《The Biblical Illustrator – 1 Corinthians (Ch.4~7)》(A Compilation)
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-21
Verses 1-5
1Corinthians 4:1-5
Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
The ministry
So keenly alive is Paul to the danger and folly of party-spirit, that he has still one more word of rebuke to utter.
I. Paul and the rest were servants and stewards.
1. The question therefore was, were they faithful? not, were they eloquent or philosophical? Criticism no preacher need expect to escape. Sometimes one might suppose sermons were of no other use than to furnish material for discussion. But who shall say which style is most edifying to the Church and which teacher is most faithfully serving his Master?
2. With him who is conscious that he must give account to his Master, “it is a very small thing to be judged of man’s judgment,” whether for applause or condemnation. A teacher who thinks for himself is compelled to utter truths which he knows will be misunderstood by many; but so long as he is conscious of his fidelity this does not trouble him. And, on the other hand, the applause of men comes to him only as a reminder that there is no finality in man’s judgment, and that it is only Christ’s approval which avails to give permanent satisfaction.
II. Great difficulty has always been experienced in tracing the similarities and distinctions between the apostles and the ordinary ministry, and had Paul been writing in our own day he would have spoken more definitely. For what makes union hopeless in Christendom at present is not that parties are formed round individual leaders, but that Churches are based on diametrically opposed opinions regarding the ministry itself.
1. As in the State a prince, though legitimate, does not succeed to the throne without formal coronation, so in the Church there is needed a formal recognition of the title which any one claims to office.
2. It would therefore seem to be every one’s duty to inquire, before he gives himself to another profession or business, whether Christ is not claiming him to serve in His Church.
III. Paul concludes this portion of his Epistle with a pathetic comparison of his condition as an apostle with the condition of those in Corinth who were glorying in this or that teacher (1Corinthians 4:8). With the frothy spirit of young converts, they are full of a triumph which they despise Paul for not inculcating. While they thus triumphed, he who had begotten them in Christ was being treated as the offscouring and filth of the world.
1. Paul can only compare himself and the other apostles to those gladiators who came into the arena last, after the spectators had been sated with bloodless performances (1Corinthians 4:9). While others sat comfortably looking on, they were in the arena, exposed to ill-usage and death. Life became no easier, the world no kinder, to Paul as time went on (1Corinthians 4:11). Here is the finest mind, the noblest spirit, on earth; and this is how he is treated. And yet he goes on with his work, and lets nothing interrupt that (1Corinthians 4:12-13). Nay, it is a life which he is so far from giving up himself, that he will call to it the easy-going Christians of Corinth (1Corinthians 4:16).
2. And if the contrast between Paul’s self-sacrificing life and the luxurious life of the Corinthians might be expected to shame them into Christian service, a similar contrast should accomplish some good results in us. Already the Corinthians were accepting that pernicious conception of Christianity which looks upon it as merely a new luxury. They recognised how happy a thing it is to be forgiven, to be at peacewith God, to have a sure hope of life everlasting. As yet they had not caught a glimpse of what is involved in becoming holy as Christ is holy. Are there none still who listen to Christianity rather as a voice soothing their fears than as a bugle summoning them to conflict? Paul does not summon the Church to be outcast from all joy; but when he says, “Be ye followers of me,” he means that there is not one standard of duty for him and another for us. All is wrong with us until we are made somehow to recognise that we have no right to selfishly aggrandise while Paul is driven through life with scarcely one day’s bread provided. If we be Christ’s, as Paul was, it must inevitably come to this with us: that we cordially yield to Him all we are and have. If our hearts be His, this is inevitable and delightful; unless they be so, it is impossible, and seems extravagant.
3. It was Christ’s own self-sacrifice that threw such a spell over the apostles and gave them so new a feeling towards their fellow-men and so new an estimate of their deepest needs. After seeing how Christ lived, they could never again justify themselves in living for self. And it is because we are so sunk in self-seeking and worldliness that we continue so unapostolic.
4. It might encourage us to bring our life more nearly into the line of Paul’s were we to see clearly that the cause he served is really inclusive of all that is worth working for. We can scarcely apprehend this with any clearness without feeling some enthusiasm for it. You have seen men become so enamoured of a cause that they will literally sell all they have to forward it, and when such a cause is worthy the men who adopt it seem to lead the only lives which have some semblance of glory in them. Our Lord, by claiming our service, gives us the opportunity of sinking our selfishness, which is in the last analysis our sin, and of living for a worthier object than our own pleasure or our own careful preservation. When He tells us to live for Him and to seek the things that are His, He but tells us in other words and in a more attractive and practical form to seek the common good. We seek the things that are Christ’s when we act as Christ would act were He in our place. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The true estimate of the Christian ministry
I. Its undue glorification. The Christian minister may be made an idol of--
1. By party worship of the man. This was the particular danger here. Let us take the cases the apostle selects (1Corinthians 4:6) as specimens of all.
(a) Every man has but one mind, and must, therefore, repeat himself.
(b) That which has won attachment from his congregation can scarcely be made subordinate in subsequent teaching without losing that attachment; so that ministers and congregations often narrow into a party, and hold one truth especially.
And so far they do well; but when they hold that truth to the exclusion of all other truths it is not well; and then, when with bitter and jealous antagonism, party-men watch all other religious factions but their own, the sectarian work is done: the minister is at once the idol and the slave of the party.
2. By attributing supernatural powers and imaginary gifts to the office. When one claiming the power of the keys, and pretending to the power of miraculous conveyance of grace in the sacraments; or, declaring that he has an especial power to receive confession and to forgive sins; then, grave men, who would turn contemptuously from the tricks of the mere preacher, are sometimes subdued before those of the priest. And yet this is but the same thing in another form; for pride and vanity sometimes appear in the very guise of humility. Who would not depreciate himself if, by magnifying his office, he obtained the power he loved? Bernard, professing to be unsecular, yet ruled the secular affairs of the world, and many others have reigned in their sackcloth with a power which the imperial purple never gave.
II. Its depreciation.
1. There is a way common enough in which the minister is viewed simply as a very useful regulation, on a par with the magistracy and the police. In this light his chief duty is to lecture the poor, and of all the texts which bear on politics to preach from only two, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s,” and, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers”; to be the treasurer of charitable institutions, and to bless the rich man’s banquet. Thus the office is simply considered a profession, a “living” for the younger branches of noble houses, and an advance for the sons of those of a lower grade. In this view a degrading compact is made between the minister and society. If he will not interfere with abuses and only echo current conventionalisms, then shall there be shown to him the condescending patronage which comes from men who standby the Church as they would stand by any other old time-honoured institution; who would think it ill-bred to take God’s name in vain in the presence of a clergyman, and unmanly to insult a man whose profession prevents his resenting indignities. Now it is enough to quote the apostle’s view (1Corinthians 4:1), and at once you are in a different atmosphere of thought.
2. The other way is to measure, as the Corinthians did, teachers by their gifts, and in proportion to their acceptability to them. Men seem to look on the ministry as an institution intended for their comfort, for their gratification, nay, even for their pastime. In this way the preaching of the gospel seems to be something like a lecture, professional or popular; a free arena for light discussion and flippant criticism. Now St. Paul (1Corinthians 4:3) simply refuses to submit his authority to any judgment; and this you will say, perchance, was priestly pride. It was profound humility; hewas to be judged before a tribunal far more awful than Corinthian society. Fidelity is the chief excellence in a steward, and fidelity is precisely that which men cannot judge (1Corinthians 4:4-5). Another Eye had seen, and He could tell how far the sentence was framed for man’s applause; how far the unpleasant truth was softened, not for love’s sake, but simply from cowardice; how far independence was only another name for stubbornness; how far even avoidance of sectarianism is merely a proud resolve not to interfere with any other man’s ministry, or to allow any man to interfere with his.
Conclusion: Learn--
1. Not to judge, for we do not know the secrets of the heart. We judge men by gifts, or by a correspondence with our own peculiarities; but God judges by fidelity. Many a dull sermon is the result of humble powers, honestly cultivated, whilst many a brilliant discourse arises merely from a love of display. Many a diligent and active ministry proceeds from the love of power.
2. To be neither depressed unduly by blame nor to be too much exalted by praise. Man’s judgment will not last, but God’s will. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The character of gospel ministers
I. The character of gospel ministers.
1. They areministers of Christ.
(a) As to their temporal concerns, that they may be subsisted in His service, He has ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And He takes care, in His providence, to protect them from the rage of their enemies, so long as He has any work to do by them (Acts 18:9-10).
(b) And as to their gifts and graces, He is exalted to fill the officers of His Church with such supplies as are necessary for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:7); He distributes His gifts with great variety for different administrations by His Spirit (1Corinthians 12:11); and is with them alway to the end of the world.
2. They are stewards of the mysteries of God.
(a) They were secret in God till He revealed them, first more obscurely under the Old Testament and afterwards more clearly under the New (Romans 16:25-26).
(b) And even after these things are revealed in New Testament light there are mysteries in them still, especially with relation to the manner of their existence or of their operation (1Timothy 3:16; John 3:8).
(c) After all the revelation which is made of them unrenewed souls do not see their excellence and beauty till Christopens their understandings to understand the Scriptures, and they come to view them in the transforming light of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 2:14).
(a) They are not lords of the affairs which are under their management. A steward is but a servant to his Lord, and under Him; and so are all the ministers of Christ (Matthew 23:10). They are not authors of the mysteries they dispense, but are to preach only that gospel which they have received from Him.
(b) Their stewardship intimates that what they are concerned in is committed to them as a trust, which they must give an account of to God (1Corinthians 9:16-17; 2Timothy 1:13-14).
(c) Their stewardship intimates that faithfulness, care, and diligence are to be used in discharging their trust (1Corinthians 4:2). They must be faithful to Christ, to truth, and to their own and others’ souls.
II. The regard that is to be shown to gospel ministers. “Let a man so account of us,” &c. You should consider them all--
1. As servants and stewards, that you may not raise them too high in your account of them.
2. As the servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, that you may not sink them too low in your account of them. (J. Guyse, D. D.)
A true and a false estimate of genuine ministers of the gospel
Here we have--
I. A true estimate.
1. They are servants of Christ. There are some who regard them as servants of their Church. The Churches guarantee their stipend, and they require that their dogmas shall be propounded and their laws obeyed. He who yields to such an expectation degrades his position. The true servant of Christ will feel and act as the moral leader and commander of the people. “Obey them that have the rule over you,” &c. There is no office on this earth so dignified and royal as this.
2. As servants of Christ they are responsible. “Stewards of the mysteries of God.” The gospel is a mystery not in the sense of incomprehensibility, but in the sense of progressive unfoldment. It is a mystery to the man who at first begins its study, but as he gets on it becomes more and mere clear. The true minister is to translate these mysteries into intelligible ideas, and dispense them to the people. As a steward of such things his position is one of transcendent responsibility.
3. As servants of Christ they are faithful--
4. As servants of Christ they are independent (1Corinthians 4:3). Whilst no true minister will despise the favour or court the contempt of men, they will not be concerned about their judgment so long as they are faithful to God Paul indicates three reasons for this independency.
(a) There is a period appointed for that judgment.
(b) At that period there will be a full revelation of our characters.
(c) At that period, too, every man shall have his due.
II. A false estimate (1Corinthians 4:6). Paul speaks of himself and Apollos to show the impropriety of one minister being pitted against another. The Corinthians seemed to estimate ministers--
1. In proportion as they met their views and feelings. Every true preacher preaches the gospel as it has passed through his own mind, and as it passes through his own mind, it will, of course, be more interesting to the minds most in harmony with his own. Hence, in the Corinthian Church those who preferred Peter’s preaching thought no one was like Peter, &c. It is so now. Thus it is that some of the most inferior preachers are over-rated, and the most devoted degraded; whereas all true ministers are “servants of Christ,” the “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and as such should be honoured.
2. According to the greatness of their natural endowments (1Corinthians 4:7). Between the natural endowments of Paul, Apollos, and Peter there was a great difference, and, indeed, between all ministers of the gospel. But what of that? There is nothing in those for boasting, for they all came from God. No man or angel deserves credit on account of natural abilities. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The ministerial trust
Aparty in the Church at Corinth said they were of Christ. They pretended to be so much under His immediate influence that they had no need of other teachers. “What,” said they, “is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas to us? We are of Christ.” For the reproof and instruction of such, as thus undervalued, as well as for the reproof and instruction of the other parties who were disposed to exalt the ministers of Christ, the apostle says, “Let a man,” &c.
I. Stewards fill an honourable but subordinate office.
1. A steward is set over a certain household for the purpose of superintending its affairs. Sustaining, then, the character of rulers in God’s house, and representatives of the majesty of heaven, the office with which ministers of the gospel are clothed must be an honourable one. The apostle, humble as he was, magnified his office, and enjoined that it should be respected and esteemed by others.
2. But the office is no less subordinate; it is held under him who is the lord of the steward. In correspondence with this, ministers are but servants of Christ. Sovereignty in the holy hill of Zion is that glory which He will not give to another. From Him they receive their appointment and all those qualifications which are necessary for the effectual discharge of their office. He, too, allots them their respective fields of labour, and assigns the measure of their success.