June 14 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 4:6-13 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. 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? 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. For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

Paul has been warning the Corinthian church against being divided based upon the "leaders" that they were choosing to follow. In verse 6 he is saying that he has used himself and Apollos as examples, but the implication is that there were many more divisions in the church than just the factions that bore their two names. The purpose of the entire discussion has been to show these believers that they ought to be careful about how they think about those who minister to them. He warns them "not to think of men above that which is written." The Scriptures teach how the church should feel about its pastor. I Thessalonians 5:12-13 says,

"And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake."

"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."

"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation".

Paul rebukes them through the use of three questions in verse 7. "Who made you different from others" carries the idea of "What makes you think that you are better than everyone else?" If they were to attempt to give some answer to that, Paul's next question was, "So, that thing that makes you feel superior, didn't Someone give that to you?" The answer to that would have to be "Yes", because every good gift comes from God (James 1:17). His follow-up question to that is, "If it was given to you, then why do you feel so superior and boast as if you had done it yourself?" This is a good challenge for every believer. It is very easy to start thinking of ourselves as being something special, and yet that talent or position or accomplishment which we boast about was given to us by God. Therefore we have no reason to exalt ourselves. God alone deserves the praise, and all we can do is thank Him for the wonderful blessings He has given us.

Over the next couple days we will look at verses 8-13. When commenting on these verses, Albert Barnes wrote,

"This is a most pungent and cutting sarcasm uttered against the false and self-confident teachers in Corinth. The design is to contrast them with the apostles; to show how self-confident and vain the false teachers were, and how laborious and self-denying the apostles were, and to show to them how little claim they had to authority in the church."

"Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us:"

"These Corinthians were so filled with conceit they acted like they were kings already reigning with Christ. They thought themselves to be something special. They thought they had learned all truth and there was nothing Paul or anyone else could teach them that they didn’t know already."

Tomorrow we will continue with this passage.