Chapter 4

Verses 1-6, the perspective of the ministry. This in ministry in the sense of the pastor of a church. The word ‘minister’ here demands explanation because it is used three ways in the Bible. It is used for one who is the leader of a state, Romans 13:4; it is used for every believer, 2 Corinthians 3:6; 4:1; 6:4; 5:18; it is used for the one who is pastor of a local church, Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23,25; 4:7; 1 Timothy 1:12. The word ‘minister’ is used in its technical sense here for the one who is the pastor of a church.

Verse 1, the responsibility of the ministry. “Let a man so account,” one of their problems is they will not accept the true teaching of their own ministers, namely Paul who was then followed by Apollos. Instead they have accepted the teaching of false prophets, false apostles, false teachers. They need to get back and to see again what is the purpose of the ministry; “of us,” refers to Paul and Apollos, the only two ministers who have been in Corinth since it was started. This takes us back to 1 Corinthians 3:5. The word ‘account’ means to think. How and what should you think of a minister?

“as ministers from Christ,” the genitive case is genitive of source. So now this boils down to the fact that these false teachers are actually ministers from Satan, the father of all religion.

“and stewards of the mysteries of God,” the word ‘steward’ emphasises their work. A steward is an administrator, and ‘stewards of the mysteries of God’ simply means that they must be faithful in teaching the Word. Their responsibility is to teach the Word. The word ‘mysteries’ refers specifically to doctrine pertaining to the Church Age.

Verse 2, the requirement of a minister: “that a man be found faithful.” The words ‘be found’ is the aorist passive subjunctive. The aorist tense means in the point of time when he is declaring the Word, teaching, and to the prerequisite of teaching which is study. So the requirement of a minister is that he studies and teaches. The aorist tense indicates all of the time he spends in studying and teaching. Passive voice: the whole structure of the local church is the grace of God. The subjunctive mood indicates whether he is found faithful or not is a potential factor, and this is dependent upon a number of factors.

Verse 3, the hindrance to the ministry. “But with me,” Paul is using himself as an illustration; “it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment; yea, I judge not myself.” The primary basis of hindering a minister is in the realm of the sins of the tongue.

There are three false systems for evaluating a minister which are found in this passage. Two of these involve the sins of the tongue. a) To be judged by believers in the congregation. “A very small thing” is literally, ‘a very petty thing.’ b) To be judged by unbelievers. “Man’s judgment” is literally, ‘man’s day’ which is an idiom for public opinion. Paul is saying here that the unbeliever is incapable of evaluating the ministry of the pastor of a church. c) Paul does not have a right to judge himself. He doesn’t even evaluate his own ministry. “I judge not mine own self.”

Verses 4 & 5, there is a bona fide evaluation of the ministry.

Verse 4, “For I know nothing by myself” is not correctly translated. He is still talking about evaluating himself. He says literally, “I know nothing with regard to myself.” He doesn’t know how he could evaluate his own ministry.

“yet am I not hereby justified” is literally from the Greek, “yet not in this am I justified.” In other words, “This doesn’t mean that I am justified.” He has not way of evaluating his own ministry.

“but,” there is one who evaluates; “he that judgeth me is the Lord.” Present active participle: He keeps on doing the judging; “is the Lord,” the Lord is the one who has the right of evaluation.

Verse 5, there is a time for evaluation of the ministry. “The Lord come” refers to the Rapture of the Church. The time refers to the judgment seat of Christ. The pastor’s ministry will be evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ; “judge nothing” means ‘Stop criticising.’

“the hidden things of darkness” means the tremendous effects of the teaching of the Word of God, it does not mean sins. It refers to the tremendous repercussion of teaching the Word, which is obscured both to the local congregation as well as to the pastor himself.

“and will make manifest the counsels of the heart,” ‘counsels’ means cogitations or thoughts; ‘heart’ refers to the thinking part of the mind.

“then shall everyone have his praise from God,” literally, ‘the praise from God,’ which goes back to the rewards of the previous chapter.

Verse 6, “I have in a figure transferred” is a verb, and it means to transfer a principle from one situation to another so that the principle becomes a personal experience. In other words, he takes a principle of doctrine and applies it to himself so that it becomes personal. In other words, he is saying that he makes no apologies for talking about himself in his relationship to them.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “you might learn in us [under our authority, or by us].”

“not to think above [beyond] that which is written,” they had been thinking beyond that which was written, they had accepted systems of legalism, systems of false doctrine; they had gone beyond the criterion or the standard of doctrine.

“that no one of you be puffed up, one on behalf of the other,” they have compared him with Apollos. Each one has a different gift within a spiritual gift. He is saying not to compare one minister with another minister or decide which is the greatest. It leads to factions in the congregations and it simply beats up this business of nit-picking and criticism.

Verses 7-14, the challenge of the universal ministry of the believer.

Verse 7, we now have three questions with regard to perspective. “For who maketh thee to differ from another?” ‘Who’ is an interrogative pronoun. The implication is that only God makes the difference. Everything we have and everything we hope to be depends on the grace of God. In other words, grace emphasises the character of God, who and what God is, never who and what we are; and under the concept of grace we never earn or deserve anything from God.

“maketh thee to differ” is present active indicative and it means ‘who makes you to be distinguished.’ The verb means to make a distinction or to separate, to make someone different from someone else. Any way in which the believer is different from anyone else on a commendable basis is the work of God. We are different because of what God has done.

“and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” Again, we have a present active indicative recognising that at the time that this was written the Corinthians had certain things. First of all, they had salvation. ‘What hast thou’ is the verb for actually possessing something. The present tense means they possess it right now. So what do the Corinthians possess in a general way? Salvation, operation phase one. What do I have that I didn’t receive from God? Nothing.

The third question brings us right down to the area in which the Corinthians are living: status quo carnality.

“if thou didst receive it,” ‘if’ is a first class condition. It is true that you did receive it; “why dost thou glory [boast]?” The Corinthians were guilty of operation ego, ego lust in the old sin nature. The word ‘glory’ here means to boast, not to glory; it means to express overtly, to express verbally one’s ego. It is in the present tense which means to keep on expressing operation ego. The middle voice: they do it themselves from themselves. The indicative mood recognises the reality of ego as the basis for many of these sins whereby they have lost the perspective of the grace of God.

“as if thou hadst not received it?” Ego disorients the believer from grace and orients him to human merit and human ability. This is an occupational hazard for all believers.

Verse 8, the spectator is described. First of all Paul goes to the source of all the Corinthians carnality: ego lust. At the moment he omits specifying the specific types of carnality, he goes to the principle and deals with the results. This ego lust has actually put them up in the stands when they ought to be in the playing field. So from this point on we have a lot of sanctified sarcasm.

“Now,” at that particular moment, “ye are full.” The word ‘full’ means to be satiated, it is used to describe someone who has over eaten or over indulged in some beverage. It is perfect passive indicative. The have become so full that they are immobilised physically but they can still talk. Most of the criticism in the Christian life comes from people who are either out of fellowship or because of some legalistic system they are sitting in the stands, and it is easy to criticise, easy to talk. The perfect tense indicates that they couldn’t do anything if they wanted to, they are helpless, powerless. The passive voice indicates that they have pushed themselves into this situation and now they are receiving the action of the verb, the results of being gorged. The indicative mood is the reality of their powerlessness.

“ye are rich,” this means to be prosperous or successful. It means here that the prosperity or success has turned their heads. They have become indifferent to spiritual things as they have become successful or prosperous. Human success does not mean spiritual success. A person who is humanly successful is not necessarily spiritually successful.

“ye have reigned as kings without us,” the point is that when it comes time for people to be ruling it will be in the Millennium, and ‘without us’ means the Millennium hasn’t come.

“and I would to God that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you,” we would all be in the Millennium and out of this place! In other words, it was pretty tough where Paul was.

Verse 9, the contrast. The gladiator is described. The Corinthians in their carnality had become legalistic and egocentric, vindictive and critical as spectators; Paul finds himself as a gladiator in the middle of the arena. This is his statement with regard to being a gladiator.

“I think” means ‘I have concluded.’ He keeps on maintaining this conclusion — present linear aktionsart, and the verb means to conclude.

“to God” is literally ‘to the God’ and it is a reference to God the Father who is the author of the divine plan; “hath set forth,” a verb in the Greek which means to put a gladiator into the arena, and it should be translated “and the God has placed [exhibited] in the arena.” “us the apostles last,” he refers to himself, to Apollos, and to Cephas, the apostles who have been mentioned in this epistle. The word ‘last’ is a technical word. It means the gladiators who were put into the arena last were always put into a situation where they couldn’t come out alive, or if they did it would be nothing short of a miracle. So Paul is now say in effect, ‘Look, you are in the stands, you are not even in the first act. We are not only on the field as gladiators but we are in the last act, the death act.’

‘as it were appointed unto death,’ this is a compound noun which means to be condemned to death. It is sued to described gladiators who went into the arena last, they always faced certain death.

“we are made a spectacle,” the word ‘spectacle’ means to be under observation and he is saying in effect ‘we are under observation,’ careful and often critical observation. The Greek word for ‘spectacle’ is qeatron from which we get out English word ‘theatre.’ It means to be observed; we are under observation. There are three categories of creatures found in the stands.

“unto the world,” the world here refers to unbelievers; “and to angels,” this is an extension of the angelic conflict. Angels are watching believers; “and to men” refers to the carnal believer, to the Corinthians in the stands full of their own importance, critical of others, implacable, vindictive. And there they are adding up wood, hay, and stubble by way of production.

Verse 10, the contrast between the gladiator and the spectator. It is actually set up by the pronouns. Gladiators: ‘we,’ the apostles; spectators [Corinthians]: ‘ye [all].’

“We fools for Christ,” no verb here; “but ye wise,” sitting back in the stands criticising and being ‘wise.’

“we are weak,” helplessness based on oriented to the principle of grace; “ye are strong,” operating in the energy of the flesh; “ye are honourable,” this means illustrious, well thought of; “we are despised.” So the contrast is developed.

In verses 11-13 we get some description of the suffering of the gladiators. In these verses there are ten verbs and four participles which describe the pressures and adversities of being a gladiator, a believer in the arena, a believer in fellowship. Remember that the suffering in these verses are not discipline. The sufferings described in verses 11-13 are designed for blessing and growth. This blessing is reached and achieved when the believer in pressure utilises the grace of God. The greatest progress is made in the Christian life in time of pressure. It takes pressure to grow, to mature. Only under pressure do believers use the faith-rest technique. Pressure, then, is necessary for growth. Pressure makes an issue in your life as to what is important, it always gives the chance to evaluate your scale of values. Pressure clarifies the situation as to whether your life is anchored in the Word or in human props. Human props do not stand up under the pressures of the gladiator. Only the Word can give peace and inner happiness in time of stress and catastrophe, and only the Word can give peace and happiness in time of prosperity.

“Even unto this present hour we [Paul, Apollos, and the others].” The list of pressures which follow actually bring happiness and inner peace.

“we hunger,” present active indicative, ‘we keep on being hungry.’

“and thirst,” present active indicative, linear aktionsart.

“and are naked,” means to be poorly clad.

The first three have to do with necessities in life: food, water, and clothing.

“are buffeted,” present passive: they receive the action of the verb. The word ‘buffet’ means to punch, to hit, to torture. They received physical violence.

“and have no certain dwelling place,” this does not mean that they do not have a roof over their heads, but it is always an uncertain proposition and they never know from one day to the next where they are going to spend the night.

When Paul talks about pressure he is under maximum pressure. When you think of all the responsibilities of Paul and all of the things he had to do, and then think in addition to that the basic necessities of life were pulled right out from under him, the question is why? Because the Lord was Paul’s living and the removal of one or more of these things is a tremendous challenge to the faith-rest technique. All of these were designed to put Paul under the principle: the Lord knows what He is doing, this is His battle. Therefore his daily needs in life had to be placed constantly by Paul in the Lord’s hands and leave them there because he had one of the most unusual ministries ever known, and he carried it on under extreme privation. He wasn’t always this way. Sometimes he had more than enough, but the principle is that it takes a mature believer, a great believer.

Verse 12, Paul had pressures in the business world. “And labour, working with our hands” means that Paul faced all the pressures you face in the business world. That is all he means by this.

“working with our hands” means to exert great energy in making a living. He adds this for a reason: that God provides for a believer under business pressures just as He provides for the believer under the pressures of the previous verse.

In the middle of this verse we have some signs of maturity. Here are signs that Paul is growing up, that he is receiving great blessing and happiness from his pressures, in the midst of his pressures, and that he is oriented to the grace of God. The maturity signs are listed as participles.

In the first six things that we have had, in each case we have had the present active indicative or, in one case, the present passive indicative. The Greeks didn’t have punctuation but they all of a sudden show you that this thought stops and another correlated with it begins. As a result of these pressures this is what happened to Paul: development of nobility of character. These pressures just listed are just a few pressures but they developed in him a tremendous nobility. He used the faith-rest technique, he was controlled by the Spirit, and he matured through these tests, previously given; and here are some of the signs of his nobility and maturity as a believer. There are four signs here in verse 12, all are participles. The point changes because we go from the indicative mood to participles. The noble characteristics which occur here are the results of the pressure. These are the things that they actually did in pressure.

“being reviled, we bless,” in the pressure they did this. This is a present passive participle, we keep on being abused. It means to keep on being harassed,. being abused, being criticized, being maligned, being the objects of various types of mental venom. “We bless” (present active indicative) means a mental attitude of non-retaliation. An attitude is developed from this, one of non-retaliation. It means that when someone maligns you, you do not lower yourself to spit back.

“being persecuted,” present active participle. This means active persecution, things that have not been mentioned so far, being thrown into jail, etc.; “we suffer it,” the word ‘suffer’ means to endure it, and it means to go through it without falling apart, without being upset, without being disturbed. In other words, having inner happiness in the midst of it.

Verse 13, “Being defamed” is present passive participle. It means to be slandered and maligned constantly; “we entreat” means that when people whom we know are maligning us and speaking behind our backs we still are kind to them when we encounter them. This is the result of the mental attitude. In other words, you are just as relaxed around people who despise you and malign you as you are around people who care for you. These are signs of great nobility.

“we are made” is “we have become”; “the filth,” the Greek word for garbage; “the offscouring,” the Greek word for excrement.

Verse 14, the purpose of the analogy. “I write not these things to shame you,” shame is an emotional reaction, a guilt feeling, so shaming is not a part of the picture here. There is nothing permanent in shaming them. Paul writes to warn them. In order to build a solid ministry with these people he avoids the emotional approach. The word to “warn” means to put information in the mind.

In verses 15-21 we have the pattern on the universal ministry of the believer.

Verse 15, it starts with birth. The word “though” is ‘if’ and it is a first class condition, “If you have ten thousand instructors in Christ,” and they do. The word ‘instructor’ here does not mean an instructor. We use the word as someone who teaches. “If you have ten thousand pedagogues,” a slave who takes the children to school. In other words, he is the slave who gives the children in the family attention. This was under the Romans system and we must interpret the passage in the time in which it was written. The point here is that these pedagogues gave the children attention and even though you have ten thousand people who will give you lots of attention they do not have your best interests at heart.

“yet have ye not many fathers,” he is saying, ‘Look, I am a father, these people (fellow believers) are slaves. They will all compliment you and tell you you’re great. I am the only one who will tell you the truth so you had better sit up and listen.”

Then he explains why he is their father, their spiritual father, and has their special interest, “for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” He led most of them to the Lord. So they are his spiritual children, he has a special interest in them, and therefore his special interest requires not that they titillate their ego and stimulate their approbation lust but rather that he level with them and be honest.

Verse 16, the Greek says, “Wherefore I beseech you, become imitators of me.” There are three concepts of imitation found in the scripture.

a) The believer is commanded to imitate God, Ephesians 5:1. This is accomplished by the filling of the Holy Spirit from which the character of Christ is produced.

b) We find in the Pauline epistles that Paul says, “Imitate me,” as in this context. There are two concepts here. In some of the scriptures it has to do with the filling of the Holy Spirit. In this one it has to do with the intake of the Word or learning doctrine.

c) The carnal believer imitates the unbeliever. He imitates a moral unbeliever, an immoral unbeliever, a religious unbeliever, self-righteous unbeliever.

Verse 17, the principle of learning doctrine. This will accomplished right now at this point by Timothy. He describes Timothy’s qualifications: “my beloved son,” salvation. He was qualified from that standpoint; “faithful in the Lord,” his faithfulness; “who shall bring you in remembrance,” Timothy is the one described by the relative pronoun “who.” To bring in remembrance means to cause to remember, and it means that he will review the doctrine that Paul has taught them, and he will give them further doctrine; “of my ways,” reference to the operation of phase two; “in Christ,” positional truth. He will emphasise the importance between position in Christ and experience; “which I teach,” he has learned doctrine from Paul.

In verses 18 & 19, some hindrances to this pattern of growth. They are first of all from self.

Verse 18, “Now some are puffed up,” operation ego. There is no pastor present and when there is no pastor present to exercise authority the ego problem gets out of line; “as though I would not come to you,” all he is saying at this moment is that he is going to send Timothy, he isn’t there himself, and Apollos is left. So they have no pastor. This means a certain type of authority is missing, especially the authority of teaching the Word of God, and consequently a lot of these people are out of line and puffed up.

Verse 19, a lot of Corinthians were talking a good fight, legalism does that. But they were not fighting a good fight, they were operating in the energy of the flesh.

Verse 20, explaining the principle. “The kingdom of God is not in word.” The word that we have had in this context: criticism, maligning, gossip, bragging, and so on; “but in power,” and the power here refers to the Holy Spirit. The basis for the modus operandi of the Christian life is not the status or the image you create with other believers around you, but it is the filling of the Spirit.

Verse 21, The call for a decision. “What will ye?” In other words, take your choice; “shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” Notice the alternatives. If they persist in carnality he will come with a rod. Paul is not squeamish about discipline when it is necessary, this is a part of his responsibility. But there is an option here and he would like very much for them to rebound and get straightened out so that he can avoid this and have a more profitable type of ministry; “or in love and the spirit of meekness.” Love is divine love and refers to the filling of the Spirit; “spirit of meekness” simply means emphasis on grace. He can offer them the ministry of exhortation, the rod; or he can offer them the ministry of teaching.