1 Corinthians 4:1-13--The Nature of True Apostleship

1 Corinthians 4:1-13
New International Version
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The Nature of True Apostleship
4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

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Paul says that the apostles should be seen a servants of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords--though this is not the same word for servant that we've talked about in the past, but rather the kind of servant that is sent on ahead of the king as a representative of the king with full authority and the seal of the king so that whatever they may even judge and punish in the name of the king.  Paul says that that is the responsibility of the apostles to be faithful to preach and teach the mysteries of the gospel that have been revealed to them and to perform their mission faithfully as much trust has been put in them and to whom much has been given, much will be expected and required.

With this in mind, Paul cares little about the judgment of the world--even the rulers and governors of the synagogues and the pagan peoples, but he entrusted himself fully to God who will one day judge everyone so that Paul would be found faithful.  (See Matthew 25:14-28).  Paul says that he has a clear conscience, but that he still submits to the authority and judgment of Christ as it is for Him, and no one else, to judge those who in Him (for whom there will be no condemnation) and those who are die outside of Him who will be told to depart into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth into the lake of fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched.  This is not the pronouncement of judgment that Christians need to fear, but it is the pronouncement of judgment that all who die outside of Christ will hear and it is the reason that Jesus died on the cross, so that your identity and destiny can be changed and that you too may one day hear "Well done my good and faithful servant...."  Christ will bring EVERYTHING to light and will judge rightly.  No one will escape judgment.  God doesn't need anyone to be a vigilante of His justice, in fact He tells us to "Leave room for the wrath of God," and says "Vengeance is mine says the LORD, I will repay," and tells us "Do not repay evil with evil, but overcome evil with good."  So too Paul encourages the Christians to not stand in the place of God (specifically God the Son) who will see all and judge all rightly in due time, and in doing so will bring all glory and honor and praise to God.

Paul said that he restrained himself from using his apostolic authority among the Corinthian church so that they would learn a lesson in humility (as pride was a major issue among that church) and it would not have been understood if Paul acted special around them (he was) but then told them that they were different and not as special (they were not) and did not have the right to exercise the same kind of authority because Christ had not entrusted them with that.  In fact, Paul gave them a mantra to live by, "Do not go beyond what is written."  In this, Paul was always pointing them back to the Scriptures, God's Word, as the authority over every area of lift to tell them how far to go and no farther.  God's Word draws the boundaries for us in every relationship we have and telling us what is too much and what is not enough.  In this way, we keep from making ourselves the standard of what is right or wrong or basing decisions off of our emotions--again, I think a major problem in that church as we'll see that they seem to be controlled by their passions and lusts.  If we keep in mind that everything we have is something that has been given to us and that we did nothing to earn or deserve it, then it will keep us humble as we point people back to God who deserves all glory and honor and praise for all that He has done, is doing and will do in and through us.

​Now Paul gets a little sarcastic with them--which is something Paul does quite a bit when he gets upset (and boy is he upset with them in this letter).  It doesn't rise quite to the level of what we saw in the book of Galatians, but Paul lets them know they are seeking after all the wrong things  They have used the gospel to accumulate money and power and prestige for themselves (again, remember they have issues with pride and lusts).  Paul said that he hopes for the day when we all get to reign with Christ, but that day has not yet come and until that day, we are nothing more than servants of God, and that the apostles are put on display like those that are being led to the slaughter at the end of a Roman military parade that make the enemies of the Roman army think twice about doing anything like them and to celebrate Rome's victory over its enemies.  The Roman citizens would jeer and throw things at these convicts on their death march and it made the citizens feel good the the Romans were doing the job of rounding up the criminals and punishing them by feeding them to the lions in the arena or making them die in gladiatorial combat (again, for the amusement of the people).  Paul said that on display for the whole universe that both men and angels see what is going on and wonder.

Then Paul lays into those Corinthians who think themselves strong and wise and rich as Paul mocks them for thinking that they are strong and honorable and without need as Paul tells how even he as an apostle (who everyone in the Church would realize was a position of privilege) was weak and dishonored and was hungry and thirsty and without adequate clothing, and beaten and abused and without home or adequate shelter (often times finding himself thrown in prison for the sake of the gospel).  The apostles are hard at work taking the gospel to the whole world as commanded, yet they must also work with their own hands to make money for their needs because they often could not get the Church to support them (or did not want to ask because they didn't want to look like the false teachers that were in it only for the money).  They repay the cursing of men with blessings and endure every persecution they are put under for the sake of Christ.  They do not lash out against those that slander them, but answer with a kind and soft answer (or possibly with no answer at all, because sometimes such attacks deserve no response).  Yes, the apostles have become like the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world in the eyes of Paul in the way that the world and maybe even the Church had treated them, but they must remain faithful to the mission they had been given and remember that everything that was being done to them was like it was being done to Christ as they are His official ambassadors and that He will repay and set everything right when He will come one day to judge both the living and the dead and set everything right, and will also reward all those who are found faithful on that day.