and therefore puts a question in what way they would chose he should come unto them, and hence should accordingly order their conversation and behaviour, Co1 4:21.

Even unto this present hour,.... What is about to be related was not what befell the apostles now and then, and a great while ago; but what for a considerable time, and unto the present time, was more or less the common constant series and course of life they were inured to: we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked; wanted the common necessaries of life, food to eat, and raiment to put on, and gold and silver to purchase any with; which might be, when, as it was sometimes their case, they were in desert places, or on the seas; or when they fell among thieves; or had given all away, as they sometimes did, for the relief of others; or when they were not, as sometimes, taken notice of, and provided for, where they ministered, as they ought to have been. And are buffeted; not only by Satan, as the apostle was, but by men; scourged, whipped, and beaten by them; scourged in the synagogues by the Jews with forty stripes save one; and beaten with rods by the Romans, and other Gentiles. And have no certain dwelling place; were in an unsettled state, always moving from one place to another, and had no place they could call their own; like their Lord and master, who had not where to lay his head; and like some of the Old Testament saints, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

Does not the apostle then plainly add the following, to show the contempt for faith in the case of the multitude? "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as appointed to death: we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. Up to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are beaten, and are feeble, and labour, working with our hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat; we are become as it were the offscourings of the world." Such also are the words of Plato in the Republic: "The just man, though stretched on the rack, though his eyes are dug out, will be happy." The Gnostic will never then have the chief end placed in life, but in being always happy and blessed, and a kingly friend of God. Although visited with ignominy and exile, and confiscation, and above all, death, he will never be wrenched from his freedom, and signal love to God. "The charity which bears all things, endures all things," is assured that Divine Providence orders all things well.

And "let no one," saith he, "think that I speak only of the past:" "Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked." Seest thou that all the life of Christians must be such as this; and not merely a day or two? For though the wrestler who is victorious in a single contest only, be crowned, he is not crowned again if he suffer a fall. "And hunger;" against the luxurious. "And are buffeted;" against those who are puffed up. "And have no certain dwelling-place;" for we are driven about. "And are naked;" against the rich.

What, he says, is the point of recalling the past? Look at what is now — at how you are drowning in pleasures, while we are quite the opposite.

That is, we are beaten. He says this against the arrogant.

That is, they persecute us; we flee. This is against the rich.

Then when he says, To the present hour, he discloses the cause of this scorn: first, he assigns the lack of temporal goods as the cause; secondly, the evils they suffered (v. 12); thirdly, he reaches his conclusion (v. 15). As to the first he mentions the privations they suffered in necessary things; hence in regard to food and drink he says: To the present hour we hunger and thirst, namely, without interruption form the time of our conversion to the present moment: "In hunger and thirst" (2 Cor 11:17). As to clothing he says: we are ill-clad, i.e., because of our need for clothing, since we are sometimes despoiled: "They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold" (Jb 24:7). But this seems to conflict with Ps 37 (v. 25): "I have not seem the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread." The answer is that although the apostles suffered, they were not abandoned, because divine providence set limits to their abundance and their needs according to what was suitable for exercising virtue. Hence the Apostle says in Phil (4:12): "I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me." Secondly, he mentions their lack of things pertaining to the better aspects of human life, the first of which is respect from others. But they received the opposite: We are buffeted, which aims more at shame than punishment; hence we read of Christ that they spat in His face and slapped him. The second is peace and quiet. Here again they endured the opposite: and homeless, both because they were expelled from place to place by their persecutors: "If they persecute you in one city, flee to another" (Matt 10:23), and because they went everywhere to perform their office: "I have appointed you that you should go" (Jn. 15:16).

Ministers should be esteemed by their flocks as the stewards of God, whose duty and interest it is to be faithful, Co1 4:1, Co1 4:2. Precipitate and premature judgments condemned, Co1 4:3-5. The apostle's caution to give the Corinthians no offense, Co1 4:6. We have no good but what we receive from God, Co1 4:7. The worldly mindedness of the Corinthians, Co1 4:8. The enumeration of the hardships, trials, and sufferings of the apostles, Co1 4:9-13. For what purpose St. Paul mentions these things, Co1 4:14-16. He promises to send Timothy to them, Co1 4:17. And to come himself shortly, to examine and correct the abuses that had crept in among them, Co1 4:18-21.

We both hunger and thirst, etc. - Who would then have been an apostle of Christ, even with all its spiritual honors and glories, who had not a soul filled with love both to God and man, and the fullest conviction of the reality of the doctrine he preached, and of that spiritual world in which alone he could expect rest? See the Introduction, Section 6. Have no certain dwelling place - We are mere itinerant preachers, and when we set out in the morning know not where, or whether we shall or not, get a night's lodging.

TRUE VIEW OF MINISTERS: THE JUDGMENT IS NOT TO BE FORESTALLED; MEANWHILE THE APOSTLES' LOW STATE CONTRASTS WITH THE CORINTHIANS' PARTY PRIDE, NOT THAT PAUL WOULD SHAME THEM, BUT AS A FATHER WARN THEM; FOR WHICH END HE SENT TIMOTHY, AND WILL SOON COME HIMSELF. (1Co. 4:1-21) account . . . us--Paul and Apollos. ministers of Christ--not heads of the Church in whom ye are severally to glory (Co1 1:12); the headship belongs to Christ alone; we are but His servants ministering to you (Co1 1:13; Co1 3:5, Co1 3:22). stewards-- (Luk 12:42; Pe1 4:10). Not the depositories of grace, but dispensers of it ("rightly dividing" or dispensing it), so far as God gives us it, to others. The chazan, or "overseer," in the synagogue answered to the bishop or "angel" of the Church, who called seven of the synagogue to read the law every sabbath, and oversaw them. The parnasin of the synagogue, like the ancient "deacon" of the Church, took care of the poor (Act 6:1-7) and subsequently preached in subordination to the presbyters or bishops, as Stephen and Philip did. The Church is not the appendage to the priesthood; but the minister is the steward of God to the Church. Man shrinks from too close contact with God; hence he willingly puts a priesthood between, and would serve God by deputy. The pagan (like the modern Romish) priest was rather to conceal than to explain "the mysteries of God." The minister's office is to "preach" (literally, "proclaim as a herald," Mat 10:27) the deep truths of God ("mysteries," heavenly truths, only known by revelation), so far as they have been revealed, and so far as his hearers are disposed to receive them. JOSEPHUS says that the Jewish religion made known to all the people the mysteries of their religion, while the pagans concealed from all but the "initiated" few, the mysteries of theirs.

(Co2 11:23-27). naked--that is, insufficiently clad (Rom 8:35). buffeted--as a slave (Pe1 2:20), the reverse of the state of the Corinthians, "reigning as kings" (Act 23:2). So Paul's master before him was "buffeted" as a slave, when about to die a slave's death (Mat 26:67).