Paul indicates here if anyone desires to make an evaluation of Apollos, Cephas or himself or any other preacher who may have visited Corinth, they should base their evaluation on the fact that they are subordinates of Christ and distributors of the revealed truths of Christian theology. Furthermore, if the unsaved do not agree to what is preached, the minister is only God's messenger (God's delivery boy); their quarrel should be with God. As stewards they must strive for faithfulness (found trustworthy). God has not required of any of His servants success but rather faithfulness and trustworthiness. All stewards are accountable to God and to God only. One day we desire to hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21). "(Faithfulness) is the requisite for any service, but especially for one involving such responsible trusts as stewardship, the care of what belongs to another" (Gould, p. 36).
Concerning faithfulness an article was found in the Weekly Pulpit which reads, "Paul accepted the full responsibility of his office. God has nowhere placed on the human heart such a high trust as the ministry of the gospel. We do not think lightly of the responsibilities of the statesman, the warrior, the philanthropist, the teacher; but the ambassador of the Cross stands in the Savior's place, and speaks in His name. On his office depends the salvation of mankind. The minister must feel the responsibility of his office, and so must those to whom he minsters...Micaiah said, 'As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak'" (B. I. Volume XLII, p. 340).
3 - 6 Since we are servants of God, He is the proper judge of our activities; the Corinthians or no one should judge prematurely. Paul is not overly concerned with the Corinthians' judgment or anyone's (judgment by a human court or a day in human court). In fact he states that he does not even judge himself; he will leave the judgment up to His Lord. The person who judges himself may be guilty of thinking of himself "more highly than he ought to think" (Romans 12:3). It is easy to give oneself an A in mathematics or an A in English. "Knowing whereof we are made, remembering that we are but dust, He looks on us,'with larger other eyes that ours, to make allowance for us all'" (Farrar, p. 133).
Paul is not aware (sunoida) of any wrong doing he has against himself, but he hastens to say that in no wise means he is vindicated. "Failure to be conscious of one's own sins does not mean that one is innocent" (Robertson, p. 102). Paul's conscience was clear; he is unaware of any wrongdoing (see Job 27:6). Only God is the true Judge; John 5:22 reads, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."
Verse 5 is an imperative, "Stop passing judgment," "or stop criticizing as you are doing." We are to judge nothing before judgment day (the end-time) when things will be brought to light, and the very counsels of the heart will be made manifest. "God will graciously apportion praise to the individual believer on the judgment day when Christ reveals all things (Revelation 22:12) (Kistemaker, p. 132). God the Son will judge according to His omniscient wisdom. All hidden things will be revealed (ta krupta tou skotous means the hidden things of darkness) and the motives of the heart (tas boulas ton kardion); nothing escapes the all-seeing eye of the Almighty. "Since only God can assess merit and/or guilt and reward with praise and/or punish with censure, we should leave the judgments up to Him and mind our own business (Matthew 7:1)" (Yeager, p. 387).
When he writes, "...That ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written..." Lightfoot thinks that Paul has reference to 1:19, 31; 3:19, 20 where he quotes Old Testament Scriptures; however, Paul may refer to any written doctrine found in the Old Testament. These principles Paul has transferred in a figure (meteschematisa) or applied to himself and Apollos that the Corinthians may observe that they should not be puffed up (phusiousthe) or arrogant (RSV) one against another. When the Corinthians observe that God is to be the Judge, then their judgments are to be withheld. God, the Father and God the Son, are the only competent Judges because They see the heart.
7, 8 Since God made all of us different (with different personalities and different abilities), God is equipped to be Judge. If a person views himself as superior in gifts and graces as if they were self-bestowed or self-acquired he becomes filled with self-conceit. Paul asks a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, "...What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" The answer is nothing. Our personality traits, our abilities, our intellect and our gifts were given to us by our Creator and Source. We should not glory or boast, for all these things came from God. He has endowed us with these things as it pleased Him.
Paul uses a bit of sarcasm in verse 8 by saying the Corinthians have everything. "Self sufficient people delude themselves, for they believe that they are rich when they are poverty-stricken" (Kistemaker, p. 137). He may have been referring to Israel's apostasy in Deuteronomy 32:15, "But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat, and kicked. Thou are become fat, thou art grown thick, thou are covered with fatness; then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." "Moffatt appositely cites the Stoic catch-cry (taught by Diogenes), 'I alone am rich, I alone reign as king.' Far from the Corinthians having progressed in the Christian faith, they were approximating the Stoic idea of self-sufficiency" (Morris, p. 79). The Corinthians are perfect; they are reigning as kings and Paul says, "It is all without us or without our help." "They had got a private millennium of their own with all the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom" (Robertson, p. 106). If they are reigning, Paul wants to reign with them. We will not reign until Messiah comes, then all the saved will reign with Messiah; it will be at the Secong Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
9 - 13 Paul informs the Corinthians that the apostles are considered the least of all the saints; they are appointed for death (epithanatious) or sentenced to death as condemned criminals died in the arena after being displayed to the public. They are made a spectacle (theatron) or a public display (Acts 19:29, 31) as they marched by in procession and are recognized by men of this world as foolish. At the amphitheaters, anyone and everyone could be present to watch the executions of slaves and criminals as they were torn limb by limb by the wild beasts in the Colosseum. The Apostles' ministry was subjected to ridicule in the eyes of the unsaved world; they held them in contempt. "That the Holy Spirit at Whose instigation the New Testament was written, would allow this evidence of Paul's human frailty to creep into the text only enhances the document as genuine. If Paul had been trying to represent himself as sinless he would have edited this passage out of the text" (Yeager, p. 394).
"We are fools (moroi) for Christ's sake; fool is the Greek from which we get our English word moron. The Corinthians claim to be wise in Christ. Paul claims weakness; they boast of being strong. They claim honor while Paul is despised. Paul's descriptions of himself are sincere; the Corinthians' are highly sarcastic. His weakness and disgrace were contrasted with their power and prestige. Of course the Corinthians were not wise (phronimoi), strong (ischuroi) and honorable (endoxoi) in the eyes of the world, far from it. These were thoughts they had of themselves.
Paul says he periodically hungers and thirsts; he is naked (without sufficient clothing) and buffeted and has no home to call his own; he lives the life of a vagrant or a "spiritual hobo." He labors working with his own hands at making tents and leather goods, so as not to be a burden to the Corinthians; the Greeks despised all manual labor thinking it as fit only for slaves. The word for labor is kopiomen signifying really hard work, labor to the point of weariness. Although he is reviled, he blesses his enemy; although he is persecuted, he endures it for Christ's sake. He is defamed or slandered, yet he entreats; he is considered as the filth of the world and as the offscourings. The word offscourings (peripsema) is an interesting word; it means something valueless or scum. "The Athenians, in order to avert public calamities, yearly threw a criminal into the sea as an offering to Poseidon; (the person) was to become an expiatory offering, a ransom for our child...Paul's statement of the estimate which the world put upon him and the other Apostles" (Yeager, p. 398). The apostles were like "sweepings, rinsings, cleansings around, dust from the floor (Robertson, p. 108). The writer of Hebrews states that the sufferings and persecutions of some made them the gazingstock of the world (Hebrews 10:33) or even like scapegoats as sacrifices or the dregs in a vessel. Morgan says of verses 11 - 13, "That is a remarkable passage. These men who were the servants, the ministers of Christ, who were stewards of the mysteries of God in this world; all that tells the story of their experiences. Paul is most evidently setting up a contrast between the conceited folly of those seduced by the wisdom of words, and so creating divisions, and the self-emptying sacrifice of those knowing the Word of the Cross, and being the messengers for its proclamation. The whole passage is characterized by severity" (pp. 76, 77).
14 - 17 Paul tells the Corinthians these things not to shame them but as beloved sons to warn (noutheton) or alert them. "He never loses sight of the tender relations between himself and the churches founded by him, even where he has to employ the severest language" (Gould, p. 40). He indicates that the Corinthians, because they have embraced Christianity, may face days of persecution and disfavor with the people of the world. Paul has been a father to them; he has begotten them in the ministry. Although they may have many teachers and many instructors such as Apollos, Timothy and others, they have only one "spiritual father in the gospel;" he is Paul the Apostle. He then entreats or beseeches them to follow him as he follows the Lord; furthermore, he wants them to imitate him (I Corinthians 11:1).
To show his feelings and concerns for the Corinthians, he states that he will send Timothy to them. He will teach them concerning the Christian doctrines and bring to their remembrance the things that Paul originally taught them. These are the same doctrines taught in every church that Paul has established. Timothy will serve as their spiritual advisor until Paul can come unto them.
18 - 21 The Corinthian troublemakers were puffed up or arrogant because Paul did not visit with them; in fact, they seem to be saying "Paul would not dare to come to Corinth and say what he is writing to us." If the Lord is willing, Paul will visit them soon. When he comes he will deflate their pompous attitude and arrogance (pephusiomenon) by showing his apostolic power.
God uses his servants to assist the churches when problems arise. The Holy Spirit will dictate the
policies that should be followed in Corinth. God may use the Apostle Paul to implement the will
of God. Paul asks them the question, "Shall I come unto with a rod of chastisement (the badge of
parental authority), or in love and in the spirit of meekness or gentleness?" "Paul was prepared
to employ the force of his apostolic authority if necessary, though he preferred to come in love
and meekness" (Yeager, p. 407). The Corinthians could look upon Paul as their spiritual father or
as their tutor (pedagogue) with the teacher's rod.
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