1 Corinthians 4:1

Here, I. The apostle challenges the respect due to him on account of his character and office, in which many among them had at least very much failed: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God (Co1 4:1), though possibly others might have valued them too highly, by setting him up as the head of a party, and professing to be his disciples. In our opinion of ministers, as well as all other things, we should be careful to avoid extremes. Apostles themselves were, 1. Not to be overvalued, for they were ministers, not masters; stewards, not lords. They were servants of Christ, and no more, though they were servants of the highest rank, that had the care of his household, that were to provide food for the rest, and appoint and direct their work. Note, It is a very great abuse of their power, and highly criminal in common ministers, to lord it over their fellow-servants, and challenge authority over their faith or practice. For even apostles were but servants of Christ, employed in his work, and sent on his errand, and dispensers of the mysteries of God, or those truths which had been hidden from the world in ages and generations past. They had no authority to propagate their own fancies, but to spread Christian faith. 2. Apostles were not to be undervalued; for, though they were ministers, they were ministers of Christ. The character and dignity of their master put an honour on them. Though they are but stewards, they are not stewards of the common things of the world, but of divine mysteries. They had a great trust, and for that reason had an honourable office. They were stewards of God's household, high-stewards in his kingdom of grace. They did not set up for masters, but they deserved respect and esteem in this honourable service. Especially,

II. When they did their duty in it, and approved themselves faithful: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful (Co1 4:2), trustworthy. The stewards in Christ's family must appoint what he hath appointed. They must not set their fellow-servants to work for themselves. They must not require any thing from them without their Master's warrant. They must not feed them with the chaff of their own inventions, instead of the wholesome food of Christian doctrine and truth. They must teach what he hath commanded, and not the doctrines and commandments of men. They must be true to the interest of their Lord, and consult his honour. Note, The ministers of Christ should make it their hearty and continual endeavour to approve themselves trustworthy; and when they have the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of their Master, they must slight the opinions and censures of their fellow-servants: But with me, saith the apostle, it is a small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment, Co1 4:3. Indeed, reputation and esteem among men are a good step towards usefulness in the ministry; and Paul's whole argument upon this head shows he had a just concern for his own reputation. But he that would make it his chief endeavour to please men would hardly approve himself a faithful servant of Christ, Gal 1:10. He that would be faithful to Christ must despise the censures of men for his sake. He must look upon it as a very little thing (if his Lord approves him) what judgment men form of him. They may think very meanly or very hardly of him, while he is doing his duty; but it is not by their judgment that he must stand or fall. And happy is it for faithful ministers that they have a more just and candid judge than their fellow-servants; one who knows and pities their imperfections, though he has none of his own. It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men, Sa2 24:14. The best of men are too apt to judge rashly, and harshly, and unjustly; but his judgment is always according to truth. It is a comfort that men are not to be our final judges. Nay, we are not thus to judge ourselves: "Yea, I judge not myself. For though I know nothing by myself, cannot charge myself with unfaithfulness, yet I am not thereby justified, this will not clear me of the charge; but he that judgeth me is the Lord. It is his judgment that must determine me. By his sentence I must abide. Such I am as he shall find and judge me to be." Note, It is not judging well of ourselves, justifying ourselves, that will prove us safe and happy. Nothing will do this but the acceptance and approbation of our sovereign Judge. Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth, Co2 10:18.

III. The apostle takes occasion hence to caution the Corinthians against censoriousness - the forward and severe judging of others: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Co1 4:5. It is judging out of season, and judging at an adventure. He is not to be understood of judging by persons in authority, within the verge of their office, nor of private judging concerning facts that are notorious; but of judging persons' future state, or the secret springs and principles of their actions, or about facts doubtful in themselves. To judge in these cases, and give decisive sentence, is to assume the seat of God and challenge his prerogative. Note, How bold a sinner is the forward and severe censurer! How ill-timed and arrogant are his censures! But there is one who will judge the censurer, and those he censures, without prejudice, passion, or partiality. And there is a time coming when men cannot fail judging aright concerning themselves and others, by following his judgment. This should make them now cautious of judging others, and careful in judging themselves. There is a time coming when the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts - deeds of darkness that are now done in secret, and all the secret inclinations, purposes, and intentions, of the hidden man of the heart. Note, There is a day coming that will dispel the darkness and lay open the face of the deep, will fetch men's secret sins into open day and discover the secrets of their hearts: The day shall declare it. The judge will bring these things to light. The Lord Jesus Christ will manifest the counsels of the heart, of all hearts. Note, The Lord Jesus Christ must have the knowledge of the counsels of the heart, else he could not make them manifest. This is a divine prerogative (Jer 17:10), and yet it is what our Saviour challenges to himself in a very peculiar manner (Rev 2:23): All the churches shall know that I am HE who searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works. Note, We should be very careful how we censure others, when we have to do with a Judge from whom we cannot conceal ourselves. Others do not lie open to our notice, but we lie all open to his: and, when he shall come to judge, every man shall have praise of God. Every man, that is, every one qualified for it, every one who has done well. Though none of God's servants can deserve any thing from him, though there be much that is blamable even in their best services, yet shall their fidelity be commended and crowned by him; and should they be condemned, reproached, or vilified, by their fellow-servants, he will roll away all such unjust censures and reproaches, and show them in their own amiable light. Note, Christians may well be patient under unjust censures, when they know such a day as this is coming, especially when they have their consciences testifying to their integrity. But how fearful should they be of loading any with reproaches now whom their common Judge shall hereafter commend.

IV. The apostle here lets us into the reason why he had used his own name and that of Apollos in this discourse of his. He had done it in a figure, and he had done it for their sakes. He chose rather to mention his own name, and the name of a faithful fellow-labourer, than the names of any heads of factions among them, that hereby he might avoid what would provoke, and so procure for his advice the greater regard. Note, Ministers should use prudence in their advices and admonitions, but especially in their reproofs, lest they lose their end. The advice the apostle would by this means inculcate was that they might learn not to think of men above what is written (above what he had been writing), nor be puffed up for one against another (Co1 4:6). Apostles were not to be esteemed other than planters or waterers in God's husbandry, master-builders in his building, stewards of his mysteries, and servants of Christ. And common ministers cannot bear these characters in the same sense that apostles did. Note, We must be very careful not to transfer the honour and authority of the Master to his servant. We must call no man Master on earth; one is our Master, even Christ, Mat 23:8, Mat 23:10. We must not think of them above what is written. Note, The word of God is the best rule by which to judge concerning men. And again, judging rightly concerning men, and not judging more highly of them than is fit, is one way to prevent quarrels and contentions in the churches. Pride commonly lies at the bottom of these quarrels. Self-conceit contributes very much to our immoderate esteem of our teachers, as well as ourselves. Our commendation of our own taste and judgment commonly goes along with our unreasonable applause, and always with a factious adherence to one teacher, in opposition to others that may be equally faithful and well qualified. But to think modestly of ourselves, and not above what is written of our teachers, is the most effectual means to prevent quarrels and contests, sidings and parties, in the church. We shall not be puffed up for one against another if we remember that they are all instruments employed by God in his husbandry and building, and endowed by him with their various talents and qualifications.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1. Let a man so account of us] ‘Of the things of which we have spoken this is the sum.’ We are not to be regarded for any qualifications we may have of our own, but simply as ‘the servants of the Most High God.’

and stewards of the mysteries of God] Literally, house-ruler, or house feeder. Cf. German Hauswalter from walten to rule, and the English house-keeper. What a steward’s office is, we learn from St Mat_24:45. And he is appointed to dispense the mysteries of the Gospel. This word is derived from a word signifying to close, to shut, and was in the old Greek civilization used to denote those rites which were only permitted to the initiated, and were kept a strict secret from the outside world. Of such a kind were the well-known Eleusinian mysteries, which were kept every fifth year at Eleusis in Attica, the rites of the Bona Dea, which were observed at Rome, and those of Isis and Mithras, which were of Egyptian and Persian origin. (See Article “Mysteria” in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.) The word is used in Scripture in two senses, (1) for things hidden from the ordinary understanding, (2) of things formerly concealed in the counsels of God but revealed to those who believe the Gospel. We have examples of the former meaning in ch. 1Co_13:2 and 1Co_14:2 of this Epistle, in 2Th_2:7, and in Rev_1:20. The latter sense is met with in Rom_16:25; Eph_3:9; Col_1:26, &c. The present passage appears to include both meanings. The ministers of Christ are to nourish their people on the knowledge of the truths of His Gospel, a knowledge (ch. 1Co_2:10-16) revealed only to the spiritual. No instance of the word in its more modern Greek sense of Sacraments is to be found in Holy Scripture. In the Septuagint it is frequently found in the Apocrypha (as in Tob_12:7; Tob_12:11), but the only instances of its occurrence in the Canonical books are in the Septuagint translation of the book of Daniel, ch. Dan_2:18-19; Dan_2:27-30; Dan_2:47, ch. 1Co_4:9 (where it is the translation of a Chaldaic word signifying “a thing hidden,” which in our Authorized Version is translated secret) and in Isa_24:16, where, however, the translators, as those of the Vulgate, appear to have been misled by the similarity of the Chaldee word to a Hebrew one. Luther, Ewald, and the English version translate the word by ‘leanness.’ It is also found in some editions in the Greek of Pro_20:19. Cf. for similar sentiments to the above passage, Tit_1:7, and 1Pe_4:10.

Ch. 1Co_4:1-7. The true estimation of Christ’s ministers and the true criterion of their work

After having pointed out the light in which the teachers of Christianity should be regarded, the Apostle in this chapter goes on to point out the practical difference between those who preach themselves and those who preach Christ, and urges all to a life like His, that He may have no need of rebukes when He comes.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_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 mans 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 mans judgment, and that it is only Christs 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 ones 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 (1Co_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 (1Co_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 (1Co_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 (1Co_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 (1Co_4:16).

2. And if the contrast between Pauls 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 days bread provided. If we be Christs, 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 Christs 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 Pauls 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 Christs 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 (1Co_4:6) as specimens of all.

(1) Paul and Apollos each taught a truth that had taken possession of his soul, and so with modern teachers. Well, this truth commends itself to kindred spirits; it expresses their difficulties, it is a flood of light on many a dark passage of their history. No wonder that they view with gratitude and enthusiasm the messenger of this blessedness. And no wonder that the truth thus taught becomes at last the chief, almost the sole, truth proclaimed by him. Because--

(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) Now St. Paul meets this with his usual delicacy (1Co_4:6). Think you that he knew nothing of that which is so dear to many a minister in our day--the power of gaining the confidence of his people, the power of having his every word accepted as infallible? Yet hear him--I am a minister, a steward only. I dare not be a party leader, for I am the servant of Him who came to make all one.

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 Caesars, and, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; to be the treasurer of charitable institutions, and to bless the rich mans 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 Gods 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 apostles view (1Co_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 (1Co_4:3) simply refuses to submit his authority to any judgment; and this you will say, perchance, was priestly pride. It was profound humility; he was 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 (1Co_4:4-5). Another Eye had seen, and He could tell how far the sentence was framed for mans applause; how far the unpleasant truth was softened, not for loves 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 mans 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. Mans judgment will not last, but Gods will. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The character of gospel ministers

I. The character of gospel ministers.

1. They are ministers of Christ.

(1) They derive their commission from Christ (1Ti_1:12; Eph_4:8-13; Mat_28:20).

(2) They are under Christs direction and command. They ought not to go until He sends them, and they ought to go whenever and wherever His providence and the voice of His Church call them.

(3) They are employed in Christs service, to act under His authority, to publish and enforce His law and His gospel, to keep the ordinances of His house, and by all appointed means to subserve His work of grace and holiness and the interests of His kingdom and glory in the world.

(4) Christ Himself is the great subject of their ministrations. They are to preach Christ Jesus the Lord; and all the lines of their ministry are one way or another to centre in Him.

(5) They receive their furniture for Christs work, and their assistance in it, from Him.

(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 (Act_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 (Eph_4:7); He distributes His gifts with great variety for different administrations by His Spirit (1Co_12:11); and is with them alway to the end of the world.

(6) All the success and reward of their ministry proceeds from Christ. They can speak only to the ear, but He speaks to the heart, and adds such energy to their words as turns them into spirit and life.

2. They are stewards of the mysteries of God.

(1) What their stewardship relates to. The mysteries of God. The doctrines of the gospel may be called the mysteries of God on various accounts.

(a) They were secret in God till He revealed them, first more obscurely under the Old Testament and afterwards more clearly under the New (Rom_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 (1Ti_3:16; Joh_3:8).

(c) After all the revelation which is made of them unrenewed souls do not see their excellence and beauty till Christ opens their understandings to understand the Scriptures, and they come to view them in the transforming light of the Holy Spirit (1Co_2:14).

(2) Their stewardship itself.

(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 (Mat_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 (1Co_9:16-17; 2Ti_1:13-14).

(c) Their stewardship intimates that faithfulness, care, and diligence are to be used in discharging their trust (1Co_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--

(1) To their trust; not abuse it, but use it according to the directions of its Owner.

(2) To their hearers; seeking no mans applause, fearing no mans frown, commending himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God.

4. As servants of Christ they are independent (1Co_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.

(1) His own consciousness of faithfulness (1Co_4:5). Others may accuse me, but I am not conscious of that which should condemn me, or render me unworthy of this office.

(2) His confidence in the judgment of God. But He that judgeth me is the Lord. I am content to abide by His judgment.

(3) His belief in a full revelation of that judgment (1Co_4:5). Do not let us judge one another; do not let us even trust too much to our own judgment of ourselves. Let us await heavens judgment.

(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 (1Co_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 Peters 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 (1Co_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

A party 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 Gods 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.

II. Stewards have a trust committed to them. The office of a steward is to take charge of the estate of his lord. Agreeably to this, ministers of the gospel have a trust of all others the most important. Time, talents, opportunities, and spheres of usefulness are a portion of the goods committed to their charge. But the trust delivered to them is the mysteries of God, the whole of Divine truth contained in the Scriptures.

1. The gospel is denominated a mystery (Mar_4:11; Rom_16:25; 1Co_2:7; Col_1:26). Because--

(1) Its gracious doctrines would have remained hid-in the mind of God had it not pleased Him to have made a revelation of them to man.

(2) It was but obscurely and partially revealed under the Old Testament economy.

(3) It can only be properly understood through the teaching of the Spirit of God. In the gospel there is a variety of mysteries, and accordingly the word is used in the plural number. There are mysteries--

(a) Which, though disclosed in Scripture as to their existence and reality, are not level to, but far above the comprehension of a finite mind. Such are the doctrines of the Trinity.

(b) Which, having been revealed, may in some measure be understood and explained. Such are the doctrines of the fall, the atonement, justification, &c., &c.

(c) Which, though not at present comprehended by the believer, will be fully disclosed to him in heaven, to which, At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Now we see through a glass darkly, &c.

2. Of these mysteries ministers are the stewards. In making known the mysteries of the gospel, they are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.

III. Stewards are required to be faithful to their trust (1Co_4:2).

1. They are not his own, but his lords goods that a steward has in his custody, and therefore he must be careful not to embezzle or squander them, but to lay out the whole to the best advantage. In agreement with this, it is required from ministers to be found faithful.

2. No such thing as faithfulness could be displayed by a worldly steward had he no correct knowledge of the estate, or of the goods that were consigned to his care. In like manner, it is impossible that those stewards of the mysteries of God can be faithful to their trust who do not give all diligence in perusing the Scriptures, to become scribes well instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

3. It is the duty of a worldly steward to provide food for, and to distribute it among the members of the house over which he is set. In correspondence with this, it is the duty of those who are stewards of the mysteries of God to be attentive to the spiritual wants of those among whom they labour, and to make careful provision of what is requisite for the supplyment of these. Fidelity also requires an impartial distribution of the Word of Life. Saints and sinners are alike to have the Word of Truth rightly divided among them. The former need to be comforted and assisted; the latter to be cautioned and directed by it.

4. It is the duty of a worldly steward vigilantly to watch, and anxiously to protect from spoliation the property which his lord has committed to his trust. In like manner it is the duty of the stewards of Divine mysteries to watch over them, and to guard them against the attacks of their enemies.

5. The steward of the mysteries of God who is faithful to his trust must be decidedly a man of God.

IV. Stewards are accountable for the trust that has been committed to them. Both just and unjust stewards may look forward with certainty to a day of reckoning. In agreement with this, ministers of the gospel are accountable for the solemn trust which has been committed to them. An account will be demanded from them of their time, how it was spent by them--of their gifts, how they improved them--of the gospel, how they preached it--and of precious souls as to the concern manifested, and the efforts made by them for their salvation. Conclusion: Who is sufficient for these things? None, in their own strength. Your sufficiency is only of God. (J. Duncan.)

Ministers and stewards

Ministers here means under-rowers, as pulling together in one galley where Christ sits at the helm, the vessel being the Church, and the passengers the members of the Church. Not only is disunion in the crew fatal to progress and a thing tending to shipwreck, but the fact of Christs presidency and magisterium should exalt high above petty partisanship, especially when the supreme owner of the sacred galley is God. Here the house-stewards of God and dispensers of His mysteries are said to be strictly such, as being servants or underlings of Christ; for between the Father of the household or Church and the distributors of the spiritual goods stands the Son In fact the image is again a stair of three steps. The Father delivers the Divine decrees or eternal ideas, elsewhere called the hidden wisdom of God, to the Incarnate Son. He in turn communicates them to His apostles, selected by Himself to dispense and apportion with wise judgment these secret counsels or mysteries of God to the members of the household. The house of God, an idea latent in the word household, denotes the Christian theocracy (1Ti_3:16) of which Christ is the nearer Head, God (the Head of Christ) the more remote. It appears certain from some of the deeper texts of Scripture that all that has taken place in the world through all the ages is but the historical evolution in time of the manifold and marvellous counsel of Triune Deity, willed in a remote eternity. These archetypal ideas, both of creation and redemption, were in part only and by degrees revealed to Paul, and of that part he himself has communicated to the Church a part only: for that he knew more than he wrote is clear enough from his occasional ejaculations of wonder, followed by no elucidations: to such an inspired mind teeming with supernatural mysteries, no marvel that all human science pales and waxes dim before a single ray of Divine wisdom! (Canon Evans.)

The steward of Gods mysteries

The Church at Corinth were divided into rival factions, arrayed under party leaders; and unprofitable controversies and unbecoming tempers were the natural results. The idea of the Christian ministry as a Divine institution was lost sight of, while the man who held the office was invested with undue importance. St. Paul endeavours to correct this state of things by showing that the office was distinct from any qualities or attractions which might belong to the man. The apostle himself was both learned and eloquent, but this did not constitute him a minister of Christ. So far as the man was concerned, he was satisfied to be esteemed the least, and even the servant of all, but when the office was brought into view it was a different matter. A hundred men in any county, may write a better hand than the county clerk, and yet his hand and seal are indispensable for the validity of certain acts. Shall so much depend on office, in worldly things, and can it be supposed that the Divine Head of the Church has taken less precaution to secure the interests of the soul?

I. Ministers of Christ.

1. Derive their commission from Him (Joh_20:21). The apostles went forth in His name, and never pleaded any authority for what they said, or did, but His. As an ambassador is duly authorised to make and ratify treaties in his kings name and to act concerning measures involving the weal or woe of millions, so is Christs ambassador clothed with power to proclaim the terms of reconciliation with God.

2. Are rulers in Gods kingdom. All power was given unto the Saviour in heaven and earth, and this authority He dispenses to His servants, who are sent forth to execute His will. They are to awe men into obedience, not by implements of temporal dominion, but by weapons from Gods own armoury.

3. They become the comforters of the sorrowing, and physicians of the broken-hearted.

4. Intercede with God for His people. All Christians of course discharge this duty (Jam_5:16), but more especially those who are commissioned by the Most High to serve at His altar.

II. Stewards of the mysteries of God.

1. They are conservators, expounders, and dispensers of all those things once hidden, but now revealed.

2. They are the dispensers of His grace through the ordinances of the gospel.

3. As such it is required of them to be faithful--

(1) To their heavenly Master, not following ways agreeable to themselves, but meekly receiving their Lords instructions and doing their utmost to carry them into effect. Worldly hopes and fears must not influence them, and all they say and do should have reference to their final account.

(2) To their fellow-servants. Gospel ministers, says Bishop Hall, should not only be like dials on watches, or mite-stones upon the road, but like clocks and larums, to sound the alarm to sinners. Aaron wore bells as well as pomegranates, and the prophets were commanded to lift up their voice like a trumpet. A sleeping sentinel may be the loss of the city. A dying nobleman once sent for his minister, and said to him, You know that I have been living a very wicked life, and yet you have never warned me of my danger. Yes, my lord, was the constrained and sickening response, your manner of living was not unknown to me; but great personal kindness to me made me unwilling to offend you bywords of reproof. Oh, how wicked! how cruel in you! cried the dying man. The provision which I made for you and your family ought to have prompted care and fidelity. You neglected to warn and instruct me; and now, my soul is lost!

Conclusion: Christians--

1. Be thankful for the provision which has been made for your instruction and guidance.

2. Be careful to improve it. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)

Man a steward

Note--

I. The trust implied. Of what are we stewards? All, in fact, that we are and have, but sin. Health, reason, property, influence, &c., &c. All things, O Lord, come of Thee, &c., &c. This trust is--

1. Undeniable. The moral reason of humanity binds man to acknowledge that all he has he holds in trust. He is not the proprietor, but the trustee.

2. Ever-increasing. Mercies increase every hour, and with the increase obligation accumulates.

II. The trust discharged.

1. A good man uses all under a sense of his responsibility to God.

2. In the right discharge of this trust man--

(1) Blesses himself.

(2) Serves his generation.

(3) Wins the approbation of his God.

III. The trust abused. We read of some--

1. That waste their Lords goods.

2. That are unprofitable servants. Many will say unto Me in that day. (J. Harding, M. A.)

Clergy and laity

Consider--

I. What the clergy are.

1. Ministers.

(1) The word in the original signifies an under-rower. Our Lord is the Pilot of the vessel of His Church, and the clergy are the rowers under His command. He from heaven still guides his Church below; but, under His guidance, and by His own appointment, a distinct share of the work is allotted to His ministers.

(2) Strictly speaking, the clergy are not the ministers of the congregation, and it is not their primary duty to try and please the people. They are ministers of Christ; and they must count it a very small thing that they should be judged of mans judgment, remembering that He that judgeth them is the Lord.

2. Stewards. A steward is one who is appointed by an owner of estates to deal on his behalf with his tenants, manage his property, rule in his absence, dispense his bounty. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the owner of the estate of His Church, and the clergy are the officers appointed by Him to represent Him in matters affecting His people. As the power of a steward is not inherent, but only delegated, so the authority of the stewards of the mysteries of God has its origin in, and depends for its continuance on, the will of Christ their Lord. Now it is obvious that a steward--

(1) Must receive some external appointment, and must be able to produce his credentials. It is not enough that a man should call himself a steward. No man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God.

(2) Must have somewhat committed to his charge, some official acts to perform, and some bounty to dispense. And to the clergy, as stewards, are committed the mysteries of God. It is their business to defend and promulgate the truth as it is in Jesus, not preaching themselves--i.e., their own theories and fancies--but the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

(3) Is not only representative of his master to the tenants, but that equally is he representative of the tenants to his master. And so it is the high privilege of the clergy as stewards, to become intimately acquainted with the circumstances, needs, perplexities, and sorrows of Christs people; it is their duty to find out all about them and then, on their behalf, to go to the throne of grace and intercede. Certainly if the dignity of the ministers of Christ is great their responsibility is greater still.

II. How the laity should regard them--Account of them, &c. And if you do so you will--

1. Esteem them very highly, not for their own, but for their works sake. Lose sight of the man in the office, and prove your esteem by receiving at his hands the mysteries of the kingdom of God, for thus you will--

2. Encourage them. And probably there is no class of men who more greatly need encouragement. Recognising their difficulties, and wishing to encourage them, you will be led--

3. To pray for them.

(1) That the words spoken by them may have success.

(2) That they may be preserved from all the dangers peculiar to the position which they hold.

(3) Lest that by any means when they have preached to others they themselves should be castaways! (J. Beeby.)

The mysteries of God

There can be no doubt that this word mystery rouses a certain feeling of mental discomfort, almost amounting to suspicion and dislike, in the mind of an ordinary Englishman when he first hears it. In the ordinary use of language, too, the word has got into bad odour by the force of bad association. A mystery is frequently understood to mean something that will not bear the light; something that is wanting in the qualities of straightforwardness and explicitness; something that belongs to the region of charlatanism, intrigue, ignorance, superstition. It would be curious to ascertain the idea which the word mystery suggests to the first five men whom we meet in the street. One man would probably say, I mean by mystery something confused and unintelligible; and another, Something involving a plain contradiction; and another, A statement which is chiefly distinguished by its defiance of reason; and another, Some physical or even moral impossibility; and another, That which is believed to be true because there is no real reason for disbelieving it. And if these, or anything like these, are the ideas which are associated by us with the word mystery, what wonder that the word is regarded with a certain dislike and suspicion when we find it in the region of religious truth? What, then, let us ask, is the true account of this word mystery. The word mystery in the Bible is a purely Greek word, the termination only being changed. In Greece for many centuries it meant a religious or sacred secret into which, after due preparation, men were initiated by solemn rites. At Eleusis, near Athens, to give only one of the most famous examples, there were for centuries mysteries of this description, and there has been much controversy in the learned world as to their exact origin and object, the most probable account of them being that they were designed to preserve and hand on certain truths which formed part of the earliest religion of Greece, and which were lost sight of or denied, or denounced by the popular religion of a later day. A tenet thus concealed and thus disclosed was called a mystery, because, after disclosure, it was still concealed from the general public, because it had been concealed even from the initiated up to the moment of initiation, and because, probably, it was of a character to suggest that, however much truth it might convey, there was more to which it pointed, but which still remained unknown. This was the general sense which the word had acquired at the time when the New Testament was written. Now the apostles of Christ, in order to make their Divine message to the souls of men as clear as might be, took the words in common use which most nearly answered their purpose--did the best they could with them, giving them, so to speak, a new turn, inspiring them with a new and a higher significance. What, then, is the meaning of the word mystery in the New Testament? It is used to describe not a fancy, not a contradiction, not an impossibility, but always a truth, yet a truth which has been or which is more or less hidden. There are some truths on which the minds eye rests directly, just as the bodily eye rests on the sun in a cloudless sky; and there are other truths of the reality of which the mind is assured by seeing something else which satisfies it that they are there, just as the bodily eye sees the strong ray which pours forth in a stream of brilliancy from behind a cloud and reports to the understanding that if only the cloud were to be removed the sun would itself be seen. Now mysteries in religion, as we commonly use the word, are of this description; we see enough to know that there is more which we do not see, and, in this state of existence, which we shall not directly see. We see the ray which implies the sun behind the cloud. And thus to look upon apparent truth, which certainly implies truth which is not apparent, is to be in the presence of mystery. Why, it is asked, should there be in religion this element of mystery? Why should there be this outlying, this transcendental margin traced round the doctrines and the rites of Christianity--this margin within which the Church whispers of mystery, but which seems to provide a natural home for illusion? This is probably what Toland, by no means the least capable of the English deists, thought when he undertook at the beginning of the last century the somewhat desperate enterprise of showing that Christianity is not mysterious. To strip Christianity of mystery was to do it, he conceived, an essential service--to bring it, in the phraseology of his day, within the conditions of nature, within the rules of that world of sensible experience in which we live. Is it, then, the case that the natural world around us is so entirely free from that element of mystery which attaches so closely to the doctrines and the rites of Christianity? Before long spring will be here again, and probably some of you will try in some sort to keep step with the expansions of its beautiful life even here in London by putting a hyacinth bulb into a glass jar of water, and watching day by day the leaves and the bud unfold above, and the roots develop below, as the days get warmer and brighter, until at last, about Easter-time, it bursts into full and beautiful bloom. Why should the bulb thus break out into flower, and leaf, and root, before your eyes? Why, some one says, they always do. Yes, but why do they? What is the motive power at work which thus breaks up the bulb, and which almost violently issues into a flower of such beauty, in perfect conformity to a general type, and yet with a variety that is all its own? You say it is the law of growth; yes, but what do you mean by the law of growth? You do not explain it by merely labelling it--you explain neither what it is in itself, nor why it should be at work here, or under these conditions. You cannot deny its existence, and yet the moment you endeavour to penetrate below the surface it altogether eludes you. What is this but to have ascertained that here is a fact, a truth, hidden behind the cloud that is formed by the surface aspect of nature? What is this but to be in the presence of mystery? The philosopher Locke laid down the doctrine which has been often quoted since his time, that we cannot acquiesce in any proposition unless we fully understand all that is conveyed by each of its terms, and hence he inferred that when a man tells us that any mystery is true, he is stating that to which we cannot assent, because a mystery, from its nature, is said to be a hidden, and, therefore, uncomprehended truth. This, at first, seems plausible enough; but in fact we may, and do, assent reasonably enough to a great many propositions respecting the terms of which we have only an obscure or an incomplete idea. A man born blind may, I take it, reasonably assent to the descriptions of objects which we who have the blessing of sight see with our eyes, although probably no description could possibly give him an adequate impression of the reality. Locke himself, like the strong thinker that he was, admitted, could not but admit, the infinite divisibility of matter; yet had he, has any man, an adequate conception of what this means? It, too, belongs to the sphere of mystery. To treat nature as not mysterious is to mistake that superficial, thoughtless familiarity with nature for a knowledge based on observation and reflection. And the mysterious creed of Christendom corresponds with nature, which is thus constantly mysterious, while both are only what we should expect in revelation. And nature, too, in its way, is a revelation of the infinite God. Suppose, if you can, that a religion claiming to come from God were wholly divested of this element of mystery; suppose that it spoke of a God whose attributes we could understand as perfectly as the character of our next-door neighbour; and of a government of the world which presented no more difficulties than the administration of a small joint-stock company; and of prayer, and rules of worship, which meant no more than the conventional usages and ceremonies of human society. Should we not say--you and I--Certainly this is very intelligible; it is wholly free from the infection of mystery; but is it really a message from a higher world? Is it not too obviously an accommodation to our poor, dwarfed conceptions? Does it not somewhere in its system carry the trade mark of a human manufactory? After all, we may dislike and resent mystery in our lower and captious, as distinct from our better and thoughtful, moods; but we know on reflection that it is the inevitable robe of a real revelation of the Infinite Being, and that, if the great truths and ordinances of Christianity shade off, as they do, into regions where we cannot hope to follow them, this is only what was to be expected if Christianity is what it claims to be. (Canon Liddon.)

It is required in stewards that a mall be found faithful.--

Ministerial stewardship

I. Ministers the stewards of God.

1. Divinely commissioned. A call to the ministry is a call from God, or it has in it no worth or authority. Let a man possess the consciousness of this commission, then he will go forth with authority and power. Without it his lips will falter and his heart fail.

2. Divinely qualified. There must be--

(1) Mental fitness. A minister must be apt to teach.

(2) Moral fitness. The first condition is conversion of heart; the next, holiness of life. How lifeless and barren a ministry without this!

3. Divinely sustained. With all the help and happiness of such outward encouragements as it is the duty of Churches to give, ministers feel that they need Divine strength.

II. As ministers, we are entrusted with the gospel. It is our duty--

1. To expound it. Expository preaching has not received sufficient attention.

2. To apply it. It is not sufficient to elucidate the principles of the gospel, they must be enforced. The gospel--

(1) Makes known the pardon which has been provided for sinners; and it is incumbent on the stewards of God to beseech them to be reconciled to God.

(2) Is a trumpet-call to Christian perfection. To transform men we must be persuasive--intensely practical.

3. To defend it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The Christian ministry

I. The account given in the text of the nature of our office as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

1. The ministry of the word is in all essential points the same ever since it was ordained as an employment. At the same time it is plain that several circumstances attending it are considerably varied. The ordinary call to the office, which now takes place, is very different from the miraculous mission by which men were consecrated to it in former times. Their vocation was more immediate, more striking, attended with more ample powers, as well as more splendid effects. The pastors of the Christian Church, in these later ages, are neither possessed of the immediate inspiration nor of the power of working miracles enjoyed by the apostles. They are now men in all respects like yourselves. When we speak of a faithful minister we speak of the rare and happy union of ability and attention, of zeal and knowledge, of meekness and firmness, in the same character; for all these are necessary to sustain the office with propriety. And are these qualities to be attained with a slight degree of application?

2. But you are not to imagine that while such high obligations are laid on the ministers of the gospel, no duties are, on the ether hand, required of you towards those who hold that station.

(1) The same authority which lays such arduous obligations on your pastors, requires of you to entertain a spirit of equity and candour towards them.

(2) This rule of equity and candour is transgressed in a still higher degree when you expect of us to preach doctrines accommodated to your passions, or to refrain from delivering those truths which are unacceptable or alarming.

II. You are requirer to entertain a just esteem for the office and character which we bear. We claim no obsequious homage, we arrogate no dominion over your faith; but we expect that no man should despise us.

III. Make a proper improvement of the truths which we deliver. (R. Walker.)

Faithful stewardship

Consider--

I. The station which is occupied. The station of a steward--one who has a delegated authority--who acts in subserviency to another--and who is required to account for the manner in which he has conducted himself while holding that responsible station. The term applies originally to the ministers of the gospel; yet we may safely found upon them a general argument and appeal. You have each of you received various gifts, which you are to hold as stewards of God, and for which you have to render a final account.

1. Intellectual faculties.

2. Temporal blessings, such as--

(1) Property, and opulence, and rank, and those things which give men such influence in the sphere in which they move.

(2) National distinction.

(3) Civil and religious liberty.

3. Spiritual mercies.

(1) The Scriptures.

(2) Holy ordinances.

(3) The ministry of the gospel.

(4) The gift of the Spirit to convince, convert, sanctify, &c.

Every Christian attainment, hope, enjoyment, makes the person who possesses it steward, and involves the highest responsibility.

II. The character by which the occupation of this station should be attended. The steward is called upon to be faithful to his Masters property, and whatever is committed to his trust.

1. Abundant facts prove that men are generally reckless in regard to all the privileges enumerated.

2. Consider, then, in what this fidelity consists. The great basis of all duty is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, &c. Now, in order to answer to the character described in the text, there must be sincere repentance, an entire reliance on the one only foundation of hope, and an earnest striving for the salvation of the immortal soul by the diligent use of the means prescribed. It is your duty--

(1) To work out your salvation with fear and trembling. There must be employed for this every natural and intellectual power: for this Sabbaths were hallowed, the Book of God given, the ministry instituted, &c.

(2) To attend to what pertains to the Divine honour and glory in the world in which we live. While we attend diligently to the common business of life we must not forget what we owe to God, on whose bounty we live, in whose presence we stand, and before whom we must soon appear.

(3) This part of the subject may be applied--

(a) To those who occupy private stations in the Church of Christ. What have you done in the way of desire, in the way of effort, in the way of prayer?

(b) To ministers.

III. The solemn considerations by which the exhibition of such a character may be enforced. A steward must reckon on a day of final account. This will be a day of reckoning--

1. For rewards of glory.

2. For punishment also. (J. Parsons.)

Faithfulness

St. Paul accepted the full responsibility of his office. God has nowhere placed on the human heart such a high trust as the ministry of the gospel. We do not think lightly of the responsibilities of the statesman, the warrior, the philanthropist, the teacher; but the ambassador of the Cross stands in the Saviours place, and speaks in His name. On his office depends the salvation of mankind. The minister must feel the responsibility of his office, and so must those to whom he ministers. The congregation that demands topics and forms to gratify taste or emotion cannot be sensible of the fact that God speaks, and not man. Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. The man who helps sinners to build on a false foundation is a source of greater danger than the company of evildoers.

I. Let us do what we can.

1. It is possible to fancy what mighty things we would do had we the opportunity. Some thoughts of this nature must have crossed the mind of the man who received only one talent. Exchange these grated probabilities for actual possibilities. God has given us to do what we can, and expects us to do it.

2. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, &c. Look into every department of life, and see that he who has faithfully filled the humbler situation, has both fitted himself for, and been promoted to a higher. Joseph the slave became the premier of Egypt. The captive Hebrew youths were made presidents of Chaldea. The history of those men is not more marvellous than From Log Cabin to White House, or from the shoemakers bench to the mission-field of India. Seeing that the Church of Christ is burdened with duties, we long to see the day when every Christian shall be an active worker.

II. Let us do every work in its own time.

1. To-morrow will not have a moment to spare for duties that are neglected to-day. Duty says--Now or never. Nature, the lives of men of mark, and our own experience are decisive as to this. Procrastination is the thief of time. To put off duty to a more convenient season is done with impunity. Boast not thyself of to-morrow, &c. Every hour has its duty, and every duty its pleasure.

2. To further enforce diligence in this matter, observe that our very safety in time to come is secured by fidelity to present trust. Negligence is a preparation for temptation (2Pe_1:10). The path of duty is the path of safety.

III. Let us do over work in the right spirit. It is impossible to be faithful considering the difficulties in the way, without willingness and love. To be forced to work for Jesus by fear is to destroy the greatest condition of success.

IV. Let our work be done under a sense of responsibility. The work is not ours. We do not supply the materials. We are all responsible to God. The day of account is coming. Shall we meet it with joy, or with grief? (Weekly Pulpit.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 4:1. Let a man, &c. — Having warned the believers at Corinth against entertaining an undue esteem for their own ministers, he now proceeds to show them in what light they ought to view all true ministers of Christ: and lest, from what was advanced in the preceding chapters concerning the inspiration of the apostles by the Holy Spirit, these Corinthians should imagine that Paul claimed to himself and his brethren an authority not derived from Christ, he here tells them that even the apostles were only Christ’s servants; obliged in all things to act in entire subjection to him, and obedience to his will. So account of us as of the ministers of Christ — The original word, υπηρετας, properly signifies such servants as laboured at the oar in rowing vessels, and accordingly intimates the pains which every faithful minister of Christ takes in his Lord’s work. O God! where are these ministers to be found? Lord, thou knowest! and stewards of the mysteries of God — Dispensers of the mysterious truths of the gospel. “The apostle gives to those doctrines, which in former ages had been kept secret, but which were now discovered to all through the preaching of the gospel, the appellation of the mysteries of God, to recommend them to the Corinthians. And he calls himself the steward of these mysteries, to intimate, that the deepest doctrines, as well as the first principles of the gospel, were intrusted to him to be dispensed or made known.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

a. Apostles are dispensers of God’s mysteries, to be judged solely by God, 1Co_4:1-5.

1. A man—Any or every person.

Us—The apostles, and, inferentially, all true ministers.

Ministers—The Greek word signifies etymologically under-rowers; as if Christ were chief navigator in the boat and his apostles were rowing under him. Thence it commonly means any servant or subordinate aid.

Stewards—Any dispensers of any treasured value, as cashiers or distributers of property.

Mysteries—The entire mass of divine truths, hitherto held secret by God, but now for the first time revealed in Christ; hence embracing all that was truly new to the world, Jews or Gentiles, in the doctrines and institutes of the Christian dispensation. The disclosing these mysteries was the high office of the first commissioned evangelists and apostles. To them primitively Christ had said, (Mat_13:1,) “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” In this, Paul means to say, consists the broad difference between the Christian apostle and the sages of Greek philosophy. The former received their system by revelation from Christ; the latter invented theirs from their own brains. Christ is alone the divine original.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

1Co_4:1. So.—Choose between (a) a forward reference to “as” (e.g. with Stanley), and (b) a backward reference (with, e.g., Evans, in Speaker, and Beet) to 1Co_3:21-22; meaning: “Let a man account of us as Christ’s servants, having moreover the greater thought also present in his thinking, and governing his estimate of us, that we are thus the house stewards in Christ’s household for the very purpose of dispensing to him and his brethren these ‘all things’ which belong to him, because he belongs to Christ.” Servants.—Good note in Trench, Syn., § ix., on the four New Testament words for “servant.” See διάκονος and δοῦλος together in Mat_20:26-28. [Mat_22:2-14, where Trench points out that the “servants” who bring in the guests are men, and can be δοῦλοι, but the executioners of the sentence of the Host are angels, who are only διάκονοι.] See δοῦλος and ὑπηρέτης (the word here) together in Joh_18:18. The δοῦλος [slave, bondservant] is bound to a person; the θεράπων does some service to a person, whether as his slave or a freeman, whether for the once, or frequently and customarily; the διάκονος is a man charged with a special task, and to the task, rather than to the person who enjoins it, the word points; the ὑπηρέτης is, so to speak, an attendant charged with the duty of an office. Our word may be studied in Act_13:5; Mat_5:25; Luk_4:20; Joh_7:32; Joh_18:18; Act_5:22. Must not overpress the derivational sense—the “under-rower in a galley”; the ship being the Church, Christ sitting at the helm, the passengers being the members of the Church. Stewards.—Might be slaves, though in positions of important trust. Joseph, e.g. was so. Here the thought is only that their business is to administer the household of their Master, and particularly to deal out the stores of soul-feeding “mysteries” to their fellow-servants of other offices and orders (Tit_1:7; well expounded in 1Pe_4:1, and 1Co_2:1; Eph_3:2). For “mysteries,” see 1Co_2:1; certainly not the sacramenta, which word in ecclesiastical Latin, through the Vulgate, has become the equivalent of “mysteries.”

1Co_4:2.—Notice “here,” by a change of reading. Stanley (alone) joins the word with the preceding sentence. A maxim true of all stewardships in ordinary human affairs.

1Co_4:3. Judge.—Examine, as if dealing with a man on his defence in a court of justice. So 1Co_9:3. Judgment.—Lit. “day”; parallel to the “day” of God’s judgment in 1Co_3:13. (See Separate Homily on that passage for general treatment of the subject.)

1Co_4:4. Know nothing by myself.—Not at all to be taken as: “I have no knowledge of Divine things but such as is a gift of the grace of God.” Simply a piece of old-fashioned English, still lingering in the provincialisms of some counties. A Lincolnshire peasant, e.g., will say, “What do you think by it?” instead of “think of it,” or “think about it.” Paul only means, of course, “I am not conscious to myself of anything.” He does not say “evil”; that is so generally, however, the issue of any examination and judgment of oneself that almost of necessity it is suggested by his language. Cf. 1Jn_3:20. The Lord.—Paul’s largely predominant usage makes this almost certainly “Christ.” This is confirmed by 1Co_4:5. It is always Christ who “comes,” and who will act as Judge. Yet ultimately, and supremely, though the judgment and sentence is Christ’s, the reward is “God’s praise.” Note “his praise” (giving the force of the article) in R.V.

HOMILETIC ANALYSIS—1Co_4:1-5

Theme: Judgment.

I. The minister’s own judgment of himself.

II. Other men’s judgment of him.

III. The master’s judgment.

I. The preceding sentences of the letter (chap. 1Co_3:18-23) have been concerned with the Corinthian habit of over-valuing themselves, and with the party idolatry of their (eponymic) leaders. As for Paul he wishes neither to be over-estimated nor to be under-estimated. [There is no virtue in undervaluation of oneself; such over-depreciation is not infrequently not humility at all, but pride—a subtle pride which is hungry to be told that it is too humble and that the self-asserted value is too low. For the sake of the Master’s work, a man may well desire to know what he is worth, and what he is fit for, and to what he is adequate.] Paul would be judged “according to truth” (Rom_2:2). To what court shall he go for Justice and for Truth? To the court of Conscience, perpetually “sitting” within his own spirit? This has its value, and its supporting power to him, as he avows (2Co_1:17, where see). A man walking in the favour of God, his spirit continually illumined with the light of the Spirit of God, may know himself. He will guard against self-deception. The grace which is in him will keep him awake to the danger of such self-deception. And whilst there will always be ministers [and workers of every order] whose danger will be an undue, morbid self-depreciation and self-condemnation; just as there will also always be those whose danger lies quite at the opposite pole; in many more the healthy conscience will give them the sustaining force of the knowledge that their aim is as right as they know how to keep it, and their discharge of duty faithful, at any rate up to the measure of their ability and knowledge. Woe to the man who goes about his work without the approval of even his own conscience! Who is unfaithful, and knows that he is! Man’s judgment may not condemn him. He may hit exactly the taste, he may meet exactly the desire, of those to whom he ministers; he may give them exactly the only teaching they will welcome, and do neither less nor more in his ruling of the flock than is agreeable to the sheep; he may be personally popular, therefore; he may have the applause of the public as a “successful man,” the pastor of “a successful Church.” Yet, if all the while the Spirit of God will not suffer him to approve himself, but will keep his sense of right so far alive that not only can he not forget the meaning of the ministry as a “stewardship,” or the high ideal of faithfulness to God with which he began his work, but that a voice and verdict within him will ever persistently condemn, he is of all men most miserable. Wretched he who cannot even stand the judgment of himself upon himself.

II. It were folly to pretend to be literally indifferent to the judgment of others. Sometimes, when a conscience has been lulled, or drugged to sleep, or silenced by long neglect; when a man without the guard, or the goad, within him has sunk, not only far beneath the Master’s standard of requirement as to faithfulness in His stewards, but even beneath what was once his own; then the rebuke and condemnation of outsiders may do the man a service. It may make for him an objective conscience, and compel him to hear again from others what he used to hear from himself. He has broken or made dull the mirror within him; then the condemnation of “man’s judgment” may confront him with his own image in the mirror of Truth in their hand. It would be both foolish and false to pretend to be indifferent to the good opinion of others. If the faithfulness of the steward chance to secure the approval and esteem of other men, he will take it as a grace and a gift from his Lord, to be used, in its turn, like any and every other gift, for the advantage of his Lord’s work. The goodwill and esteem of his people are a help to the minister towards doing the people good. Wise and loving fidelity may accomplish something—it must—even where its sharp rebuke or unwelcome dealing puts a strain upon the pleasant relationships between man and man; it will not utterly fail to do good, even when it does its work in the face of indifference or dislike. But where goodwill and affection, and a true estimate of the meaning of the minister’s work and office, prepare for, and co-operate with, his fidelity, there it will “have free course.” The design of the whole Divine ordinance of “stewardships” for the dispensing of “the mysteries of God” will be then most perfectly fulfilled. However indifferent Paul may have been to the judgment of men, his sympathetic, affectionate nature prized highly the love of those for whom he “spent himself” even to the “spending” of himself “out” (2Co_12:15).

III. Yet none of these “courts” is that of Final Appeal. No absolute and unchallengeable acquittal [or condemnation] can be given even from the bench where Judge Conscience sits, and still less from that other tribunal where “Man” holds the “day” of his assize. Says Paul: “I desire greatly the approval of my own conscience; I believe I have it; as to my stewardship and my fidelity as a steward, I cannot charge myself with any wrong. I do not forget a legitimate regard for the ‘manifestation of myself in your consciences’ (2Co_5:11). As a matter of fact, I know that many of you do not give me a very approving verdict. Yet I dare not trim my sails to catch the breeze of your applause. I hold it, indeed, a matter of the smallest moment that you should approve or condemn, in comparison of the one greater, final, absolutely true and just verdict of the Lord.” Man is so often to himself a problem utterly perplexing, that he knows not how to hold a just balance in his estimate of himself; he fears to approve too easily, he fears to acquit too readily, whilst, rightly enough, he does not desire to harass himself by condemning without reason. A Christian man is so conscious of the blinding effect of a biassed heart upon the clear vision of his judgment, that even if in the court within he be held clear, he will still report the verdict to the Higher Judge for His endorsement or revision. A faithful, honest worker will be so sensitive to the ensnaring power of too nice a consideration of man’s favour or man’s frown; he will be so conscious of the deflecting power of an anxiety what man will think or say or do, upon the compass-needle of his conscience; that he will never trust the steering of his course to anything lower than the judgment of his Lord. Up above earthly influences and bias, stable amidst all the revolutions and vagaries of man’s opinions and judgments, there it shows, the Divine Pole Star of his direction. He will not disregard, as we have seen, the commendation of his fellows, but he will not “lay himself out” to win it. If they give him condemnation, then he “will appeal unto” the Greater than Cæsar. Against man’s judgment, and from man’s “day”; whatever also be the judgment of his conscience in its “day” of inquiry and sentence; the matter is carried up to the Great Judge and forward to His “day” and its “Great Assize.” For that, amongst other reasons, do Christ’s people “love His appearing” (2Ti_4:1; 2Ti_4:8). It was said of Dr. Pusey that the deepest note of thankfulness in all his Te Deum was this, “We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.… We praise Thee, O Christ!” In that day all the clamour and conflict of the varying and uncertain verdicts of man will be hushed into silence, whilst He speaks. Even now it is no small comfort to a true-hearted “steward” to remember that He knows all about him and his work. All that under-life of motive and aim, which works its way to the surface and becomes obnoxious to man’s judgment, only after struggling, as it were, through an overlying medium of imperfect knowledge and of many another limiting disability, is always, and altogether, in His clear view. It may be that He knows the man even better that the man knows himself; that He may judge him now and again more favourably than he judges himself. In any case, He will always be profoundly reasonable in what He expects from the “steward of the mysteries”; no prejudice, or favour, with Him; profoundly reasonable, and utterly and simply just. “Let me”—for the sentence as well as for its execution—“fall into the hands of,” not “man,” but “Christ.” Moreover, the full and final verdict can only be pronounced when the coming of the “Day of the Lord” shall have completed the facts and evidence on which it most justly rest. So, then, Paul will pronounce no final verdict upon his own fidelity in the discharge of his office. “Let it stand over until He comes.” The passing, temporary, human judgment may well go for little with him in the expectation of that other judgment. Indeed, he suggests not obscurely that his opponents and detractors at Corinth may have more reason for apprehension in view of it than he has. When “hidden things of darkness and the counsels of the hearts are dragged forth,” some men, some apostles, may “have praise of God,” but some may have—[How nearly without exception are all our judgments of men and conduct judgments before the right time! How often have even the lapse of a few years or months and the addition of even a single new fact caused an entire revision of some unfavourable judgment on men and actions, till we have stood ashamed at the bar of our own conscience that we judged so hastily, on such imperfect data, and so harshly, and perhaps gave in our words or bearing such unfair and unchristian effect to our hasty prejudice! “Wait till the Lord comes!” “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth at the door” (Jas_5:9). How often a little more knowledge has shown us that the very confident verdicts of our “righteous” indignation were after all at the best wasted words, and at the worst were so hasty and uncharitable, as to have been sins against the Spirit of Christ! “Therefore judge nothing before the time.”] And how precious and glorious a compensation for all the unfair, hasty, or even evil-hearted judgments of men will be His praise! In a moment, all the past swallowed up and forgotten, all the pain gone, all the temporary disadvantages past. Nor is it anything but a laudable motive that a man should make the winning of “praise” in that day an object for which he cultivates “fidelity” to his trust. If He says, “Well done, good and faithful,” he surely does not intend, or expect, that we should be faithful for bare fidelity’s sake. His “Well done” is in itself an object to be worked for. Finally, if praise is not for ability only, or chiefly, or for success, but for faithfulness, all may win that! [The Pounds, Luke 19, exhibits graduated reward according to graduated results from equal ability and endowment. The Talents, Matthew 25, exhibits equal praise for unequal ability and endowment, because of equal fidelity. Both are true principles of the judgment.] [Said Bishop Thirlwall, writing to a friend, “The law of God’s kingdom is ‘He that is faithful in a few things shall be made ruler over many things.’ But how little it matters whether there are many or few, so long as there is the faithfulness which makes the most of the few, and can do no more with the many.”] [Robertson, Expos. Lectures, in loco, says: “Learn not to judge, for we do not know the heart’s secrets. 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. Learn to be neither depressed unduly by blame, nor, on the other side, to be too much exalted by praise. Life’s experience should teach us this.… And our own individual experience should teach us how little men know us! How often, when we have been most praised and loved, have we been conscious of another motive actuating than that which the world has given us credit for; and we have been blamed, perhaps disgraced, when if all the circumstances were known we should have been covered with honour. Therefore let us strive … to be tranquil; smile when men sneer; be humble when they praise, patient when they blame. Their judgment will not last; ‘man’s day’ is only for a time, but God’s is for Eternity.”]

SEPARATE HOMILIES

1Co_4:1-2. The Stewardship of the Minister.

I. The office.—

1. No great Fact in God’s order is simple. It is only in the “elementary” stages of His work that we find what is not complex, many-sided in its aspects and relationships. The permanent, developed “ministry” of the Church was in even Apostolic times becoming a many-sided fact, needing many analogies to set it forth. Each one [as in all cases of teaching by analogy] has its strong point of teaching and applicability; often with its many weaker, where it does not bear pressing, or using at all. There it is supplemented by another, strong where it is weak, but needing in its turn the strength of the first to be its complement in exhibiting the whole round of the truth. The men are here called “ministers” (see Critical Notes); they are “Shepherds” (Eph_4:11, etc.) who “bear rule” (Heb_13:17) with whatever of authority a Shepherd must of necessity have over the Flock. They are “Teachers” (Eph. as above, etc.). They are “Presbyters” or “Elders” (e.g. Act_20:28), and indeed, like those of Ephesus, are “Overseers” or “Bishops.” They claim whatever respect and weight of influence is needful to enable them “to watch over souls (cf. Ezekiel 3; Ezekiel 33) as they that must give account” (Heb. as above). This last clause completes the circle of ideas by inserting into its round the link of the thought found in the word “Stewards.”

2. Stewards, not priests.—This name is never given to any order of men selected out of the general body of the Christian community. [Even as they are “ministers” of the Mediator, and not themselves mediators.] The priesthood of the Old Covenant order is, like every other essential, fundamental, basic idea of that order, brought forward into the new. There is a “priesthood” still. The essential lines which govern the representation of the office and function are still there, plain enough to establish the identity, the continuity. But they are modified; touched here, filled up in more detail there, emphasised in a third point; and, above all, are now found in complete exposition in the Man Christ Jesus, and only in Him. [Moses spoke of the coming Prophetic Order in Deu_18:15; the prophets, every one, in anticipatory, suggestive, partial presentation embodied God’s Idea, which was by-and-by to be fulfilled in the One Prophet. Of Him pre-eminently did Moses speak (Act_3:22; Act_7:37). Similarly he might have said, “A Priest shall the Lord your God raise up,” etc. Indeed, the fulfilment of such a saying would already have begun in the Priestly Order which had been established. Also remember how the Idea of Priesthood in its highest function more and more clearly stood out to men’s apprehension, until the very phrase “High Priest,” unknown at first, became a necessity of religious thought and expression.] The complete, two-sided significance of Mediatorship is exhibited in Him who is “the Apostle”—sent out from God to man—and the “High Priest”—going in from man to God—“of our profession” (Heb_3:1). And the offering of a sacrifice which made atonement for sin, the culminating point of the priest’s office, to which everything else was only sequential and subsidiary, is now restricted to Him. In that sense Christianity knows only the one “priest.” The “steward” is no “priest.” The many, mortal priests, themselves sinners needing atonement, have yielded up their office and honour to the undying, holy One—The Son, “consecrated for evermore” (Heb_7:23-28). And if indeed anything of the hierophantic office of the priesthoods of the Gentiles seem to cling to the work of the man who has to deal with the “mysteries of God,” yet there is manifest and vital difference. The hierophant took in—into the penetralia of the building as well as of the doctrines—the few favoured ones, the esoteric circle, the illuminandi; took them in as a favour from himself, which he had the right to withhold, as well as to confer. The “steward” does impart “mysteries” indeed. But he has no right to withhold them; he has no right to make them the possession of a favoured few; their disclosure is his duty, he must bring them out to all. “Must bring them out” also. The figure must not be overpressed; but he is not the priest leading some into an inner darkness and secrecy; he is a steward bringing out from the store-chamber what is to be given freely to all waiting outside who need what he brings.

3. Stewards, not proprietors.—They have no controlling rights over the disclosure of the truth. They are only the “ministers” of Christ in the matter, passing on, giving round, to the hungry multitudes what He has blessed, and what has only been given into their hands that it may be given away widely by their hand. [“So” exactly means, “All things are yours,” 1Co_3:22; cf. 2Co_4:15.] They are not to indulge in the selfish indolence of the man who sits in his study, reading, reading, reading, thinking, learning, acquiring, but only slightly if at all attempting to enrich his people with the fruit of his growing knowledge of the “mysteries.” They have it, they are entrusted with it, to pass it on. The apostles, no doubt, might and did satisfy their own hunger with the marvellous bread, but the fainting five thousand had the prior claim. Etymologically “stewardship” is “economy.” But the ecclesiastical “economy” in the disclosure of truth has travelled a long and aberrant way from the idea of “stewardship.” It is one thing to see to it that the “babes” have only their “milk,” whilst the men of full age are fed with their “meat” (Heb_5:12-13); it is another thing in fear, or with dishonest tact, to suppress or modify truth, in the presumed interests of “truth,” or in the interests of a Church or an order of men, or for the security of some conciliar or personal dogma. Whatever is the truth of God should all be told to all. He can be trusted to take care that its widest disclosure works no real, no lasting mischief. Better the risk of mischief than of manipulation by not too honest stewards. The Bible Society is an organised expression of the stewardship of the mysteries entrusted to the Church of Christ in the gift of the Word of God. It is given to the Church to be given by the “stewards” with world-wide liberality of distribution. They may not even detain it in the store cupboard!

4. Stewards, not discoverers.—God is the Fountain of all the knowledge they impart. The Son is the Revealer of it all; He has drawn back, so far as it is drawn back at all, the veil under which lay hidden what the time has now come to disclose. [Cf. “Has brought to light Life and Immortality” (2Ti_1:10). They are not new things; they were facts before; they were there all along; but they were under a covering (? Isa_25:7).] His stewards do but publish widely what He has been Himself taught, and is commissioned to disclose. [He may take as bis own the words of Balaam, Num_24:13.] Nothing else lies within the four corners of a steward’s commission; anything else is ultra vires. He may not devise a Gospel, he may not add to the Gospel speculations of his own, not fairly deducible, or to be proved, from the definite instructions and disclosures given to him (Gal_1:8-9). An “original thinker” in the ministry of the Church has properly his only “originality” in the analysis, and the fresher or clearer or more profitable presentation of the original corpus of “mysteries,” and in the skill and fulness of knowledge with which he is able to bring from all quarters what may be laid under contribution for the illustration of their meaning and their message to men. He stands before his people as simply, by natural gifts, by special study, and by special training, “an expert” in their exposition.

[“The mysteries” are dealt with under 1Co_2:1, 1Co_15:51.]

II. The fidelity expected of the steward.—There is

(1) fidelity, with responsibility, to the Lord Himself; and

(2) fidelity to the matter of the mystery and to the persons designed to be benefited by its disclosure; in these senses, partly accommodations of the idea of “fidelity,” the responsibility is still, and only, to the Lord Himself. Beginning with

(2). Paul has his own illustration, from the innkeeper who adulterates his wine (2Co_2:17). [The converse is suggested, under the connotation of another figure (1Pe_2:2).] There must be no tampering with the mysteries. The fashion in such “wine” may change; the public palate may be perverted; it may demand the produce of another vineyard; but he at least will only supply this, of the best and purest he knows how to procure. He will spare no cost of pains and prayer to get this, that he may have it to offer. But he dares not—he desires not—to offer anything else. He may have the pain, and be put to the test of fidelity, of seeing those whom he desires to supply, leave him, to turn aside to the man who will give them a more popular vintage. But, for one thing, that old Gospel [not to press the figure too far] saved him, and still comforts and sustains him. In “faithfulness” to the mystery whose revelation has blessed him, and many ten thousands more, he will still dispense that. It is his presumed function and office to preach and present the “mysteries of God” in their Divine, unmingled simplicity. He is a living falsehood if. whilst he is presumed to do that, and whilst the people expect that of him, he offers something of merely human devising or imagining; or the “mystery,” indeed, but so overlaid with rhetoric, or the speculative supplements of undisciplined or uncurbed reasoning, that it is hidden and neutralised, put in such a form as never fed or saved anybody. He owes some “fidelity” to this very message, to the matter which has been disclosed by God, and of which he is a steward. Also, he must be faithful to his people. Indeed, if they are wise, they will wish him, and help him, to be faithful. If fidelity in a steward be needful anywhere, it is in dealing with Divine truth. “By these” mysteries “men live” (Isa_38:16). These are not merely gains to knowledge, however accurate, enlarging, ennobling. They are men’s life. It is of urgent necessity to them to possess in its unadulterated purity and in unstinted quantity the truth in the mysteries. It is Bread of Life for dying souls. They are a foolish people who will only ask for, and will only tolerate, what truth is pleasant or conventionally correct; for their own sakes they will covet, and will honour, and will thank and love the man who will only deal honestly with them as a faithful steward, who will give them the whole message of God, and will not in fear or in wicked complaisance spare themselves. He is not accountable to them (1Co_4:3) indeed; yet his relation to them is one which demands of him fidelity as the truest kindness. [Such “kindness” to them as that of the Dishonest Steward (Luk_16:1-8) may serve his dishonest turn for a moment, but will not carry him or them very far!] But, above all,

(1) he will be faithful as a matter of responsibility to his Master, and to God whose mysteries he holds in trust for distribution “as every man has need.” [The following verses, separately dealt with, give the noble portrait of a “steward” who is sustained under misconception, misrepresentation, detraction, malicious depreciation; or in the face of angry people, offended at the whole truth; by a sense of the approval of Christ, vouchsafed to him by One who knows how pure and direct his aim has been, how reverent and careful his handling of the disclosure of “the mysteries.”] “The Master praises; what are men?” But does the Master praise? That is ever his main question. His every day’s duty will be planned under his Great Taskmaster’s eye, and will be discharged with constant reference to His judgment. Motives are so intermingled in our life, the tangle so often passes all our own power of unravelling, that he will not spend overmuch time upon self-analysis. His mingled aims—right after all in their main drift and object—will be simply laid before his Master en bloc, for His analysis and judgment and smile of reward. If He is satisfied, the rest matter little!

III. The people’s estimate of the office and of the minister.—Two dangers threaten: an undue exaltation, or an under-valuing of the office; or, in another alternative, a party worship of the man, as at Corinth, or a superstitious estimate of the office.

1. The under-valuing of the office is a very real danger. The “minister” must not be simply the chief, and perhaps the only paid, officer of an organisation called “a Church,” which “keeps a minister,” as some in the congregation keep a clerk or a manager in their business. He must not simply be the chairman of their meetings; or the president of their social gatherings; or the intellectual leader of their speculations, or of the literary or artistic activity of the young life of the Church; or their deputy on whom they devolve all the initiative of religious and philanthropic agencies which the public expect from them. He may, happily and usefully, be all these. But these are the secondary things of his office. His first and essential duty—the “Hamlet-part” in the play, without which all is miserably incomplete—is to be a steward, blessedly made familiar with the mysteries of God, by close intercourse with God, their Giver, and coming forth from the holy intercourse to dispense them with a wisdom of adaptation to the needs of his people which is itself not a small gift and honour from God. If he only bring to his people—if his people only expect from him—spoken “leading articles” on topics of the week or of the time, perfect in literary finish; if they are satisfied with brief theses on half-secular themes, full of satirical, or sympathetic, or poetic power; if they are content with brief, admirable, but “natural,” ethical prelections which do not lift up duty into any organic connection with religion, its motives, its power, its sanctions; if he never bring to their ears, and to their hunger, any of the revealed secrets of the heart and will of God,—he is not “fulfilling his ministry,” nor discharging his “stewardship.” If they have no hunger of heart, and do not definitely desire to be fed; and even resent the earnestness of the man who would gladly be to them a steward of God’s mysteries, bringing them forth for the supply of their heart and conscience; they misunderstand and under-value the office. Desire him to be, pray for him that he may be, by sympathy with his aims and by grateful recognition of his work, help him to be, a steward and a faithful one! Not less than a steward!

2. On the other hand, not more than a steward. Do not think of him, do not accept of him, as a priest or an exclusive mediator with God. If he boast never so loudly of ordination by any special order of ministers, and claim to be of any special order himself; if he will thrust himself between God and the soul, as in any sense a necessary and indispensable intermediary; if he will claim over the judgment and conscience an authority which of old belonged to a prophet, and now belongs only to Christ, as represented by His Spirit, in the administration of redemption; if he will claim, in any sense, to offer a sacrifice which stands in any necessary relation to the forgiveness of sins or the maintenance of the spiritual life; if he claim priesthood in any sense which belongs exclusively to Christ, or in any sense which does not belong equally to every member of the “holy priesthood” (1Pe_2:5),—then to acquiesce in such pretensions is to over-exalt the man and his office. Allow no priesthood; hear of nothing, think of nothing, but of “Ministry” and “Stewardship.” Pray for him, listen to him, use him, as a steward, not less nor more. And if a man, credentialled no matter by whom, assume to be the way to God, say to him: “Thou art in the way! Stand out of my way! Christ is my Way. Let me come direct through Him to God.” “Let a man so account of us.” A true “minister” asks no more.

1Co_4:2. Faithful Stewardship.

I. If in the ordinary transactions of time it is imperative that those who are concerned in the management of temporal concerns should be faithful, how much more, in matters which relate to the soul and eternity, is it imperative that the stewards of God’s mysteries should be faithful! The consequences of infidelity or dishonesty in the charge of the affairs of this life may be disastrous; but who can measure the ruin which follows when there is a want of fidelity in dealing with the things of the next life? In such case the ruin is irretrievable, the loss of the soul will stand no comparison with even the gain of the world.

II. Easy to perceive the fidelity required of the minister of Christ.

1. Personal fidelity. If a man has not experienced for himself the grace of God in convincing, converting, and sanctifying his own heart, how can he tell others of the change which is implied in all these workings of the Spirit?

2. Consistency of life and conversation. Even supposing that the doctrine preached is in accordance with God’s Word, an inconsistent life will wither the power of the message and frustrate the ends of its delivery. Not only this; but

3. There must be fidelity in the declaration of the whole revealed truth of inspiration. It is not allowed to the ambassador to deliver only a part of his message; he must proclaim the whole revealed counsel of God. He is to preach the truth in all its integrity, keeping back nothing which is plainly revealed; but as a wise householder he must bring forth things new and old, in order that he may be faithful to Him who hath called him and invested him with such lofty responsibilities. [“It is written.” “It is written again.”]

III. There are lessons which all professing Christians may derive.—

1. “Of all our earthly possessions we are stewards, not proprietors. There is in the ordinary arrangements of Divine providence a vast employment of second causes, and many of the things we acquire appear to come in the course of our own efforts and as the effect of our own industry or skill; hence arises the idea of ownership, and forgetfulness that all things come of God, and that we have not a fraction to which we can lay claim as an independent possession, which we have a right to employ without reference to Him who gave it. But in truth all the secondary means … are gifts from God, and derive their efficacy from His imparted power or beneficence. So that, in the most literal sense, all things come of Him, e.g., gifts of intellect which qualify for conspicuous usefulness to others, gifts of wealth or power for influencing largely our fellow-creatures. The point to be remembered is that all these bestowments are entrusted to the keeping of those who possess them to be employed by them as stewards in trust … for God’s service. Have you, then, consecrated large possessions and the gain of them to the Lord, and your substance to the Lord of the whole earth? Is the talent which belongs to authority over others employed for God, for upholding God’s honour, for promoting the temporal and spiritual well-being of all within the range of your influence?”

2. Our fidelity must originate in personal piety.—“

(1) The root of Scriptural obedience consists in a right apprehension of the relationship in which we stand to God. We are His creatures, every faculty we possess is His gift, and we are bound to consecrate all we have and are to His glory.

(2) More than this, God has yet a stronger claim. If we constantly remembered the wonderful love of God in the gift of His Son, we should never lose sight of the obligations under which we lie, to consecrate our souls and bodies to His service, to act as stewards who are bound to be faithful in His sight.

(3) And what a motive for fidelity is supplied when we call to mind the shortness of our allotted period of service, and the near approach of the time when Christ will reappear to reckon with all His professing servants. Stewardship always implies a time of reckoning. It may be near or distant, but then there will be no escape or evasion. With what joy will Christ’s true and faithful servants hear the welcome, ‘Ye have been faithful over a few things,’ etc. How terrible, then, the condition of those who, though they were stewards, have not been found faithful; the measure of their privileges will be the measure of their fearful condemnation.

(4) Let us then bear in mind the lesson which this day’s Epistle [Third Sunday in Advent] delivers for our direction. Knowing beforehand the strictness of the account which we must each one render, let us aim at dependence upon Divine grace to overcome every temptation, to conquer every difficulty, which opposes our progress in sanctification, and so to abound unto every good work that in the end we may attain to the recompense and the reward which in the last day awaits every one who shall be found to have been faithful to the stewardship confided to his keeping.”—Abridged from Bishop Bickersteth, “Clerical World,” i. 172.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

VII.—THE TRUE STANDARD FOR ESTIMATING MINISTERS. THEIR WORTH TO BE MADE KNOWN IN DUE TIME. OUR JUDGMENT TO BE SUSPENDED TILL THEN

1Co_4:1-5

1Let a man so [So let a man] account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards 2of the mysteries of God. Moreover [Here ὤDeuteronomy 1] it is required2 in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of [by] you, or of [by] man’s judgment [lit. day]: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4For I know nothing by [against] myself; yet am I not hereby [not by this am I] justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man [each one] have [from ἀτιὸ] praise of [his ὁ] God.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1Co_4:1. [Having thus exhibited the regal title of Christians to all things, to the benefits to be derived from all Christian ministers, and from all objects and events in this world, he now turns to present, as a corollary from this, the view which they ought to take of ministers, and the manner in which they are to treat them; and thus, as it were, to remind them of certain limitations in the prerogatives of those whom they were disposed unduly to honor].—So let a man account of us.—οὕτως, so. This does not serve to connect the following with what precedes, as Meyer (3d Ed., but not 2d Ed.) supposes, rendering it: so then, or, accordingly. No such connection is here implied.3 Rather Paul here intends to hold up the proper mode of estimating teachers in contrast with that “boasting” in them reprobated in 1Co_3:21; and the “so” here refers to what follows.—“So as servants ‘of Christ.’—not as leaders taking His place.4 Ἠμᾶς, us, primarily or chiefly, Paul and Apollos, as 1Co_4:6; 1Co_3:4, show. Λογίζέ σθαι, to bring to account, to reckon, to estimate, as in Rom_8:36 (חָשַב). “It implies the formation of a sound, well-weighed estimate, as contrasted with the partisan judgments which the Corinthians formed respecting their teachers.” Osiander. Ἄνθρωπος =not, every man, but, man generally, according to the Hellenic and Hebrew usage. Ὑπηρέτας as διάκονοι, 1Co_3:5. The word properly denotes a servant of subordinate rank, an understrapper. In patristic parlance it was used of sub-deacons. The New Testament employs it for helpers and attendants. Luk_4:20; Act_13:5. The verb from which it comes, occurs in Act_26:16, to signify David’s working for the fulfilment of God’s purposes. In the text the word carries the idea of one laboring for the cause of Christ. To adopt its fundamental meaning, that of a rower [as Valck.: “Christ is Pilot of the vessel of the Church, we are rowers under His command.” Words.], would be just as appropriate as to render it: adjutants or orderlies, according to the precedent in Xenophon. If not precisely equivalent to “deacon, ” yet it certainly is brought in here to indicate a very subordinate position under Christ, in contrast with the leadership ascribed by the Corinthian partisans. Nevertheless the idea of honor is not excluded, since this comes from being connected with Christ, whose work is performed. The dignity of the office is, however, more prominently exhibited in the second designation—and stewards of the mysteries of God—οἱκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ. Rom_16:23; 1Pe_4:10. The article is not prefixed, because the word stands qualitively, to indicate that what has been entrusted to their charge is something very important and weighty. And by these “mysteries” we are not to understand the sacraments, thereby following patristic usage. [In which case Paul could hardly have been a steward, for he was sent not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel]. Rather they are “the mystery of God” in its manifold variety and fulness; or as Luk_8:10 : “the mysteries of the kingdom of God;” in other words, the revelations of God, as matters which could be known only by Divine communication. [Such is the meaning of the word “mystery” in the New Testament—not, as in common parlance: something uncomprehensible; but: something which, being beyond the reach of man’s intelligence, has been made known to him in some special Divine way]. The “stewardship” consists in [preserving and administering the truth revealed through] preaching and teaching,—no less in properly didactic instruction than in prophecy. The “steward” belonged among the “servants,” and his business was, not to manage one particular branch of the household economy, but to take the whole in charge. He was therefore put over the rest of the servants. The stress here, however, is not to be laid upon the preëminence enjoyed by the steward, but upon the responsibility accompanying the goods entrusted.” Neander. To suppose that the Apostle used the term “stewards,” with some vague idea of provisions floating before his mind, to which he would liken the truth,—as if the persons thus denominated were regarded by him in the light of family providers, would be rather far fetched, and Luk_12:42 gives no countenance for such a thought in our passage. “Between the father of the household and the stewards, there stood the son, who had from the father a power of control, so that the stewards were in fact his servants likewise.” Meyer.

1Co_4:2. Here, moreover.—We must first consider what the true reading is here. Res. has ὅ δὲ λοιπόν. But this is not by any means so well supported as ῶ̓δε λοιπόν, which is the reading that prevails throughout the codices, versions, and church fathers in equal degree. If it be not the original reading, then it must have come in either by mistake, or by intentional correction, since the phrase ὅ δὲ λοιπόν nowhere else occurs. But neither case is probable, considering the numerous, and at least partially independent authorities which attest it. The Rec. text, apart from its unusualness, is evidently the easier reading, [and therefore may be the more readily accounted for as an intended emendation]. It would be rendered, but finally; lit. as for what remains: i. e. after setting aside all your unsuitable claims. But ῶ̓δε, which occurs nowhere else in Paul, save in Col_4:9, though very common in other parts of the New Testament, means, here; i. e., in this connection, or in this matter, where we are treating of the administration of the mysteries of God, comp. Rev_13:10; Rev_13:18; Rev_14:12; Rev_17:9. [Alf. translates it locally: here, on this earth, “It is,” he says, “emphatic, and points to what follows, that though in the case of stewards inquiry was necessarily made here below, yet he, God’s steward, awaited no such inquiry, ὑπὸ ἀνθ ρωπίνης ἡμέρας: by man’s judgment, but one at the coming of the Lord.” Stanley follows Lachmann in connecting ῶ̓δε with the previous words, “stewards of the mysteries of God here,’ ” and makes it mean, in this matter (as in the references above given). Wordsworth adheres to the Rec. He considers ῶ̓δε as harsh, and accounts for it as arising from the confusion of ο and ω, than which, he says, nothing is more common in the best Mss. Hodge, on the contrary, says it yields good sense]. Λοιπόν might serve for making the transition, like ceterum, moreover, and belong primarily to ῶ̓δε. Or it may be joined to “is required,” (which is favored by the order of the words), and so as to imply, that with this consideration the whole matter is wound up; or to express something further in relation to that mentioned in ver.1, which was specially worthy of consideration.—it is required that.—ἵνα has a telic sense, and shows that the purport of the requirement is at the same time its purpose. The investigations in regard to such persons, aims at this, that one be found faithful.—This is why great trusts are reposed in a person, that he might conduct himself in the management of them according to the mind and will of God, who has committed them to Him, for the glory of His name and the welfare of His Church, and not for the legatee’s own benefit (comp. Luk_12:42). Εὑρεθῇ, be found by the result as shown at the time of trial Osiander. Τὶς, according to Meyer, every one [“Faithful,” emphatic. “The great requisite for the office of a steward is fidelity. As a servant he must be faithful to his master. As a disciple, he must be faithful to those under his oversight. He must not neglect to dispense to them their food, nor adulterate it, nor substitute any thing in place of that given to be distributed. So in regard to ministers.” Hodge].

1Co_4:3. Having stated the point of view from which alone a proper judgment could be formed in regard to him and his associates, Paul next proceeds to state his own feelings as to the judgment that might be formed of him by men. [Alford adds, “in contrast to the case of the stewards, into whose faithfulness enquiry is made ‘here’ on earth.”] Very naturally the Corinthians would think that a good deal of weight attached to their judgment.—But [δέ indicates a transition to the application of what was said in general to his own particular case] for me it amounts to the very least thing.—εἰς ελάχιστόν ἐστιν. The εἱς here, according to Greek usage, shows the result to which the thing comes—that I be judged by you.—ἵνα ἅνακριθῶ. The objective clause in telic form. It certainly is not equivalent to ὅταν ἀνακριθῶ: when I am judged; nor perhaps precisely the same as τὸ ἀνακριθῆναι, to be judged. [“Here and always ἴνα is more or less the conj. of purpose.” Alford5]. A weakness of its force in the later Greek is not to be denied; but here the idea of intention or tendency lies in this, that something is about to happen or impends: ‘I am not at all disturbed that I shall be judged by you as to my merits.’ [Stanley, on the other hand, says that “the substitution of ἴνα with the subjunctive for the indicative is in the modern Romaic,” and seems to take it so here]—or by man’s judgment—lit.: ‘by human day. ’ Thisis neither to be taken as a Cilicism nor as a Hebraism. It designates a day of judgment, analogously with the phrase dicem dicere, and here comes in correspondingly with the expression: “day of the Lord.” We are not to understand by it a private decision (“by you”) in contrast with a public one. But it is a generalization of the phrase: ‘by you,’ and by an obvious transition, the day of the act is put for the act itself, and the judgment as a whole for the judges themselves; or as Meyer: the day is personified, and hence ὑπό is used in accordance with ὑφ̓ ὑμῶν, by you. There is something of solemnity in this phraseology; nor is it without a slight touch of irony or rebuke at their presumption in being supposed to fix upon a day of trial, and to sit upon a judgment-seat in order to pronounce upon Paul’s merits or demerits. All appearance of haughtiness in this disparagement of other’s opinions is removed by what follows.—Yea, I judge not of mine own self. Lit.: ‘But neither do I judge myself.’ The ἀλλά here is like that in 1Co_3:2. Before ἐμαυτον we would naturally look for an οὐτός. But this is not necessary. The judgment on himself, which he here disavows, is a final decision as to his own merits, such as he is willing to abide by. [“Paul is here speaking not of the actions of men whether good or bad, but of the eminence of each individual, which ought not to be estimated by men’s humors.” Calvin].

1Co_4:4. Instead of the expected antithesis, there follows first a confirmation of what precedes, in the way of a parenthesis.—For I know nothing with myself.—This first clause is concessive, [the force of for, as Winer says, falling upon the subsequent clause]: q. d. ‘For although I know,” etc. So also Meyer, [who says, however, that the force of the proof does not lie in the second clause, so that the first would be only concessive, but in the antithetic relation of both clauses. He yet gives the sense thus]: “The clearness of my conscience as to my official duties is nevertheless (doch) not the ground on which my justification rests.” [The phraseology here is peculiar, but thoroughly idiomatic, both in the Greek (ον̓δέν ἐμ αντῳ σύνοιδα) and in our E. V., which almost literally translates it:—“I know nothing by myself.” So also the Latin—nil conscire sibi. All expressions alike mean: I am conscious of no wrong. (See Jelf, Gr. Gram., § 682, 2). The English phrase is to be found in the early writers, and Stanley asserts: ‘it is still a provincial form of speech for the same thought’]. ‘Know nothing,’ i.e., so far as my official conduct is concerned. [“Elsewhere he speaks of himself as the ‘chief of sinners,’ which is perfectly consistent with his saying, that his conscience acquitted himself of failure as a Christian minister.” Hodge.]—Yet not in this am I justified—i.e., before God. It is a question, however, whether this justification is to be understood in the dogmatic sense, [of imputed righteousness], as Meyer, and Billr., and others maintain, or in the legal, ethical sense [as the early fathers, Calvin, Hodge, Alford, and others assert]. If the former, then the meaning is: that since his justification did not depend on the verdict of his own conscience but upon Christ, therefore his conscience could not furnish the ground on which he was to judge himself. If the latter, then the sense would be: that his acquittal of all blame does not rest on the fact that his conscience charged him with no official derelictions; since conscience pronounced only in regard to particular actions and not to the whole moral character as it appears in God’s sight, so that of course a clean conscience could afford no certain basis of estimating the real worth of any person. Of these interpretations the latter is to be preferred, since there is no allusion in the context to the Gospel doctrine of justification by faith.—but he that judgeth me.—[Observe, not: “that justifieth me,” which language would have been the term employed, had Paul here had in mind the matter of his general Christian estate, but: “judgeth” (ἀνακρίνων), i.e., holds an inquest and decides on the merits of the case which may be brought into issue.]—is the Lord.—i.e., Christ, [who looked deeper than conscience; and of course deeper than all outside observers], and who alone could comprehend all the data by which his official conduct was to be estimated. [“This inward allegiance of the conscience is the highest form of worship. The Lord Jesus was to the Apostle the object of all those sentiments and feelings which terminate on God. And He must be so to us, or we are not Christians. What makes a man a Christian is to feel and act towards Christ as God.” Hodge.].

1Co_4:5. Practical inference from the foregoing. So then (ὥστε), judge nothing.—μὴτι κρίνετε. is not the object of judgment but its contents. It is equivalent to κρίσιν τινά. Hence the meaning is: “do not judge any judgment.” The logic may be presented thus: “Since my judgment belongs to the Lord, therefore refrain from all premature decisions respecting me.” Billroth, with less simplicity, says: “Since I do not even judge myself, therefore follow my example, and do not yourselves judge.” He alludes here not to the mutually disparaging censures cast upon each other by the several factions (Billr.), but to the judgment of the Corinthian brotherhood upon himself.—before the time,—which is more fully explained in,—until the Lord shall come.—The time of His advent to judgment—His “appearing,” or “epiphany” (2Ti_4:1; 2Th_1:7). The ἕως ἅν is used with the subjunctive ἕλθῃ, because an end to be reached is fixed upon from the standpoint of the present, but the reaching of which (here in respect of time), is still undecided. Or, according to Meyer: “The coming is thereby designated as problematical, and dependent on circumstances; not indeed, as it is doubted; also not, as it is dependent upon subjective determination, but, as it is an object of expectant faith.” [The uncertainty indicated by ἄν is not as to the fact of Christ’s coming, but as to the time when He shall come: q. d., “until the Lord shall come, whenever that may be.” (See Jelf., Gr. Gram., § 846, 2.)] (Comp. Mat_16:28; Luk_13:35).—That a correct judgment will then, for the first time, be possible is shown from what follows.—who also.—The καί here is neither to be taken in connection with the καί in following clause, as if it were et, et, both, and: nor has it a mere strengthening force, even; but it serves to single out from among the functions of the Lord, as He comes to judgment, that one with which he is here concerned: [“also,’ inter alia, as part of the proceedings of that Day.” Alford.]—will bring to light.—φωτιζειν, with the accusative, to enlighten, illuminate, as the sun does the world, and hence to disclose, bring to light (comp. 2Ti_1:10),—the hidden things of darkness:—i.e., such as belong to darkness, or which darkness vails. (In Rom_2:16, we have simply: “the hidden things.”) [“This includes acts now unknown, and those principles of action which lie concealed in the heart where no [human] eye can reach them. This is all that the context requires. In other connections, the secret things, or the works of darkness, means wicked works, works done in the dark to avoid detection. But the Apostle is here speaking of the reason why judgment should be deferred until the coming of Christ. The reason is that He alone can bring to light the secret acts and motives of men.” Hodge.]—and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.—Epexegetical of the former, or a specification under the general head just mentioned. One function of the Judge will be to lay open the inner determinations of the will—the motives and purposes by which men are governed, and which are withdrawn from human sight. It is on these that the decision respecting our merits and our fidelity must at last turn. All depends upon the simplicity of our temper—upon such a service of the Lord as excludes all by-ends, and is upright and sincere. “The thought here is this: In this life our inward character can only be inferred from our acts; at the judgment it will be directly laid open by the Lord.” Neander.—and then,—as contrasted with the present, when so much is vailed, and when men are disposed to exercise a premature judgment—shall each one have his praise:—ἐκάστῳ ὁ ἔπαὶνος. Literally: “to each one the praise,” i.e., the praise which is his due, according to its various measures and degrees, corresponding to his worth. He here speaks of praise only, since he has in view primarily Apollos and himself, and not any Judaizing opposers. Hence there is no necessity of taking ἔπαινος as vox media, contrary to all usage, or even to regard it as an euphemism (with Theophylact). Paul’s statement here, as Calvin says, “arises from the assurance of a good conscience.” He knew there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness (2Ti_4:8).—from God.—This stands emphatically at the close. By this he gives us to understand that the judgment of the Lord, which would be pronounced upon his servants, was the judgment of God himself. Thus does he appeal from those partizan judgments, which exalt one at the expense of another, to the absolute and impartial judgment of God, who will give to each one his due. On the adjudication of Christ in its relations to God see Rom_2:16; Act_10:42; Act_17:31. On “the praise from God” see Mat_25:21. [“The command not to anticipate the judgment of the Lord is consistent with Paul’s frequent recognition of the right and duty of the Church to sit in judgment on the qualifications of her own members. He is here speaking of the heart. The Church cannot judge the heart. Whether a man is sincere or insincere in his professions, whether his experience is genuine or spurious, God only can decide. The Church can only judge of what is outward. If any man profess to be holy, and yet is immoral the Church is bound to eject him, as Paul clearly teaches in the following chapter. Or if he profess to be a Christian, and yet rejects Christianity, or any of its essential doctrines, he cannot be received, Tit_3:10. But ‘the counsels of the heart’ only the Searcher of hearts can judge.” Hodge.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Christ’s ministers stewards of the mysteries of God.—In this we see the high significance and solemn responsibility of the ministerial office. In a preëminent sense, Christ is the servant of God. It is through His hand that the pleasure of the Lord prospers; and on Him has God poured His Spirit without measure, and to His control given all things, and on Him conferred power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. Subordinate to Him in this work are Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, acting the part, so to speak, of handworkmen (ν̓πηρἐται). They labor under His direction, undertaking and executing all those various offices by which the redemption and the guidance of souls are accomplished. The more completely they put themselves under Him, preferring His will and His plans to their own, seeking no glory but His, asserting His authority as the only rule—the more exalted will they appear in God’s sight, as persons who are worthy to coöperate with “His Servant” in this, the most important of all concerns, and to become the organs of his gracious purposes.

The lofty significance of their office appears enhanced by the fact, that in this service they are made “stewards of the mysteries of God.” To them has been committed the wondrous plan of salvation—a plan which from all eternity had been hid in God, and was concealed from the researches of the wisest in this world, and was at last revealed in Jesus Christ, and hence is well termed a mystery—even this plan, with all the means requisite for its execution, in reconciling sinners to God, and awaking the spiritually dead, and enlightening the benighted, and originating, preserving, confirming, and perfecting the life of faith in God’s dear children. Their business it is, therefore, to employ this wealth of Divine instrumentalities for the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, and in behalf of each and all of God’s people; and to discharge this trust publicly and privately, towards all classes and conditions in society without partiality:—to inquire out the ways through which God leads souls to the truth, and to construct such ways, by examining into the tendencies and characteristics and wants of individuals and communities, and by investigating their circumstances and inward conditions in life; and then to urge men to enter them:—to be unwearied in beseeching men in Christ’s stead to become reconciled to God, warning, exhorting, rebuking, reproving, in the consciousness that God is acting in them and through them and in the exercise of something of His holy earnestness and pitying love. This, this is to act the part of a faithful steward; this is to fulfil the obligation which rests upon the office-bearers of a Christian church. In order to be thus faithful they must be instructed by the Spirit, and follow in the footsteps of Him who, as the Son of God, was faithful in all His house, and who said of Himself that He could do nothing except what He saw the Father do. But if, instead of this, they go their own ways, employ methods to their own liking, conduct themselves so that the mind and counsel of God are not to be discerned in them—if they allow themselves to be carried away by carnal zeal and impatience, or yield to disgust and slothfulness, or suffer sensual gratifications, whether refined or gross, or a love of honors and authority and applause to slip in and betray them into unhallowed courses,—then are they chargeable with a faithlessness which incurs a fearful accountability.

2. The Lord is Judge.—This truth is, on the one hand, a source of comfort to all true servants of God, amid the various criticisms and censures passed upon them; and, on the other hand, it serves to abate the confidence of their own self-estimation. In the great day of account the Searcher of hearts will bring to light all that has been stirring within them, their longings and strivings, their secret motives and inward struggles, their inarticulate sighs as well as their uttered prayers; and in view of these things, all unknown to men, will He judge them. However others, who judge according to appearance, may find occasions for censure, or may misconstrue their doings and omissions, they can accept it all in peace and look away in calm assurance from these hasty decisions to the righteous sentence of an All-seeing Judge.—Yet, with all this, there is at the same time something very subduing in the anticipation of this only valid adjudication. However unconscious of blame they may be in the discharge of their duties, still this can afford them no certain ground for hoping to be acquitted before their Lord. His all-piercing eye detects faults that are hidden from their own consciences; and in His all-illuminating light much may appear unclean which to their clouded vision seems stainless. Hence it becometh them to be modest and leave to Him the final award.—Yet from him, who has been diligent in his endeavors to be faithful, the due praise will not be withheld,—however much men might criticize. From the mouth of his Lord he will receive the sentence: “Well done thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”—But even as when on earth every tribute of honor had the effect only to humble him the more, by bringing out in contrast a sense of his own unworthiness; so, too, will he receive this approval of his gracious Chief Shepherd in utmost lowliness. The crown of glory will ever be cast at his feet.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Starke:—Christ’s servants should perform their service, not so as to please men, but as the Lord requires. As stewards of the Gospel treasures, they have the right to open these treasures, and to close them against the wicked (Mat_16:19). The higher the Lord, the higher the servant; yet the latter is ever subordinate.—Ministers are servants, not lords, of men’s faith. One is our Master, even Christ. Both pastors and flock are brethren (2Co_1:24), (Hed.), 1Co_4:1.—A minister must be faithful: 1, to God, in looking to Him with single eye, seeking His honor, acting according to His will and maintaining His rights; 2, to the Church, in withholding from it nothing essential to its welfare, and in declaring the whole counsel of God, so that no person shall suffer or perish through his fault or neglect; 3, to his own office in not acting the part of a lord, but of a servant who is ready to listen and labor. Fidelity in office grows out of fidelity to one’s self. A true preacher preaches Christ not only with the mouth but from the heart. He speaks from experience and confirms his doctrine by his conduct, 1Co_4:2.—A minister of God must be deaf, alike to the praise and the blame of men. His rule is the will of his Master, not the opinion of men. If he follows the latter he will never be faithful in his office, 1Co_4:3.—It is one thing to have a good conscience before God for our consolation (1Jn_3:21) and another thing to have it for our self-justification. The one requires a sincerity and diligence such as David could claim, the other a faultless perfection such as neither David nor Paul dare arrogate (Psa_19:13; Php_3:12).—Blessed state, to be conscious of no wrong, and yet not to be disposed to justify oneself, 1Co_4:4.—How unlike the judgment of God and the judgment of man. The former comes at the end of probation, is impartial, comprehensive in its data; the latter is ordinarily premature, rash, and grounded only on the outward appearance.—What must be the disclosures of the last day! God holds the key to the inmost thoughts of all men; and when they are all open to inspection, how fearful will then be the outcry! Take heed, O hypocrite; the Lord knows thee. Rejoice, thou sincere heart; the Lord will come and be thy witness (Job_34:21), 1Co_4:5.

Rieger:—The office of the preacher springs out of Christ.—As the Father sent Him, so He sends forth His ministers in order to proclaim the power which has been committed to Him in heaven and earth. This is their service and stewardship, 1Co_4:1.—If distinctions are to be made among ministers, better look to their fidelity than to their gifts or reputation; and in judging of fidelity, that must often be taken into account which is least apt to strike the notice of men.

Heubner, A.:—The worth of true evangelical ministers consists: 1, in the purpose of their office; a, to serve Christ and be wholly dependent on His word; and hence, b, to promote the salvation of the congregation as stewards of God, 1Co_4:1-2, In their fidelity, which is seen; a, in the actual discharge of their duties; b, in a sincerity of spirit which ever stands as in God’s sight and cares to be approved by Him alone, ver 2.–3, In the humility, which; a, refuses to justify self, 1Co_4:3 ff., and, b, awaits in confidence the Divine award, 1Co_4:4-5.—B. Ministers and congregations will one day together stand at the bar of God:—1. They will so stand, for; a, Paul implies this; b, it is necessary to the revelation of the Divine righteousness. 2. The fact is a momentous one; a, for ministers—it ought to shame them of their unfaithfulness, prompt them to walk conscientiously, and lift them above the opinions of the world; b, for the congregation—it should keep them from judging before the time, and cause them to take need rather that the Word of God brings forth fruit among them; c, for both—they ought to conduct themselves as if already before the judgment seat.—Man is often unconscious of the deepest motives which actuate him; hence he can give himself no assurance that he has omitted nothing due, or done nothing sinful, 1Co_4:4.—So act always that thou canst at any moment have thy heart exposed, 1Co_4:5.

Gossner:—As a general thing, the natural man loves to hear what people think of him. It is harder to despise praise than blame.

[Hodge:—“1 Col_4:1 contains two important truths: ministers have no arbitrary or discretionary authority in the Church; neither have they any supernatural power such as is attributed to them in the Romish Church. Their authority is merely ministerial, and therefore to be judged by the standard of those commands which are known to the whole Church. And, secondly, they are not, like Aristotle or Plato, the originators of their own doctrines, or the teachers of the doctrines of other men, but simply the dispensers of the truths which God has revealed.”]

W. F. Besser: 1Co_4:2. It is a comfort that nothing but fidelity is required of stewards, not talents, nor inventive powers, nor manifold activity, nor success. The daintiness and fanciful taste of the vain and luxurious Corinthians, in whose sight fidelity seemed a small virtue, are no rarity in these times. But worse still is the rebellion shown by many congregations, who style themselves churches of Christ, against the fidelity of their pastors and teachers.

[G. C. A. Harless:

1Co_4:2. What is here asserted of ministers holds good also of all Christians. Compare the parable of our Lord on “The talents,” Mat_25:14 ff. The peculiar nature of the fidelity demanded is determined by the peculiar character of the blessing of salvation intrusted. It is not fidelity to a duty outwardly imposed, to a precept, rule, maxim or the like, but fidelity to an inwardly active vital principle—personal fidelity to a personal fellowship with God, wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the fidelity of a new-born child of God in whom the Spirit testifies to what the word promises].

[Calvin: 1Co_4:4. Conscious of no wrong, and yet not justified. “Papists abuse this passage for the purpose of shaking the assurance of faith; and truly I confess that if their doctrine were admitted, we could do nothing but tremble in wretchedness during our whole life. For what tranquillity could our minds enjoy if it were to be determined from our works whether we are well-pleasing to God. I confess, therefore, that from the main foundation of Papists there follows nothing but continual disquietude for consciences; and accordingly we teach that we must have recourse to the free promise of mercy which is offered to us in Christ, that we may be fully assured that we are accounted righteous by God”].

[A. Tholuck: 1Co_4:1-5. The characteristics of a faithful steward.—I. All he has he regards as belonging to his Lord. II. He is as faithful in small things as in great things. III. The source of his fidelity is his love for his Lord.—Th. Chalmers:

1Co_4:3-4. The judgment of men compared with the judgment of God.—I. God has a right to prefer greater claims against us, than men can. II. God has a clearer and more elevated sense of moral worth and holiness than men have].

Footnotes:

[1]1Co_4:2.—ὦδε is supported by a great preponderance of authorities [A. B. C. D. F. Cod. Sin.] and preferred by Lach. Meyer [Alf. Stanley], to the Rec. ὅ δέ. See under “Exegetical and Critical.”

[2]1Co_4:2.—ζητεῖται is sustained mainly by the old versions, and is decidedly preferable to ζητεῖτε [which is found in A. C. D. Cod. Sin. and others.] Stanley remarks that the confusion arises from the similarity of sound in Romaic between ε and αι. The Cod. Sin. inserts τί before ζητεῖτε, and would be rendered, “Moreover what do you here seek in stewards? That a man,” etc.

[3][This is not so clear. Ον̔́τως does often have reference to what precedes. And here certainly Paul seems to be applying the principle, he had just been laying down in general, to himself and his associates in particular. The very position of ον̔́τως ἠμᾶς so us, too, seems to require this. As they were Christ’s, so it was to be borne in mind that he and Apollos were also Christ’s, and that, too, in their official capacity. They were Christ’s servants—stewards of God’s mysteries, and were to be respected accordingly. Ον̓́τως, so, therefore points back to what has been said, and also forwards to ὡς, as, which resumes and makes the implication more definite].

[4][But in thus putting the emphasis on their official capacity, rather than on the fact of their belonging to Christ, the way does not seem to be prepared for what follows. There may, indeed, be an implication here of a subordinate position, which contradicted their partisan estimates; but this evidently retires before the rising thought just about to find expression].

[5]But Jelf in Gr. Gram. § 803, obs. 1, shows in full argument the gradual modification of meaning until it cornea to have the force only of the accusatival infinitive. And this, he says, is frequent in the New Testament: There seems to be a great effort among some critics to avoid the admission of this, and to show the telic force of ἵνα in every instance].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 4

1. Servants of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God. (1Co 4:1-5).

2. Contrast Between Self-Glorification and Humiliation. (1Co 4:6-13).

3. Admonition to Beloved Children. (1Co 4:14-21).

Paul speaks of himself and the fellow workmen as servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. They were serving under Christ. Apollos, though not an Apostle, is included by Paul. Apollos with his great eloquence probably appealed strongly to the Corinthians and thus the party spirit had been fostered among them. But Paul classes Apollos with himself; he might have told the Corinthians that Apollos was not an Apostle and by this belittle him in their eyes. All were servants of Christ to serve the household of faith and to give meat in due season. The “mysteries of God” are not, as claimed by ritualistic Christendom, the sacraments in their invented “mysterious” actions. The mysteries of God are those blessed hidden things, which were not revealed in former dispensations; but now they are made known and the servants of Christ are the stewards of the blessed truths of Christianity, to guard and to dispense them. And Paul who may be called “the chief steward” of these mysteries had been judged by them, but he expresses his independence of all their judgment. He is responsible to the Lord although he was not aware Of anything against himself yet he was not thereby justified, for the Lord might know something, that he had overlooked. He then points to that day (the day of Christ) when He comes and all His people will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Then the hidden things will come to light, the counsels of the hearts will be manifest and each man have his praise from God. To that day the servant of Christ, the steward of God’s mysteries, yea, every Christian, must look, and serve in anticipation of it. Then all our acts and ways will be examined and judged by the Lord Himself. Paul therefore declared that any judgment now was a judgment “before the time.”

And all this he wrote by the Spirit to uncover their foolishness and to counteract their party-spirit. “That ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written, that no one of you be puffed up the one against the other. For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received? But, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” Thus the Spirit of God exposed the folly of the Corinthian party spirit in which they were puffed up and had lost sight of Christ.

Where they had drifted in their carnal spirit by glorying in men and not in Christ is made known by the contrast between their self-glorification, self-exaltation and self-sufficiency and the path of humiliation, suffering and contempt, which is marked out for the true follower of the Lord and the servant of Christ. Here is solemn food for reflection. They were full and rich, reigned as kings, but without the Apostles, who were blessedly sharing the sufferings of Christ and were a spectacle unto the world, to angels and to men. By their profession the Corinthians were waiting for the coming of the Lord, yet in His absence they reigned as kings. They enjoyed prosperity, had all things in abundance, they gloried in all these things while the true servants of Christ were suffering, were in want, following in the path of His blessed life on earth, bearing His reproach, despised and rejected by the world. And so it is today that the professing church has fully gone the Corinthian way; an outward profession, a seeing after the honor of men, the applause of the world, glorying in earthly attainments, rich, increased in goods. With it the offense of the cross has ceased. The cross which has written the sentence of death upon the flesh, which has made the believer dead to the world and the world dead to him; the cross, which demands separation, self-denial, self-surrender and self-sacrifice is denied.

And what a record of suffering and privation, persecution, reproach and shame, the Apostle gives! The Corinthians knew nothing of that; nor does the professing church of today. But has not the world changed since then? Is not the age becoming better? Is not the leaven of Christianity changing existing conditions so that the reproach of Christ ceases and suffering is changed into worldly honor and glory? A thousand times, No! These are the spurious claims. The world, this Present age, man’s day, does not change. The world is the same today as it was in the days of the apostle. It is still true and will be true till the Lord comes “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions.” The applause and approval of the world, the recognition by the world of that which is called “religion”--”Christian work and service,” is an evidence that that service and religion is not according to the truth of God.

Paul sent Timothy to remind them “of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” And he was also coming in person. He was not afraid to visit them and meet them face to face; he would come in power. “What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” It was his loving call for them to repent and humble themselves.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 4:1

I. Consider what is really meant by speaking of human work as a "ministry of God." The conception of a ministry of God underlies our whole system of thought and expression, cropping out again and again in forms, the meaning of which is half forgotten. But seldom, perhaps, we realise that it is, after all, the only conception which makes it worth while to act or to live. The belief that man’s action is a ministry of God is the one to which we must come at last, because the only one which explains all the facts and answers all the needs of our complex life.

II. The advent of Christ in great humility is, indeed, the charter of God’s infinite love; but it is also the charter of man’s inalienable dignity. Think how the first great mystery of the Incarnation shows us the almost inconceivable truth that in the regeneration of mankind to spiritual life even God’s almighty power needed the co-operation of humanity. Think how the revelation of the Son of man at every point showed that the working of the human will with the Divine was of the essence of the actual work of salvation. From the day of Pentecost to the present time is it not through human agency that He is pleased to work? The very call to propagate His gospel implies the truth that we can be—that we must be—ministers of Christ. Mere ministers, I know, bound simply to do His will and leave the issues to Him; but still truly His ministers, each with a real work to do, which by him only is to be done.

III. "Stewards of the mysteries of God." This is a title of dignity, not of humility. We have to make use of, in some sense to sway, mysterious powers of God. "It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful." It is to be faithful in perfect trustfulness, faithful in unswerving obedience, faithful in unselfish devotion, faithful in unsullied truth. God grant that we be found so faithful in the great day.

Bishop Barry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 49.

1Co 4:1

I. What is the meaning of the word "mystery" in the New Testament? It is used to describe not a fancy, not a contradiction, not an impossibility, but always a truth, yet a truth which has been or which is more or less hidden. A mystery is a truth, a fact. The word is never applied to anything else or less; never to a fancy, never to an impossibility, never to a recognised contradiction, never to any shadowy sort of unreality. But it is a partially hidden fact or truth. Truths are of two kinds, both of them truths, and, as such, equally certain; but they differ in that they are differently apprehended by us. There are some truths on which the mind’s eye rests directly, just as the bodily eye rests on the sun in a cloudless sky; and there are other truths of the reality of which the mind is assured by seeing something else which satisfies it that they are there, just as the bodily eye sees the strong ray which pours forth in a stream of brilliancy from behind the cloud and reports to the understanding that if only the cloud were to be removed the sun would itself be seen. Now, mysteries in religion, as we commonly use the word, are of this description; we see enough to know that there is more which we do not see, and while in this state of existence we shall not directly see, we see the ray which implies the sun behind the cloud. And thus to look upon the apparent truth, which certainly implies truth that is not apparent, is to be in the presence of mystery.

II. Science does not exorcise mystery out of nature; it only removes its frontier, in most cases, a step farther back. Those who know most of nature are most impressed, not by the facts which they can explain and reason on, but by the facts which they cannot explain and which they know to lie beyond the range of explanation. And the mysterious creed of Christendom corresponds with nature. After all, we may dislike and resent mystery in our lower and captious, as distinct from better and thoughtful moods; but we know on reflection that it is the inevitable robe of a real revelation of the Infinite Being, and that if the great truths and ordinances of Christianity shade off as they do into regions where we cannot hope to follow them, this is only what was to be expected if Christianity is what it claims to be.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1152.

I. What were the distinctive functions of the Christian ministry? To gain a satisfactory answer to this question we must in all honesty consult the New Testament itself as to the primitive idea of the ministry and the terms used to describe its office, and not allow ourselves to be entangled in the technical phraseology which a later theology, not always adhering to the primitive idea, but overlaying it by false analogies, and subsequently by ambitious assumptions of lordship over God’s heritage, introduced. Approaching the question, then, in the first instance from the negative side, we may ascertain that the books of the New Testament distinctly abstain from employing for the new ministry of the Christian Church the language which had been used to describe the ministers of religion of the Mosaic system. Christian ministers are never in the New Testament called priests (ἱερεῖς)—that is, if we are to adopt the definition given by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "persons taken from among men, ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that they may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." The term ἱερεῖς, or sacrificial offerer, is repeatedly employed of the heathen priests and of the Jewish priests, but never of Christian officers. Wherever the idea of priesthood in its sense of ἱεράτεια is recognised as having place in the Christian Church, it is applied to all Christian people and not to the authorised officers specially. Jesus Christ has made them all kings and priests to God and His Father. All form a spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ—these spiritual sacrifices are prayers, praises, thanksgivings, or on another side they are "ourselves, our souls and bodies," the rational not material offering, and the whole congregation of Christian people have a full right, as well as a bounden duty, to offer these.

II. The determination of the negative side of the Scriptural doctrine of the ministry enables us to proceed with advantage to the positive side. And there we find ourselves almost embarrassed by the multitude of terms which are used as descriptive of ministerial functions. They who are in a position of authority over their brethren are called messengers, ambassadors, shepherds, teachers, preachers of the word, rulers, overseers, ministers, stewards. Each term represents some varying aspect of the Christian officers, and suggests to them corresponding duties. The central idea of the Christian ministry appears to be the proclamation of the word of the gospel with all its vivifying and manifold applications to the intellects and hearts and consciences of men rather than an administration of an external ceremonial and ritual. It is a high spiritual and moral mission from Christ with which the ordained officers of the Church are charged. To keep alive the belief of one supreme God, the Maker and Upholder and Final Cause of the universe, amidst the sensualism and materialism of a complex civilisation, to evoke the sentiments of love and trust and worship towards Him, to hold up Jesus Christ His only Son as the fullest revelation in human form of the Almighty Father, to unfold the mysteries of His incarnation, the abiding results of His life and ministry and passion and resurrection, to bid men imitate, so far as in their frailty they can, the matchless ideal of goodness and justice and purity and charity exhibited in Him, to proclaim the brotherhood of all men in Him the world’s Redeemer, to point men to Him as the Deliverer from sin and the Consoler of suffering, to help their brethren to live the Christian life by example and precept and doctrine,—this is the glorious function of the Christian ministry.

W. Ince, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Jan. 31st, 1878.

References: 1Co 4:1.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p 238; G. Moberly, Plain Sermons at Brighstone, p. 123; A. Barry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 49; H. P. Liddon, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 385; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 150. 1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 80; vol. v., pp. 271, 272; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i., p. 303. 1Co 4:1-6.—F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 54. 1Co 4:2.—C. Garrett, Loving Counsels, p. 1.

1Co 4:3

The judgment of our fellow-creatures upon our acts and our characters is, practically speaking, an inevitable accompaniment of human life.

I. Human judgments keep order in the world of thought and in the world of conduct—a certain sort of order, at any rate. (1) They do not, for instance, go far wrong when they are brought face to face with a great public crime which, as being such, is patent, whether to the natural or to Christian conscience. Take, for instance, such crimes as the massacre of St. Bartholomew, or the massacre in Glencoe. At the present day no writer of character, of any persuasion, or in any country, would venture to defend these acts. By the light of the natural conscience of man, by the light of the principles of the gospel of Christ, they are condemned irrevocably. (2) Again, the common judgment of man does not err when it pronounces upon the more personal acts of an individual, supposing them to be well attested. The betrayal of our Lord by Judas is an act upon the character of which all men can pronounce a judgment. An ingenious writer of the last generation tried to show that Judas was not so bad after all. The conscience of man listens for a moment to these ingenious audacities. It listens; perhaps it is indignant; perhaps it smiles; it passes on; it forgets them. (3) Once more, the judgment of man ventures, at times, a step farther—to pronounce with reserves upon character. These judgments are uncertain, tentative, and partial.

II. St. Paul has more reasons than one for treating the conclusions of the Corinthians as a very small thing. (1) The Corinthian judgment about him was like a portrait painter’s sketch at a first sitting. They had not yet had time to learn what a longer acquaintance might have taught them. (2) This estimate was a strangely biassed one. What they called a judgment was, in reality, a formulated prejudice. (3) The Corinthians were passing judgment on a point which they had no real means of investigating. (4) St. Paul did not feel or affect indifference to the question whether he was or was not faithful. In matters of the soul he would go straight to the fountain of absolute justice. "He that judgeth me is the Lord." The knowledge that that judgment was going on day by day—the knowledge that it would be proclaimed from heaven here-after—relieved him of all anxiety whatever as to the opinion which might be pronounced on him at Corinth. "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment."

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 995.

Reference: 1Co 4:3.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 190.

1Co 4:3-4

The Christian’s Relation to Public Opinion .

Note:—

I. That St. Paul was judged unfavourably at this time at the bar of the public opinion of the church of Corinth. The expression "public opinion" describes the common fund of thought which belongs to a larger or smaller number of associated human beings. Every village, every town, every city, has its public opinion—its own characteristic way of dealing with people and things about it. And, as earthly societies, churches have a public opinion of their own, first created by their members, and which, in turn, controls them. And this public church opinion is by no means certain to be always and everywhere just. St. Paul stood face to face with a section of this opinion at Corinth when he wrote: "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment.

II. St. Paul is not at pains to conceal his perfect independence of the hostile opinion of the Corinthians. Not that we can suppose him to have taken any pleasure either in feeling or in proclaiming this independence, for he was a man of quick sympathy, rejoicing if he could be sure of the love of his converts, and not caring to conceal how much they could do to promote or to mar his personal happiness. But, as matters stood, he brushed aside a whole world of inward feeling to say that he was unconcerned as to their judgment upon his apostolical faithfulness. "With me," he said, "it is a small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment."

III. Notice what was the consideration which sustained St. Paul in his conscious opposition to the opinion of the Corinthian Christians. He spoke as from a higher atmosphere, which was already moving him out of the reach of these human voices. He spoke as from the vestibule of a Divine presence-chamber. Just so far as a man is loyal to known truth and known duty, does he assert his manhood; and not in petulance or in scorn, not in indifference or in anger, he is thereby raised though he be raised upon a cross—raised above the opinion of the world. It is a small thing that he is judged unfavourably by it, because in that higher presence he dares not judge himself at all, and yet he believes his intentions to be accepted by the justice and the charity of his God.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 855.

References: 1Co 4:3, 1Co 4:4.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 155; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 272. 1Co 4:4.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 258. 1Co 4:5.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vii., p. 285; J. W. Reeve, Penny Pulpit, No. 3271. 1Co 4:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 262; vol. xxii., No. 1271; vol. xxiv., No. 1392; T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 168; H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 18. 1Co 4:7-21.—F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 62; J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, p. 265. 1Co 4:11.—Homilist, new series, vol. i., p. 126. 1Co 4:14.—H. D. Rawnsley, Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 186. 1Co 4:15.—H. P. Liddon, Church of England Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 253. 1Co 4:15-17.—L. Abbott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 228. 1Co 4:18.—F. O. Morris, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 185.

1Co 4:20

The Spiritual Mind.

How are we the better for being members of the Christian Church?

I. If we would form a just notion how far we are influenced by the power of the gospel, we must evidently put aside everything which we do merely in imitation of others and not from religious principle. The obedience I condemn as untrue may be called obedience on custom. How are we better or worse, if we have but in a passive way admitted into our minds certain religious opinions, and have but accustomed ourselves to the words and actions of the world around us?

II. We may have received the kingdom of God in a higher sense than in word merely, and yet in no real sense in power: in other words, our obedience may be in some sort religious, and yet hardly deserve the title of Christian. To be Christians, surely it is not enough to be that which we are enjoined to be, and must be, even without Christ; not enough to be no better than good heathens; not enough to be, in some slight measure, just, honest, temperate, and religious. I am not wishing to frighten imperfect Christians, but to lead them on, to open their minds to the greatness of the work before them, to dissipate the meagre and carnal views in which the gospel has come to them to warn them that they must never be contented with themselves, or stand still and relax their efforts, but must go on unto perfection.

III. What is it, then, that they lack? Observe in what respects the higher obedience is different from that lower degree of religion which we may possess without entering into the mind of the gospel. (1) In its faith which is placed not simply in God, but in God as manifested in Christ. (2) Next, we must adore Christ as our Lord and Master, love Him as our most gracious Redeemer. (3) Further, we must for His sake aim at a noble and unusual strictness of life, perfecting holiness in His fear, destroying our sins, mastering our whole soul, and bringing it into captivity to His law. This is to be a Christian: a gift easily described, and in a few words, but attainable only with fear and much trembling; promised indeed, and in a measure accorded at once to every one who asks for it, but not secured till after many years and never in this life fully realised.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i., p. 72.

I. What is the distinction between the kingdom in word and the kingdom in power? Those of human kind who do not submit to the Lord and His Anointed branch off into two streams. One division adopts a falsehood, and intrusts it with real power; the other division makes a profession of the truth, but a profession only. In contrast with either form of error, the Church of the living God is distinguished by the union of truth and power. Christians proclaim the right King, and render to Him a real obedience. False appearances abound. A word-kingdom, destitute of power, overspreads the land and deceives the people. To a great extent the kingdom of God has been owned, but the word which owns it is an empty word. Men will not bear the burden of a real kingdom—will not submit to the authority of a real King. Those who allow falsehood to wield the real power of their life are acute enough to perceive that we do not so surrender ourselves to the truth which we profess.

II. What is the kingdom in power? (1) The instrument of the power is revealed truth. The Scriptures, in relation to the kingdom of God, constitute the lade which contains and conveys the water. (2) The essence of the power is Christ. Here is the fountain-head of all the force which, through the preaching of the truth, can be brought to bear upon the hearts and lives of men. The word and ordinances stand ready to convey the power, but the redemption that is in Christ is the power which must be led to men’s hearts and let on. If this do not move them, they will never be moved. (3) The application of the power is effected by the ministry of the Spirit. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. Thus Christ’s kingdom is maintained until He come again. (4) The effects of this power are great and various. (a) It subdues, (b) it comforts, (c) it levies tribute. Yield yourselves as instruments of righteousness, whereby the operations of the kingdom may be carried on. Ye are not your own; He who bought you claims not only yours, but also you.

W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits, p. 285.

Look at the subject:—

I. In relation to individual Christian life. It is one thing to feel the power of God in the soul, and another to be able to vindicate doctrines and to establish a great visible outwork of service. Men cannot always do themselves justice in speech, yet where there are few words there may be true power. On the other hand, men may have great facility in speech, yet their hearts may be but partially under Divine dominion. A man should himself always be greater than his words. However eloquent his speech, his life should be deeper, broader, diviner, than any words can ever reveal. It is possible, too, that from the poorest words there may be poured an irresistible, all-convincing, and all-blessing life, as from the bush in Horeb there flamed a glory not of earth, and from the raiment of the transfigured Nazarene there shone a brightness more splendid than the fire of the sun. A man is not to be judged by the poverty of his words, but by the moral power of his life. The simplicity of his motives, the nobleness of his temper, the purity of his conversation, his forbearance, gentleness, catholicity, self-denial—these are the convincing signs that in his heart are set the pillars of God’s throne.

II. In its bearing upon Church organisations or individual methods of Christian service. I suppose that we cannot altogether escape some degree of officialism in our religious life, yet it is to be feared that societyism is not always kept within the limits of our spirituality. We cannot have too much preaching of the right kind. Divine truth is Divine power. Open every pulpit, and let the gospel be declared in many ways, by many means; we cannot have too much exposition of Divine truth or too much enforcement of Divine appeal; but save us from the pious frivolity, the complimentary lying, the courteous hypocrisy, and the ambitious ladder-climbing of a degenerate platform.

III. In relation to religious controversy, taking the term controversy in its widest meaning. In this relation it behoves Christian teachers to remember with special care that "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.—Let us, working in the name of Jesus Christ, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and health to the diseased, and let these works be our answer to the challenge of the scoffer, the laughter of the fool. Constantly we must have exposition of great principles, occasionally we must have defence; but the business of our lives is to show forth the mighty and wonderful works of God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. A living man is the best argument to those who rail against Christianity. Do not let us think it necessary to defend every point in our faith by elaborate preparation in words. Let us go on the Master’s business, and in our Master’s spirit carry light into the places of darkness, lifting up those that have no helper, giving men to feel that there is a Divine spirit in us; and in doing this we shall answer all controversy and objection by the beneficence of life, and by well-doing we shall put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 110.

References: 1Co 4:20.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 367; New Outlines on the Testament, p. 127. 1Co 5:1-5.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 355. 1Co 5:1-13.—F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 80. 1Co 5:3-6.—F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 49. 1Co 5:6.—T. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 45; W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 371. 1Co 5:6, 1Co 5:7.—F. W. Aveling, Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 121. 1Co 5:6-8.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 965; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 336; R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 338. 1Co 5:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 54; Three Hundred Outlines, p. 141; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 8.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:1-5 Paul emphasizes his faithfulness and the genuineness of his motives as an apostle of Christ. But only God can judge the heart.

4:1 Paul and Apollos should not be viewed as leaders competing for a following, but as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. They were stewards entrusted with administration of the master’s business (as in Luke 12:42); their whole life was devoted to their master’s concerns, not to their own. • God’s mysteries: See study note on 1 Cor 2:7.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 4:1. Οὕτως, so) is determinative, and resumes the subject from what precedes.—λογιζέσθω, account) without glorying, 1Co 3:21.—ἄνθρωπος, a man) איש, any man, one like ourselves, 1Co 3:21.—ὑπηρτέτας, ministers) Luk 1:2.—Χριστοῦ, of Christ) in His office [as the only Great Mediator]; not [ministers] of men.—οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων Θεοῦ, stewards of the mysteries of God) Paul, where he describes the ministers of the Gospel in the humblest language, still acknowledges them to be stewards: see Tit 1:7, note; comp. of Christ, and, of God, with 1Co 3:23. [Mysteries are heavenly doctrines, of which men are ignorant without the revelation of GOD.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_4:1. Οὕτως] is commonly taken as preparatory, emphatically paving the way for the ὡς ὑπηρ. which follows. Comp 1Co_3:15, 1Co_9:26; 2Co_9:5; Eph_5:33, al[595], and often in Greek writers. The καυχ. ἐν ἀνθρ. before repudiated arose, namely, out of a false mode of regarding the matter; Paul now states the true mode. Since, however, there is no antithetic particle added here, and since the following epithets: ὑπηρ. Χριστοῦ and οἰκον. Θεοῦ sound significantly like the ὑμεῖς δὲ Χριστοῦ, Χριστὸς δὲ Θεοῦ which immediately precede them, οὕτως is rather to be regarded as the sic retrospective (in this way, in such fashion), and ὡς again as stating the objective quality, in which the ἡμεῖς have a claim to the οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζ. ἄνθρ. which is enjoined. Accordingly, we should explain as follows: Under this point of view, as indicated already in 4:22 f. (namely, that all is yours; but that ye are Christs; and that Christ, again, is Gods), let men form their judgment of us, as of those who are servants of Christ and stewards of divine mysteries. Let us but be judged of as servants of Christ, etc., according to the standard of that lofty Christian mode of view (οὕτως), and how conclusively shut out from this sphere of vision will be the partisan καυχᾶσθαι ἐν ἀνθρώποις! Men will be lifted high above that.

ἡμᾶς] i.e. myself and such as I, by which other apostles also and apostolic teachers (like Apollos) are meant. In view of 1Co_3:22, no narrower limitation is allowable.

ἄνθρωπος] not a Hebraism (אִישׁ, one; so most interpreters, among whom Luther, Grotius, and others explain it wrongly every one), but in accordance with a pure Greek use of the word in the sense of the indefinite one or a man (Plato, Protag. p. 355 A, Gorg. p. 500 C, al[596]). So also in 1Co_11:28; Gal_6:1. Bengels homo quivis nostris similis is an importation.

ὑπηρ. Χ. κ. οἰκον. μυστ. Θεοῦ] They are servants of Christ, and, as such, are at the same time stewards of God (the supreme ruler, 1Co_3:23, the Father and Head of the theocracy, the οἶκος Θεοῦ, 1Ti_3:15), inasmuch as they are entrusted with His secrets, i.e. entrusted and commissioned to communicate by the preaching of the gospel the divine decrees for the redemption of men and their receiving Messianic blessings (see on Rom_11:25; Rom_16:25; Eph_1:9; Mat_13:11),decrees in themselves unknown to men, but fulfilled in Christ, and unveiled by means of revelation. They are to do this just as the steward of a household (see on Luk_16:1) has to administer his masters goods. Comp as regards this idea, 1Co_9:17; 1Ti_1:4; Tit_1:7; 1Pe_4:10. There is no reference whatever here to the sacraments, which Olshausen and Osiander again desire to include. See 1Co_1:17. The whole notion of a sacrament, as such, was generalized at a later date from the actions to which men restricted it, sometimes in a wider, sometimes in a narrower sense.

Observe, moreover: between the Father, the Master of the house, and the οἰκονόμοι there stands the Son, and He has from the Father the power of disposal (comp on Joh_8:35 f.; 1Co_15:25 ff.), so that the οἰκονόμοι are His servants. Paul uses ὑπηρέτης only in this passage; but there is no ground for importing any special design into the word (such as that it is humbler than διάκονος). Comp on Eph_3:7.

[595] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[596] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

1Co_4:1-5. The right point of view from which to regard Christian teachers (1Co_4:1-2); Paul, nevertheless, for his own part, does not give heed to human judgment, nay, he does not even judge himself, but his judge is Christ (1Co_4:3-4). Therefore his readers should give up their passing of judgments till the decision of the Parousia (1Co_4:5).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 4:1 . “In this way let a man take account of us, viz. , as servants of Christ, etc.” Οὕτως draws attention to the coming ὡς : the vb [631] λογιζέσθω implies a reasonable estimate, drawn from admitted principles ( cf. Rom 6:11 ; Rom 12:1 , λογικήν ), the pr [632] impv [633] an habitual estimate. The use of ἄνθρωπος for τις (1Co 11:28 , etc.), occasional in cl [634] Gr [635] , occurs “where a gravior dicendi formula is required” (El [636] ). Ὑπηρέτης (only here in Epp.: see parls.) agrees with οἰκέτης (Rom 14:4 , domestic ) in associating servant and master, whereas διάκονος rather contrasts them (1Co 3:5 , see note; Mar 9:35 ): see Trench, Syn [637] , § 9. ὡς ὑπηρ . Χριστοῦ κ . οἰκονόμους κ . τ . λ ., “as Christ’s assistants, and stewards of God’s mysteries” in these relations Jesus set the App. to Himself and God: see Mat 13:11 ; Mat 13:52 . With P. the Church is the οἶκος (1Ti 3:15 ), God the οἰκοδεσπότης , its members the οἰκεῖοι (Gal 6:10 , Eph 2:19 ), and its ministers the App. in chief the οἰκονόμοι (1Co 9:17 , Col 1:25 , etc.). The figure of 1Co 3:9 ff. is kept up: those who were ἀρχιτέκτων and ἐποικοδομοῦντες in the rearing of the house, become ὑπηρέται and οἰκονόμοι in its internal economy. The οἰκονόμος was a confidential housekeeper or over-seer, commonly a slave, charged with provisioning the establishment. Responsible not to his fellows, but to “the Lord,” his high trust demands a strict account (Luk 12:41-48 ). On μυστ . Θεοῦ , see notes to 1Co 2:7 ; 1Co 2:9 f.: the phrase implies not secrets of the master kept from other servants, but secrets revealed to them through God’s dispensers, to whose judgment and fidelity the disclosure is committed ( cf. 1Co 2:6 , 1Co 3:1 ).

[631] verb

[632] present tense.

[633] imperative mood.

[634] classical.

[635] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[636] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[637] synonym, synonymous.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:1-5.] He shews them the right view to take of Christian ministers (vv. 1, 2); but, for his part, regards not man’s judgment of him, nor even judges himself, but the Lord is his Judge (vv. 3, 4).

Therefore let them also suspend their judgments till the Lord’s coming, when all shall be made plain.

1.] οὕτως, emphatic, preparatory to ὡς, as in ref.

ἄνθρωπος, as E. V., a man, in the most general and indefinite sense, as ‘man’ in German: not a Hebraism, nor = ἕκαστος. The whole is opposed to καύχησις ἐν ἀνθρώποις: the ministers of Christ are but subordinates to Him, and accountable to God.

ἡμᾶς, here, not, ‘us ministers generally,’ see below, ver. 6, but ‘myself and Apollos,’ as a sample of such.

ὑπηρ. χριστοῦ, see ch. 3:5, 22, 23. But in οἰκον. μυστ. θεοῦ we have a new figure introduced. The Church, 1Ti 3:15, is the οἶκος θεοῦ—and those appointed to minister in it are οἰκονόμοι, stewards and dispensers of the property and stores of the οἰκοδεσπότης. These last are the μυστήρια, hidden treasures, of God,—i.e. the riches of his grace, now manifested in Christ, ch. 2:7; Rom 16:25, Rom 16:26, which they announce and distribute to all, having received them from the Spirit for that purpose. “Ea mysteria sunt incarnationis, passionis et resurrectionis Christi, redemptionis nostræ, vocationis gentium, et cætera quæ complectitur evangelica doctrina.” Estius, who also, as a Romanist, attempts to include the sacraments among the μυστήρια in this sense. The best refutation of this is given by himself: “sed cum ipse Paulus dixerit primo capite, Non misit me Christus baptizare, sed evangelizare, rectius est ut mysteria Dei intelligantur fidei nostræ dogmata.” It may be doubted, whether, in the N. T. sense of μυστήρια, the sacraments can be in any way reckoned as such: for μυστ. is a (usually divine) proceeding, once hidden, but now revealed, or now hidden, and to be revealed; under neither of which categories can the sacraments be classed.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:1. Οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζέσθω. The thought of 3:5 is resumed, and the reproof of the tendency to ‘glory in men’ is completed by a positive direction as to the right attitude towards the pastors of the Church. The Corinthians must regard them ut ministros Christi, non ut aequales Christo (Primasius). The οὕτως probably refers to what follows, as in 3:15, 9:26. The ἡμᾶς certainly refers to all who are charged with the ministry of the New Testament or Covenant (2Co 3:6). But we get good sense if we make οὕτως refer to what precedes; ‘Remembering that we and everything else are yours, as you are Christ’s, let a man take account of us as men who are ministers of Christ.’ This throws a certain amount of emphasis on ἡμᾶς, the emphasis being removed from οὕτως: but ἡμᾶς may receive emphasis, for it is the attitude of the Corinthians towards the Apostle and other teachers that is in question.

ἄνθρωπος. Almost equivalent to τις (11:28), but a gravior dicendi formula. This use is rare in class. Grk.

ὑπηρέτας. Substituted for διάκονοι in 3:5. The word originally denoted those who row (ἐρέσσειν) in the lower tier of a trireme, and then came to mean those who do anything under another, and hence simply ‘underlings.’* In the Church, St Luke (1:2) applies it to any service of the word; later it was used almost technically of sub-deacons. See on Luk 4:20, and Suicer, s.v. St Paul uses the word nowhere else.

οἰκονόμους. The οἰκονόμος (οἶκος and νέμειν) was the responsible head of the establishment, assigning to each slave his duties and entrusted with the administration of the stores. He was a slave in relation to his master (Luk 12:42), but the ἐπίτροπος or overseer (Mat 20:8) in relation to the workmen (see on Luk 12:42 and 16:1; in the latter place, the οἰκονόμος seems to be a freeman). God is the Master (3:23) of the Christian household (1Ti 3:15), and the stores entrusted to His stewards are the ‘mysteries of God.’ These mysteries are the truths which the stewards are commissioned to teach (see on 2:7). Between the Master and the stewards stands the Son (15:25; Heb 3:6), whose underlings the stewards are. See on οἰκονομίαν in Eph 1:10 and Col 1:25.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter IV

Deduction from the preceding discussion, teaching the proper light in which the people should regard the ministry, 1Co_4:1-6. contrast between the apostles and the false teachers, vv. 6-21.

Ministers, as Stewards, Should be Faithful, as Paul Had Proved Himself to be 1 Corinthians 4:1-21

It follows, from what was said in the preceding chapter, that the people should regard their ministers as the servants of Christ, and dispensers of the truths which God had revealed, 1Co_4:1. The most important qualification of a dispenser is fidelity, 1Co_4:2. It is a small matter how men may estimate the fidelity of ministers. The only competent judge is the Lord; and, therefore, to his judgment the decision of that question should be referred, 1Co_4:3-6.

What the apostle had said of himself and of Apollos, in the foregoing exhibition of the true nature of the ministerial office, was intended to apply to all ministers, that the people should not estimate them unduly, and that all emulous contentions might be avoided, 1Co_4:6, 1Co_4:7. The false teachers in Corinth, and the people under their influence, considered themselves to be in a high state of religious prosperity, and were disposed to self-indulgence, 1Co_4:8. The apostles were in a very different condition, at least as to their external circumstances. They were despised, afflicted, and persecuted; while their adversaries were honored, prosperous, and caressed, 1Co_4:9-13. Paul presented this contrast not to mortify, but to admonish his readers, 1Co_4:14. He, if any one, had a right to admonish them, for he was their spiritual father, 1Co_4:15. They should therefore imitate him; and, to that end, he had sent Timothy to remind them of his instructions and example, 1Co_4:16, 1Co_4:17. He himself intended soon to visit Corinth; and it depended on them whether he should come with a rod, or in the Spirit of meekness, 1Co_4:18-21.

1Co_4:1

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

This is the conclusion or deduction from the preceding discussion. Ministers are the servants of Christ, and stewards of God. Let a man, i.e. every one. Account of us, (λογιζέσθω) let him think of us, or regard us as being. The ministers of Christ. Literally the word (ὑπηρέτης) means an under-rower, or common sailor; and men, subordinate servant of any kind. It is generally and properly used of menials, or of those of the lower class of servants. This is not always the case, but here the idea of entire subjection is to be retained. Ministers are the mere servants of Christ; they have no authority of their own; their whole business is to do what they are commanded.

And stewards of the mysteries of God. Stewards (οἰκονόμοι) were generally slaves appointed as managers or overseers. It was their business to direct the affairs of the household, and dispense the provisions. It is as dispensers ministers are here called stewards. They are to dispense the mysteries of God, that is, the truths which God had revealed, and which, as being undiscoverable by human reason, are called mysteries, into the knowledge of which men must be initiated. Mysteries here do not mean the sacraments. The word is never used in reference to either baptism or the Lords Supper in the New Testament. And such a reference in this case is forbidden by the whole context. In the second chapter, the mystery which Paul speaks of is declared to be the gospel considered as a revelation of God. In the Romish church, the principal function of ministers is to dispense the sacraments to which they are assumed to have the power, in virtue of the grace of orders, to give supernatural power. In the apostolic church they were regarded as the dispensers of the truth. This verse, therefore, contains two important truths: Ministers have no arbitrary or discretionary authority in the church. Neither have they any supernatural power, such as is attributed to them in the Romish church. Their authority is merely ministerial, limited by the commands of Christ, and, therefore, to be judged by the standard of those commands, which are known to the whole church. And secondly, they are not, like Aristotle or Plato, the originators of their own doctrines, or the teachers of the doctrines of other men, but simply the dispensers of the truths which God has revealed.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He concludeth the duty of the hearers towards their ministers: that they esteem them not as lords: and yet notwithstanding, that they give ear unto them, as to them that are sent from Christ, sent I say to this end and purpose, that they may receive as it were at their hands, the treasure of salvation which is drawn out of the secrets of God.

Every man.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER IV.

Ministers should be esteemed by their flocks as the stewards of

God, whose duty and interest it is to be faithful, 1, 2.

Precipitate and premature judgments condemned, 3-5.

The apostle's caution to give the Corinthians no offence, 6.

We have no good but what we receive from God, 7.

The worldly mindedness of the Corinthians, 8.

The enumeration of the hardships, trials, and sufferings of the

apostles, 9-13.

For what purpose St. Paul mentions these things, 14-16.

He promises to send Timothy to them, 17.

And to come himself shortly, to examine and correct the abuses

that had crept in among them, 18-21.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV.

Verse 1. Let a man so account of us] This is a continuation of the subject in the preceding chapter; and should not have been divided from it. The fourth chapter would have begun better at 1Co 4:6, and the third should have ended with the fifth verse. 1Co 4:5

As of the ministers of Christ] ως υπηρετας χριστου. The word υπηρετης means an under-rower, or one, who, in the trireme, quadrireme, or quinquereme galleys, rowed in one of the undermost benches; but it means also, as used by the Greek writers, any inferior officer or assistant. By the term here the apostle shows the Corinthians that, far from being heads and chiefs, he and his fellow apostles considered themselves only as inferior officers, employed under Christ from whom alone they received their appointment their work, and their recompense.

Stewards of the mysteries of God.] και οικονομους μυστηριων θεου, Economists of the Divine mysteries. See the explanation of the word steward in Clarke's note on "Mt 24:45"; Lu 8:3; Lu 12:42.

The steward, or oikonomos, was the master's deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at the proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master. The mysteries, the doctrines of God, relative to the salvation of the world by the passion and death of Christ; and the inspiration, illumination, and purification of the soul by the Spirit of Christ, constituted a principal part of the Divine treasure intrusted to the hands of the stewards by their heavenly Master; as the food that was to be dispensed at proper times, seasons, and in proper proportions to the children and domestics of the Church, which is the house of God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1. Let a man so account of us As it was a matter of no little importance to see the Church in this manner torn by corrupt factions, from the likings or dislikings that were entertained towards individuals, he enters into a still more lengthened discussion as to the ministry of the word. Here there are three things to be considered in their order. In the first place, Paul describes the office of a pastor of the Church. Secondly, he shows, that it is not enough for any one to produce a title, or even to undertake the duty — a faithful administration of the office being requisite. Thirdly, as the judgment formed of him by the Corinthians was preposterous, he calls both himself and them to the judgment-seat of Christ. In the first place, then, he teaches in what estimation every teacher in the Church ought to be held. In this department he modifies his discourse in such a manner as neither, on the one hand, to lower the credit of the ministry, nor, on the other, to assign to man more than is expedient. For both of these things are exceedingly dangerous, because, when ministers are lowered, contempt of the word arises, while, on the other hand, if they are extolled beyond measure, they abuse liberty, and become “wanton against the Lord.” (1 Timothy 5:11.) Now the medium observed by Paul consists in this, that he calls them ministers of Christ; by which he intimates, that they ought to apply themselves not to their own work but to that of the Lord, who has hired them as his servants, and that they are not appointed to bear rule in an authoritative manner in the Church, but are subject to Christ’s authority — in short, that they are servants, not masters.

As to what he adds — stewards of the mysteries of God, he expresses hereby the kind of service. By this he intimates, that their office extends no farther than this, that they are stewards of the mysteries of God In other words, what the Lord has committed to their charge they deliver over to men from hand to hand — as the expression is — not what they themselves might choose. “For this purpose has God chosen them as ministers of his Son, that he might through them communicate to men his heavenly wisdom, and hence they ought not to move a step beyond this.” He appears, at the same time, to give a stroke indirectly to the Corinthians, who, leaving in the background the heavenly mysteries, had begun to hunt with excessive eagerness after strange inventions, and hence they valued their teachers for nothing but profane learning. It is an honorable distinction that he confers upon the gospel when he terms its contents the mysteries of God. But as the sacraments are connected with these mysteries as appendages, it follows, that those who have the charge of administering the word are the authorized stewards of them also.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) Man.—In a generic sense means “every one” (as in 1Co_11:28, and Gal_6:1).

Us—i.e., Paul himself and Apollos.

As of the ministers of Christ.—Better, as ministers of Christ. The word used for “ministers” here expresses more strongly the idea of subordination than the word which occurs in 1Co_3:5. It implies not only those who are under one superior, but those who are in a still inferior position—the officer who has to obey orders, as in Mat_5:25—a “servant” (Mat_26:58). Though servants, their office is one of great trust; they are “stewards” to whom the owner of the house has entrusted the care of those sacred things—“mysteries”—which heretofore have been hidden, but are now made known to them, his faithful subordinates. It is to be remembered that even the steward in a Greek household was generally a slave.

IV.

(1-5) The first five verses of this chapter contain a further argument against party-spirit as it existed in the Corinthian Church—viz., that God alone can judge of any man’s work whether it be worthy, and that God, unlike man, who selects only some one for praise, will give to every worker his own proper share of approval.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let a man so account of us,.... Though the apostle had before said that he, and other ministers of the Gospel, were not any thing with respect to God, and, with regard to the churches, were theirs, for their use and advantage; yet they were not to be trampled upon, and treated with contempt, but to be known, esteemed, and honoured for their works' sake, and in their respective places, stations, and characters; and though they were but men, yet were not to be considered as private men, and in a private capacity, but as in public office, and as public preachers of the word; and though they were not to be regarded as lords and masters over God's heritage, but as servants, yet not as everyone's, or as any sort of servants, but

as the ministers, or servants, of Christ; as qualified, called, and sent forth by him to preach his Gospel; as ambassadors in his name, standing in his place and stead, and representing him, and therefore for his sake to be respected and esteemed; and as such who make him the subject of their ministry, preach him and him only, exalt him in his person, offices, blood, righteousness and sacrifice, and direct souls to him alone for life and salvation:

and stewards of the mysteries of God; though they are not to be looked upon as masters of the household, that have power to dispose of things in the family at their own pleasure; yet they are to be regarded as stewards, the highest officers in the house of God; to whose care are committed the secret and hidden things of God; whose business it is to dispense, and make known, the mysteries of divine grace; such as respect the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, the union of the two natures, divine and human, in his person, the church's union to him, and communion with him, with many other things contained in the Gospel they are intrusted with.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Ver. 1. Let a man so account] Quasi dicat, though we are yours, as 1Co 3:22, devoted to the service of your faith, yet are we not to be slighted, but respected as Christ’s high stewards.

Ministers of Christ] Gr. υπηρετας, "under rowers" to Christ the master pilot, helping forward the ship of the Church toward the haven of heaven.

Stewards of the mysteries] Dispensing all out of God’s goods, and not of our own; setting bread and salt upon the table (that is, preaching Christ crucified) whatever else there is.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let a man - Let all; let this be the estimate formed of us by each one of you.

So account of us - So think of us, the apostles.

As the ministers of Christ - As the servants of Christ. Let them form a true estimate of us and our office - not as the head of a faction; not as designing to form parties, but as unitedly and entirely the servants of Christ; see 1Co 3:5.

And stewards - Stewards were those who presided over the affairs of a family, and made provision for it, etc.; see the note at Luk 16:1. It was an office of much responsibility; and the apostle by using the term here seems to have designed to elevate those whom he seemed to have depreciated in 1Co 3:5.

Of the mysteries of God - Of the gospel; see the note at 1Co 2:7. The office of steward was to provide those things which were necessary for the use of a family. And so the office of a minister of the gospel, and a steward of its mysteries, is to dispense such instructions, guidance, counsel, etc., as may be requisite to build up the church of Christ; to make known those sublime truths which are contained in the gospel, but which had not been made known before the revelation of Jesus Christ, and which are, therefore, called “mysteries.” It is implied in this verse:

(1) That the office of a minister is one that is subordinate to Christ - they are his servants.

(2) That those in the office should not attempt to be the head of sect or party in the church.

(3) That the office is honorable as that of a steward is; and,

(4) That Christians should endeavor to form and cherish just ideas of ministers; to give them their TRUE honor; but not to overrate their importance.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Mysteries of God. That is, the dogmas of faith, revealed by the Almighty. (Estius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The apostle here gives us the right notion of the preachers of the gospel; they are but ministers, that is, servants, so as the honour that is proper to their Master, for a principal efficiency in the conversion and building up of souls, belongeth not to them; they are ministers of Christ, so have their primary relation to him, and only a secondary relation to the church to which they are ministers; they are ministers of Christ and so in that ministration can only execute what are originally his commands, though those commands of Christ may also be enforced by men: ministers of the gospel, not of the law, upon whom lies a primary obligation to preach Christ and his gospel unto people. They are also

stewards of the mysteries of God, such to whom God hath committed his word and sacraments to dispense out unto his church. The word mystery signifieth any thing that is secret, but more especially it signifieth a Divine secret, represented by signs and figures; or a religious secret, not obvious to every capacity or understanding. Thus we read of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 13:11; the mystery of godliness, 1Ti 3:16; the mystery of Christ, Eph 3:4. The wisdom of God, Col 2:2; the incarnation of Christ, 1Ti 3:16; the calling of the Gentiles, Eph 3:4; the resurrection from the dead, 1Co 15:21; Christ’s mystical union and communion with his church, Eph 5:32; the sublime counsels of God, 1Co 13:2, are all called mysteries. Ministers are the stewards of the mysterious doctrines and institutions of Christ, which we usually comprehend under the terms of the word and sacraments.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Christian Teachers only the Instruments of God

The folly and sin of quarrelling about different teachers who are but servants of Christ and responsible to Him.

1-5. Paraphrase. 'You have been engaged in strife about the merits and position of your teachers. Consider for a moment what they are. They have no authority of their own; they only bear Christ's messages. (2-4) Servants are responsible to their master; and so I am responsible not to you or to any man, but to Christ. (5) Have patience until Christ comes, when every man will be rewarded as he has deserved.'

1. Ministers] rather, subordinates.

Stewards] dispensing the truths entrusted to them, not giving of their own. Mysteries of God] the spiritual truths revealed by Christ, and by His Spirit in Christian experience (Joh_16:12-13).

2. Required in stewards] cp. Mat_24:45-51; Luk_16:1, Luk_16:2.

4. I know nothing by myself] RV 'against myself.' The idea is the same as in Act_24:16.

5. Before the time] i.e. of Christ's return. St. Paul evidently expected the advent of Christ within the lifetime of himself and his converts, though the exact time was uncertain: cp. 1Co_15:51.

The hidden things of darkness] the things that are at present unknown. There is no suggestion of evil in the phrase. Along with the counsels of the hearts it denotes all the materials for forming a just judgment.

6-13. Paraphrase. 'In speaking of the folly of these divisions I have used only the names of Apollos and myself; but the same principles apply to your attitude to all your teachers. (7) Why do some of you pride yourselves on being better than others? None of you has anything that he did not receive. (8) You boast as if you had all possible wisdom. Would that it were so, that we might share it. (9) It looks as if we who are Apostles were the least worthy of all God's servants, a spectacle for men and angels. (10) You are wise and honourable; we are foolish and contemptible. (11-13) We suffer and toil, returning blessing for cursing; and are looked upon as outcasts to this day.'

6. Not to think of men above that which is written] RV 'not to go beyond the things which are written.' The expression is ambiguous to us: it may refer either to what St. Paul has already written or to the general teaching of the OT. Perhaps it was a familiar quotation, 'Do nothing beyond the injunctions of Holy Writ.' Be puffed up for one against another] lit. 'Be puffed up the one in favour of one (say, Paul) against the other (say, Apollos).'

7. Who maketh thee to differ] better, 'who maketh thee (who art puffed up) superior?' That thou didst not receive] i.e. from us (whom ye now despise), as is shown by 1Co_4:8.

8. Now ye are full] The Apostle now returns to the use of sarcasm, the weapon he has already wielded with effect. The several sentences are either interrogative or exclamatory, and should have marks of interrogation or exclamation. He expresses with bitter irony their own estimate of themselves as having reached perfection, 'come into their kingdom,' so to speak, and needing to learn nothing more. Would to God you did reign] How little they knew their true spiritual position: cp. Rev_3:17.

9. The Corinthians' fancied position is contrasted with the Apostle's actual position. Last, as it were appointed to death] RV 'last of all, as men doomed to death.' He likens the Apostles to criminals condemned to fight to the death in the arena. For the metaphor cp. 1Co_15:32. A few years later Christians were often so put to death. Spectacle] Gk. 'theatre.'

10. The sarcasm is continued. We are fools] in preaching the foolishness of the Cross. Ye are wise] i.e. shrewd, clever.

12. Working with our own hands] St. Paul's constant practice: cp. Act_18:3; Act_20:34; 1Co_9:15; 1Th_2:9; 2Th_3:8.

14-21. Paraphrase. 'Iwrite not to shame you, but to admonish you; and I have the right to do so, for I am your spiritual father. (16, 17) Follow my example, therefore; and attend to the instructions of Timothy whom I sent to remind you of my teaching and practice. (18) Some of you have been pluming yourselves on your attainments, and posing as authorities, as if I were never to return to you. (19, 20) Do not deceive yourselves. I shall soon be with you to test not the words of these authorities, but their power: for the kingdom of God is advanced not by empty words, but by spiritual power. (21) The spirit in which I shall come depends upon yourselves. If you continue in your evil courses I shall act with severity: if you repent I shall be gentle and encouraging.'

15. Instructers] RV 'tutors': those who succeeded St. Paul at Corinth. Begotten you through the gospel] St. Paul had been the means of their conversion. He had given them the new life.

17. Timothy. See Intro. My ways which be in Christ] i.e. my manner and conduct as a teacher in Christ's service. In every church] He constantly appeals to the practice of other Churches as a check to the spirit of individualism and separation so prevalent at Corinth: cp. 1Co_7:17; 1Co_11:16; 1Co_14:33, 1Co_14:36.

18. Puffed up] Some of the Corinthian converts conceived themselves so 'wise' as to be able to despise St. Paul's authority. Their opposition developed later on, and drew from St. Paul the 'severe' letter which we have in 2 Corinthians 10-13. See Intro. 2 Cor. As though I would not come] RV 'as though I were not coming.' They seem to have thought that as he had remained so long in Ephesus he would not return to Corinth.

19. Shortly] cp 1Co_16:5. For his plans and their ultimate fulfilment see Intro. 2Cor.

20. Not in word, but in power] The extension of God's kingdom is promoted not by eloquence of speech but by spiritual influence proceeding from Christ's followers, and becoming a power in men's lives: cp. Rom_14:17.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 1-5. Judgments, human and Divine, respecting ministers.

Let a man so account of us. Since it is inevitable that Christians should form some estimate of the position of their ministers, he proceeds to tell them what that estimate should be. Ministers are not to be unduly magnified, for their position is subordinate; they are not to be unduly depreciated, for if they are faithful they may appeal from frivolous human prejudices and careless depreciations to that only Judge and Master before whom they stand or fall. Ministers; here huperetas; in 1Co_3:5 diakonous. They are huperetai (in its derivation "under rowers in their relation to Christ; diakonoi in their relation to men. Of Christ; and therefore responsible to Him. Stewards; dispensers, subordinate distributors. These "agents" were higher slaves. (Luk_16:1-8) Of the mysteries of God. The word "mysteries" means truths once hidden but now revealed; as in Luk_8:10, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God." In later patristic usage the word means "sacraments;" but St. Paul has expressly said (1Co_1:17) that his mission was to preach the gospel, not primarily to administer the sacraments. (For descriptions of the work of a minister according to St. Paul"s lofty ideal, see the pastoral Epistles, and 1Th_2:7-11; Col_1:25-29; Act_20:18-21, Act_20:24-28. St. Peter"s is given in 1Pe_4:10, 11 5:2-4) A minister is not to be estimated as a supernatural teacher, or a civil autocrat, or an infallible critic, but as an ambassador from Christ, who reveals to the "initiated" that which they could not otherwise know.

HOMILETICS.

Vers. 1-7.

A true and a false estimate of genuine ministers of the gospel

a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ," etc. Here we have

I A TRUE ESTIMATE of genuine ministers of the gospel.

1. They are servants of Christ. "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ." There are some who regard ministers of the gospel as servants of their Church. The Churches guarantee their stipend, and they require that their dogmas shall be propounded and their laws obeyed. The paymasters, whether deacons, or elders, or the state, naturally expect subordination in their ministers. He who yields in any measure to such an expectation degrades his position, and is not in the truest sense a minister of Christ. He who is the true servant of Christ will feel and act as the moral master of the people the leader and commander. "Obey them that have the rule over you," etc. There is no office on this earth so dignified and royal as that of the true servant of Christ.

2. As servants of Christ, they are responsible. "Stewards of the mysteries of God." The "mysteries of God" here mean the gospel, which in the second chapter is said to be "the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world." The gospel is a mystery, not in the sense of absolute incomprehensibility, but in the sense of progressive unfoldment, both in respect to communities and individuals. It is a mystery to the man who at firsts begins its study, but as he gets on it becomes more and more clear. The true minister is entrusted with these "mysteries;" he is to bring them out, translate them 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. "Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." Fidelity is an essential attribute of a true minister. He must be faithful to his trust, not abuse it, but use it according to the directions of its owner. Faithful to its owner, in all things regulated by his directions. He must be faithful to his hearers, seeking no man"s applause, fearing no man"s frown, "commending himself to every man"s conscience in the sight of God.

4. As servants of Christ, they are independent. "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man"s judgment." Whilst no true minister will despise the favour or court the contempt of men, he will not be concerned about their judgment so long as he is faithful to his God. Paul gives utterance to this sentiment in order, no doubt, to reprove those preachers in the Corinthian Church who were seeking the praise of men. Paul seems to indicate here three reasons for this feeling of independency.

(1) His own consciousness of fidelity. "For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified." "The sense is," says a modern expositor, "I am not conscious of evil or unfaithfulness to myself; that is, in my ministerial life." It is well remarked by Calvin that "Paul does not here refer to the whole of his life, but only to his apostleship. And the sense is, "I am conscious of integrity in this office. My own mind does not condemn me of ambition or unfaithfulness. Others may accuse me, but I am not conscious of that which should condemn me or render me unworthy of this office.

(2) His confidence in the judgment of God. "But he that judgeth me is the Lord." I am content to abide by his judgment. If his judgment of me agrees not with my own judgment of myself, I will loyally submit.

(3) His belief in a full revelation of that judgment. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness," etc. Do not let us judge one another; do not let us even trust too much to our own judgment of ourselves. Let us await Heaven"s judgment.

(a) There is a period appointed for that judgment, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." There is a "day appointed in which he will judge the world in righteousness." Ah! that day.

(b) At that period there will be a full revelation of our characters. "Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.

(c) At that period, too, every man shall have his due. "And then shall every man have praise of God." "Praise" here does not mean approbation, but that every man shall receive his just due. Such considerations as these may well make ministers independent of the judgments of men, and regardless alike of their smiles and their frowns.

II A FALSE ESTIMATE of genuine ministers of the gospel. "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos," etc. Paul here means to say that he spoke of himself and Apollos to show the impropriety of one minister being pitted against another. The members of the Corinthian Church had evidently formed an incorrect estimate of the true gospel minister.

1. They seemed to estimate ministers 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 experience, capacity, and sympathies. Hence, in the Corinthian Church, those who preferred Peter"s preaching thought no one was like Peter; those who preferred Apollos" thought there were none like him; and so with Paul. It is so now. "There is no minister like our minister; all others are grades below." This is very false, for inasmuch as the great bulk of the community are more or less uneducated, unreflecting, and sensuous, the preacher who approximates most to their type of mind will attract the largest crowd and get the loudest hosannas. But is he on that account superior to others? By no means. Thus it is that some of the most inferior preachers are over rated and the most elevated and devoted degraded; whereas all true ministers are "servants of Christ," the "stewards of the mysteries of God," and as such should be honoured.

2. They seemed to estimate ministers according to the greatness of their natural endowments. "Who maketh thee to differ from another?" etc. Between the natural endowments of Paul, Apollos, and Peter there was a great difference, and, indeed, between all ministers of the gospel there is a difference in natural endowments, and a great difference in the quality and measure of mind. But what of that? There is nothing in those natural endowments for boasting; for they all came from God. The man of the most far reaching intellect, the most brilliant imagination, and transcendent genius has nothing which he has not received from that Spirit which distributes to every man according to his own will. No man or angel deserves credit on account of natural abilities.

CONCLUSION. "Let us strive," says F. W. Robertson, "as much as possible to be tranquil. Smile when men sneer; be humble when they praise; patient when they blame. Their judgment will not last; "man"s judgment," literally, "man"s day," is only for a time, but God"s is for eternity. So, would you be secure alike when the world frowns its censure or its applause upon you? feel hourly that God will judge. That will be your safeguard under both. It will be a small thing to you to be judged of any man"s judgment; for your cause will be pleaded before the Judge and the Discerner of all secrets.

HOMILIES BY C. LIPSCOMB. Vers. 1-7.

Ministers as stewards.

The idea of the ministry as a Divine institution, set apart as a peculiar calling and charged with an infinite trust, cannot as yet relax its hold on St. Paul"s mind. Tenacity of a great truth is not altogether a matter of our volition. At first the will has much to do in directing attention to a truth and keeping it fixed; but in no long time, if the man has trained himself to reflect, and, above all, if he is an earnest man, the truth recurs by some process of self suggestion. After a while, indeed, it happens with many who give themselves to profound investigations, that the subject gains a certain mastery over them, so that it costs more effort to dismiss it than was originally needed to concentrate attention. No capacity of the mind is so pliant as the capacity to be absorbed in an object of thought, and it seems independent of idiosyncrasy. Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Walter Scott both refer to the difficulty they had in discharging a topic from their minds if it had enlisted their interest. St. Paul had said much on the office of the ministry, but the theme was by no means exhausted. One aspect, a special one, remained, viz. stewardship. Ministers are "stewards of the mysteries of God;" if so, fidelity is their highest duty, or rather the soul of every duty. If the preacher had to set forth so unpopular a doctrine as Christ crucified, so obnoxious to worldly culture, so alien to the civilization of the age, then this "foolishness of preaching" was a very urgent reason for faithfulness. What need of watchfulness here! "Who can understand his errors," and especially these errors? Apostles were "men of like passions" with others; and this very likeness, while fraught with dangers both obvious and occult, made them fit, under God, for their work. The idea of stewardship was familiar to these Corinthians, perhaps keenly so to some of them; for in the business of that day much had to be entrusted to agents. Now, the master in such cases cannot give detailed instructions to his stewards, and hence a good deal must be left to their judgment. The hazard, let it be observed, is not on the side of the understanding; no rare intellectual outfit was requisite in this instance; the one supreme doctrine of Christ crucified had wisdom and power sufficient to impart truth of thought and emotion to all subordinate doctrines. But the danger lay in a want of fidelity. And had not St. Paul evinced this faithfulness while with these Corinthians? Yet, whether they admired or blamed, whether acquitted or condemned, what was that to him? "A very small thing was man"s judgment;" nor, forsooth, would he judge himself, but leave all judgment to the Lord Jesus. Spiritual discernment has its functions; insight is a glorious gift; but the Lord reserves judgment to himself. That judgment awaits its day of revelation, when "the hidden things of darkness" and the "counsels of the hearts" shall be made manifest. Then, indeed, men shall see themselves as Christ sees them. Here, in this world, even in our most enlightened state, consciousness is partial. Much of a man lies far down in unillumined depths; the secrets of motives and impulses evade his personal cognizance; only in fragments can he realize himself; how much less can he comprehend others! And, "therefore, judge nothing before the time." Obviously, then, humility of judgment is not only an intellectual excellence but a spiritual virtue. It is a Divine discernment of our limitations, a Divine insight into the fact that there is an unconscious man no less than a conscious one in every human being, and that, meantime, fidelity stands free of all restrictions and abatements. Does fidelity look at office? It does not see popularity, honour, preferment, but duty, duty alone, duty ever; and this sense of duty, inspired and directed by the Holy Ghost, educates the man in tact and skill, in diligence and patience. Does fidelity look at others? It neither exaggerates nor depreciates them, nor can it regard them as rivals, since no man can possibly have a sense of rivalry who realizes Christ in the most essential fact of work, viz. brotherhood. And consequently, one of the many beautiful provisions of Christianity to secure fidelity is found in the brotherhood of Christians. Does fidelity look into its own heart? Even then infirmity clings to its energetic searching. On its good side it may be too self exacting, morbid, harshly critical of itself; on its weak side it may be lenient and over indulgent. And hence St. Paul, while conscious of knowing nothing against himself, declares, "Yet am I not hereby justified," and relies solely on the justification of Christ at that great assize, which, among all its wonders, shall surprise men most of all by its divinely revealed estimates of human character. "For your sakes," so he argues, "I have been thus explicit and emphatic, transferring these things to myself and Apollos," in order that the Corinthians might clearly see his own disinterestedness. This point assured, the way is open for remonstrance. Why are ye puffed up? If we are recipients; if Paul and Apollos are mere stewards of the Master"s riches; if self judgments and judgments of others are impossible to men under the limitations of consciousness and observation; if "the counsels of the hearts" keep out of sight and hold their latency intact for the final day; and if, meantime, fidelity to duty is the supreme concern and adequate to call out and employ all the spiritual resources of our nature under grace; and, finally, if you owe all your means of acting on one another and the world to the brotherhood of the Church; why do ye stand arrayed in sharp hostility against one another and rendasunder the Lord"s body? L.

HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Vers. 1, 2.

Spiritual stewardship.

In the Corinthian Church two errors were prevalent with regard to the apostolic and other ministries there was a tendency to exaggerate the importance of the agents by whom the truth was communicated, and there was a disposition to set one of these agents up as against another; so that partisanship and sectarianism violated the Christian unity.

I THE SUBORDINATE POSITION OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. None need deem it a denudation or an undue humiliation to stand where the apostle stood; indeed, Paul is an acknowledged and admired model to all who work for the kingdom.

1. They are, in relation to Christ himself, ministers. They serve him, and count it an honour so to do. For his sake, and in his Name, they act as servants to their fellow men.

2. They are, in relation to the truth they promulgate, stewards. That is to say, the truth is not revealed by them, but to them; it is held not as their property, but as their trust; it is not appropriated to their own use, but dispensed by them for the benefit of others; they are not at liberty to do as they like with it they are accountable to the Lord of all for the way in which they deal with it.

3. This being so, faithfulness is the virtue they are bound to cultivate and display. Whilst those who are independent are not especially bound to this duty, all who have derived from another, and are accountable to that other, are emphatically called to be faithful. Such is the position of all the ministers of Christ.

II THE TRUE DIGNITY OF SPIRITUAL SERVANTS ARISES FROM THEIR RELATION TO THEIR LORD AND TO HIS WORD. There is a contrast between the service and the Master, between the stewardship and the mystery. The minister cannot think too lowlily of himself or too loftily of his theme and trust.

1. If they are ministers, they are ministers of Christ. An ambassador may be a person of lowly birth and feeble powers, but if he is an ambassador, his relation to his sovereign and the credentials and commission he has received entitle his message to peculiar consideration. And however the pastor, teacher, or evangelist may in himself be lacking in claims upon the respect of the superficial society called "the world," however he may be destitute of the shining gifts which command the admiration of the Church, still neither he nor those whose welfare he seeks are ever at liberty to forget that he is an ambassador from heaven, that he is commissioned and authorized by the King of kings.

2. If they are stewards, they are stewards of the mysteries of God. By mysteries the apostle meant truths which had in the past been hidden but were now revealed. Revealed in Christ, the Divine purposes of grace, salvation and life to all mankind, were published by the apostles and. their fellow labourers. And the declaration of the mind and heart of God was well worthy of being regarded as the impartation of a mystery compared with which all the wonders of Eleusis sank into insignificance. Of this Paul was conscious, and it would be well if every preacher of the gospel were ever to have this before his mind. We have this treasure, though "in earthen vessels." The solemnity of publishing Divine truth and the responsibility of hearing it are alike by these considerations brought very vividly before the mind. Thus are ministers unto some a savour of life unto life, unto others a savour of death unto death. T.

HOMILIES BY E. HURNDALL Vers. 1, 2.

Ministers of Christ.

I WHAT THEY ARE.

1. Ministers. Not masters; servants, not lords. The word means literally "under rower," or common sailor, and is generally used of the lower class of servants. Ministers are the mere servants of Christ; they have no authority save that which they may receive from him. "Be not ye called Rabbi". (Mat_23:8) A domineering despotic spirit is altogether out of place. If any will be chief, he must be servant of all. Many ministers have trouble with their Churches because of their own masterful spirit. Like Rehoboam, they do not heed the sage counsel, "If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever". (1Ki_12:7) Some of the Corinthians had unduly exalted their teachers; (1Co_1:12) others perhaps had regarded them as utterly insignificant ("I of Christ"); Paul defines the legitimate position. Ministerial activity is hinted at; ministers are to be workers, not idlers.

1. Ministers of Christ. This makes their calling most honourable. They are servants of the Church, servants of their fellows, but not primarily. They serve the Church and their fellow men because they desire to stove Christ. They are

1. appointed by Christ;

2. responsible to him;

3. to be judged by him;

4. to be devoted to him;

5. to speak in his Name;

6. to preach him and his redemption;

7. to rely upon his help;

8. to take orders from him;

9. not to originate, but to ascertain his mind.

1. Stewards. A position

1. of trust and confidence;

2. of influence;

3. of responsibility;

4. of some peril;

5. of much honour.

4. Stewards of the mysteries of God. "Mystery" in the New Testament does not mean something incomprehensible, but something beyond the reach of unaided human intelligence. The "mysteries of God" are thus "hidden" (1Co_2:7) until revealed by him. They are the truths of the gospel truth as it is in Jesus." Ministers have special charge concerning these truths

(1) to preserve them;

(2) to dispense them.

As stewards, they should be deeply impressed with

(1) the vast importance of the "riches" entrusted to them;

(2) the need of utmost care in discharging the duties of their office;

(3) the awful issues to themselves and others if they are remiss.

Many are satisfied if self approved or if praised by others; but Paul looked to the judgment of Christ (ver. 4). We are not to be despondent if we are "unpopular" with men, so that we are approved by our Lord. Though "unpopularity" with men is very far from being an argument that we please our Master: "The common people heard him gladly," and probably would so hear us if we were more like him.

II A NECESSARY QUALIFICATION. Faithfulness. This is a first requisite in those who are "stewards of the mysteries of God." Stewards must not use their lord"s goods for their own advantage. What evils result from unfaithfulness in an earthly stewardship I who can estimate the evils flowing from an unfaithful ministry! A minister should be faithful:

1. To Christ, in

1. obedience,

2. love,

3. zeal,

4. devotion,

5. holiness.

6. To his flock.

(1) Preaching unadulterated doctrine. Not corrupting the Word of God. Not substituting something else for it.

(2) Rightly dividing the word of truth.

(3) Reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all long suffering and teaching. (2Ti_4:2)

(4) Striving "to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus". H. (Col_1:28)

HOMILIES BY H. BREMNER Vers. 1-5.

The ministers of Christ.

The Corinthians were to be delivered from their tendency to glory in men, by being taught to regard them as a part of their heritage. All teachers were for their use, not the particular one whom they chose as their party leader. Besides, a right view of the ministerial office should prevent all boasting in men.

I HOW MINISTERS ARE TO BE REGARDED. They are:

1. Servants of Christ. They are not "lords over God"s heritage", (1Pe_5:3) the chiefs of the kingdom. Their true dignity lies in serving the Lord Jesus, from whom they take their orders. They have no authority beyond that which is committed to them. Nor are they the servants of men. Obedience to their own Master delivers them from subjection to every ether. (comp. on 1Co_3:5)

2. Stewards of the mysteries of God. The Church is God"s house, in which he alone is Master; apostles and other teachers being dispensers of the good things of the house, the great doctrines of the faith. Every man is a steward, being entrusted with the laying out of the gifts conferred upon him, and the improving of the opportunities put in his way. But this is true in a special sense of the Christian minister. He is entrusted with the dispensation of the Divine mysteries to men. He is not called to deal out his own things, but the saving truth of God, giving to each his portion of meat in due season. How responsible an office! This view of the Christian ministry should guard us against two common extremes. On the one side, ministers are not lords, endowed with a kind of supernatural power, and set to rule the consciences of men. On the other side, ministers are not the servants of the people, appointed to teach only some favourite type of doctrine. They are the servants of Christ, charged to deliver his truth, whether men will hear it or not.

II FAITHFULNESS THE GREAT REQUISITE. Every steward must give account of his stewardship, and the chief thing required is fidelity. Men ask of a preacher, "Is he able, eloquent, attractive?" God asks, "Is he faithful?" Fidelity does not depend on the quality or quantity of the original gifts, but on the use to which they are put. The man with two talents receives the same reward as the man with five, because he has been equally faithful. (Mat_25:21, Mat_25:23) Nor is fidelity measured by what men call success, since it is often incompatible with popularity. Let the much gifted minister beware; let the little gifted take comfort. "Well done, good and faithful servant.

III THE MINISTER"S JUDGE.

1. Not the congregation. It was a very small thing in Paul"s view to be judged of men. The verdict of the people on a minister"s discharge of duty is not to be lightly laid aside. If they praise, let us beware of being satisfied with this; if they condemn, let us the more thoroughly search ourselves. But from this verdict there must ever be an appeal to a higher tribunal. Men cannot read the motives that lie behind the outward act, nor can they gauge the proportion between a minister"s powers and the use he makes of them. Their measure of fidelity must always be imperfect.

2. Not the minister himself. The apostle disclaims being his own judge. He cannot charge himself with any remissness in duty, but he does not regard this as an unfailing proof of fidelity. He distrusts his own verdict. Let those who think themselves perfect ponder this statement. A good conscience is very precious, but let us not run into the folly of measuring ourselves by ourselves. Conscience is not the final judge in the matter.

3. The Lord is his Judge. "Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth". (Rom_14:4) This is man"s judgment day; let us wait "until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts." The verdict of that day will proceed upon a perfect knowledge of the whole case, and every steward shall receive the praise of God according to the just award of the Judge. Wherefore:

(1) Do all your work remembering that Christ is your Judge. He knows your weakness as well as your strength, and sees the honest desire to serve him beneath many an apparent failure.

(2) Do not sit in judgment upon, others. Christ will judge his own servants. B.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Vers. 1, 2.

The Christian teacher a steward.

The apostle here intimates what are right thoughts for Christian people to cherish concerning their teachers, tie uses two words, "ministers," "stewards," the former of which is familiar, the latter needs some explanation. A minister is "one who serves," and no more honourable thought can be attached to the Christian teacher than that he serves Christ among his people, and serves the people for Christ"s sake. Our Lord himself said, "I am among you as he that serveth;" and St. Paul says to his converts, "Ye serve the Lord Christ." We propose now to dwell more fully on the figure of the steward. A Christian teacher is to be thought of as a "steward of the mysteries of God." The word "steward is used in England for a "land bailiff;" but in the East it was employed for a person put in trust of all his master"s goods as was Eliezer in the house of Abraham, (Gen_24:2-12) and Joseph in the house of Potiphar. (Gen_39:4) It was one of the main duties of such a steward to dispense their portions of food to the different members of the household, (Luk_12:42) to give the slaves or servants their "portion in due season." Compare the words "housekeeper," "house ruler," "house feeder," and see Mat_24:45. The apostle"s point is that the Christian teacher is not to be esteemed for any particular qualifications which he may have of his own, but simply for his faithfulness in doing his work as the servant of God. Christian congregations may fall into either of two errors; the "Christian minister may be glorified, or made an idol of, in two ways by party worship of the man, or by attaching a mystical or supernatural power to the office." Both the minister himself, and those among whom he labours, do well to keep ever in mind that he is but a steward, only Christ"s servant, to minister to them in Divine things. We consider, then

I THE STEWARD"S TRUSTS. "The mysteries of God." Mysteries were familiar things to those whom the apostle addressed. "The word "mysteries" is derived from a word signifying to close, to shut, and was in the old Greek civilization used to denote those rites which were only permitted to the initiated, and were kept a strict secret from the outside world. Of such a kind were the well known Eleusinian mysteries, which were kept every fifth year at Eleusis, in Attica; the rites of the Bona Dea, which were observed at Rome; and those of Isis and Mithras, which were of Egyptian and Persian origin." It should be noticed that the word "mystery" is used in the Scriptures in two distinct senses:

(1) for things that are hidden from the ordinary understanding; and

(2) for things that in past times were unknown, but are now revealed to those who believe the gospel. The term is chiefly used in this latter sense. When St. Paul exclaims, "Great is the mystery of godliness," he means the "revealed mystery," of which he immediately speaks, even God, or Christ, being "manifest in the flesh." The trust of the Christian teacher is, then, the revealed mystery of the gospel, and this may be said to have three centres round which it gathers:

(1) the Incarnation;

(2) the Sacrifice;

(3) the Resurrection.

The Incarnation reveals the mysteries of God and of man; the Sacrifice reveals the mysteries of sin and of redemption from sin; and the Resurrection reveals the mysteries of immortality and of sanctification. So these are the great truths and trusts of which the Christian teachers are "stewards." Their work is to minister these truths, in all their varied adaptations and applications, to the people of their charge. Happy, indeed, are they who can close their ministry pleading as St. Paul did, "I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.

II THE STEWARD"S RESPONSE TO HIS TRUSTS. "Found faithful." The thought of St. Paul seems to have been that due inquiry is made into the character and trustworthiness of a man before he is put into the office of a steward; as he elsewhere says, "Let them first be proved." But we may fairly include under his language the reasonable expectation that the man who is entrusted with a responsible position and work will be "found faithful" in his doing of it. Then we must inquire what should be the faithfulness of a Christian teacher, or indeed of the Christian man, to whom the gospel mysteries have been revealed. It should be manifest in three departments:

1. He must be faithful to his Master, God; seeking his service only, and his glory only.

2. He must be faithful to the truths he has received; carefully setting them, and not any mere ideas he may have about them, before the people; and seeking to set the whole of them, and not merely portions in which he may be personally interested, before his congregation.

3. He must be faithful to the people to whom God may have sent him; taking up the burden of their spiritual needs on his own heart; feeling ever as did good Samuel Rutherford when he said, "God is my witness, that your salvation would be two salvations to me, and your heaven two heavens to me!" Impress that the more deeply we feel the greatness of our trusts, as having had the great religious mysteries in part revealed to us, the more serious becomes for us the question of our "faithfulness;" and the more shall we feel the need for solemn times of self searching and self criticism. It is an unspeakable honour to be entrusted with the "mysteries" of God and of Christ and of redemption from sin; but all true and humble souls say with the apostle, "But who is sufficient for these things? R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let a man account us, as servants of Christ - The original word properly signifies such servants as laboured at the oar in rowing vessels; and, accordingly, intimates the pains which every faithful minister takes in his Lord's work. O God, where are these ministers to be found? Lord, thou knowest. And stewards of the mysteries of God - Dispenseth of the mysterious truths of the gospel.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Work of the Ministers of Christ.

Faithfulness required:

v. 1. Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

v. 2. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

v. 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.

v. 4. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord.

v. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God.

The apostle had shown the relation of himself and the other teachers to the Church of Christ, to the temple of God, namely, that they are servants. But from that it does not follow that the Christians are the masters of their teachers. God is the Householder, the Master, and therefore all those that formed factions in the congregation at Corinth, and thus presumed to judge and censure other teachers than their own adopted chief, were usurping a function which properly belongs to Christ alone. So, in this way, he says, let a man think, account of us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. That is the right, the proper way in which every person, but especially the members of the Christian congregations, should regard the apostles and all ministers of Christ. Thus they should think of them, this reasonable estimate they should have of them at all times. Servants of Christ they are, the word originally denoting rowers in a galley, but later used for domestic servants that enjoyed the trust of their master, that were, in a manner of speaking, assistants: thus the men that work in the doctrine are the trusted servants of Christ. And they are stewards of the mysteries of God. "The steward was the master’s deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at the proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master. " Thus the ministers are the stewards of the mysteries of God; they are in charge of, and are responsible to God for the administration of the means of grace, through which God reveals to men and imparts to them the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. "What, then, are these mysteries of God? Nothing but Christ Himself, that is, faith and the Gospel of Christ; for everything that is preached in the Gospel is placed at a distance from the senses and reason and hidden before all the world; nor may they be obtained except only through faith, as He Himself says, Mat 11:25: I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. " This description of the apostle fitly includes all the work of the true minister’s office in every respect, beyond which no congregation should go in making demands on the pastor’s ability and time. "We have, then, the apostle’s statement in these words that a servant of Christ is a steward of the mysteries of God, that is, he should regard himself, and have himself regarded, as preaching and giving nothing else to the members of God’s household than only Christ and concerning those that are in Christ; that is, he should preach the pure Gospel, the pure faith, that Christ alone is our Life, Way, Wisdom, Power, Praise, and Salvation, etc. , and that our things are nothing but death, error, foolishness, powerlessness, shame, and damnation. Him that preaches otherwise, no man should regard as a servant of Christ and as a steward of divine treasures, but shun him as a messenger of the devil."

From the statement of v. 1 Paul now makes a plain inference: Since this is the case, it remains that the quality sought for in the stewards is that faithful everyone be found. That, to be sure, is a demand, but it is the only demand that can and should be made, that the minister of Christ be faithful in his stewardship. The Lord does not require, as Luther says, that he be so holy as to raise up the dead by his very shadow, or that he be as wise as all the prophets and apostles were. Neither does he ask that he be a spirited orator, a witty conversationalist, a good mixer, nor any of the many other points which nowadays are mentioned as essential qualities of a pastor. Of all these things the Lord says nothing. He wants only that His stewards administer the Word of God, preach the Gospel, bring forth the necessary spiritual food out of the rich treasury of God’s mysteries, making use of the proper pastoral wisdom: that is the faithfulness which the Lord seeks in His servants. This includes that a faithful pastor should rebuke the prevalent sins in his congregation and in the world round about it, that he should call the sinners to repentance, that he should deny the hardened sinners the sweet comfort of the Gospel, that he should reject all schemes which will lead to cheap popularity, that he, above all, should not grow weary in following the lost lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, that he should bear all the members of his congregation in his heart and make remembrance before God for them in his prayers.

And if a pastor is thus faithful, making use of the talents which the Lord has given him in his pastoral work, then he may say with the apostle: But to me it is a small matter that I am judged by you or by any human day of judgment; on the other hand, neither do I try myself, v. 3. Paul was, in a manner of speaking, on trial in Corinth; the members were passing judgment upon his talents, upon his motives, upon his administration. But it does not cause him serious concern that this is the case, that his person and work were being investigated; he thinks lightly of any human judgment, does not even ask his own, does not even try himself. Arraigned before the bar of all these human opinions, Paul calmly states that he estimates all their findings as amounting to very little in comparison with that of his heavenly Master. For, as he goes on to say, he is conscious of no special charge against himself in his work as a minister of Christ; he has done his labor as steward with all the faithfulness of a believing heart. He knows, of course, that by this fact he is not justified before the one highest tribunal; for He that has the final sentence is the Lord, and the apostle cannot hope to stand acquitted until the Lord’s examination has come to a close. Experience has taught Paul that he cannot rely upon the verdict of his conscience apart from that of Christ. He knew that in his flesh dwelt no good thing, Rom 7:18, that even the good which he performed could not be performed without the participation of the sinful flesh. Therefore he relies upon the grace and mercy of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He knows that the same Lord that has charge of the final examination is the Lord that justifies sinners, even with regard to their secret faults. "Since Paul accepted justification by faith in Christ, not his innocence, but his Savior’s merit has become his fixed ground of assurance."

And so he adds a word of gentle, but emphatic warning: So, then, do not indulge in judging before the time, do not be premature in passing sentence in my case or in that of any other minister. All judgments should rather be held in abeyance until the Lord comes. When the Lord shall appear for the great final trial, then we can and must agree with His findings. For He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the counsels of the hearts. Before the eyes of man most of the things that are found in the innermost recesses of the heart are absolutely unknown and therefore cannot be adduced in a trial. But before the all-seeing eye of God all things are open; He will disclose the secrets hidden in darkness, especially the motives that actuated men in the performance of their duties. He will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; the innermost motives and desires crystallize in the thoughts of the heart, in projects of various kinds, whether for good or for evil. Then it will be known definitely whether it was faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God which actuated the servants of Christ; then the full measure of their love for Christ and for the immortal souls entrusted to their care will be shown. All human investigations and trials, all premature judging and condemning, will then be brought to shame, as Luther says, "just as though I should intend to weigh eggs on a scale, and would weigh them according to their shells alone, leaving the yolks and the whites outside. " And then, in the just judgment of God, praise will come upon everyone from God. In the same measure as the Lord finds faithfulness flowing from the love of Christ and the believers, in that measure will He openly bestow praise upon every one of His ministers and stewards, not from vague opinions and estimates, but from the clearness of omniscient knowledge. Christ’s commendation, judging on God’s behalf, alone is of value, a reward that might well be coveted by every pastor. "Praise the Corinthian partisans lavished on their admired leaders: this is God’s prerogative, let them check their impertinent eulogies."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if the apostle had said, "Although I warned you, in the foregoing chapter, against an undue esteem of your pastors, and against a factious preference of some before others, to the great scandal of religion, and the prejudice of the gospel; yet I speak not this to draw you off from paying that due honour and deserved respect which belongs to their character. But I desire you to account them all, neither more nor less, but as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God."

Here observe, 1. A double character given of an evangelical pastor.

He is, (1.) A minister of Christ: that is, a person deputed by the command, and invested with the authority, of Christ, to administer in holy things, to preach the word, administer the sacraments, execute church censures; being in all things an example to the flock! and the people are to account the office and work of the ministry, as a divine institution and appointment of Christ in his church; whoever slights or opposes the ministry, flies in the face of Christ himself.

(2.) He is a steward of the mysteries of God; and that in a twofold respect.

First, He is a steward of the truths of God; secondly,

of the ordinances of God.

Of the truths of God he is a steward, to open and explain them for the spiritual edification of all Christians, and to defend and maintain them against the opposition of all adversaries: God’s steward must not suffer vermin to destroy the provision of God’s household.

He is a steward of the ordinances of God also: which he is obliged to dispense in all faithfulness to his congregation. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1Pe 4:10.

Observe, 2. As the ministers of Christ are described, they are stewards; so the qualification of a steward is declared, and that is faithfulness: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. What ground is there for trust, where there is no truth?

Now this faithfulness in our stewardship includes,

(1.) Purity of intention; a pure end in all our services will give us abundance of comfort at the end of our service.

(2.) Sincerity and integrity of heart: a faithful minister is a sincere-hearted minister, who preaches his sermons first to himself, and then to his hearers.

(3.) Ministerial diligence: a slothful minister can never be a faithful steward; we must study the truths of God to paleness, preach them to faintness, maintain and defend them with stedfastness: we look for happiness from God as long as he is in heaven, and he expects faithfulness from us as long as we are upon earth.

(4.) Faithfulness in stewardship includes impariality in all the adminstrations of Christ’s house: we must take the same care of, manifest the same love unto, attend with the same diligence upon, the poorest and meanest in our congregations, as we do the rich, the great, and the honourable: for all our souls are at one price, and rated at one value in our Lord’s book.

O! let us take care we be impartial stewards, for we must shortly give an account of our stewardship before an impartial God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE APOSTLES BUT THE MINISTERS OF CHRIST

1, 2. Here he certifies that they are but the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Therefore it is exceedingly out of place to follow them. If it was glaringly inconsistent for them to follow the apostles, how infinitely more so it is for the people in our day to be following the uninspired denominational leaders! It is a shame.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God . [Paul here gives the rule by which apostles and evangelists are to be estimated. They are not to be magnified, for they are servants, nor are they to be deprecated because of the value and importance of that which is entrusted to them as stewards. The term "ministers" here means literally under-rowers. The church is a ship, or galley; Christ is the chief navigator, or magisterium; and all the evangelists and teachers are mere oarsmen with no ambition to be leaders. In the second figure the church is a household, God is the householder, the gospel truths are the food and other provisions which are dispensed by the evangelists or stewards.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1 Corinthians Chapter 4

As for the apostle and the labourers, they were to consider them as stewards employed by the Lord. And it was to Him that Paul committed the judgment of his conduct. He cared little for the judgment man might form respecting him. He was not conscious of anything wrong, but that did not justify him. He who judged (examined) him was the Lord. And, after all, who was it that gave to the one or to the other that which he could use in service?

Paul had thought well, in treating this subject, to use names that they were using in their carnal divisions, and those, especially himself and Apollos, which could not be used to pretend he was getting rid of others to set up himself; but what was the real state of the case? They had despised the apostle. Yes, he says, we have been put to shame, despised, persecuted, in distress; you have been at ease, like kings-a reproach in accordance with their own pretensions, their own reproaches-a reproach that touched them to the quick, if they had any feeling left. Paul and his companions had been as the offscouring of the earth for Christ’s sake, while the Corinthians were reposing in the lap of luxury and ease. Even while writing to them, this was still his position. “Would to God,” he says, “ye did reign” (that the day of Christ were come) “in order that we might reign with you.” He felt his sufferings, although he bore them joyfully. They, the apostles, were set forth on God’s part as though to be the last great spectacle in those marvellous games of which this world was the amphitheatre; and as His witnesses they were exposed to the fury of a brutal world. Patience and meekness were their only weapons.

Nevertheless he did not say these things to put them to shame, he warned them as his beloved sons; for his sons they were. Though they might have ten thousand teachers, he had begotten them all by the gospel. Let them then follow him. In all this there is the deep working of the affection of a noble heart, wounded to the utmost, but wounded in order to bring out an affection that rose above his grief. It is this which so strikingly distinguishes the work of the Spirit in the New Testament, as in Christ Himself. The Spirit has come into the bosom of the assembly, takes part in her afflictions-her difficulties. He fills the soul of one who cares for the assembly,[6] making him feel that which is going on-feel it according to God, but with a really human heart. Who could cause all this to be felt for strangers, except the Spirit of God? Who would enter into these things with all the perfection of the wisdom of God, in order to act upon the heart, to deliver the conscience, to form the understanding, and to set it free, except the Spirit of God? Still the apostolic individual bond was to be formed, to be strengthened. It was the essence of the work of the Holy Ghost in the assembly to bind all together in this way. We see the man: otherwise it would not have been Paul and his dear brethren. We see the Holy Ghost, whom the latter had grieved, no doubt, and who acts in the former with divine wisdom, to guide them in the right way with all the affection of their father in Christ. Timothy, his son in the faith and in heart, might meet the case. Paul had sent him; Paul himself would soon be there. Some said, No, he would not, and took occasion to magnify themselves in the absence of the apostle; but he would come himself and put everything to the test; for the kingdom of God was not in word, but in power. Did they wish him to come with a rod, or in love?

Here this part of the epistle ends. Admirable specimen of tenderness and of authority!-of authority sure enough of itself on the part of God, to be able to act with perfect tenderness towards those who were thoroughly dear to him, in the hope of not being forced to exercise itself in another way. The most powerful truths are unfolded in so doing.

Footnotes for 1 Corinthians Chapter 4

6: sunantilambanei tais astheneiais hemon (“The Spirit joins also its help to our weakness,” Rom 8:26.)

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–5. Let a man so account of us. The apostles and evangelists. They are to be regarded as ministers (servants) of Christ, (3:5), not as leaders. The word rendered “ministers,” means, literally, “under-rowers.” The figure is that of a ship impelled by oars. The church is the ship; Christ commands; the rowers only obey orders. Since they have no right to give orders, no parties should be formed about them. Stewards. Again the figure is changed, but still the idea is that they were servants. The steward his charge of the house for his master. The church is the house; Christ is the Master; the apostolic stewards in charge, having the mysteries of God, the revealed knowledge, knowledge not their own but given them, must faithfully dispense it to the household.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Having just reminded the people not to be proud concerning who taught them about the Lord and who had baptized them, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that all believers are to be humble servants.

what is required of stewards

Paul is speaking of himself as if he were speaking about other people. AT: "we are required to be" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

servant

Christ

manager

mystery

trust

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

1–7. THE TRUE ESTIMATION OF CHRIST’S MINISTERS AND THE TRUE CRITERION OF THEIR WORK

After having pointed out the light in which the teachers of Christianity should be regarded, the Apostle in this chapter goes on to point out the practical difference between those who preach themselves and those who preach Christ, and urges all to a life like his, that he may have no need of rebukes when he comes.

1. οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζέσθω ἄνθρωπος. ‘Of the things of which we have spoken this is the sum.’ We are not to be regarded for any qualifications we may have of our own, but simply as ‘the servants of the Most High God.’

ὑπηρέτας Χριστοῦ. Not ministers in the technical sense, but attendants, in the modern sense of the word. The ὑπηρέτης was either, (1) the under-rower, one who rowed under the direction of another, or (2) one who sat in the lower bank of oars. John Mark (Act 13:5) was the ὑπηρέτης of Barnabas and Paul. See also Luk 1:2.

καὶ οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ. Literally, house-ruler, or house-feeder. Cf. German Hauswalter from walten to rule, and the English housekeeper. What a steward’s office is, we learn from Mat 24:45. μυστήριον is derived from μύω, to shut the eyes, and was in the old Greek civilization used to denote those rites which were only permitted to the initiated, and were kept a strict secret from the outside world. Of such a kind were the well-known Eleusinian mysteries, which were kept every fifth year at Eleusis in Attica, the rites of the Bona Dea, which were observed at Rome, and those of Isis and Mithras, which were of Egyptian and Persian origin. (See Article ‘Mysteria’ in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.) The word is used in Scripture in two senses, (1) of things hidden from the ordinary understanding, (2) of things formerly concealed in the counsels of God but revealed to those who believe the Gospel. We have examples of the former meaning in ch. 1Co 13:2 and 1Co 14:2 of this Epistle, in 2Th 2:7, and in Rev 1:20, and of the latter in Mat 13:11; Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9; Col 1:26, as well as in ch. 1Co 2:7. The present passage appears to include both meanings. The ministers of Christ are to nourish their people on the knowledge of the truths of His Gospel, a knowledge (ch. 1Co 2:10-16) revealed only to the spiritual. As Chrysostom says, they were to do this οἷς δεῖ, καὶ ὅτε δεῖ, καὶ ὡς δεῖ. No instance of μυστήριον in its more modern Greek sense of Sacraments is to be found in Holy Scripture. In the Septuagint it is frequently found in the Apocrypha (as in Tob 12:7; Tob 12:11), but the only instances of its occurrence in the Canonical books are in the Septuagint translation of the book of Daniel, ch. Dan 2:18-19; Dan 2:27-30; Dan 2:47, ch. Dan 4:6 (where it is the translation of a Chaldaic word signifying ‘a thing hidden,’ which in our Authorized Version is translated secret) and in Isa 24:16, where, however, the translators, as those of the Vulgate, appear to have been misled by the similarity of the Chaldee word to a Hebrew one (Luther, Ewald, and the English version translate the word by ‘leanness’). It is also found in some editions in the Greek of Pro 20:19. Cf. for similar sentiments to the above passage, Tit 1:7, and 1Pe 4:10.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ministers [υπηρετας] . See on officer, Mt 5:25. Only here in Paul 's epistles.

Stewards. See on Luk 16:1.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 1. “Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

After explaining what preachers are not, to show that no man should make himself dependent on them, the apostle declares what they are, to withdraw them from the rash judgments of the members of the Church. He does so first by continuing to speak of himself and Apollos (us; comp. 1Co 6:6), then he speaks singly of himself (me, 1Co 5:3).

The word οὕτως, thus, which begins this passage, has been understood in the sense of so then. Thus taken, it would connect this passage with the preceding, announcing a consequence drawn from it. But 1Co 4:21-21 had already drawn the consequence (ὥστε, 1Co 4:21) from the preceding exposition. And the logical relation between what follows and what precedes would rather be that of contrast. The end of v23 had raised the readers to such a height, that the apostle does not care to connect with it what follows by any particle whatever, and continues by an asyndeton. It seems to me indeed, as to Rückert, that the οὕτως is nothing else than the antecedent of of the ὡς, as, which follows; comp. Joh 7:46; Eph 5:33; Jas 2:12, etc. The meaning is: “See how you ought to regard us.”

The word ἄνθρωπος might be translated by the French pronoun on; perhaps it is better rendered by each;comp. 1Co 11:28. Edwards sees in the use of the word an imitation of the Hebrew Isch. Bengel thinks that the term is intended to contrast man’s judgment with that of God. I think the apostle wishes it to be felt that he is addressing the Church in the person of each of its members, and recalling to their minds the notion of ignorance and weakness attached to the condition of man.

The term ὑπηρέτης, which we translate by minister, strictly denotes a man who acts as rower under the orders of some one (ὑπό and ἐρέσσω); he is a man labouring freely in the service of others: it here denotes the acting and laborious side of the Christian ministry. The term οἰκονόμος, steward, dispenser, denotes, among the ancients, a confidential slave to whom the master intrusts the direction of his house, and in particular the care of distributing to all the servants their tasks and provisions (Luk 12:42). This second term designates preachers as administrators of a truth which is not theirs, but their master’s. It relates to the inward and spiritual side of the work of the ministry. — The trust administered by them is the mysteries of God. This term mystery, in the singular, denotes the plan of salvation in general (see on 1Co 2:7). In the plural, it relates to the different designs included in this plan. The plural is here connected with the idea of distribution associated with that of steward. Perhaps Paul makes allusion to the choice which Apollos and he required to make among the manifold materials of Christian teaching, in order to use in every case only those which were appropriate to the state of the Corinthians (1Co 3:2).

The genitives of Christ and of God, which are certainly related to those of 1Co 3:23, remind us that preachers, as labouring in the active service of Christ, the Head of the Church, and charged with distributing to it the truths of God, have to give account before these supreme authorities and not before the members of the Church. They go where Christ sends them, and deliver what God has given them. They are not to be judged in this respect. The only thing that can be asked of them, is to be faithful in the way in which they fulfil the missions confided to them, and in which they conform their teaching to the measure of light which they have received.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.