The Apostles Made a Spectacle to the World (1 Corinthians 4:7–16)

1 Cor. 4:7. For who sees any distinction in you? And what have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?

When it became clear to whom the previous words were directed, and the hidden rebuke was shown to aim at preventing them from glorying over one another, the guilty could not escape, then the rebuke itself falls upon them with full force. The Apostle abandons the rest and presses the leaders, with the particular thought that when they return to humility in mind and deed, all those led by them will also humble themselves, watching them. “Here, leaving the subordinates, he turns again to the leaders. And the meaning of his words is as follows: how do you know that you deserve praise? Was there judgment? Was examination and investigation and careful scrutiny performed? You cannot say this. If people judged thus, their judgment is uncertain (“discerns”—διακρινει, distinguishes, differentiates). Let us suppose that you do deserve praise, that you truly have gifts and that human judgment is not false: even then you should not be high-minded. You have nothing from yourself, but received everything from God. Why do you present yourself as having what you have not (from yourself and for yourself)? What you have, others have with you as well (for it was given for them). You received everything you have, and not just certain particular gifts. Your excellences come not from you but from God’s grace. Do you point to faith?—it comes from calling; do you point to forgiveness of sins, to gifts, to the ability to teach, to virtues?—you received all of it from there. Tell me then, what do you have that you did not receive? And have you achieved it by yourself? You cannot point to anything. You received, and yet you are puffed up? In this case you ought to be humbled, because what was given does not belong to you but to the Giver. If you received, you received from Him; if you received from Him, you received what is not your own; if you received what is not your own, why are you puffed up as though you have everything from yourself? Therefore the Apostle adds: ‘and if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?’ Thus, having proven his thought consecutively, he further shows that much is still lacking in them, and says: if you had even received everything, still you should by no means boast, because all of this is not yours; but you do not even have much now. At the beginning he hinted at this when he said: ‘I could not speak to you as spiritual people’ (1 Cor. 3:1), but here he impresses it upon them with reproach and says” (St. Chrysostom):

1 Cor. 4:8. You are already satisfied! You are already rich! Without us you have begun to reign! And I would that you had begun to reign, so that we might reign with you!

“See”—how is it that you are already “satisfied” and have “become rich”! You have not yet tasted the beginning of the fruits of faith, yet you are already satisfied; you have not yet acquired a small portion of Christian knowledge and Christian virtues, yet you already count yourselves rich? How does this accord with anything? On the other hand, he rebukes pride: in the previous place he rebuked it by showing it claims what was given; here he rebukes it by showing it always proceeds from harmful self-deception, from the feeling of self-satisfaction: the enemy puts into the head the thought that what exists is so abundant that nothing more is desired. There remains only to enjoy and to adorn oneself with wreaths of praise, or rather to weave for oneself self-congratulations, and as a result to rise above others, looking down on them. Since such a disposition is very ridiculous in its nature, the Apostle uses irony to destroy it. “‘See, you are already satisfied.’ The Apostle used the word “see” (look how, you are already satisfied) not without purpose, but proves by the very timing how groundless and foolish their opinion is. He speaks to them ironically: you have reached the end so quickly! This could not have been the case in time itself; perfection is in the future; to be content with little is the mark of a weak soul; to count oneself rich when having little is characteristic of a sickly and wretched soul; piety is insatiable; to consider oneself having received everything at the beginning and having achieved the end only at the start belongs to a childish mind.” (St. Chrysostom).

“Without us you have begun to reign.” “We are still suffering hardship, enduring suffering for the sake of preaching, while you have already enjoyed the kingdom” (Theodoret). One must understand “as though” here. You conduct yourselves as though you have already reigned, as though the kingdom of glory has come, crowns have been distributed, the blessed celebration has begun. But how can this be without us? We labor, bear all kinds of deprivations, while you have already entered the kingdom as though! The Apostle displays the absurdity of the thought of the proud, that they already have everything in abundance and have nothing more to labor for. He says here: now is the time of labor and sweat; it is absurd to behave as though you already hold the kingdom in your hands. Or there may be this meaning here: we labored both over you and over those you gathered to yourselves, and you have entered our labor and manage it for yourselves as though you were true kings. Everyone has turned to you, we have been pushed out of notice, as though we did not exist, and we mean nothing, although your doctrines are adorned with our names. But the first meaning is more direct.

“And I would that you had begun to reign!”—“The irony has ended; the Apostle expresses his true disposition toward them, and speaks as if to say: in this regard I not only do not envy you but wish that you might be deemed worthy of such a good” (Theodoret). “And so that these words might not seem irony, he continues: ‘so that we might reign with you.’ Then, he says, we too would receive this good!” (St. Chrysostom). “By this the Apostle expressed the immeasurability of his humility. Christ truly reigns; His servants are participants in His kingdom; but the Apostle, intending to humble their arrogance by his own humility (the leaders of the factions), used such an expression” (Theodoret). “As if to say: for your sake the kingdom would be given to us as well; perhaps we too would not be deprived of such a good. For it is right for teachers to be where the disciples are—not lagging behind them. Or thus: we would reign with you in you, that is, your glory is our glory. Honor comes to teachers when disciples stand high” (Oecumenius and Theophylact). The following words require us to complete: but this cannot be now. We would wish that you were already in the kingdom, as it were, so that we too might be there with you, but the time is not yet. Now is the time of labors, sorrows, deaths.

The thought of this passage is somewhat dark. It is not clear what the Apostle wished to convey by it.

Some think that in this section the irony begun before continues; others think that the Apostle intentionally presented a picture of the sorrowful and humbled condition of himself and all the Apostles and attributed the cause of this condition to a special intention of God—so that those who have not yet purified themselves from proud worldly views would not look upon him and the other Apostles with contempt and would not disparage them for this. The latter seems to go more directly. But one can see the former in certain expressions as well. Thus both understandings of this section can be reconciled.

1 Cor. 4:9. For I think that God has made us Apostles last, as men condemned to death, for we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.

“For”—because—the reason for the unspoken thought. We wish you to reign, so that we too might reign with you; but the time is not right. For this present time is of this sort: sorrows, deaths, deprivations. And this by God’s intention. God has so ordained. “I think”—I am certain, that is—I see. He wishes to say: for it is obvious that it pleased God to reveal us Apostles as last—last in lot. It pleased God that we be in the very last and lowly lot, that we be like men condemned to death and given over to shame, for example like those who are given as food to beasts. That this is so, observe what we are.—“We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.” A spectacle—a sight—not for glory but for humiliation and utter degradation, although in the spiritual sense this is glorious and magnificent. We select certain positions from St. Chrysostom: “The Apostle speaks as if to say: I proclaim that the present time is not the time of honors and glory, but of persecutions and sorrows. I see that we Apostles are the most despised of all and condemned to bear constant hardships. Those who sow the preaching of piety, God has revealed last, as condemned to death as it were, that is, as if condemned to death and worthy of every sort of death. —‘For we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.’ What does it mean: ‘we have become a spectacle to the world’?—Not in a hidden place, he says, and not in a small part of creation do we undergo this, but everywhere and in the presence of all. And what does ‘and to angels’ mean? One can be a spectacle to people but not to angels when what is done is unimportant; but our, he says, exploits are such that they are worthy of being a spectacle even to angels (despite the fact that by appearance they are so degrading). They turn the gaze upon themselves not only of people but of the entire host of angels. ‘For our struggle’ is not with people but with the powers without body (Eph. 6:12), and therefore a great multitude of spectators looks upon us.”

But the Apostles are such, that is, so humiliated and unfortunate only in appearance; in reality what they accomplish has worldwide significance. People not enlightened by grace do not see this; those enlightened can see it if they cast aside worldly notions of brightness or lack of brightness in external conditions; but angels certainly see it. The evil ones see it because their kingdom is being destroyed, and the good ones see it because their work is to assist in spreading the kingdom of good, which is always their joy.

1 Cor. 4:10. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are dishonored.

Our deprivations, sorrows, and condemnings to death are a good to the world—not external but spiritual and eternal. Proof of this is you yourselves. “We are fools for Christ’s sake,”—“we preach what the unbelievers consider foolishness” (Theodoret). For our preaching about Christ the Lord Crucified, everyone considers us mad. And let them; we do not regard it, for we are certain that this foolishness is true wisdom for those who receive our word with faith. You know this from experience. You received our word, believed, cleaved to the Lord, and became wise concerning Christ, wise with the true wisdom which no one in the world possesses except believers. See how everything became clear to you; you know that God exists, what this world is, how it began and how it will end, what man is and what his purpose is, where evil comes from and how to heal it, and so on. Who in the world knows this as you do?!

“We are weak, but you are strong.” Here too, as in the first statement, a completion must be understood: we are weak for Christ’s sake, but you are strong concerning Christ. We are weak for Christ’s sake in that we are persecuted, beaten, put in prisons; we have no external force in us, just as we have no external wisdom. But to those who follow our teaching we impart moral strength which no worldly force can overcome. You know this from yourselves. As soon as you decided to follow the Lord, taking His cross with firm resolve to fulfill His commandments, and were baptized, you immediately received new life, and through the laying on of my hands the grace of the Holy Spirit, Which poured out in you moral strength, invincible against the passions rising up in you, against the allurements of the world drawing you, against the enemy struggling against you. Thus you became strong concerning Christ. Such strength exists nowhere in the world, and cannot be obtained anywhere except in the faith we preach.

“You are honored, but we are dishonored.” And here too it must be completed: we are dishonored for Christ’s sake, but you are honored concerning Christ. This is nothing new, but as it were a conclusion from what precedes. What honor is there when you are considered mad everywhere, persecuted from city to city and from village to village, beaten and put in prisons? By this the Apostle speaks as if to say: thus we are dishonored for Christ’s sake. But accordingly, in the first statement too the same conclusion must be seen: thus you are honored concerning Christ, honored with true knowledge and moral perfection, honored with inner glory, which is the beginning and earnest of eternal glory concerning Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Cor. 4:11–12. To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.

We are appointed not only to bring such a good to you but to distribute it throughout the world, so as to communicate it to all capable of receiving it. But since for this, not only at first but always we must be in a humiliated state by God’s ordinance, we, as we began, continue to this day to lead the last lot, as men condemned to death. To this very hour “we are hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed.” Not that we go without clothes, do not drink or eat, but we are clothed as it happens, having no clothes in reserve except that which we wear according to the Lord’s commandment; we eat and drink, also as it happens, and because of this we are often without food and drink. The Apostle wishes to say that the satisfaction of these first bodily needs in their case is the most meager and does not constitute the object of their care and concern, but is provided as God sends it.

Clothing and food come to us meagerly, while for dwelling we have nothing at all, we have nowhere to lay our heads: “we are buffeted and homeless.” “Buffeted”—κολαφιζομεθα—expresses when someone is driven out of a house. “Homeless”—αστατουμεν—there is no place to stop for the night or for rest. Everywhere we are driven, pushed, and we move from place to place.

“And we labor, working with our own hands.” But wherever we happen to stop, we are not a burden to anyone, and immediately set about work, so as to earn our sustenance by our labor.

What a heavy lot! But in the confidence that God has so ordained it, and in the conviction that the salvation of the world cannot be arranged any other way, and for this very reason the Lord Himself had nowhere to lay His head, we bear our lot with equanimity and with joy—“not only do we not complain, but we rejoice, and to those who do us evil we repay with good” (St. Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 4:12–13. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.

We are reviled and cursed, but we bless them, speak kind words to them; we are persecuted with hostility, but we bear it with equanimity, without anger, not breaking love and not allowing movements of vengeance; we are slandered—βλασφημουμενοι—cursed, they not only scornfully revile us but call heaven’s wrath upon us as upon worthless people, but we entreat—παρακαλουμεν—we beseech, it is understood, God: they call down punishment from heaven upon us, but we ask God for all His mercy upon them.

1 Cor. 4:13. When slandered, we entreat; we have become as the filth of the world, the refuse of all things, until now.

“As the filth”—περικαθαρμα—“of the world, we have become,” “that is, we are no different from what is thrown out of houses as superfluous, whether vegetable peelings or something else similar. Thus most people consider us unimportant” (Theodoret). Like dirt which is swept out of a house into the yard, and then swept away from the yard, so we are swept away from everywhere, and they wish to sweep us out of the world altogether. “The refuse of all things”—(περιψημα)—this very dirt, thrown out and trampled by all, without any caution and any concern.

It is impossible to say anything more degrading than this.

What must those Corinthians have felt when they said: Paul is invisible, poor, lives by his own hands, and the like—Apollos is better? But Apollos did not endure what holy Paul endured, both in other places and in Corinth; and this was for God’s work, of which they themselves had become participants. They could not help but feel that what they thought was a disadvantage in holy Paul was an advantage such as nothing in Apollos or anyone else like us could compare to.—Both shame and sorrow!

1 Cor. 4:14. I do not write this to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

“I am not saying this to shame you, he says. But shame has already been produced. Therefore he wishes to express by this: not with an evil, not with a hateful intention did I do this. For, having spoken a word, to justify it by intention—this is an excellent method of healing. It was impossible not to speak, for otherwise they would have remained uncorrected; but having spoken, to leave the wound without treatment would also be dangerous; therefore after the rebuke he justifies himself. This does not only fail to destroy the effect of the treatment applied, but even embeds it more deeply, and at the same time alleviates all the pain of the wound, for the listener, knowing that this is spoken not with anger but with love, more readily receives correction. Nevertheless great is the rebuke and reproach here. He speaks not as a teacher, not as an Apostle—which would express dignity—but as a father: ‘as my beloved children I admonish you.’ Not simply ‘children’ but ‘beloved.’ Forgive me, he says, if anything has been said that is unpleasant, it came from love. He did not say: I rebuke, but ‘I admonish’—I give instruction. Who would not listen to a father lamenting and offering helpful counsel? Therefore he said this not first, but after he had already struck the blow” (St. Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 4:15. For though you have countless teachers in Christ, you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have fathered you through the Gospel.

“Other teachers the Apostle called guardians, but himself a father, because he first brought them the Gospel teaching” (Theodoret).

“Guardians are teachers who have instructed them after holy Paul. Here are understood Apollos and the Corinthian teachers themselves. At the words ‘beloved children’ someone might think: ‘What then? Do not others love us?’—The Apostle answers as it were: they do love, but not as I do. They are guardians—pedagogues, but I am a father. As in regard to children there is one father but many guardians, and against the love of one father the affection of those many falls short, so also in regard to you” (Theophylact). “The Apostle points not to his dignity but to the excess of his love. He does not reproach other teachers, adding ‘in Christ,’ and calling them not flatterers but ‘guardians,’ indicating that they had care for you and labored for your sake; but expressed also the superiority of his love and his care for you, saying ‘you have not many fathers.’—Thus he did not wish to point them to his dignity nor remind them how much benefit they received from him, but, having agreed that other teachers too labored much for you—for such is the nature of guardians—he attributes to himself the excess of love, for such is the nature of a father. And he does not merely say that no one loves you as he does—that would not be proof—but points to the very deed. Which?—‘For in Christ Jesus I have fathered you through the Gospel.’—‘In Christ Jesus’—I do not attribute this, he says, to myself. Again he hints at those who appropriated the teaching to themselves. Later he will say: ‘you are the seal of my apostleship’ (1 Cor. 9:2); above he said: ‘I planted’ (1 Cor. 3:6); but here he says: ‘I fathered.’ He did not say: I proclaimed the word, but ‘I fathered,’ using an expression close to nature, for his aim was to express one thing—the love he bore for them. Others, receiving from me, have educated you; but that you became believers came through me. Thus, saying to them ‘as my children,’ and wishing to show that this is not flattering words, he pointed to the deed” (St. Chrysostom).

The Corinthians were “fathered,” that is, became Christians, not through preaching alone, but preaching laid the beginning of this fathering and illuminated all the production of the deed; therefore only one is mentioned. The fathering in Christ occurs thus: faith begins through the Gospel, and then, by the action of grace, is completed by it; the believer is baptized and receives new life in Christ; then this new person is anointed with the Spirit through the laying on of hands (now the chrismation). And behold the completed Christian, that is, anointed with the Spirit and become spiritually Christ’s or Christ.

1 Cor. 4:16. I urge you, then, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

An unexpected application! The reason it is hard to guess the Apostle’s direct meaning. Theodoret paraphrases this place thus: “Humble yourselves as I humble myself; endure what I endure; glory in sufferings, not in gifts.” Theophylact thus: “Imitate me in all things, be not puffed up with wisdom or wealth, and do not quarrel with brothers, but count as one thing both wisdom and wealth—to love Christ and the brothers in Christ. See what tenderness!—He entreats, not commands.”

Perhaps the Apostle wished to say only this: see then, do not separate from me in your soul, but, remaining faithful both to the teaching and to Christ’s commandments, remember me too, and do not break with me your spiritual communion and bond of heart. ‘I urge you’ stands in place of all persuasions, for when one who loves entreats about love, who can resist?

Saint Chrysostom draws from these words a universal lesson. “O, what boldness of a teacher. How faithful an image of Christ he was, if he points this out to others too. But here he does not exalt himself but shows the ease of virtue. Do not say: I cannot imitate you, you are a teacher, and a great teacher. The distance between me and you is not as the distance between me and Christ, yet I imitated Him. When he writes to the Ephesians, he does not present himself as intermediary but leads all of them directly to God: ‘be imitators of God’ (Eph. 5:1); but here, since he was addressing the weak, presents himself as intermediary. On the other hand, he shows that in this way too one can imitate Christ. For whoever imitates a faithful image imitates the original.”