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?The Biblical Illustrator - 1 Corinthians (Ch.4~7)?(A Compilation) 04 Chapter 4 Verses 1-21
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Verses 1-5
1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians
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
(1 Corinthians 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 peace
with 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 (1 Corinthians 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 stand by 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
(1 Corinthians 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