Commentary on Paul’s Letters to the Corinthian Church
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Ideal for those getting acquainted with our thought process at Ammi Ruhama Community.
1 Corinthians 4:6-13
6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,[a] that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
1 Corinthians 4:6-13 English Standard Version
And Would That You Did Reign
The Corinthian believers have everything that Paul and the rest of the Apostles pushing the borders of Christ’s influence on the earth could use. Besides for the wisdom of Christ, they have full access to the whole body of Christ, they are wealthy, they are well liked and they reportedly, ‘live like kings’. Paul’s situation is entirely different, and because of this he says that he wishes that the Corinthian believers were actually ruling–that they were full of the Spirit and using their influence for Christ and for obedience and unity’s sake because then the apostles would be ruling vicariously through them and with them and Paul would be comforted in his infliction knowing that his children were living lives of obedience to the Spirit and to Christ. But, he says, ‘you have everything you ever wanted’. They used the name of Christ to boost their own names, their own wealth and their own reputations. They aligned themselves with the apostle or teacher who seemed like the wisest according to the ways of the world and co-opted the gospel of Christ to suit their own means. They claimed that the table and house was theirs and so were found to be unfaithful Stewards. Paul will now address them as his children in the next section pleading for their repentance and return to the simple gospel they received from their spiritual father.
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