The grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. For this came--that ye may the better "be followers of me" ( 1Corinthians 4:16 ), through his admonitions. Why is it that I have not been suffered to reject the invitation of Christ to despise his grace to go on, Sunday after Sunday, hearing the Word and yet being like the deaf adder to it. I was in a beautiful garden the other day, upon the rocks, where the choicest of flowers and tropical plants are growing: while all around the rocks are bare, with scarce a trace of vegetable life Now, suppose that garden were proud, and boasted of its fruitfulness. Is it not natural that he should worship his creator? Rm nzve pedig igen csekly dolog, hogy ti tletek tltessem meg, vagy emberi [tlet]naptl; st magam sem tlem meg magamat. When we pass a prostitute in the street, we say, "O poor creature! The undesignedness of the coincidence establishes the genuineness of both the Epistle and the history. . Read full chapter. secondly, a question to be answered with shame "Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" Do you tell me that you have had a keener eye and exercised more industry than others, as well as a better judgment? Why is it that I this day am not sitting down a callous hearer, hardened under the gospel? 1 CORINTHIANS 4 COMMENTARY (ELLICOTT) - King James Bible Online and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" Not empty "speeches," but the manifest "power" of the Spirit attests the presence of "the kingdom of God" (the reign of the Gospel spiritually), in a church or in an individual (compare 1 Corinthians 2:1 1 Corinthians 2:4 , 1Thessalonians 1:5 ). 1 Corinthians 15. "Well," says one, "but wherever you have gone you have been carried by a power beyond yourself." PRIDE GROWS APACE like other ill weeds. My dear fellow, all this while you have forgotten that to wear these things in the thick of the battle, where they will bear the dint of the sword, is what awaits you, and you do not consider that, not your gallant appearance, but your velour is what we want to see. The next question is this, Have I this morning the spirit of humble gratitude? then shall every man have praise--( 1Corinthians 3:8 , 1Samuel 26:23 , Matthew 25:21 Matthew 25:23 Matthew 25:28 ). I. Some suffer greater hardships than others. 1 Corinthians 4:4 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org Proud member 2. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Try to remove those hindrances, and ask the Lord to give you more grace. But who gave him that talent? Why Are There So Many Different Bible Translations? God accept them; and dear brothers and sisters, may he bless them to you by helping you to love him more, who is my hope, my joy, my consolation, and my all. He uses, however, a stronger phrase of himself in begetting them spiritually, "In Christ Jesus," implying both the Saviour's office and person. God forgave us freely; there could not possibly have been any quality in sin which could have called forth forgiving love. I know I do; I would put a sharp pin into their downy cushions if I could: but for all that who gives us activity, who gives us usefulness, who gives us zeal, who gives us courage, who gives us everything? For he hath said "I the Lord do keep it. Hath my Lord done it? Font Size. Context Summary First Corinthians 4:1-13 begins with Paul's insistence that he is not concerned with anyone's judgment of him. One man will very soon make his way in the world where others fail. Dear brother, you have more joy than some, and possibly you feel ashamed of your fellow Christians who are so doubting and sad: beware that you do not become vain of your joy, and remember, that if your joy is true joy you received it of the Lord. Well, brother, you have a great deal more faith than others; where did you get it? Paul was a man who, as far as the Christian church is concerned, at any rate, had forced his way up without aid from others. He had mercy upon us because he would have mercy upon us; not because we could claim anything at his hand. I wish that some of the stiff-necked gentry of our churches would at times recollect this. Let us give of our substance to his cause, give of our time to his service and have our hearts in his love, and so shall we be blessed, for in returning Christ's love we shall feel that his love is shed abroad more fully in our hearts and more fully in our understandings. "Who giveth thee distinguishing and discriminating mercy?" of man's judgment--literally, "man's day," contrasted with the day ( 1Corinthians 3:13 ) of the Lord ( 1Corinthians 4:5 , 1Thessalonians 5:4 ). Equally so is it with wealth. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 11. The chazan, or "overseer," in the synagogue answered to the bishop or "angel" of the Church, who called seven of the synagogue to read the law every sabbath, and oversaw them. Do you reply, "We willed to believe in Jesus." "Faithfulness" ( 1Corinthians 4:2 ) will hereby be estimated, and the "Lord" will "justify," or the reverse ( 1Corinthians 4:4 ), according to the state of the heart. Paul is not concerned about the Corinthians' assessment of him. Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Who has led you to the stool of the penitent and the table of communion, who hath done it? You have not thought of doing anything for Christ, have you? The man who knows that the Holy Spirit was first in his operations upon the mind, and who calls Christ Jesus the Alpha and the Omega of his salvation, is the man who can fairly go to the Lord, and pray for the conversion of this man or that; and he too is sure to give God all the glory of his salvation, and magnify and bless the grace of the Most High. If you are well you must go down to the table d'hote with the rest; but if you are ill they will send it upstairs, and pay you extra attention. Passage . Let us remember, too, that whensoever we prize ourselves highly we are sure to esteem our Lord less. naked--that is, insufficiently clad ( Romans 8:35 ). They were "set forth last" in the show, to fight with wild beasts. . Criminals "condemned to die," in Paul's time, were exhibited as a gazing-stock to amuse the populace in the amphitheater. How the Corinthians should consider Paul and the apostles. This explains the imagery of Paul here. Here all judgments in general are forbidden, which would, on our part, presumptuously forestall God's prerogative of final judgment. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. judged . 1. How is it that the deacons of this church have not turned aside unto crooked ways, and denied the faith, and become worse than infidels? 1 Corinthians 4 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise) - Christianity Lord have mercy upon us. That question might well be put to each child of God here present. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11King James Version. Well, inasmuch as this wealth is a blessing if you know how to use it rightly, ascribe the possession of it to God, who has made you his steward. The Lord will judge him, and that's what matters. judge . [1] Paul continues to confront the factionalism of the Corinthian church and describes the role of an apostle . 2. Did you not receive it from him who is exalted on high to give repentance? . 4:14-21 In reproving for sin, we should distinguish between sinners and their sins. I believe there are many who are now pushed into the background and shoved into any hole and corner whom Christ looks upon with special delight, and will place first when he comes. The Lord will judge him, and that's what matters. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 103 (Vers. Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 CORINTHIANS 4 COMMENTARY (MATTHEW HENRY) - King James Bible Online 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. Have you seen a man hanged for murder? I am not conscious that I am guilty of any evil, or have neglected to fulfil faithfully the duty of a steward of Jesus Christ. I once heard one say concerning his child, "I think I must give her up, I can scarcely think she ever will be converted." How often is our blood chilled with the sound of an imprecation, and how frequently our heart is made to palpitate with the daring impieties of the blasphemous. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. One other question If all that Christians have they have received, sinner, why should not you receive as well as they? I should not dream of ascribing the man's salvation in any measure to himself. And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and. 4:1-6 Apostles were no more than servants of Christ, but they were not to be undervalued. Put him where we will, he will make his fortune; and his friends laughingly say that if he were transported to the desert of Sahara he would sell the sand at a profit. To this day they have "perils by land, and perils by sea, and perils by false brethren;" to this hour they are pinched by want, they are deserted by friends, they know what despondency means, and all the ill which dejection and disappointment can bring to them; they have dived into the lowest depths of the sea of trouble, and have walked for many a league over the hot sand of the desert of affliction. TRUE VIEW OF MINISTERS: THE JUDGMENT IS NOT TO BE FORESTALLED; MEANWHILE THE APOSTLES' LOW STATE CONTRASTS WITH THE CORINTHIANS' PARTY PRIDE, NOT THAT PAUL WOULD SHAME THEM, BUT AS A FATHER WARN THEM; FOR WHICH END HE SENT TIMOTHY, AND WILL SOON COME HIMSELF. Tools 1Co 4:3 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. These temporal mercies which I once thought so little of, I must heartily blest thee for. Tools 1Co 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4 - Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible - Bible set forth--as a spectacle or gazing-stock. But I will not name you, I censure myself if I censure you; but I will confess my own iniquities and leave you to confess yours. Never fear but we should find too many rather than too few to aid its accomplishment. If God has made you to differ, the first prayer we should now utter should be, "Lord, humble us. If you have had faith, why should you not have more? do you devote your substance unto him when no one knows it? "Who maketh thee to differ from another?" Man shrinks from too close contact with God; hence he willingly puts a priesthood between, and would serve God by deputy. 1 Corinthians 4:4 ESV For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. 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. "Oh," say you, "but our hearts were set towards salvation, and the hearts of others were not." I beseech you, my dear friend, every time you see a hardened sinner, just say within yourself,"There is the picture of what I should have been, what I must have been, if all-subduing, all-conquering love had not melted and sanctified my heart." 6. 11 Powerful Podcasts to Help Grow Your Faith. Tools 1Co 4:4 I may address some one to whom God has given large substance; but, my dear friend, in the course of the accumulation of that substance you have had plenty of evidence that "it is God that giveth thee power to get wealth." 1 Corinthians 4 - Bible Study Tools Do you not cheerfully subscribe to the doctrine that faith is of the operation of God? Open that empty hand, open that empty heart: God grant they may be opened now by his own divine Spirit, and may you receive, and then I know you will join with us in saying, "Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.". "Blessed is the man that feareth always." Will a poor sinner snatched from between the jaws of death and hell by undeserved mercy, rob God? But then I said, "There are others who have heard it, but it was not blessed to them: how came it to be blessed to me?" Alas! Even so the proud, self-righteous Pharisee cannot receive; but you poor, good-for-nothing, empty sinners can receive; and here is the mercy "to as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name." If you received it from anywhere but from God, you had better get rid of it. our answer is immediately, "God by his grace has made us to differ" and if we are asked, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" You have faith in Christ: yes, but did not the Holy Spirit work it in you? 5. Was your will influenced by some betterness of nature in you so that you can claim credit for it? "The day of man" is here put before us as a person [WAHL]. and then, thirdly, I shall occupy your attention a few minutes with other questions which these questions suggest. If it were true that Christians got these good things out of themselves, then you, poor sinner, might despair, for you know you have no good thing in you; but if the best of saints, the best Christian in heaven, has not anything but what he received, why should not you receive? Did we deserve it? . Jesus is not Alpha to you. The first is this. as though I would not come--He guards against some misconstruing (as by the Spirit he foresees they will, when his letter shall have arrived) his sending Timothy, "as though" he "would not come" (or, "were not coming") himself. "Oh that our head were waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, that we might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of our people." Paul was well aware of one fact, namely, that pride is shallow and superficial. I believe assuredly that we have nothing good in us but what we have received. Never let our songs cease, for his goodness is an ever flowing stream. "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" Go and see their poor, miserable, unfurnished rooms, their cellars and their attics, and that will be a better sermon to you than anything I can utter. This also is vanity. OTHER QUESTIONS WHICH THESE QUESTIONS SUGGEST shall now, in the third place, occupy our attention. But now, brothers and sisters, this is very emphatically true as to our spiritual gifts, and I invite you to consider this truth "What hast thou that didst not receive?" Did the worm of our corruption beget the living seed of regeneration? Jezebel also was fair to look upon, and is she to be praised? Each act that I perform is marred, either by want of prayer for a blessing upon it, by want of faith in my Lord, or by pride in looking back upon it. Has this principle guided us into becoming behaviour to all men? Book of 1 Corinthians KJV - Read the King James Bible Online Only by experimentally knowing that there has been a special work of grace in your own soul, will you be likely to place the Lord where he should be in your creed, for some provide a very inferior place for the Lord in the matter of their salvation. This question should be like a dagger put to the throat of our boasting; "and what trust thou that thou didst not receive;" it would be like a sword thrust through the heart of our self-exaltation and pride. We might have been with our father the devil at this very hour, if it had not been for Divine love. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 KJV - Therefore seeing we have this ministry Suppose a man here, who is a great pedestrian, has been over the Alps and traversed Europe; here is his walking stick, and it boasts, "I am the most traveled walking stick in creation, I have smitten the craggy brows of the Alps and bathed myself in the Nile." 1 Corinthians 4 (KJV) - Let a man so account - Blue Letter Bible What preserves the preacher this day from being a lecturer to Infidels, dishonoring the grace of God which now he glories to magnify? For instance, we were dead in trespasses and sin, and we were quickened into spiritual life: my brethren, did that life spring out of the ribs of death? The pagan (like the modern Romish) priest was rather to conceal than to explain "the mysteries of God." Have you done so? They were like the self-complacent Laodiceans ( Revelation 3:17 ; compare Hosea 12:8 ). Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content 1 Corinthians 4 King James Version 4 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Who gave you the light which illuminated your mind, so that you chose the way of life? He hath made me to differ. All Christians are not alike exposed. 3. it is a very small thing--literally, "it amounts to a very small matter"; not that I despise your judgment, but as compared with God's, it almost comes to nothing. I was admiring one of them the other day, with all the reverence due. when those whom I have loved have turned aside from the way of God, when those who have sat with us at the same table, and have joined with us in church communion, have gone out from us, and have brought dishonor upon the Church, and upon the name of Christ, there has been woe in my inmost spirit. Have you never seen the footmen of princes when they are playing the great man? 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. puffed up for one--namely, "for one (favorite minister) against another." Oh, that is because they are ill. III. From their birth some derive physical strength. Will a redeemed man rob God? Four commentaries are currently available: Matthew Henry's Commentary, Pulpit Commentary, Gill's Exposition, and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. Alive it is in the heart, and there it will be, till we die to this world and rise again without spot or blemish. Some persist in boasting about their experience. . In both, Timothy's journey is closely connected with Paul's own (compare 1Corinthians 4:19 ). I ask again, why do you pray for your children? It is a comfort that men are not to be our final judges. You have repentance of sin, but was the repentance natural to you? ( 2Corinthians 11:23-27 ). You are not a new creature, but are your own new-creator. You have seen others who were ahead of you in the race of prosperity left far behind, and though God has prospered you I know there have been anxious moments when you have had to lift up your eyes to the Most High, and beseech him by his tenderness and mercy to help and deliver you. In either of these gifts a man may take so much content as by-and-by to become vainglorious, but the truth taught in our text ought always to prevent that folly. As Paul was the means of spiritually regenerating them, and yet "baptized none of them save Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas," regeneration cannot be inseparably in and by baptism ( 1Corinthians 1:14-17 ). Ending soon! We are weak, but ye are strong. The minister's office is to "preach" (literally, "proclaim as a herald," Matthew 10:27 ) the deep truths of God ("mysteries," heavenly truths, only known by revelation), so far as they have been revealed, and so far as his hearers are disposed to receive them. 1 Corinthians 4:1 Context. Everything, dear friend, that makes you to differ from the common sinner is the gift of God's grace to you. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 KJV - Now there are diversities of gifts, but For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. "Ah," says one, "God must treat all alike." Cease, then, those mincing airs and tossings of the head. Then it is because you do not know what true beauty is? To such the music of the gospel is like singing to a dead ear, and the dropping of the word is as dew upon a rock. If not, correct your views, and get a clearer view of the gospel of grace. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. The love of God, and of our neighbour for God's sake, is patient toward all men. Should I be proud after such mercy, after such ill-deserving, but such God-receiving. . And what upholds the rest of us from being what these my reclaimed brethren once were, and what they will become again unless saving grace keeps them? tell it the wide world over. they are your own children, your husband, your wife, some of your own family, and as you look upon them, though you have longed, prayed, and wept, and sighed for their souls, you are compelled to say in your heart, "I half fear that I shall never see them converted." I am sure there is reason for some saints to eclipse others, for some professors are very poor things indeed. To cut off the green top, and leave the crown of the root so that it may spring up in the next shower, or the next sunshine, is of no avail; but to go deep down and tear up the root is effectual: this Paul did with pride by reminding the vainglorious Corinthians that the gifts which they possessed were no ground of glory, because they had received them as alms from the charity of God. I warrant you that out of all the people in London there is not a man but what could receive. How is it that the minister has not forsaken his profession, and gone back like a dog to his vomit, and like the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire? The result which necessarily followed from this weakness and trembling was that neither his "speech" ( i.e., the style of his teaching), nor his "preaching" ( i.e., the subject-matter of his teaching) were of such a kind as to appeal to the natural tastes of the Corinthians. Oh that we had the good spirit of the ancient church, the spirit to propagate our Christianity everywhere. Paul had a just concern for his own reputation, but he knew that he who chiefly aimed to please men, would not prove himself a faithful servant of Christ. You know it is. . My object this morning shall be to attempt to do with our own pride what Paul sought to do with that of the Corinthians, namely, to go a little deeper than we generally go when measuring our own abilities; and then I shall try to use the silver spade of the doctrines of grace, so that this hemlock of pride may be taken up by the roots. Paul set himself very earnestly to deal with this disease when he saw it raging among the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 4:7 . Translate, "My son, beloved and faithful in the Lord." We shall not be puffed up for one against another, if we remember that all are instruments, employed by God, and endowed by him with various talents. 1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 Corinthians 4 Commentary - King James Version Bible . Pride is the inherent sin of man, and yet it is of all sins the most foolish. While I was looking on with due wonder and reverence, somebody cruelly remarked, "What a flunkey!" Covet earnestly the best gifts. 1 Corinthians 13:4 Commentaries: Love is patient, love is kind and is 1 Corinthians 4:15. O Lord, if thou hast melted this metal heart, and dissolved this stony soul, thou canst break anything. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet. That which puffs up is not of God, but that which lays the man low, and exalts Jesus Christ, has at least two of the tokens of truth. I have not found, as a matter of fact, that any Christian people care seriously to quarrel with a ministry which contains these two truths in fair proportions. These very comforts that God gives you ought to make you enquire whether there is not something amiss with you, and instead of thinking you are strong and well you should search and see if there is not some weakness which the Lord in his mercy intends to remove by the double comforts which he gives to you. 16. be ye followers of me--literally, "imitators," namely, in my ways, which be in Christ ( 1Corinthians 4:17 , 1Corinthians 11:1 ), not in my crosses ( 1Corinthians 4:8-13 , Acts 26:29 , Galatians 4:12 ). while you stand then and think on that region of death, despair, and damnation, recollect that you would have been there if it had not been for sovereign grace.
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