1 Corinthians 4:1-7 Bible Teaching

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Okay, we finished chapter 3 two weeks ago – but not really.

This is how chapter 3 ended:

1st Corinthians 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

But then we read in the first six verses of chapter 4
1st Corinthians 4:1-8
February 18th 2018
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1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Now, in my opinion this chapter is a continuation of the subject discussed in those which go before, chapters 1-3 and these verses are closing the subject matter up. In other words, the proper division would have been between verse 6 and seven.

Prior to these verses Paul has been trying to show that we do not hold men up above others. Here he returns to this topic and uses his call to illustrate the point one more time. So speaking of himself and Apollos he writes:

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

What is he referring to when he says, Let a man so account of us?” The previous verses where he wrote

1st Corinthians 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

So let a man so account of us – don’t glory in us, as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Yes, we hold an office of accountability and responsibility in the Church of Christ but don’t glory in us, for all things are YOURS.

See the liberty and the resistance Paul is giving to being lifted up and held in any higher esteem than just being a saved believer?

We are stewards, but we are not the head of a faction or denomination. We are simply united as servants of Christ.

The word “steward” relates to those who presided over the affairs of a family and made sure that the family was provided for.

In Luke chapter 16 we read the parable of a steward when the chapter starts out saying:

“There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.”

In our day a steward might be seen as a personal business manager for a star who takes care of everything for them – paying bills, finances, management of estates, etc.

Many stewards to the stars have taken great advantage of them bringing them to bankruptcy – Billy Joel is a case in point.

Here Paul calls he and Apollos stewards for Christ. As apostles they are making sure that Christ’s house is receiving all that they need on His behalf.

Not only does Paul call himself and Apollos stewards but ministers of “the mysteries of God.”

This was part of their stewardship – to reveal and provide instructions, guidance and the like to help build up and direct the church of Christ.

This is interesting, when we think about it because we no longer have apostles here to provide the world with answers to the mysteries of God – except through their written epistles – which are up for debate.

With this as a fact we have to wonder if we are in another age where apostolic leadership isn’t necessary and what this age really looks like?

Anyway, back to the point – even though Paul clearly describes his role in the Church as that of a steward he simultaneously reminds us that

(1.) the office of a minister is one that is always subordinate to Christ and that all are His servants.

(2.) That those in the office should not attempt to be the head of sect or party in the church.

In an attempt to show, however the importance of his work as a steward for Christ Paul now adds at verse 2

2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

In other words, “However, it is really beneficial that a man is faithful as a steward.”

Remember the context here. Paul is speaking of he and Apollos as being stewards in the house of Christ (but as nothing more).

All he adds here at verse two is how important it is for a steward to be faithful in his or her assignment.

To be sure, if we are made stewards over anything its important we are faithful to what has been entrusted to us.

It’s just a common fact – if we hire a teacher or a babysitter or an accountant – they need to be good stewards over that which they have been assigned and in the capacity of that assignment.

I would hate for the ministry CPA to be a slouch, or the pilot of my plane, or the doctor operating on my eyes, right?

In the case of Paul and Apollos, what was entrusted to them was of utmost importance – they were entrusted with being overseers of the bride of Christ! Which He promised to come back and take from the surrounding dangers that loomed.

I think Paul is trying to say that he was not out to try and please men but to illustrate that he was operating on higher principles – and he had to – Christ Himself was guiding him in His labors.

So, as is typical with Paul he is presenting some complexity to us.

On the one hand he is saying that he and Apollos are just servants for Christ and should in no way be seen or treated as something special. But on the other hand, he is not downplaying the importance of their role in the Church of that day.

Then he reverses the discussion and adds something that is really important when it comes to those who have become stewards in the House of God. He says:

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

But with regard to me as a steward in the house of God, as for me as a servant of Christ, it is really nothing big that I would be judged of you.

BOOM.

I love this attitude. He was on the Lord’s errand and if men wanted to judge him over his actions and opinions, have at it – its no big thing. Why? Because Paul knew that he was responsible to Jesus alone – not to Man.

The word he used for small thing is a superlative of the Word short, so it means really really small thing. What is?

That he would be judged of men.

The word translated judged here properly means not only to judge but to blame or condemn as a result of the judgment.

I think contextually we know Paul loved the believers in the churches but when it came to making them happy or making Christ happy, there was never a question.

So he says,

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: (and adds) “yea, I judge not mine own self.”

What he seems to mean by, “or of man’s judgment,” is first he said, “it’s no big deal if you judge me then adds “or if MAN judges me” apparently refer men and their laws, and philosophies or other means by which men in general judge others.

It matter not to me if men think my poverty, or my faith, or my preaching, or my trust in Jesus resurrection make sense to others – I am a steward of Christ. And then he takes it to an even more radical place, adding:

“Yea, I judge not mine own self,” meaning I don’t even attempt to pronounce a judgment on myself.”

In other words, the judgement of anyone that is of the earth is irrelevant and that includes self judgement coming from myself about myself!

There are some really important principles being put forth here – don’t take offence if your assessments of me don’t matter much – I don’t even pay attention to my own self assessments.

What on earth would lead Paul to say such a thing?

Im sure Paul knew what he was capable of as a man. I’m sure he was well aware of his abilities to get haughty or self-important, or whatever was present in his flesh.

But he makes an important point here in spite of himself. He doesn’t even make a judgement over his place and character – just like he has no concern of other peoples views of him – he leaves it all up to God who does righteous judging.

Isn’t that radical! Your assessment of me, and other men’s judgements – in fact even my own self judgements – are irrelevant to me, Paul says!

And I think we might take a lesson from his perspective here. We want righteous judgement, right? We want to have everything accounted for in our lives if we are going to be examined – and Paul makes it clear that we do not even have the ability to do this on our own!

Think about it! We don’t know our genetics, we don’t fully understand what our lives experiences add up to in our lives, we have no idea what historical fears passed down to us by our predecessors have impacted our decisions – and a Christian of real faith WOULD leave all judgment up to God, would they not?

I think its radical and sensible and therefore instead of spending a bunch of time and concern as a believer in Christ over our past failures and actions, look to Him – and live.

Instead of staring in the mirror remorseful over your present-day failures – look to Him, trust Him, rely on Him to see all things and trust Him to take into account your desires and heart.

He is the author and finisher of OUR faith. He is the creator of all things, and administrator of all things, and knows each of us intimately.

Don’t waste time in the past. Put your hand – no matter what that had has done – to the plow and don’t look back.

Simply live placing all your trust in Him to deal with you rightly – all things seen and unseen considered.

Paul adds a verse that is debated in terms of meaning, as he says:

4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

Some commentators have decided that Paul is talking about his life and work as an apostle, and what he is saying is

“I am not conscious of evil, or unfaithfulness to myself; that is, in my ministerial life.”

This is said (especially by Calvin) because certainly Paul was aware of evil in his life before Christ but because he was talking here about being a servant or steward this is what he is referring to.

In other words, Paul is saying that as an apostle he was unaware of any evil doings, but then he adds that this observations doesn’t really matter because he is not the one to judge and justify himself, but . . .

“he that judges me is the Lord.”

We can believe that this is the proper interpretation because in several other places Paul mentions the integrity and faithfulness he has shown in his ministry.

Acts 20:18-19 and 26-27 and then 2nd Corinthians 7:2 and 12:17 are examples of this.

To round the point all out he says, as a servant of Christ who would be judged by his Master, Christ:

5 Therefore . . . (in light of all I have said) judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

And we have two applications here to consider folks.

First, what was Paul talking to them about when he said:

“judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come”

I would strongly, emphatically suggest that he was speaking of Christ’s return within that generation to bring judgement and reward upon Jerusalem.

But before we speak to this context note the command – “judge nothing.”

It is one of the pillars of the Christian faith – but one that is ignored more than we might like to admit.

It’s important to know that the term “judge” here (krino) does not mean do not assess a person or situation. It means don’t condemn them in light of your assessment.

Do not condemn anything before the TIME, until the Lord come.

Here we see by the language that the phrase, “before the time,” is synonymous with, “the coming of the Lord.”

In other words, when we read other passages that speak of the time in the New Testament we are reading about the coming of the Lord or His second coming. In Matthew 8 Jesus met with some demons who said:

Matthew 8:29 “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”

Speaking of tares and wheat in the end harvest Jesus says in Matthew 13:30

“Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

In another parable (found in Matthew 21:34) Jesus said

“And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

Interestingly enough, when John the Baptist was preaching he is said to say in Mark 1:15

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Later Jesus said in Mark 13:33 “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.”

To the Jews Jesus said in Luke 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

As a warning sign Jesus said in Luke 21:8:

“Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.”

In Romans, Paul wrote to the believers then:

Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Then in chapter 7 of this book we will read:

1st Corinthians 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

1st Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Of course Revelation is full of the phrase as we read

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Revelation 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

Finally in the last chapter we read Revelation 22:10:

“And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”

So appealing to this image, Paul – speaking to them – says:

“judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come”

Pass no condemnation upon any man, since there are so many things that go to make up his character which we cannot know, and so many secret failings and motives which are all concealed from us.

“Until the Lord come,” “the day of judgment,” when all secrets shall be revealed, and a true judgment shall, be passed on all men.

How will they be reveled? Paul says by the Lord . . .

“who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

Romans 2:16 says it this way:

“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

Jesus says in John 12:48

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the local community in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4:1

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.”

Just to let you know, John 6 tells us more about what will also happen at that last day when the living and the dead were judged. In fact, there are six passages in John (four of them in chapter 6 alone) that speak of this last day and what will occur to them upon it:

John 6:39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

In speaking about Lazarus who had died Martha said to Jesus:

John 11:24 I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Putting all this together, the time and the last day are synonymous in scripture, and they are all speaking of the coming of the Lord, which we now also know was the resurrection of the dead – the living and the dead.

What would be revealed on this last day? The Lord would

“both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

So we see that when the Lord came the “things of darkness” would be revealed, and that he would reveal the counsels of hearts, and Paul adds that “THEN shall every man have the praise of God.”

But until then, condemn (judge) no one.

So that was for them then. What principles apply to us today?

I would suggest all of them – but on an individual basis instead of a collective basis of Him coming to take His bride.

So again, we are still commended to withhold judgment of anything until we have our coming of the Lord, or “our day,” or our last day. Only then will we know who was who and what was what.

If we think about it, it’s pretty heinous to believe that any of us have the right, liberty or capacity to predict the ultimate destination of anyone on earth.

In light of this the line, “You are going to hell” is really, really an unfortunate thing to say to anyone, isn’t it?

I do think that all we can say is that God will be just and people will reap what they have sown – but beyond this it doesn’t seem any of us are in a position to judge the eternal destination of any soul.

Paul wraps the idea up and now summarizes for us an amazing thought at verse 6, saying:

6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Perhaps a better way to read this might be:

And all of these things we have just talked about I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos, as stewards of Christ in the Church, for your sakes – so that you might learn from these things I’ve said NOT to think more highly of men around you, and to not get puffed up (or break up into factions one with another).

I’ve gotta reiterate, my friends, that everything Paul has said here supports the idea that denominationalism, and divisions within the Body are anathematic to what Jesus would desire of His disciples.

In other words, if Apollos and I are merely brothers who serve with you under the title Christ NOBODY else has the right to create a splinter group in the Body.

Wouldn’t it be a marvel of God if every single believer was willing and able by the Spirit to set aside their pet prejudices and join hands with ALL who claimed Christ, not ever allowing themselves to raise any person up or to divide over any ancillary points that have long served to divide us?

This is only possible, it seems to me, if all people would resist judging, resist attacking, and open themselves up to letting all people who claim Christ in to worship God in Spirit and Truth.

What prevents us from doing this is human beings and their will and ways stepping over the fruit of the Spirit that, when it is operating in full, is pure love and light.

So that wraps up the general and specific message of chapters 1-3. Now at verse 7 in chapter 4 he begins to address some other matters but he lingers a little while on the situation at hand there in Corinth – that there were divisions and they were the result of men (teachers in all probability) who were boastfully presenting themselves as something important in the faith.

And he says (let’s read):

1st Corinthians 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

Alright back to verse 7 where he says something that is really hard to understand – at least it was for me when I first read it. But he says to the people of Corinth:

1st Corinthians 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

The question seems rhetorical? Who made you or who caused you to differ one from another? Is the question.

The next lines are difficult but I think there is a reasonable view of them available.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou (in terms of talents and insights) that thou didst not receive (from God)? And now if thou didst receive it (talents from God for teaching or insights to scripture), why dost thou glory (boast and puff yourselves up), as if thou hadst not received it? (as if your insights were from your own intelligence)

In other words, you have received everything from God so where is your room to boast?

In large part, I think this is why Paul has spent so much time leveling even the status of the Apostles as a means to compare themselves to these proud teachers who were dividing the flock.

In the next verse (our last verse for the day) Paul seems – and most commentators agree – he seems to go full blown sarcastic! Listen to what he says:

8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God
ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

The apostles were self-denying and suffering for the cause in humility and it appears that Paul’s objective was to show these self-confident and vain teachers how boastful, and proud and uppity they had become.

Frankly the whole passage appears to be a cutting sarcasm. We find some occasions of sarcasm in other parts of scripture.

For instance, in 1st Kings 18:27, the priests of Baal were trying their damnedest to get an altar to light up by the powers of their pagan god – but they failed.

Then we read the following words that Elijah has for their God Baal and his failure to light up the altar.

“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”

Here Paul appeals to some similar mockery of these proud teachers and first he tells them:

“Now ye are full”

And the Greek is a term for having a full stomach after a feast. “Now you have eaten plenty.”

And then he adds:

“now ye are rich,”

Or perhaps, “now you esteem yourselves as so full of heavenly spiritual wisdom, you are wealthy in the things of God, you need nothing further.”

You have your divided kingdoms! Hoo Raw! What a thing to boast about, right?

Then he adds:

“ye have reigned as kings without us:”

And we begin to see His overall objective in explaining he and Apollos’s stature in the faith. They have suffered beyond belief (which he will describe in the next six passages) but he says sarcastically,

“But you guys are so lofty, why you are (first) full, and then he says, “and you are rich,” so you have no more wants, and then he says that they have actually reigned as Kings without the apostle’s influence in lofty places.

Then it seems – it seems like Paul resoftens at this point and adds:

“and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

In other words,

“I wish that you were so abundant in all spiritual things that we could hang together as brothers equal under Christ – but at the present, this doesn’t seem to be possible.

In our verses next week Paul is going to describe or actually compare the lofty sarcasms he has here with the teachers at Corinth, with what the Apostles have suffered for the cause.

We cover those then.

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