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The Ministry of the Apostles

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. ⁴I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

⁶ I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, “Nothing beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

⁸ Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! ⁹For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. ¹⁰We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, ¹²and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; ¹³when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

Fatherly Admonition

¹⁴ I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. ¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. ²¹What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

11. For to this hour. The Apostle here describes his condition, as if in a picture, that the Corinthians may learn, from his example, to lay aside that loftiness of spirit, and embrace, as he did, the cross of Christ with meekness of spirit. He discovers the utmost dexterity in this respect, that in making mention of those things which had rendered him contemptible, he affords clear proof of his singular fidelity and indefatigable zeal for the advancement of the gospel; and, on the other hand, he tacitly reproves his rivals, who, while they had furnished no such proof, were desirous, nevertheless, to be held in the highest esteem. In the words themselves there is no obscurity, except that we must take notice of the distinction between those two participles — λοιδορουμενοι και βλασφημουμενοι (reviled and defamed.) As λοιδορια means — that harsher sort of raillery, which does not merely give a person a slight touch, but a sharp bite, and blackens his character by open contumely, there can be no doubt that λοιδορειν means — wounding a person with reproach as with a sting. ²⁴¹²⁴¹ λοιδορια, is supposed by Eustathius to be derived from λογος, a word, and δορυ, a spear A similar figure is employed by the Psalmist, when he speaks of words that are drawn swords (Psalm 55:21.) — Ed I have accordingly rendered it — harassed with revilings Βλασφημια signifies a more open reproach, when any one is severely and atrociously slandered. ²⁴²²⁴² “Or le premier signifie non seulement se gaudir d’vn homme, mais aussi toucher son honneur comme en le blasonnant, et le naurer en termes picquans: ce que nous disons communement, Mordre en riant. Le second signifie quand on detracte apertement de quelqu’vn sans vser de couuerture de paroles;” — “Now the first means not simply to make one’s self merry at another’s expense, but also to touch his reputation, as if with the view of blackening it, and wounding it by cutting expressions, as we commonly say — to give a good humored bite. The second means when persons slander any one openly, without using any disguise of words.”

²⁴¹ λοιδορια, is supposed by Eustathius to be derived from λογος, a word, and δορυ, a spear A similar figure is employed by the Psalmist, when he speaks of words that are drawn swords (Psalm 55:21.) — Ed

²⁴² “Or le premier signifie non seulement se gaudir d’vn homme, mais aussi toucher son honneur comme en le blasonnant, et le naurer en termes picquans: ce que nous disons communement, Mordre en riant. Le second signifie quand on detracte apertement de quelqu’vn sans vser de couuerture de paroles;” — “Now the first means not simply to make one’s self merry at another’s expense, but also to touch his reputation, as if with the view of blackening it, and wounding it by cutting expressions, as we commonly say — to give a good humored bite. The second means when persons slander any one openly, without using any disguise of words.”