1 Corinthians 4:14

Here Paul challenges their regard to him as their father. He tells them, 1. That what he had written was not for their reproach, but admonition; not with the gall of an enemy, but the bowels of a father (Co1 4:14): I write not to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. Note, In reproving for sin, we should have a tender regard to the reputation, as well as the reformation, of the sinner. We should aim to distinguish between them and their sins, and take care not to discover any spite against them ourselves, nor expose them to contempt and reproach in the world. Reproofs that expose commonly do but exasperate, when those that kindly and affectionately warn are likely to reform. When the affections of a father mingle with the admonitions of a minister, it is to be hoped that they may at once melt and mend; but to lash like an enemy or executioner will provoke and render obstinate. To expose to open shame is but the way to render shameless. 2. He shows them upon what foundation he claimed paternal relation to them, and called them his sons. They might have other pedagogues or instructors, but he was their father; for in Christ Jesus he had begotten them by the gospel, Co1 4:15. They were made Christians by his ministry. He had laid the foundation of a church among them. Others could only build upon it. Whatever other teachers they had, he was their spiritual father. He first brought them off from pagan idolatry to the faith of the gospel and the worship of the true and living God. He was the instrument of their new birth, and therefore claimed the relation of a father to them, and felt the bowels of a father towards them. Note, There commonly is, and always ought to be, an endeared affection between faithful ministers and those they beget in Christ Jesus through the gospel. They should love like parents and children. 3. We have here the special advice he urges on them: Wherefore I beseech you be you followers of me, Co1 4:16. This he elsewhere explains and limits (Co1 11:1): "Be you followers of me, as I also am of Christ. Follow me as far as I follow Christ. Come up as close as you can to my example in those instances wherein I endeavour to copy after his pattern. Be my disciples, as far as I manifest myself to be a faithful minister and disciple of Christ, and no further. I would not have you be my disciples, but his. But I hope I have approved myself a faithful steward of the mysteries of Christ, and a faithful servant of my master Christ; so far follow me, and tread in my steps." Note, Ministers should so live that their people may take pattern from them, and live after their copy. They should guide them by their lives as well as their lips, go before them in the way to heaven, and not content themselves with pointing it out. Note, As ministers are to set a pattern, others must take it. They should follow them as far as they are satisfied that they follow Christ in faith and practice.

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

1Co_4:14-21

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

Paul an example to parents and teachers

He proceeds--

I. With love.

1. Not as a schoolmaster, but as a father.

2. Not to shame, but to warn.

3. Not to threaten, but encourage (1Co_4:16).

4. Not to punish, but to supply suitable help (1Co_4:17).

II. With firmness.

1. He discourages the perverse (1Co_4:18).

2. Exposes the false.

3. Exalts the true.

4. Submits the choice of a rod or love. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Christian training is

I. Loving in its aim and procedure (1Co_4:14-16).

II. Prudent in its choice (1Co_4:17).

III. Firm in its purpose (1Co_4:18-21). (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The true minister is the father of his flock

I. His relative position.

1. Not a mere instructor, but the instrument of communicating new life.

2. This cannot be accomplished by severity, but by a loving proclamation of the truth.

II. His influence--

1. Depends upon example (1Co_4:16).

2. Supposes that he is in Christ (1Co_4:17).

3. Will generally succeed where precept and example are combined. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Censoriousness and faithfulness contrasted

He that would be a good man must have either a friend to admonish him or an enemy to watch over him. Censoriousness--

I. Is a nimrod, a mighty hunter for faults (Jer_20:10; Psa_56:6). Faithfulness does not delight to dwell on a fault, but censoriousness does.

II. A mighty creator It makes faults where there are none; it puts the worst construction on words and actions. Examples: The Pharisees and disciples going through the corn-fields. Eliab to David. It calls zeal rashness--Michael to David. Faithfulness is discreet in its decisions.

III. Is an easy reliever where he is not an inventor of faults. Examples: The two false witnesses against Christ. The people of Ephesus when Demetrius slandered Paul. The Israelites when the spies returned and brought the evil report which the Israelites believed. Faithfulness is not credulous; it believes not every spirit, but tries the spirits.

IV. Is a kind of optician. It magnifies small things, makes a man an offender for a word, carries magnifying-glasses with it. Faithfulness endeavours to mitigate the offence (1Pe_4:8).

V. Is a kind of crier. It propagates the faults of men where they are not known. Example: Ham (Gen_9:20-22). Faithfulness concealeth the matter (Gen_9:23; Pro_11:13).

VI. Delights to dwell on a fault (Psa_102:8). Faithfulness grieves and laments the failings of others (Pro_24:17).

VII. Is very supercilious in its reproofs (Isa_55:5; Luk_18:11). Faithfulness is tender of the reputation of others, and desires to reclaim and restore them. (Homilist.)

Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.

The pedagogue and the father

The word pedagogues--who in most cases were charged with constant attendance on boys till they came of age--here denotes in a figure the later workers in the Corinthian Church. Of this Church St. Paul has been termed the founder, his successors the after-builders; he the planter, they the waterers: now he is father, they the tutors. The apostle here merely wishes to remind his readers of his own paternal rights, which can never be invalidated by subsequent labourers in the same field. Observe that they are called tutors in Christ, but he father in Christ Jesus--i.e., a host of tutors ye may have in the sphere of knowing about Christ; but into the life of knowing Christ as Saviour, none but I begot you by my preaching of the gospel. I is emphatic: mine was a moral begetting unto salvation; this took place once for all; teachers after me are not spiritual fathers, but educators in the faith which I sowed. (Canon Evans.)

The spiritual father

I. Is more than an instructor.

II. Is the medium of a new life.

1. Instrumentally.

2. By the Spirit of Christ, who originates life into the soul.

III. Is bound to his children by indissolubleties.

IV. Has special claims on their love and obedience.

V. Should be the object of imitation. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Spiritual paternity

I. That one may become the spiritual father of another. This is--

1. Something more than to become the father of ones ideas. There are gifted men who generate the leading ideas in the minds of their contemporaries, by their conversation, speeches, writings. But these are mere schoolmasters or teachers. Coleridge and Carlyle arc examples of this.

2. Something more than the author of a certain style of thinking. Aristotle, Bacon, &c., are examples.

3. One who generates in another his own spirit, sympathies, and aims; one who transforms the character of another into his own image.

II. That the noblest spiritual father is he who begets in another the Christly character. Many are the moral characters prevalent among men--the sensual, the sceptical, the selfish. The Christly character stands in sublime contrast to these; it is disinterested, spiritual, Divine. The man who generates in others this character--

1. Imparts the highest good. To be like Christ is the highest end of being; it is the summum bonum of souls.

2. Creates the highest mutual affection. Paul called Timothy his beloved son, and speaks with inexpressible tenderness of his converts as his little children with whom he travailed in birth (Gal_4:10).

III. That the Christly character is only begotten by the gospel of Christ. Natural religion cannot do it; Judaism, Mohammedanism, heathenism cannot do it; no speculative creeds, moral codes, ritualistic religions can do it. The gospel alone is the power to generate in man the true Christly character; it is that transformative glass into which as we look we get changed into the same image from glory to glory. Conclusion: Learn from this--

1. The supreme interest of man. What is that? Learning, wealth, fame? No; Christliness. He who has this, has everything; all things are his. He who has not this, has nothing, says Paul.

2. The grandest distinctions amongst men. What are they? Sages, soldiers, sovereigns? No; spiritual sires. The man who generates in another the Christly character has done a greater work than any sage or king has ever done. Every man may, and ought to, become a spiritual father. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christian lineage

As a child who has been kept in ignorance of his parentage rejoices to know those who have given him life, so we in times of evil condition and days of questioning may be made glad in the knowledge that we belong to a noble race.

I. The records and memorials of the Christian family.

1. The propagating power of the Divine life in men is one of the distinctive features of Christs religion. Other systems have made provision for carrying down their tenets, but the office of the Spirit of God is to recreate. The Founder of Christianity and His disciples claimed those in their day as children, those who had been born again into a new family circle.

2. In looking up the genealogy of any line, the fact that there were known to be numerous descendants gives us the best evidence that we shall be able to trace the branches to the parent stock. The Church has as well authenticated outlines from the time of Constantine, in 325, as have the governments of the greatest nations of the past or their ruling houses.

3. You will realise, however, that a Church which has reached this stage of organisation and influence must have some time allowance for its crystallisation. Your scientist wants you to grant him thousands of years for the erosion of the bed of Niagara and the glacier tracts and deposits of natural forces. He must not deny some fair period of Christianising energy to cut the channel in which we find the love of God moving within the visible Church, so that the gospel might spread as it had done from India to Spain and Britain. The graves of the saints would bridge the gulf from Constantine to Polycarp, if there were no other records. Their inscriptions of the Christian virtues, hopes of immortality, and faith in Jesus would restore the materials for our family history, and the types by which we could trace our ancestry if all other lines should fail.

II. Proofs of our spiritual lineage.

1. Paul traces his own new birth and life to Jesus, so that we may consider the great apostle to the Genthes as a representative of what men had begun to he in the line of Christian descent, and compare ourselves with him. We are told what was the character of other people before they also were changed (1Co_6:9-11). In order to set forth more clearly the type of the new family, an example is given of one of Pauls pupils (1Co_4:17). Timothy is, as it were, a spiritual grandson of Jesus. We can tell what the gospel was as it worked in the son, sire, and founder of our faith. Then Timothy is particular not to teach doctrines only, but to put the people in remembrance of Pauls ways. They could see whether the childs walk and features were like those of the parent, and were in Christ.

2. There are many varieties of temperament among children of the same household, and the Christian family presents us those with differing and peculiar traits. But does any candid man dare to say he cannot find to-day the type of those who formed the early Church in spirit, love, and works? If the men of the kingdom come short of your ideal, ask yourself where you received this noble image of the mind save from the gospel history. It should not be a matter of surprise that grotesque forms come to us from the isolated frontier communities of the world. The wonder is that they have preserved any likeness to our great ancestors. Select the best examples of faith and service in our world to-day, and you will be careful how you say you cannot find Christ, or His truth, or His will for you to obey. Through all the ages of darkness, idolatry, and persecution, the Spirit has been among men.

III. An invitation to join the Christian family. Be ye imitators of Me. (W. R. Campbell.)

Spiritual paternity

In my fernery I have some ferns which have little ones growing on the ends of their fronds; and as they are fine specimens, there are great numbers of the baby-ferns. Probably as many as three or four hundred complete ferns have sprung up out of each mother-fern, all of them having tiny roots, and everything necessary to their growth, so that you have nothing to do but to pick them off, put them in a little silver sand, and they will grow, and by and by become mother-ferns themselves. Every one of them, if broken off the frond, will live and grow; but you need not break them off, for they will continue to grow without being separated from their mother, for they are all alive, and they do not appear, by their existence, to cause any damage to the original plant from which they spring. The baby-ferns will keep on living and growing as long as the frond of the mother-fern lives; and even when the frond dies, each baby-fern, if it is planted, will live and thrive, and in its turn will become a mother-fern, producing its hundreds of children to perpetuate the species. There are other plants that are somewhat similar to the mother-fern in this respect. I saw at Mentone a very fine specimen of a flowering aloe. It sent up its blossom high into the air, and in due season the little aloes fell off, and dropped into the ground, and wherever they fell they grew after the manner of the mother-plant. I picked one up, and brought it home; and now it is growing into quite a large plant. These little aloes are born alive; they do not come in a seed, like a bird in an egg, but they come from the plant--living things falling from the living parent. Now, is not this a good illustration of what a Christian should be? It is well to be a living Christian yourself; but it is better to have springing from you many others that are your offshoots, each one ready to start on his own account, and to take root, and multiply to almost any extent. If you and I are living, acting, serving, growing Christians ourselves, maintaining a high degree of spiritual life, we may be the means, by the blessing of God, of imparting life to many others. Those to whom we are thus blessed will be to us what Pauls converts were to him, our glory and joy. Every true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ leaves an influence for good behind him when he is taken away; but it is better still if his influence is also felt while he lives. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me.--

Teaching by example

I. Is Gods method.

1. Christ.

2. Scriptural examples.

II. Is incumbent on all, especially ministers, parents, teachers, &c.

III. Supposes some proficiency in the teacher--principle, practice, motive.

IV. Is most certain and effective. It is more simple, persuasive, powerful. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The force of example

1. It is our duty and concernment to regard the practices of good men, and to follow their example. It is the manner of the apostles on all occasions to inculcate the duty of imitating the examples of the good.

2. That we might have worthy patterns to imitate, God hath raised up in all ages excellent persons to lead us by good example in the paths of righteousness.

3. It was a special design of Gods providence in recording and recommending to our regard the sacred histories. They were not framed as monuments of a fruitless memory; they were not proposed to us as entertainments of our curiosity; but they are set before us as copies to transcribe, as lights to guide us in our way to happiness.

4. Good example is of exceeding advantage to practice on many accounts.

I. It more compendiously, easily, and pleasantly informs our minds and directs our practice than precepts or any other instrument of discipline. Who would not more readily learn to build by viewing carefully a well-contrived structure, than by a studious inquiry into the rules of architecture? or to draw by setting a good picture before him, than by merely speculating on the laws of perspective? Neither is the case much different in moral concernments; one good example may represent more fully and clearly the nature of a virtue than any verbose description. E.g.--

1. If we desire to know what faith is, and how we should rely on the Divine Providence, let us propose to our consideration the practice of Abraham.

2. He that would learn how to demean himself in resisting the assaults of temptation, let him consider that one carriage of Joseph.

3. Would we learn wisdom, constancy, and resolution in the conduct of honest and worthy designs, let us set before our eyes the pattern of Moses.

4. Would you be instructed how faithfully to discharge the ministerial or any other office? With a steadfast attention then behold the excellent pattern of St. Paul.

5. I might in like manner instance how Eliass practice might teach us to be zealous champions for truth and righteousness; how they who would be good judges, or honest patriots, may receive direction from the carriage of Samuel, Daniel, and Nehemiah.

II. It persuades and inclines our reason to good practice, commending it to us by plausible authority. For that wise and virtuous persons do anything is a very probable argument that we are concerned to do the like. It is obvious in temporal concernments how boldly men adventure their dearest interests in following such whom they deem honest and able to guide them.

III. It incites our passions and impels them to the performance of duty.

1. It raises hope, by discovering to us the possibility of success in undertaking good designs, and that by the best and most convincing of arguments, experience. The example, saith St. Bernard, of a work done is a lively and efficacious oration, easily persuading what we intend by proving that feasible which we strive to persuade unto.

2. It inflames courage. So the apostle to the Hebrews signified when he set before them the examples of the patriarchs. How many persons, timorous and averse from dangerous undertakings, have notwithstanding become very bold and adventurous in war by the discipline and influence of an exemplary valour!

3. It provokes emulation, moving us earnestly to desire, and thence eagerly to pursue, whatever good, privilege, or advantage we see another to enjoy. Shall he, a man like myself, by noble dispositions and worthy performances, render himself highly considerable, while I, by sordid qualities and unworthy practices, render myself despicable? Shall a stripling David gloriously triumph over giants, while I basely am vanquished by dwarfs?

4. It works on modesty, that preserver and guardian of virtue, as Cicero calls it. For every good action of another doth upbraid and shame him who acteth not conformably thereto.

5. It awakens that curiosity which is of no mean efficacy on our actions. For whatever we see done, we are apt to inquire why and to what purpose it is done, what the grounds are, and what the fruits of the performance.

6. It pleases the mind and fancy in contemplation, thence drawing a considerable influence on practice. No kind of studious entertainment doth so generally delight as history, or the tradition of remarkable examples. Conclusion: Consider that God hath provided and recommended to us one example, as a perfect standard of good practice: the example of our Lord, the which declareth the use and efficacy of good example as one principal instrument of piety. (I. Barrow, D. D.)

A teacher must not set an imperfect example

The teacher must be himself his own illustration. And he must aim at the highest. His example will be their standard. This is natural. A pupil teacher at school used to gain a good deal of popularity by writing a line or two on the copy-books of the children in his class. One day the head teacher said, Do you know Why the boys like you to write the first line in their copy-books? I suppose it is because they think I am a good writer, replied the conceited youth. No; it is because they know you are a bad one, was the answer. The headline is perfect, and hard to follow. Yours is such a poor copy, that any one can imitate it quite easily.

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

1Co 4:14-16. I write not these things to shame you — Publicly to disgrace you, and stain your credit with other churches; but as my beloved sons I warn you — Show you in a mild and tender way what is wrong in your conduct, and put you in mind of your duty. It is with admirable prudence and sweetness the apostle adds this, to prevent any unkind construction of his words. For though you have ten thousand instructers — To advance you in the knowledge of Christ; yet have ye not many fathers; to convert you to Christ: for in Christ Jesus — By his blessing upon my labours; I have begotten you through the gospel — Been the first instrument of your conversion. This excludes, not only Apollos, his successor, but also Silas and Timothy, his companions. And the relation between a spiritual father and his children brings with it an inexpressible nearness and affection. Be ye followers of me — In that spirit and behaviour which I have so largely declared.

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

CRITICAL NOTES

1Co_4:14.—Irony dropped. Even in 1Co_4:6 it was “Brothers!” Now, “Beloved children!” Yet surely he did desire to make them ashamed of their bearing towards and estimate of himself? Yes. But not vindictively, nor so as to humiliate them before others. It was only such fatherly use of “shame,” as if in private between him and his erring children, as is really a most effectual “admonition” and educating force.

1Co_4:15. Instructors.—More accurately “tutors”; an illustration of his in Gal_3:24-25, with a different application. The slaves to whom the boy was intrusted during his school-life and minority, to look after him generally. [As the Master says, “I am the Shepherd to whom the sheep belong; others are but ‘hirelings.’ ” However faithful servants they may be, the sheep are “not their own.”] (Stanley thinks of the (often) “harsh and despotic sway” of these pedagogues, and compares 2Co_11:20.) I begat you.—Not claiming any larger share in the origin of their spiritual life than in Gal_4:19; Phm_1:10; Php_2:22; 1Ti_1:2; 1Ti_1:18. All he had done was “in Christ Jesus”; no independent work or glory. “An approach to the doctrine of the new birth.… Paul’s only direct reference to this doctrine is Tit_3:5” (Beet). [Jas_1:18 approaches Paul’s “through the Gospel” here.]

1Co_4:16. Followers.—“Imitators,” as in Php_3:17; 1Th_1:6, which again joins on to Eph_5:1. Says Pressensé: “Paul has attained to such a stripping off of self that he can without egotism propose himself as a model.”

1Co_4:17.—To his “beloved children” he sends his “beloved child.” [As the Great Householder sent His Son to the unfaithful, rebellious husbandmen, Mat_21:35.] As in 1Co_16:10, there is the always recurrent strain of appeal for a kindly reception of Timothy. For this cause.—I.e. in order that you may imitate me. Timothy will remind you of “my ways in Christ.”

1Co_4:18-19.—“Timothy instead of himself! He dares not come himself! Or, at best, he does not know his own mind, or stick to his purpose long together!” Cf. 2Co_1:15-17. Thus would revive suspicions of vacillation or duplicity already awakened. Note the tense, which is exactly, “Some got puffed up” previously. The Lord.—Most probably Christ, as in 1Co_4:4-5.

1Co_4:20. Word … power.—Be ye prepared to match with facta non verba my own coming with facta non verba (cf. 1Co_1:18). [How irresistible Stephen was (Act_6:10). Cf. Act_8:6; Act_10:44; Act_17:11-12; Act_19:20; Act_14:1. If the preacher stands firing, and never hits anything or anybody, he must aim badly, or must have got the wrong sort of ammunition. The Truth, the Kingdom, are always “in power.”]

HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—1Co_4:14-21

Fatherly Appeals; Fatherly Discipline.

I. The tender relationship.—Paul was a gardener (1Co_3:9), then a “master builder” (1Co_3:10), then a “minister of Christ” (1Co_4:1), then a “steward” in God’s household, the Church (1Co_4:1). Now he is a “father,” even to such thankless sons as these Corinthians. His heart cannot keep up the satire and rebuke and self-vindication against them; to think of them, and to recall their past, even that he might rebuke, melts him down. The tears are in his voice, “my beloved sons.” No tie more tender—no tie so tender—as that which binds together the minister and his spiritual children. No love deeper than that of the man who has seen in some souls the satisfaction of the sore travail of his own (Gal_4:19). No pain more acute than for the father to lose the love of his sons, or to see their life a flagrant contradiction to all he tried to teach and to be before them. They will not be his “imitators.” That minister has not yet tasted the chief joy of the ministry who cannot say to any one soul, “In Christ Jesus have I begotten you in the Gospel.” Is he after all nothing but their “instructor,” their “tutor,” their “pedagogue,” fulfilling indeed a very useful function as he brings them to the school of some better teacher, and guards and shields and trains the young life committed to his care? The man who takes refuge in this, that he does not indeed “see conversions,” but he “builds up the Church,” certainly is not doing nothing, but is doing only that half of a minister’s work which presupposes the new life to have begun. The “instructor” is needed, but the complete minister is the “father” also. And to his spiritual children that man will be like no other man. If they will hear “admonition” from any lips, surely it will be from his.

II. And the father is a model for his children.—“Be imitators of me.” All reproach of egotism or vanity is beside the mark, when it is remembered that the father is talking thus, in that familiar love of family life which expects to be understood as a matter of course. The father is not on his guard against being mistaken when he talks to his children. (See also, for another turn to the thought, in Critical Notes.) One of the brothers, Timothy, shall tell them again, if they have forgotten them, their spiritual father’s rules for “behaviour in the House of God” (as he afterwards himself gave them to this same Timothy, 1Ti_3:15); Paul’s little household code for the training up of the children’s life and the ordering of their activities, which he was accustomed to enjoin wherever a new family circle—call it “a Church”—sprang up. How Paul’s dear children would treasure up every word which their spiritual father had left behind him! How our boys remember “what father used to say”! How the girls copy “what mother used to do”! “Remember my ways which be in Christ;” it is a charming ideal. He is himself a man “in Christ.” The formative principle, that which governs all his own life, and gives its distinctive tone to his judgments, and preferences, and dislikes, and volitions, is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him. It is really Christ expressing and exhibiting Himself through Paul. If then he says, “Copy me, children,” it is after all, “Copy Christ, children.” It will be a task to distress and daunt the minister if he approach it from this side: “I must so bear myself, and so be, that my people may safely be imitators of me, even when I am least adverting to the effect of my very life upon them.” But let him rather approach it from this side, “I must be in Christ,” all the problem then falls into ordered simplicity of solution. All that springs out of the life “in Christ” may safely be followed. Be “in Christ,” and leave the rest to take care of itself.

III. Yet the father must needs sometimes speak sharply, and even use “the rod.”—Nothing but “love” and the “spirit of meekness” would be defective family government where the children are “puffed up” Even as “the rod” and the rebuke alone would be imperfect family government too. The “words” need the “power” behind them; but the “power” should be held, if it may be, in reserve. And (as in 2Co_1:18-20) if Paul seems self-assertive, it is simply that the man lives so thoroughly in his message and work, the Gospel he preaches has put its own stamp so deeply upon the man, that what is true of it is true of him; and, conversely, as is the man so are the Gospel and the kingdom he preaches. [The man preaches no “Yes” and “No” Gospel; he is no “Yes” and “No” man (2 Cor. as above). So here:] He comes on no errand of personal vindication; he comes to vindicate the “kingdom of God,” which has been endangered and endamaged at Corinth. It is not only or chiefly that he will show himself to have both “words” and “power”; and his thunder [says Jerome: “As often as I read Paul, I seem to myself to hear, not words, but thunder-claps”] to be wedded to swift-striking lightning. He comes only as the embodiment of a Gospel order of things in which indeed are words, tender or stern, as need may require, but where every word can be translated into a deed of blessing or of chastening wrath.

[IV.

1. This unconscious conformity of Paul to the Gospel he preaches is a real parallel to the, not conformity with but, identification of Christ and His Gospel. He and His religion, the Gospel of His Kingdom, are alike “the Way” (Act_9:2; Act_19:9; Act_19:23); “the Truth” (not so precisely, but see, e.g., 2Co_13:8; 2Th_2:13; 1Ti_3:15); “the Life” (Act_5:20).

2. The same fundamental unity of character and form makes the paragraph under consideration so curiously and closely parallel to the case of God and His erring and wayward children, that, without any violence to sense or to essential Truth, it becomes almost a parable. Thus

(1) In all His dealings with sinful men in these days of His grace, God designs their amendment. Like Paul here, He desires to touch their heart into sorrow and into a reformatory love toward Himself. Even in their waywardness He does not deny them the name “children” or the epithet “beloved.” For His Son’s sake the race, even in their fall, are “the men of His goodwill.” If they will not be “admonished,” then there must come, even for these, the “shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan_12:2).

(2) “One is your Father,” said the Great Teacher, the Eldest Son of the Family (Mat_23:9). “Your Father;” it is the new name for God which leaps instinctively to the lips of the pardoned and adopted sinner, when “the Spirit of His Son” is “sent forth into his heart” (Gal_4:6). It was unknown to the Old Testament saints [Psa_103:13; Psa_68:5 are no real exceptions; Psa_89:26 is theocratic rather than personal; Jer_3:4 is put into the lips of the nation, and is not personal]; no Old Testament saint got beyond “Friend,” and ordinarily were only “servants,” trusted and beloved and honoured indeed, but never, as does every New Testament saint, saying “Abba, Father,” as the customary, instinctive word of address to God. Nor does a man in the Old Testament stage of his spiritual life—for every man’s spiritual history recapitulates in brief summary the history of “the dispensations”—say “Abba.”

(3) And the “Fatherhood” and the “Sonship” depend on a new-born life; the children have “been begotten again” (1Pe_1:3), and this “through the Gospel,” the living, “incorruptible seed” of a new life (1Pe_1:23).

(4) He says—as Paul, with a special reference, once says for Him (Eph_5:1)—“Be ye imitators of Me.” Indeed, their new-created life is “after God,” the Pattern (Col_3:10; Eph_4:24).

(5) And has He not sent a “beloved Son,” “faithful” (Heb_3:2) to His Father’s commission and errand, who brings into men’s remembrance God’s “ways”? What He desires, what He is—the verbal pattern and the character-pattern to which God would have His children conform—where are they so spoken, where are they so seen, as by and in the Son who has been sent to men in their forgetful, wayward, rebellious mood of mind and heart?

(6) But men are “puffed up” as though God were afar off, and never could or would draw nigh, to any practical purpose. The natural heart is epicurean in the God it imagines and desires. Deism, which recognised a God, and even a Creator, but relegated Him to a distant aloofness of place and heart and relation towards His world, and towards the life of the individual man, was only a quasi-philosophical expression of the thought of the natural heart everywhere. “Don’t bring God too near me! Let me get into some far country away from Him!” Even believing science and history and politics do not escape the infection and tendency of the time, but are apt to minimise the supernatural. The scoffers of the last days cry, sometimes with a heart which feels a sinking misgiving underneath the loud mockery, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2Pe_3:4). (As they said it of Paul at Corinth.) Paul himself, in veiled language, has reminded us how The Coming (the Parousia) will burst in upon a world in which lawless revolt in voice and act will have risen to its climax of daring against God and His Christ (2Th_2:8). [It is no mere accidental parallel that, only a moment or two before the Life-giver would raise from the dead the ruler’s child, the neighbours and hired mourners “laughed to scorn” the words, “Not dead but sleeping” (Mat_9:24). Their mockery is a prelusive, anticipatory suggestion and hint of the loud, mocking naturalism of unbelief which shall be never more scornful and daring than on the very eve of the Parousia and the Resurrection.] Corinthian Church members who say, “Paul will never come here again—not he!” are but exhibiting the unbelieving habit of the natural heart in all men. [The parallel is not to be forced, but, until Paul arrive, Timothy will so be Paul’s representative at Corinth that he who saw and heard Timothy would see and hear Paul (cf. then Joh_14:9).]

(7) When He says, “Behold I come quickly, … to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev_22:12), it is as though we had Paul’s words in our paragraph “writ large,” written out on the Divine scale. In that day preeminently will the “kingdom” come “in power”! The Son, the “Minister” and Representative of God in that day of visitation, will bear the “rod”—of iron (Psa_2:9). The “spirit of meekness” (Mat_11:29), on which men have been presuming too far, will give place to the “wrath of the Lamb” (Rev_6:16). Mutatis mutandis, one might have said to the refractory, rebellious Church at Corinth, in regard to the Advent of Paul, “Be wise now therefore, O ye Corinthians,” etc. (as Psa_2:10-12). Such flexibility and ready adaptability of Scripture language to such varying purpose; the fact that the same vessel of language will so readily hold such varying contents; such often minuteness of coincident particulars as between the contents—events or series of events, trivial and tremendous,—are not to be dismissed off-hand as fanciful or accidental. Is it not part of the organic interdependence and intercoherence of the One Book which has been, on the human side, the gradual, and largely unconcerted, accumulation of books, in process through many widely separated centuries?]

SEPARATE HOMILIES

1Co_4:20. Word and Power.

I. True of Christianity in contrast with other ethical systems.—As to their excellence “in word” they many of them deserve high praise. The religion of Jesus Christ gains nothing by an advocacy which does not do justice to the elements of truth in other religions—particularly moral truth. [As, for instance, the strong filial piety of Chinese life. Yet justice should be done to Christianity. Exaggerated praise is sometimes given to non-Christian systems. E.g. Confucius several times gave the rule, “What ye would not that men should do to you, do ye not do to them.” There is a surface similarity in this to the “golden rule” of Christ. But no such similarity (nor any ground in history) as to warrant the supposition that Christianity has incorporated an article of Chinese morality. As a matter of historical and chronological possibility or probability, it would have been more reasonable to assert that it should have “incorporated” the equivalent saying of Shammai: “What is unpleasing to thee do not to thy neighbour.” These two sayings may show the high-water mark of natural altruism; yet, as is easily seen, and often pointed out, these are negative; they restrain the hand from evil-doing; Christ’s saying, “Do unto others,” etc., sets the hand to busy, active benevolence and well-doing.] Hardly any considerable system of morals, ancient or modern, but enunciates some noble sentiments and precepts; the “Light that lighteth every man coming into the world” (Joh_1:9) has not left Himself without a witness in heathen minds and hearts in any country or age. Yet two facts are acknowledged by general consent. First that there was never any general agreement as to a moral standard or code of rules for conduct; and next, that, however admirable and noble the “word” of moral teaching might be, the systems never gave, or taught, the power to carry out the teaching and fulfil the code. All fail there. They have offered a marvellously complete analysis of human nature, but they are altogether wanting in motive power, and in practice the machinery of such morality was found to stand still. “Words,” plenty of them, and beautiful and noble; but no “power.” The result of man’s unaided moral experiment, as tried in its most highly developed form,—that of classical antiquity,—and with the greatest advantages, with philosophers for teachers whose names stand highest, beyond all comparison or competition, is exactly gathered up in Ovid’s well-known confession: “I see and approve the Better; I follow the Worse.” And this because power to follow the Better with any steady and persistent steps was not forthcoming. [Not only was the standard varying and uncertain, from teacher to teacher, no finality being attained, progress in ethical inquiry being “progress on a treadmill”; but no adequate motives were supplied for obedience to any one truth taught, no sanctions for the laws laid down; it was open to the individual to deny the cogency of any political or personal prudential “reasons,” and the authority of even the power and loftier dictates of his own nature, when it was at its best. Cicero long ago mockingly pointed out how seldom their moralisings produced much effect upon the lives of the very teachers themselves (Tusc. Quœst., 2). And, above all, nobody himself knew, or could teach others, how to fulfil his own ideals.] “Now as a matter of fact, Christianity has introduced into humanity a moral power, unknown apart from the presence of Christian faith and knowledge. This power has proved itself adequate to the vanquishing of the natural enmity of the heart to self-control and self-denial. The Christian religion has found and revealed a way of rendering virtue—which is admittedly admirable and desirable—actually attainable; has made the path of obedience progressively congenial, attractive, and delightful. There is a general agreement that this is the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity. First, in point of time, comes the provision for pardon; but first in point of real importance comes the provision of a spiritual power, which secures the love and practice of holiness.” [Professor J. Radford Thomson, whose words may stand for many more. But the fact is undisputed.]

II. True of Christianity as compared with Judaism.—This had a code, higher and most perfect in its comprehensive and adequate range of directions. And, further, it rooted its most thoroughly symmetrical and perfect code in the personal relation to God: “I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have,” etc. [A sceptical lawyer began to read the Bible in order from the beginning, and “pulled up” at last at the Decalogue, with the pregnant exclamation, “Where did Moses get that law?”] Further, and more remarkably still, it stated the true secret of all law-keeping, in its most condensed form: “Love the Lord thy God; love thy neighbour as thyself.” [Though note how little prominent is this latter (Lev_19:18), a mere sentence among a series, until, so to speak, disinterred by Christ, and exhibited in all its significance as one of the two cardinal enactments of the whole Law.] Yet, though it was a Divine directory of life, it was annulled “for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof” (Heb_7:18). The Law “could not make” the comers to its sacrifices and other ordinances “perfect” (Heb_10:1). God erected this fingerpost of duty; the highway of righteous life was in no sort of doubt. But the Law was only a fingerpost; it showed the way, but gave no help to walk in it. It condemned trespass swiftly and sternly, but it gave no direct aid to obedience. “By the Law was the” clearer and clearer “knowledge of sin” (Rom_3:20). But in the Law itself was nothing more. [Under the Old Testament order there was no doubt not only knowledge, but obedience, and obedience which meant victory over opposing evil within and around the man. Yet this was not in the Law, but was an anticipation and foretaste of the grace of the Gospel.] Jewish seekers after a life of moral perfectness found all the inner moral division and weakness which the heathen felt and mourned over; they understood it better than the best of heathen moralists could. But all their struggle ended in the moral breakdown and confessed failure of Rom_7:12-24. The Law said, “Do and live,” “Do or die”; but of itself it could not show how to “Do.” It was in word only, not “in power.”

III. The kingdom of God has, and brings, power.—In its clearer revelation as to Rewards and Punishments in the future life it has supplied sanctions such as even Judaism could not furnish. In its Central Person, Jesus Christ, it has supplied a perfect Pattern, a living Summary of all perfect human nobility and righteousness of life and character. In its love to that Personal Saviour it has supplied a perfect, a self-acting motive to obedience; a motive which, as matter of fact, has produced results which no other power could effect, and has done this in some drawn from the lowest types and grades of human life. [That love for Christ, moreover, supplies the most perfect legislation for the individual, prompting a very instinct for law where there is no express command.] Yet even in the most perfect Example it is only in a figurative sense that there is “power” to secure obedience and to elevate and purify; the real power is in the man himself, in his own will. Even a motive is not power. Love for Christ is a “power” only in the same quasi-poetic sense as Example is. The real spiritual dynamic that enables the will, and brings men at last to the secret of “power,” is in the working of the Holy Ghost upon, with, in the will of man. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” makes a man “free from the law of sin and death” (Rom_8:2). All this is experience in the man who has “entered into the kingdom of God” (Mat_18:3); or as, with a significant reversal of the polarity of the thought, it is sometimes put, who has “received the kingdom,” and let it enter into him (Mar_10:15). The philosophers do but analyse more clearly and fully and cast into accurate and orderly language what all human hearts more vaguely think and feel on moral questions. No representative question is ever raised by them and discussed which earnest men somewhere have not at some time less definitely recognised and dealt with. [The problems and solutions of Job, e.g., or of Ecclesiastes are not so definitely those of any special age or country or philosophy, as to yield any basis for locating date or authorship. They are the questions and answers of serious men everywhere, always.] Every man’s spiritual life, as he is led up to and into the “Kingdom of God,” recapitulates the moral history of the race. He has his patriarchal age and his Mosaic dispensation, before he comes into the Christian era of his life and experience. [Hence such passages and descriptions as in Gal_4:3-7 are true, as between Judaism and Christianity and men living on the border-time of both, and as between the days during which the individual is being led “unto Christ” and those during which he lives “in Christ.” In Paul and many of his Christian contemporaries the dispensational contrast and the personal were coincident. They lived, historically as well as experimentally, through the transition from the one age to the other.] The Law showed the way; the Gospel accompanies and directs and upholds the traveller. Conscience is light, not force; knowledge, not help or power. The bitterest of the bitter cup of true repentance is the experience, “When I would do good, evil is present with me”—present, and so much master that, “The evil that I would not, that do I.” “Our moral nature is disordered, and one of the chief evidences of the disorder is the conflict between duty and inclination. Conscience and the will are not at one. We may form beautiful ideals, but we cannot realise them. Desires which are known to be mean and poor often prevail in us against the voice of conscience and even the protests of reason. And often the state of things is worse than that of a conflict in which the bad usually gets the better of the good. In many the result is a state of helpless captivity. In these cases lusts of the body rise to sovereign power and crush down in ignominious bondage every good and wholesome desire. Men and women are degraded far below the level of brutes. In the grip of imperious lusts they are powerless, struggle as they may. When the outward evil is not so great, the triumph of evil is not so conspicuous; but that evil reigns is often lamentably apparent, even to the persons themselves. Often their lives are governed by a selfishness that, regardless of others, seeks to secure everything for themselves. [Culture, with its tendency to fastidiousness of liking and judgment, is often exceedingly selfish. Of itself it certainly has no redemption from self in it.] The will of God, which they know to be the true sovereign authority of the world, is little regarded except in so far as the ordinary usages of society may happen to agree with it. These lives do not conform to any noble standard. And even at their very best there is such a discord between what they are inclined to do and what they ought to do, that their highest achievements in duty are but the result of a hard struggle, not the free, spontaneous movements of souls delighting in the ways of truth and righteousness.” (Dr. W. G. Blaikie.)

IV. But the Gospel scheme provides “power.”—It has been a power working with the preacher of the kingdom of heaven. With what sledge-hammer force does the Gospel word, when full of the power of the Holy Ghost, break open the door of the most utterly evil heart, and find admittance for conviction and for Christ! How this power has again and again borne down before it, and swept away in its victorious rush, all the barriers of social pride, of personal reserve or timidity, bringing to open concern the most unlikely hearts! The man also who receives into himself the Spirit of God as a Spirit testifying to his adoption into the family of God (Rom_8:15-17) finds he has received the “Spirit of power” as well as “of love and a sound mind” (2Ti_1:7). As a matter of mental and moral scientific analysis, no question is more perplexing, or seems more nearly insoluble, than that of the enabling effect of the Spirit of God upon the human will. But the simplest child of God finds that the same Spirit whose inwelling brings him peace and joy and hope brings power also. Old habits seem like Samson’s bonds of new rope when touched with His fire. The old struggle with the heart and its inclinations still may many times be a severe one; but it ends, not as in Romans 7, in defeat, but in victory. Evil may be “present,” but it rules no longer. The “new creature” is but “new” with the strength of the child, but that strength may be increased until the walk is with the firm and victorious tread of the man in Christ. Self-control, though in no strength of Self, is enjoyed and exhibited; patience and forgiveness of injuries—an impossible task to the natural heart—become possibilities and facts. Every mission-field, every Christian congregation, has its “modern miracles,” its moral miracles: degraded ones lifted out of the slough of gross or cruel sin; the utter, hard, proud, cold worldling-life melted away, and giving place to humility, unselfishness, tenderness, sympathy, self-sacrificing benevolence, and so on. Facts prove Paul’s words true. And only the Gospel of the kingdom of God has ever thus solved the moral problems which were the despair of the noblest ancient philosophers and ethics. The privilege of the regenerate life, moreover, should not be taken to stop short of this possession of moral power. The Gospel gives the moral leverage and the fulcrum—both—with which the world may be lifted. And this is no mere Christian boasting, but an assertion whose truth is verified in the whole history of the modern world. The representative world was sick at heart and corrupt, hastening to political and social ruin and disintegration, when Christianity came and put a new force into man and society. The world took a new start, and began a new life, at the era of the advent of the “kingdom of God.” And if it has seemed to fail in persons or in societies since, it is when it has degenerated into a thing of “words” only, in creeds and pulpits and life; and, indeed, has reverted to the ethics of cultured heathen naturalism in its doctrine of human nature; still bearing the Christian name, wearing the Christian mask, but heathen—natural—at heart, and in all essential principles and motives, and in the force which is appealed to for recovering man from degradation and moral failure and ruin.

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.

IX.—PATERNAL ADDRESSES AND WARNINGS

A.9 The grounds, spirit and intent of his severity. As their spiritual father, he would have them imitate him

1Co_4:14-17

14     I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn10 [admonish] you. 15For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten [begot] you through the gospel. 16Wherefore I beseech you, be [become] ye followers [imitators] of me. 17For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my11 beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ12, as I teach every where in every church.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1Co_4:14. Sinking now into a milder tone, ‘not from motives of prudence, but in accordance with his own natural disposition,’ (Neander), and in order to observe his own precept, ‘not to provoke children to wrath,’ (Besser), he here goes on to explain the ground and intent of the severity he had used. He had rebuked them, as a father would his children, out of paternal love, and as he had a right to do.—Not shaming you,—ἐντρέπων. The participle here does not necessarily involve the idea of intention or design, as if it meant: ‘not for the purpose of shaming you;’ although the present part. may denote a purpose which one is already on the point of realizing. Meyer: ‘I do not shame you by that which I now write,’ (i. e., from 1Co_4:8-13). Ruckert’s idea, that Paul alludes here to his charges for not being properly supported (1Co_4:11-12) is too restricted, and unsustained by the context. Alike needless, also, is his explanation of ἐντρέπειν, to cast down, to shatter, as it occurs in Aelian. And at all events, the word cannot mean, as elsewhere in Greek, to restore to a right mind, to cause a person to come to himself. The Apostle commonly uses it in the sense in which it usually occurs in the LXX. for חֵפִר, to shame, in connection with αἰσχύνεσθαι (see Frommii Concord.) (comp. 2Th_3:14; Tit_2:8; also the subst. ἐςτροπή 1Co_6:5; 1Co_15:34).—do I write these things—ταῦτα, i. e., the things written from the eighth to the thirteenth verse,—but as my beloved children.—A tender and winning word, designed to remind them that, with all his severity toward their pride and false security, he yet regarded them with paternal affection, and was only seeking their restoration to a right mind.—I admonish you.—Νουθετεῖν, to bring to mind, to warn.—It may imply severe rebuke or friendly admonition. Here it is evidently the latter. [See more fully on this word Trench Syn. N. T. sub voce, and Wm. Webster, Syntax and Synonymns of the Gr. T.].

1Co_4:15. He justifies his right to admonish on the ground of the paternal relation he sustains to them. This he exhibits in contrast with the mere preceptorship held by their other teachers. To the latter they were indebted only for discipline, but to him they owed their spiritual existence.—For even though.—By virtue of the relation of the two clauses indicated by ἀλλ̓ ἐάν, carries the significance of κᾄν, even though—ye have ten thousand.—Μυρίους implies only an indefinitely large number, as in 1Co_14:19. Bisp.: ‘never so many,’—a hint, perhaps, that there were too many teachers there,—instructors—παιδαγωγούς. This word among the Greeks designated those who were employed to look after, and train little children; and these were commonly slaves. Paul here applies it to the teachers who succeeded him (1Co_3:10 ff.), but without any bad implication [such as Calvin, Beza and de Wette suppose], since this would not befit Apollos and others like him. Nor can we well conceive the term to imply that those whom it designated were holding the Corinthians back in rudimental knowledge [Calvin] (Gal_4:2), or were acting upon a stand-point that sought to unite legal and evangelical elements. All he means is that his right over them was higher, his relation to them more intimate than that of any other could be; and that these allowed him the privilege of supervising their education in their new Christian life.—in Christ.—This adjunct shows the sphere in which these instructors were supposed to labor, that of the Christian life. [Hodge says, that “the words in the original show that they belong to the verb, ‘Though ye may have in Christ, i. e. in reference to Christ, or as Christians, many instructors yet have ye not many fathers.” ̓]—yet not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus.—Here again, as before, the words “in Christ Jesus,” denote the element in which Paul labored.—I begot you.—i. e. as Christians. On γεννᾷν comp. Phil. 10; Gal_4:19. Others connect the words ‘in Christ Jesus’ with ‘I,’ and make it mean: ‘I in Christ,’ i. e. as ‘an Apostle in Christ.’ But as this designation in the foregoing clause does not belong to ‘instructors’ in any such way as to mean, that they instructed by virtue of their fellowship with Christ, so here it is not to be similarly connected with Paul, although it was in itself true, that those labors of his, which begot in them the new life, and developed it afterwards, could have proved successful only so far as they had been wrought in Christ—through the Gospel.—Here we have the instrumentality employed. It was the proclamation of those good tidings which are briefly summed up in Joh_3:16; 1Ti_1:15, and elsewhere. The Gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth’ (Rom_1:16); ‘the word of the cross;’ ‘the word of truth,’ by which God begets us (Jam_1:18); ‘the living,’ the undestructible seed of the new birth (1Pe_1:23). And the essential substance of this Gospel, that which gives it its quickening and nourishing power, is Christ Himself [the Word in the word.] The claim to paternity here put forth, is in no way prejudicial to the fatherhood of God, or the Lordship of Christ, since Paul is here speaking of the relation which the Church sustained to the different teachers in respect to the origin and growth of their spiritual life. The higher absolute relation to God is here presupposed, and even intimated by the phrases “in Christ” and “through the Gospel.” The simple instrumentality, alluded to in the whole case, is evident of itself; just as in 1Ti_4:16.

1Co_4:17. Therefore:—i. e. because I am to you as a father, and it accords with the analogy of nature, that children should resemble their parents.—I beseech you.—An affectionate entreaty to heed one brief request.—be ye imitators of me.—But how far? Not in general; but in those particulars which he has just been enumerating, wherein he stood in such striking contrast with them, viz., in humility and self-resignation; “in the renouncement of all ambition and conceit” Meyer; we might also add with Osiander, ‘in that self-devoted heroism with which he sealed his faith.’ [“Nor these only,” says Alf., “but also, as in 1Co_4:17, in his manner of life and teaching”].

1Co_4:18. For this cause.—This is to be referred back either to 1Co_4:15, as expressing the motive of his sending Timothy: ‘because I am your father, and feel towards you like one’ [as Chrys., Theoph. and others]; or to 1Co_4:16, as indicating the purpose of his sending him: to promote your imitation of me. The latter reference is to be preferred, otherwise 1Co_4:16 must be taken parenthetically. Osiander combines both, and justly, in so far as what is said in 1Co_4:16, rests upon the paternal relationship asserted in 1Co_4:15. The meaning is: ‘since I, as a father, must insist on your imitating my example, I have sent unto you my dear Timothy, who will aid you in this respect.’—I have sent to you Timothy—not as though Timothy was to be the bearer of the Epistle (comp. Act_16:10), since he came later, being obliged to go through Macedonia on his way to Corinth (Act_19:22).—who is my son.—Timothy is here represented as one who, equally with the Corinthians, was converted by Paul, and had derived through him his spiritual life, and so held the same relations to Paul that they did. And the Apostle testifies to his tender care over them in the fact, that he sends to them this their brother, who was especially dear to him, and enjoyed his fullest confidence; one, therefore, whom they had peculiar reason to welcome cordially, as a person able to exhibit to them the mind of their common father in a most reliable manner. [It must be remembered also that Timothy was with Paul during his first visit to Corinth, and must therefore have been personally known to a large portion of the Church]. To explain the epithet ‘my son,’ on the ground that Timothy had been educated to his office by Paul, after the manner that the Rabbis called their scholars ‘sons,’ is not sufficiently sustained by the consideration that we have no further information of his conversion by Paul. Rather the intimacy of the relation between the two expressions in Tim. 1Co_1:2; 1Co_1:18; 2Ti_1:2, and also the application to him of the same title, ‘beloved son,’ which had just been applied to the Corinthians, would seem to confirm the opinion that Paul had also ‘begotten him through the Gospel.’—beloved and faithful in the Lord.—The phrase ‘in the Lord’ belongs not merely to ‘faithful,’ (i. e. devoted to me, true to his calling, and therefore reliable) but also to all that is said of Timothy. The praise bestowed on Timothy appears also to have the incidental purpose of impressing upon the Corinthians, in a tender. manner, the kind of conduct which they owed to their spiritual fathers.

Timothy’s errand is expressed in the words:—who shall remind you of my ways in the Lord.—The ἀναμιμνήσκειν: to remind, presupposes the existence of a knowledge which has been repressed by adverse influences, so that it needs to be called up again and refreshed. “There is a slight implication here “(Osiander), and Chrysostom remarks that ‘the word is finely chosen to quiet the pride of the Corinthians which might be aroused at the idea of being taught by a youth.’ What he means by ‘his ways in Christ’ he goes on to explain.—as I teach every where in every church.—It was his mode of conduct as a Christian teacher; and this, as it regarded, not so much the subject of his teaching, or its manner, as his demeanor while doing it,—the humility and self-denial with which he discharged his calling. This is implied by the connection. The use of καθώς here, as employed to introduce a defining clause, in the sense of: how, is somewhat remarkable. See Act_15:14; 3Jn_1:3 [where the word is clearly used in this sense, and where Alford somewhat arbitrarily asserts that it is alone thus used]. Hence Billr. joins it to the verb ‘remind,’ as if Paul meant: ‘he will remind you, etc., just as I myself, teach.’ But from this 1, no good sense can be obtained, and 2, ‘myself is arbitrary. Osiander’s explanation, though suitable in sense, is yet somewhat forced: ‘who will remind you of my walk (my course of life), agreeably to which I teach everywhere.’ The first explanation has the most in its favor, in spite of its grammatical difficulties. The ‘reminding’ could however refer to his activity in other churches also, since they undoubtedly had knowledge of this, from information which had been given by brethren on their travels. The reference to this uniformity of his conduct generally, strengthened the motive for their imitating him.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Spiritual paternity.—The awakening of the spiritual life in man is a Divine act. It originates in God’s purpose of salvation, formed in reference to the individual (Jam_1:18; Eph_1:4; 2Th_2:13). Its ground is Christ, in His complex divine-human life as carried out in the work of redemption, which was effected through His death and resurrection and final glorification (Joh_7:39). Its immediate cause is the Holy Spirit, who imparts to the redeemed the new life of Christ, proceeding from his death; or, in other words, reproduces in us individually the new man of righteousness, born in Christ through a judicial process of death passed upon the old man or the flesh. The organ of this Spirit is the Word, viz., the testimony of Christ, and concerning Christ, which proceeds from Him; and the object and substantial contents of which He Himself is. By bringing this living Word forcibly to bear upon the heart, the Spirit opens the heart. Testifying to sinners of the love of God cherished towards them individually in Christ, he regains their lost confidence; and starts the fountains of all godly life, of all holy conduct towards God,—in obedience and patience; and puts an end to the old distrust, that was the source of all rebellion and sin. And he does this in a way to magnify God and belittle man, and to convert the sinner’s pride to humility.

But inasmuch as in this process of renewal God employs human instrumentalities, he confers on these also the dignity of a spiritual fatherhood, and so takes them into a sort of fellowship with Himself. This holds good, however, not of those who have become, so to speak, the accidental instruments in this work, i. e., who have in some way brought about the conversion of souls either by speaking or writing saving truths, the force of which they have not practically felt, but only of those who have the life of Christ in them as an energizing power, and who can, out of their own personal experiences, testify of Him, and of His enlightening and regenerating grace, and who are therefore in a condition to beget a kindred life in others. Standing in Christ as the ground of their life, and moving ever in Him, such persons are enabled to introduce others into the same communion, by presenting to them, in quickening power through the Gospel, Jesus Christ in the fulness of His holy love and in His redeeming work, and by thus inducing them to come out from themselves and give themselves up to Him who has given and will yet give Himself for them. In this way they become spiritual fathers; for it is by virtue of the living power of Christ dwelling in them that they are capable of engendering life in others, just as in the sphere of the physical life, the natural creative power, resident in the individual as a personal property, involves in its generative exercise the character and dignity of the paternal relation.

But the more clearly and simply this spiritual paternity is recognized and maintained upon its Divine ground, the more decisively will all further educational efforts on the part of the earthly parent result in bringing these spiritual children out from their first dependence on him (a dependence which often involves an unworthy attachment to his personal idiosyncracies), and fastening them more exclusively upon Him, who is the eternal and absolute ground of this relation, even God in Christ. The children are thus liberated from all that is limited and imperfect in the human parent, to enter upon a freer and more independent development in Christ, and thus to make purer advances in knowledge and holiness.

But this spiritual paternity carries with it a high authority, a holy right to discipline, to rebuke, to exhort, to purify, with severity or mildness, or both commingled, as circumstances may demand. And this right is exercised as one of love, and under love’s strong impulses, and with that ingenuous wisdom which is peculiar to lore, and with which it devises all sorts of methods for alluring, urging, restraining, arousing, and softening children, restoring their disturbed confidence and reëstablishing over them a weakened authority.

[“A father never is afraid

Of speaking angrily to any child

Since love he knows is justified of love.”]

All this is illustrated for us in the Apostle Paul.

2. [Apostolic piety is the standard for the whole Church, even to the end of time. The Romish theory, which distinguishes between the clergy and laity, and imposes on the former a degree of sanctity and a mode of life not exacted of the latter, is here plainly condemned in advance. Paul puts all believers on the same footing with himself. He lays claim to no special grace, and recognizes no obligation to self-denial and sacrifice which does not equally rest on the whole Church. In his office as an Apostle, he became indeed a spiritual father; but in point of that Christian character, which underlay his Apostleship, he would have his children resemble him. Here we learn that the Spirit of Christ aims to pervade His entire body, and seeks to mould all, pastors and people alike, to a common type. And this spirit is a cross-bearing spirit. It is a spirit; which it devolves on every minister to exemplify and enforce, and on every Church to imbibe and cultivate. There will be no abatement of this requisition until Christ shall come].

3. [Christian example is an important means for instructing and edifying the Church. Its uses are: 1. For illustration. It is the living Epistle, accompanying the written Epistle, in the way of comment and explanation. The truth stated in doctrine, example embodies in solid substantial forms, that are more fraught with meaning, and more vivid in expression than words can be. The duty enforced in the precept, it exhibits in the operations of a holy life, that teach the true method of its performance. Thus the understanding is helped to right conceptions of the Word; and the life of God in the Church proves the light of the world. 2. For persuasion. “Words teach, but examples draw.” So says the proverb, and the reason is, that that inward conviction and force of will, which are the secret of personal influence, express themselves most significantly in the conduct. It is through this, therefore, that man acts most powerfully on man. 3. For encouragement. The lives of eminent believers show the possibility of high attainment, and a certainty of the divine promises; and by the shout of “victory at last” animate the spirits of observers to enter the fight of faith, and to do and endure in like manner, with the full assurance of like results. 4. For rebuke. The zeal, energy, courage, patience, self-denial and sufferings of every devoted believer, presents a disparaging and mortifying contrast with the conduct of those who, while professing a like devotion, evince only an easy idle, self-indulgent, self-satisfied spirit, or aspire only after honors and applause.

To set a worthy example is the duty not only of Apostles and ministers, but of all Christians alike. As Paul called upon the early converts to ‘imitate him,’ so were they instructed to live so as to extend the same call to others coming after them. The guiding word which ought to be continually heard passing down the ever lengthening ranks of the Church, as it moves onward through darkness and through light, treading in the footsteps of its great leader, should be: ‘Follow me, even as I also follow Christ’].

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. [Church founders and all who have been instrumental in converting souls should: 1. love the subjects of their labors with a paternal affection, even as they stand towards them in the peculiar relation of spiritual fathers (1Co_4:15); 2. aim in their reproof, however sharp, α. not to mortify and disgrace their spiritual offspring, but, b. to admonish and so restore them to duty (1Co_4:14); 3. see an example of the Christian life which they shall be able to call on their children to imitate (1Co_4:16); 4. take pains to show them how they live in all their ways, so that there shall be no excuse for ignorance or mistake, (1Co_4:17)].

Starke: Nothing is sharper and more penetrating than the rebukes of love, (1Co_4:14).

Hedinger: 1Co_4:15.—It is the duty and the characteristic of a true minister to beget children through the Gospel, or to lead those, who have been thus begotten, to a further knowledge of Christ. No less is it the token of a right-minded hearer to suffer himself to be thus begotten through the Word, and be trained to maturity in Christ. (1Th_4:1; 1Th_4:10; 1Pe_2:2). A preacher must build not only with words but also with his life, and so as it were with both hands, that he may be an example to believers both in word and conversation. It is a shame for children to run in strange paths and thus degenerate, (1Co_4:16). The visitation of churches by suitable persons is a useful and highly necessary practice (1Co_4:17).

Berl. Bib.:—It is no small thing to be a spiritual father and teacher. Only those who are mature in Christ are suited for such an office; for only according to the measure of our attainments in the divine life shall we be able to beget and fashion other souls. It is, therefore, a presumption in those, who are as yet but children, to wish to become fathers and teachers, before they themselves have rightly learned (1Co_4:15). Who would wish to exhibit himself as a pattern for others, before he has himself patterned after Christ? (1Co_4:16).

Heubner:—Fathers, who carry their children, on their hearts, mourn over the transgressions of their children, long for their reformation, and strive to make them blessed. Yea, they would be willing to pluck out their own hearts for their sake, if so be they might in this way do them any good (1Co_4:15). What joyousness of spirit is required to warrant a person in holding himself up as a pattern for others (1Co_4:16).

[Calvin:—The first token of return to a right state of mind is the shame which the son begins to feel on being reproached for his fault. Yet he who admonishes in a friendly spirit will make it his particular care that whatever there is of shame, may remain with the individual admonished, and may in this manner be buried. In reproofs use moderation, mixing honey and oil with the vinegar. Let it be understood that nothing is sought but the welfare of those reproved (1Co_4:14).—How few there are that love the Churches with a fatherly affection and lay themselves out to promote their welfare. Mean while there are many pedagogues who hire out their services as it were to discharge a mere temporary office, and hold the people in subjection, and admiration. When I say pedagogues, I do not refer to Popish priests, for I would not do them the honor of reckoning them in that number (1Co_4:15).—Uniformity and steadfastness of conduct “in every place,” most important for a minister, so that no objection can be brought against him, as though he conducted himself differently in different places. (Ad sensum) (1Co_4:17)].

Footnotes:

[9]This section has been divided on account of the manifest difference between the two parts].

[10]1Co_4:14.—The variation νουθετὥν [found in A. Cod. Sin.] is a supposed improvement, made for the purpose of uniformity with ἐντρἑπων.

[11]1Co_4:17.—Instead of the Rec. τέκνον μου. Tischendorf [Alf., Stanley] read μου τέκνον according to A. B. C. [Cod. Sin.] and others. [“The Rec. is a correction to the more usual order.” Alf.].

[12]1Co_4:17.—Lach. reads Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ [after C. D2. Cod. Sin. Vulg. etc.]. Others, κνρίῳ ̓Ιησον͂ [after D1. F.]. But the Rec. Χριστῷ is best supported [being found in A. B. D3. L. and in most citations of the Fathers].

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.

4:14-21 Paul concludes this section on divisions in the church (1:10–4:21) with gentle words of fatherly admonition and warning.

4:14-16 As their spiritual father who first brought them the Good News, Paul affirms his genuine concern for their well-being (cp. 1 Thes 2:11-12). As his beloved children, they should listen to their father and imitate his example and teachings (see 1 Cor 11:1; Gal 4:12; Phil 3:17; 4:9; 1 Thes 1:6; 2 Thes 3:7-9).

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

1Co 4:14. Οὐκ ἐντρέπων, not making ashamed) An exquisite epitherapeia.[36] The dissimilarity between themselves and Paul, between the sons and the father, might have made the Corinthians ashamed. This Ἐντροπὴ, putting them to shame, in the mind of the apostle, was not an end, but a means, as he says also on another occasion, that he was unwilling to make them sad, though he had actually done so. The apostle often introduces a certain degree of refined pleasantry, without forgetting the apostolic gravity, for example, 2Co 12:13, note.—νουθετῶ, I warn) you as a father, Eph 6:4.

[36] See App. An after addition to words, which might give offence, and a kind of softening of what went before by a declaration of friendly feeling towards the persons addressed.

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

1Co_4:14. Οὐκ ἐντρέπων] The common interpretation is the (correct one: not putting you to shame, not in such a way as to shame you, write I this (1Co_4:8-13). The participle, however, is, not the same as an infinitive, but the meaning is: I shame you not by what I am now writing to you. See Heind. a[697] Phaed. p 249 f.; Stallbaum, a[698] Plat. Rep. p. 495 D; Matthiae, p. 1289. Rückert prefers keeping to the general sense of humbling, moving greatly; but why should we, when we have in 2Th_3:14, Tit_2:8, 1Co_6:5; 1Co_15:34, the perfectly distinctive Pauline notion of the word? Comp also Diog. L. ii. 29; Ael. V. H. iii. 17. And just because Paul feels the shaming element in his rebuke for the Corinthians, does he point out, so as to further the moral effect of his bitter words, what according to his idea his rebuke essentially is, not a putting to shame, but fatherly admonition. Bengel says well: Exquisita ἐπιθεραπεία … Saepe quendam quasi leporem apostolus salva gravitate apostolica adhibet.

νουθετῶ] The kindly intention of the admonition is not conveyed in the word by itself (see on Eph_6:4, and comp e.g. Plato, Pol. viii. p. 560 A: νουθετούντων τε καὶ κακιζόντων, Legg. ix. p. 879 D; Dem. 798. 19, al[701]), but in the context. Comp Act_20:31. Plato, Euthyd. p. 284 E: νουθετῶ σʼ ἑταῖρον. The construction is varied so as to give us not the participle again, but the indicative (as the opposite of ἐντρέπων γράφω, taken together), whereby the antithesis is made independent and so more emphatic. See Hermann, a[703] Hymn. Hom. p. 125. Kühner, II. p. 423.

[697] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[698] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

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

[703] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

1Co_4:14-21. Receive this censure (from 1Co_4:7 onwards) not as meant to put you utterly to shame, but as an admonition from your spiritual father, whom ye ought to copy (1Co_4:14-16), for which cause I have also sent Timothy to you (1Co_4:17). But Ithis by way of warning to those who are puffed up!hope soon to come to you myself; am I to come to punish, or in gentleness (1Co_4:18-21)?

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 4:14-21 . § 14. PAUL’S FATHERLY DISCIPLINE. All has now been said that can be concerning the Divisions at Cor [756] the causes underlying them, and the spirit they manifest and foster in the Church. In their self-complacent, ungrateful thoughts, the Cor [757] have raised themselves quite above the despised and painful condition of the App. of Christ; “imitabantur filios qui illustrati parum curant humiles parentes ex saturitate fastidium habebant, ex opulentia insolentiam, ex regno superbiam” (Bg [758] ). The delineation of Paul’s state and theirs in the last Section is, in truth, a bitter sarcasm upon the behaviour of the readers; yet P. wishes to admonish, not to rebuke them (1Co 4:14 ). He states, in a softened tone, the measures he is taking to rectify the evils complained of. His severity springs from the anxious heart of a father (1Co 4:14 f.). Yet in the father’s hand, before the paragraph ends, we see again the rod (1Co 4:21 ).

[756] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[757] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[758] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

1Co 4:14 . Οὐκ ἐντρέπων κ . τ . λ .: “Not (by way of) shaming you do I write this, but admonishing (you) as my children beloved”. It is in chiding that the Ap. addresses both the Cor [759] and Gal. as his “children” (2Co 6:13 ; 2Co 12:14 , Gal 4:19 ); τέκνον ἀγαπητὸν he applies besides only to Timothy (1Co 4:17 and 2Ti 1:2 ). Not intentionally here, but in 1Co 6:5 and 1Co 15:34 he does speak πρὸς ἐντροπήν . τὸ νουθετεῖν (= ἐν νῷ τιθέναι ) is the part of a father (Eph 6:4 ), or brother (2Th 3:15 ); “the vb [760] has a lighter meaning than ἐντρέπειν or ἐπιτιμᾷν , and implies a monitory appeal to the νοῦς rather than a direct rebuke or censure” (El [761] ).

[759] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[760] verb

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

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

Vers. 14-21 are the conclusion of all the apostle has written from 1Co 1:12. He first makes an explanation about the severe manner in which he has just spoken to them. It is not resentment or enmity which has inspired his words, it is the painful solicitude he feels for them (1Co 4:14-16).

Vv. 14. “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I admonish you.”—᾿Εντρέπειν, to turn one back upon himself, and hence: to cause shame. The apostle no doubt spoke to them in a humiliating way; but his object was quite different from that of causing them shame; he wished to lead them with a firm hand into another way. It is somewhat different in 1Co 6:5 and 1Co 15:34; here he has positively the intention of making them ashamed.

We need not read with some Mjj., νουθετῶν, admonishing you. This form is imitated from the preceding participle. It is a new proposition: “This is what I really do when speaking to you thus.” Νουθετεῖν, in a manner: to bring back the mind to its place; to lead one back to a calm and settled frame.

Paul has the right and it is his duty to act thus, for he is their spiritual father. He is himself the only one of their preachers who merits the name; this is what is brought out by the pronoun μου: “my children.” The following verse justifies the pronoun with its exclusive bearing.

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.

1Co_4:14

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn (you).

Not as shaming you. (ἐντρέπων) write I these things. The word used signifies to invert, to turn round, or back; and then, generally, to move, and especially to move to shame. It may be rendered here, I write not these things as moving you, i.e. to work upon your feelings. The use of the word in 2Th_3:14 and Tit_2:8 is in favor of the common interpretation. Pauls object in drawing such a contrast between their case and his, was not to mortify them; but as his beloved sons, i.e. out of love to them as his sons, he says, I warn you. The word (νουθετέω) is that generally used to express parental admonition and instruction. His design was to bring the truth to their minds, and let them see what they really were, as contrasted with what they imagined themselves to be.

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

Moderating the sharpness of his mock, he putteth them in mind to remember of whom they were begotten in Christ, and that they should not doubt to follow him for an example, although he seem vile according to the outward show, in respect of others, yet mighty by the efficacy of God’s Spirit, as they had trial thereof in themselves.

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

warn--rather, "admonish" as a father uses "admonition" to "beloved sons," not provoking them to wrath (Eph 6:4). The Corinthians might well be "ashamed" at the disparity of state between the father, Paul, and his spiritual children themselves.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. I write not these things to shame you] It is not by way of finding fault with you for not providing me with the necessaries of life that I write thus; but I do it to warn you to act differently for the time to come; and be not so ready to be drawn aside by every pretender to apostleship, to the neglect of those to whom, under God, you owe your salvation.

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

14. I write not these things to shame you As the foregoing instances of irony were very pointed, so that they might exasperate the minds of the Corinthians, he now obviates that dissatisfaction by declaring, that he had not said these things with a view to cover them with shame, but rather to admonish them with paternal affection. It is indeed certain that this is the nature and tendency of a father’s chastisement, to make his son feel ashamed; for the first token of return to a right state of mind is the shame which the son begins to feel on being reproached for his fault. The object, then, which the father has in view when he chastises his son with reproofs, is that he may bring him to be displeased with himself. And we see that the tendency of what Paul has said hitherto, is to make the Corinthians ashamed of themselves. Nay more, we shall find him a little afterwards (1 Corinthians 6:5) declaring that he made mention of their faults in order that they may begin to be ashamed. Here, however, he simply means to intimate, that it was not his design to heap disgrace upon them, or to expose their sins publicly and openly with a view to their reproach. For he who admonishes in a friendly spirit, makes it his particular care that whatever there is of shame, may remain with the individual whom he admonishes, and may in this manner be buried. On the other hand, the man who reproaches with a malignant disposition, inflicts disgrace upon the man whom he reproves for his fault, in such a manner as to hold him up to the reproach of all. Paul then simply affirms that what he had said, had been said by him, with no disposition to upbraid, or with any view to hurt their reputation, but, on the contrary, with paternal affection he admonished them as to what he saw to be defective in them.

But what was the design of this admonition? It was that the Corinthians, who were puffed up with mere empty notions, might learn to glory, as he did, in the abasement of the cross, and might no longer despise him on those grounds on which he was deservedly honorable in the sight of God and angels — in fine, that, laying aside their accustomed haughtiness, they might set a higher value on those marks of Christ (Galatians 6:17) that were upon him, than on the empty and counterfeit show of the false apostles. Let teachers infer from this, that in reproofs they must always use such moderation as not to wound men’s minds with excessive severity, and that, agreeably to the common proverb, they must mix honey or oil with vinegar — that they must above all things take care not to appear to triumph over those whom they reprove, or to take delight in their disgrace — nay more, that they must endeavor to make it understood that they seek nothing but that their welfare may be promoted. For what good will the teacher do by mere bawling, if he does not season the sharpness of his reproof by that moderation of which I have spoken? Hence if we are desirous to do any good by correcting men’s faults, we must distinctly give them to know, that our reproofs proceed from a friendly disposition.

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.

(14) I write not these things to shame you.—Better, I write these things not as one making you ashamed, but I am warning you as beloved children. The mingled irony and reproach of the preceding verses here ceases, and from indignant expostulation the writer now turns to make a tender and touching appeal to their better nature and their sympathy. This abrupt and sudden change in style is characteristic of the writings of St. Paul. Similar passages are nowhere to be found in the writings of the other Apostles. The following verses to the end of this chapter soften the severity of this early part of the Epistle by explaining in what spirit he has written, and the right which he has as their “father in the faith” to so address them.

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

14. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you] The object of the foregoing passage might be mistaken, and therefore the Apostle refers to the mutual relation between himself and the Corinthian Church. His object is not reproach, but the amendment of their lives. It is the rebuke of a father, not the strong language of a man justly indignant.

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.

I write not these things to shame you,.... Though they had a great deal of reason to be ashamed of the vain opinion they had of themselves, and that they suffered the faithful ministers of Christ to want the necessaries of life, when they abounded so much with the good things of it; and though the apostle's view in giving this narrative was to bring them under a sense of their faults, and to a conviction of them, and so to shame for them, in order to their future reformation and amendment; yet it was not merely to put them to the blush, but to admonish and instruct them, that he enlarged on these things:

but as my beloved sons I warn you; they being his children in a spiritual sense, for whom he had the strongest love and affection, as their spiritual Father; and as it was his place, and became him standing in such a relation to them, he warned, admonished, and put them in mind of their obligations and duty to him.

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

14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

Ver. 14. To shame you] An innocent person sometimes, upon the fulness of an aspersion, may conceive shame, as David did, Psa 44:15, yet usually shame is the effect of an evil conscience, and may prove, by God’s blessing, a means of repentance, 2Th 3:14.

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.

To shame you - It is not my design to put you to shame by showing you how little you suffer in comparison with us. This is not our design, though it may have this effect. I have no wish to make you ashamed, to appear to triumph over you or merely to taunt you. My design is higher and nobler than this.

But as my beloved sons - As my dear children. I speak as a father to his children, and I say these things for your good. No father would desire to make his children ashamed. In his counsels, entreaties, and admonitions, he would have a higher object than that.

I warn you - I do not say these things in a harsh manner, with a severe spirit of rebuke; but in order to admonish you, to suggest counsel, to instil wisdom into the mind. I say these things not to make, you blush, but with the hope that they may be the means of your reformation, and of a more holy life. No man, no minister, ought to reprove another merely to overwhelm him with shame, but the object should always be to make a brother better; and the admonition should be so administered as to have this end, not sourly or morosely, but in a kind, tender, and affectionate manner.

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

I write not. St. Paul here insinuates to the Corinthians, that they ought to blush with shame for neglecting the apostles, who had suffered so many hardships for them, to follow after teachers void of honour, and to glory in being called the disciples of such men. (Estius) --- I admonish you as my dearest children, of what is for your good, and I may take this liberty, as being your spiritual father in Christ, by whom you were first made Christians. Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ: follow the doctrine of Christ, which I follow, and taught you. Timothy, my beloved son in the Lord, whom I send to you, will put you in mind of what I teach, and of what I practise. (Witham)

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).

I tell you not of this to make you blush, as having had any hand in these indignities which are put upon us, nor yet

to shame you (though possibly you have reason to be ashamed, either for your neglect of us, or for your adding to our affliction); I look upon you as my sons, and sons whom I love: I only write to warn you, both of your duty, to have some respect for us, and of, your sin, if you have neglected us beyond what was your duty to have done.

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

6. The personal apostolic authority of Paul asserted, 14-21.

Unequivocally St. Paul at last concentrates upon the single point to which he has been converging from the very first start of the epistle at 1Co_1:10. In rebuking the Corinthian feuds, and renouncing all leadership of that sort, he was preparing, step by step, to lead them to the true ground on which, as their founder, father, and apostle, his authority was sole and divine.

14. I—Whether he has spoken in the singular or plural heretofore, he has generally meant himself only as a representative, including a constituency. Here he means his own personal self.

These things—The ironies upon their pride, (1Co_4:7; 1Co_4:10,) and the pictures of apostolic sufferings, 1Co_4:11-13.

Warn you, that these feuds and prides will bring penalty upon you.

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

Vers. 14-21. The practical steps which he intends to take with reference to these party divisions.

To shame you. Such seems to be the meaning of the word, for it is so used in the LXX. (compare the use of the verb in 2Th_3:14; Tit_2:8; and of the substantive in 1Co_6:5 1Co_15:34) I warn; rather, I admonish. St. Paul here gives the reason why he cannot write angrily or bitterly, even though he has used strong expostulation and keen irony. It is because he regards himself as their spiritual father. (comp 2Co_6:13 2Co_12:14, 2Co_12:15; 1Th_2:11)

Vers. 14-21.

Warnings of tenderness.

From mood to mood, yet in all, St. Paul had the same dominant zeal and affection in behalf of his converts. Rebuke was not with him a pleasure to which the natural man ministered, but a very painful duty that proceeded from conscience and kept sensibility unalloyed by animal passion. Herein he is distinguished from men who love authority because it is a signal of personal eminence and a means to make others feel their inferiority. A really superior round never likes to dwell on the infirmities of ignorance and littleness in those below him. The mountain points upward, and the higher the summit the more is it lost in the heavens. "Who maketh thee to differ?" is always present as the interrogatory of consciousness in such a nature, and the answer thereunto, whenever a true man has to vindicate his authority and especially in rebuke, is as Divine as the question. The delicacy of the apostle and his depth of insight have not forsaken him in this trying hour, nor would he expose the vanity of such as made themselves leaders and assumed transcendent powers, save in a manifest spirit of self abnegation. Manner is not a mere mode; it is a spirit; it is the very spirit of a man taking on a visible embodiment, and hence the rebuke administered by St. Paul is impregnated with the humility of his soul. There are men who commit

Mischievous foul sin in chiding sin;

but it would be a poor compliment to the apostle to say that he was not one of this class. What is most truly to his honour is his purpose to make the Corinthians sensible of the wrong to their better nature, and quicken from that side of their character the feeling of repentance. This brings out the sentiment of his soul in the words, "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you;" and again the master thought of all his thinking recurs Christ Jesus in whom he had begotten them through the gospel, urging them to be imitators of Christ in him. To be genuinely serviceable, imitation must not be mechanical and servile, not be the literal copying of a pattern or model, but an education in the art of discriminating, and particularly a sense of the ideal in those whom we follow. For this reason, that they may be reminded of his "ways which be in Christ," he has sent Timotheus unto them. Prudence dictated this course. Circumstances were such as that absence would be his most effective presence one of those occasions when a man"s thoughts had better do their work unattended by the emphasis of eye and voice. But would they misinterpret this and attribute it to cowardice? "I will come to you shortly," leaving the time to the will of the Lord, for in executing a grave purpose it is not enough that we have the Spirit in our motive and aim, but we must wait patiently on the providence of the Spirit, which is often our best discipline. St. Paul"s expectations were rarely fulfilled promptly, instance his visit to Rome; hope grew more reverent by delay; and in no aspect is his career more interesting than in that which shows how postponed gratification of desire ennobled the desire itself and secured a larger good to others. Fruit must grow, ripen, mellow, especially inward fruits, and St. Paul prized the mellowing touch of time. Many a lesson he gives us unawares in psychology, many an insight into the philosophy of true feeling, many a revelation of the soul, which but for him would have been a "hidden mystery." But, while waiting for "time and place to cohere," he utters his opinions strongly as to those who are "puffed up." What an ever recurring sense of cardinal principles! Great truths are never long out of sight, and hence the declaration, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." Did he underrate language? Nay; who ever spoke of language in a higher strain than he who did not hesitate to allude to his own preaching as not in the "words which man"s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth"? But the idle and impotent word, the word of swelling vanity, the word that dishonoured the Word, for this he had only rebuke and condemnation. Such use was stolen use, the gift turned against the Giver, a redeemed gift wrested from the Redeemer, a recognized organ of the Holy Ghost taken from its only Sanctifier. For this must be said of language, that it is not merely or chiefly a medium of acting on others, but that it reacts on the man himself. Apart from its conventional functions, it is an instrument of communion with self, of stating self to self, of inspiring, while defining faculty to faculty in the mind"s solitary cognizance of its own powers. Language is far mightier for introverted conception, for images that never escape the picturesque world in which they have their birth and life and death, for emotions and affections to which silence is the most precious of blessings far mightier, we say, is language in this respect than in its economic uses. From the lexicon we learn the language that gives us inter. course with men. From our own souls and by conversing with them we learn the language by menus of which we compare "spiritual things with spiritual." Even on the plane of common life, the former is confined to communication. Expression is a very different thing from bald communication. Expression is due to the ability of the Spirit to vitalize words by imparting its own life to them. Something individual, something distinctly personal, imparts itself in expression. Hyperboles are matters of fact to the inmost consciousness, and all eloquence and poetry are but symbols of what the soul sees and can only intimate in this half articulate way. "I will know when I come so St. Paul reasons your speech is empty words, the wisdom which man"s wisdom teacheth and is foolishness to God, or the power of the Spirit." This is the test God"s power. Only through that power can these Corinthians advance the kingdom of God; for only through it can they have oneness with Christ and fellowship with his disciples. Come to them St. Paul will come to them as a father the acknowledgment of them as sons, beloved sons, precedes him, and he will not forget his relation to them; but how shall he come? With a father"s rod or in love? Will they relieve him of the necessity of discipline? And the thought of love lingers in his mind, amplifies itself, seeks fuller utterance, and the father"s heart throbs once more in the associated clause spirit of meekness. L.

Vers. 14-21.

Spiritual parentage.

I A VERY TENDER RELATIONSHIP. Paul notices:

1. The way in which the relationship is formed. (Ver. 15.) The spiritual father

(1) "begets" his children

(2) in Christ Jesus

(3) through the gospel.

He finds them "strangers to the covenant of promise," strangers to Christ, strangers to the Church; but under the preaching of the truth they are led by the Spirit to lay hold of salvation: they become in Christ "new creatures," are "born again;" and he who has been the instrument employed in their conversion becomes their spiritual father. This relationship is a limited one, but nevertheless deeply interesting and important.

2. That it differs from the relationship existing between a mere teacher and learner. None can be to us what those are who have brought us to Christ. They have a peculiar claim upon our love and gratitude. "Ten thousand instructors make not one father." We may love our teachers, but they are not our parents.

II THE DUTIES OF THE FATHER TO HIS SPIRITUAL CHILDREN.

1. He should be watchful over them. As Paul was. They need much care; they should not be left to shift for themselves. A pernicious opinion is rife, that when people are "converted" no further trouble need be taken about them. As though when a child is "born" it is to be cast adrift and left to take care of itself! No wonder that there are so many spiritual cripples, so many diseased, so many weaklings, and not a few religious imbeciles. Fathers should look after their spiritual children; as far as possible we should see that our converts, if not under ours, are under good influences.

2. He should manifest a loving spirit towards them. They should be peculiarly dear to him. In many ways they may try his patience, but it should bear the trial. He should cherish them. Paul fed the Corinthian babes with milk; he did not discard them because they were not what he would have had them to be. He did not indulge in undue severity; fathers are not "to provoke their children to wrath". (Eph_6:4)

3. He should be faithful, ever inclining towards tenderness, but not sparing the rod when it is called for. (Ver. 21.) Willing to rebuke when rebuke is necessary, but not fond of rebuking. Paul was gentle but decisive. He sought to nip evil in the bud. Foolish fondness lets the evil grow till it is too great to cope with. Correction must be wise, or it will be pernicious. Sometimes the placing of a faithful child amongst the unfaithful may be very efficacious for the latter. Paul sent Timothy (ver. 17).

4. Acting and living so as to be a fit example. We have no right to expect our spiritual children to follow us closely unless we are following Christ closely. Paul could say, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.". (1Co_11:1) He does not exhort them to follow him as a party leader, but to imitate him as he sought to imitate Christ. He set a good example. It is what we are rather than what we say that has influence. Spiritual children have quick eyes. H.

Vers. 14-21.

The father and his children.

The apostle has used sharp words, but they have been dictated by love. He has written as a father who desires the correction and not the shame of his children.

I SPIRITUAL FATHERHOOD.

1. How constituted. "For in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel." Conversion is the beginning of a new life, the birth by which we enter on spiritual being. This change is wrought by the agency of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Christ"s redemptive work; the Spirit"s instrument is the Word, the incorruptible seed; (1Pe_1:23) and this Word is administered by servants of the gospel. In a subordinate sense, Paul could speak of himself as the father of the Corinthian Church, inasmuch as he was the means of introducing them to the Christian life. The relationship is a peculiarly tender one, carrying with it much honour and much responsibility.

2. How distinguished. "For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers." The teachers who succeeded Paul at Corinth, and of whom they made so much, were like pedagogues who superintended the education of children. Theirs was an important work, but it did not alter the fact that the apostle was their spiritual father. They built on the foundation which he had laid. There is no disparagement of those who minister to the culture of the Christian life, as compared with those who are instrumental in commencing it. The evangelist and the teacher have each his own place in the Divine economy. Yet the relation of spiritual fatherhood is one by itself, different from that subsisting between teacher and scholar. Often the two go together, the pastor being also the father.

1. Implies the duty of admonition. It is the part of a father to "reprove, rebuke, exhort," in all fidelity. Spiritual fathers must not be blind to the faults of their children. Love must patiently instruct, affectionately entreat,

2. sharply chastise. Witness the paternal severity of the apostle in this Epistle as he "admonishes his beloved children.

3. Implies the setting of a worthy example. "Be ye imitators of me." The eyes of the children are towards the lather, and they cannot help copying him. Example is powerful in all spheres, and most of all in a sphere so conspicuous as the Christian ministry. It confirms the truth taught, encourages believers, rebukes the ungodly, draws inquirers to the Saviour. Every servant of Christ should be able to say, "Follow me." Yet our imitation of other Christians, even the most eminent, has its limits. Men are imperfect, reflecting but brokenly the image of Christ; and no wise teacher will desire to see his own peculiar mannerisms reflected in his people. Human example is useful only in so far as it helps us to imitate Jesus.

II SOLICITUDE FOR THE CHURCH"S SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION. Like a true father, the absent apostle desires to further the spiritual growth of his converts, and with this view sends to them a personal deputy.

1. The mission. In order to promote their imitation of his humble, self denying life, he sends a messenger to recall to them "his ways in Christ." The remembrance of a good man"s life is a help to piety. The memory of some departed saint has often proved a guiding star. And so is the recollection of truth already learned. It is part of the preacher"s work to press home old truths and deepen their hold of the heart and conscience.

2. The missionary. There was wisdom in sending a deputy, and in the choice of Timothy for the mission. As the apostle"s "beloved and faithful child," he stood in the same spiritual relation to him as did the converts at Corinth. He could speak to them as a brother of their common father"s doctrine and life. The visits of wise and faithful servants of Christ are often instrumental in reviving the Church"s life.

III APOSTOLIC VISITATION.

1. Carried out in the face of detraction. Those who sought to undermine Paul"s authority asserted that he would not again venture to visit Corinth; but in spite of this he declares his intention of doing so. The servant of Christ needs courage.

2. Subject to Divine direction. "if the Lord will". (comp. Jam_4:15) Man proposes, but God disposes. All our plans for the future must be subject to his control.

3. To test spiritual profession. The proud boasters at Corinth were great in talk, and Paul wished to show whether there was reality behind it. For power is the chief thing, not mere speech. The kingdom of God, i.e. genuine Christianity, is not an affair of words, but of living power. "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost". (1Th_1:5) Profession must be tested by practice. A religion of the lip is vain without the religion of the life.

4. Proceeds according to circumstances. Whether Paul was to come with a rod or in love depended on themselves, The discipline of the Church takes its complexion from the character of the persons with whom it deals, being severe or tender, as the case requires. A combination of fatherly love and wisdom is required in those who are called to deal with the erring. B.

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

I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you - It is with admirable prudence and sweetness the apostle adds this, to prevent any unkind construction of his words.

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

sons

(Greek - τέκνον, child, "born one)."

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The apostle’s fatherly discipline:

v. 14. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

v. 15. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.

v. 16. Wherefore I beseech you, Be ye followers of me.

v. 17. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

v. 18. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

v. 19. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

v. 20. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

v. 21. What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

The apostle had written the last passage in holy indignation; like a stream, his speech had poured forth portraying the afflictions which were heaped upon the ministers of the Lord. And he can almost feel the deep humiliation, the feeling of confusion which must enter the hearts of his readers at this point. As a wise teacher, therefore, he adds a section which is intended to prevent their becoming embittered. He could indeed not bring out his rebuke without making them feel humiliated, but this feeling should lead to a true childlike reverence of his position and words. His severity springs from the anxious heart of a father that feels the deepest concern for his children: Not by way of shaming you do I write this, but by way of warning you as my beloved children. He regarded them still with the fullness of paternal affection, and it grieved him that they should be showing evidence of such unfilial behavior, hence his urgent appeal to them.

Paul substantiates his right to such fatherly admonition: For though you had ten thousand pedagogues in Christ, yet not many fathers. The word pedagogue, in those days, denoted the family slave whose duty it was to bring the boys to school and to accompany them home. They had charge of the boys also during the hours not spent in school and thus assisted in their training. St. Paul here applies the word to the other teachers that may have been in Corinth, good and legitimate teachers indeed, doing their work in Christ and for His glory. Of these they may have had ever so many, yet they had only one father, only one that could be connected with them in the bonds of true fatherly affection: For in Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, I have begotten you. They were his spiritual children, their call to the fellowship of Jesus Christ, their regeneration was due to his personal work; that is what makes them so near and dear to him. See 1Pe 1:23; 1Th 1:5; 1Th 2:19; Joh 6:63.

Of his right as father the apostle now makes use: I beseech you, then, become imitators of me, v. 16. The children should show the character of the father, they should make him their model, they should imitate him, they should follow him in his conduct as a Christian and true disciple of the Lord. If this way was one of cross and affliction (vv. 9-, it would incidentally serve to strengthen their character and to make them safer against denial, now and in the days to come. In order that this object might be accomplished, Paul had either just sent, or was sending with this letter, his young assistant, whom he calls a beloved child of his and faithful in the Lord, 1Ti 1:2; 2Ti 1:2. Timothy had also been converted through the work of Paul, had through his efforts derived spiritual life, and was therefore regarded by the apostle as a true son. And since his characteristic, through the agency of the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, was faithfulness in his Christian conduct, therefore he was the very man for this mission: Who shall remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere, in every congregation. The Corinthians had evidently forgotten, not only a large part of Paul’s doctrine, but also his habits of life which he showed in their midst; their knowledge had been repressed by those evil influences which Paul has spoken of throughout the letter. No more fitting person, therefore, could have been found to recall both the conduct and the words of Paul than the man whom Paul had selected as his representative, who would do his reminding in accordance with Paul’s teaching, for this was uniform in all the Gentile congregations. For they surely did not want to separate themselves from that apostolic doctrine which was in vogue everywhere; they would surely heed the kind admonition of his personal representative and return to proper Christian sanity.

And lest some of the Corinthians might be tempted to misconstrue the mission of Timothy, Paul hastens to add: But as though I am not coming to you, some have been puffed up. Since the apostle was not coming in person at this time, a group of persons, probably hostile to Paul’s ways, were beginning to spread bragging surmises. They conducted themselves all the more insolently as they thought that Paul might be afraid of them. But their presumption was destined speedily to come to naught, for the apostle announces his intention to come speedily, just as soon as he can make arrangements to that effect. This he writes in emphatic calmness and in the consciousness of the office which he is filling. But the spirit of deferring in everything to the Lord and having His will govern all his actions causes Paul to add: If the Lord will. See Act 18:21. For he was not so conceited as to deem himself indispensable in the Church, and without the Lord he did not intend to attempt any move. But when he did come, then he would know, pay the proper attention to, not the word of the inflated ones (the blowers), but the power. About their words he was not concerned, with them he was sufficiently acquainted, hollow pretensions did not affect him at all. He wanted to ascertain only if there were some evidence of the Spirit of God in the actions that followed their bragging words. He wanted to find out whether these pretended leaders in the congregation at Corinth were showing results in their fight with sin, whether they were exhibiting actual proofs of faith and of patience in tribulation. And this he felt himself obliged to do, since not in word lies the kingdom of God, but in power. The Corinthians were placing their faith in externals, they were assuming that the kingdom of Christ, the Church in its real sense, was a visible, concrete substance. But in this they, like their modern followers, were wrong. The kingdom of Christ does not consist in paltry eloquence, in great, swelling words of vanity, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, exerted through the Word upon the hearts of men. Where this power rules, there is the kingdom of the Savior. "Faith is a living, substantial thing, renews a person entirely, changes his mind and converts him altogether. It goes down to the bottom and effects there a renewing of the whole man, that, as before I saw a sinner, I now see in his different conduct, in his different ways, in his different life, that he believes. Such a great thing it is about faith. And in this way the Holy Ghost has caused the insistence upon good works, since they are witnesses of faith. In whose case, therefore, works are not noticeable, there we can soon say and conclude: They have heard about faith, but it did not sink down to the bottom. For if thou wilt remain lying in pride and unchastity, in avarice and anger, and yet prate much of faith, St. Paul will come and say: Hear, my dear friend, the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power and deeds; it wants to live and be done, and not be performed in empty talk. " And therefore Paul asks, in conclusion: What would you? What do you prefer? With a rod am I to come to you, or in love as well as in a spirit of meekness? That he will come he does not leave to their decision, that is a matter of his office. But it depends upon their conduct in what way he will come. If they continue in their vain and presumptuous ways, then he will be obliged to come to them with a sharp rebuke, Tit 1:13, in order that they might feel their disobedience. But Paul would much prefer to come with all meekness and gentleness, the evidence of his love in kindness being much more pleasant to him than sternness. He intimates to them, therefore, that they should accept the present gentle hint and warning and thus save him a disagreeable task. Note the force of the passage. "For nerve and vigor, for dignity and composed confidence, this passage cannot be easily paralleled even in Demosthenes himself. " (Bloomfield.)

Summary.Paul shows the relation of the ministers of Christ to the Lord Himself, sketches the treatment usually accorded them in the world, and, as a true spiritual father, administers a rebuke to the Corinthians for their negligence in sanctity.

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

Observe here, 1. The holy ingenuity of the apostle, discovered in the sharp reproofs given to the Corinthians: it was to warn them of their duty, not to reproach them for their crimes: I write not these things to shame, but warn you. The ministers of God take far greater pleasure in exhorting people to be good, than in complaining of their badness.

Observe, 2. The relation which St. Paul stood in to the Corinthians: he was their spiritual father, and they his children. He first converted them to Christianity by his ministry amongst them. In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

In Christ Jesus: that is, by the gracious influence of the Spirit of Christ, accompanying my preaching, I have turned you from idols to serve the living and true God. Hence it is that I have such an endeared affection for you, and challenge a deserved respect from you.

Learn from hence, That persons may and ought to have a great value for, and bear a tender respect towards, those ministers whom God hath honoured, by making them instruments of their first conversion, and bringing home to Christ. These are in a proper sense their spiritual fathers: and verily there is no greater love, no stronger affection betwixt any relations upon earth, than between the ministers of Christ and such of their beloved people as they have been happily instrumental to bring home to God.

Observe, 3. The apostle having asserted his relation to them, that of a spiritual father, challenged from them their duty of obedient children; namely, to follow him in the steps of holiness and sincere obedience: Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

Lord, what holiness of life, and exactness of conversation, ought to be found with the ministers of Christ, seeing they are to be patterns as well as preachers; and their people not only to be their hearers, but their followers!

We are to tread out before them the steps which they are to take towards heaven; and it will be found at the great day as dangerous to have misled them by our example, as by our doctrine. Happy those ministers that can safely say to their people, Be ye followers of us.

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

14. “I do not speak these things shaming you, but admonishing you as beloved children.” Truly they needed that plain admonition to save them from the pride which was discovered cropping. God help us all to profit by these admonitions and remember our place is down on the Lord’s bottom; while there we never can fall, as there is no place to fall. Humility is the primary and most important Christian attribute, the antithesis of pride, the most dangerous enemy.

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

I write not these things to shame you [to make you feel how contemptible you are in adding to my many sorrows and burdens], but to admonish you as my beloved children . [As to the foolishness of your conceit.]

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.

14–17. I write not these things to shame you. I do not contrast your pride and glorying with our humiliation to shame you, but as a fatherly admonition to beloved children.

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.

I do not write these things to shame you, but to correct you

"I do not intend to shame you, but to improve you" or "I am not trying to shame you, but I want to correct you"

correct

tell someone that what they are doing is wrong and will cause bad things to happen

ten thousand guardians

This is an exaggeration of the number of people guiding them, to emphasize the importance of the one spiritual father. AT: "very many guardians" or "a large crowd of guardians" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

children ... father

Because Paul had led them to Christ, he is like a father to the Corinthians. (See: Metaphor)

I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel

Paul is emphasizing firstly that his relationship with the Corinthians is most importantly "in Christ," secondly that it came because he told them the good news, and thirdly that he is the one who is like a father to them. "it was because God joined you to Christ when I told you the good news that I was the one who became your father"

translationWords

shame

beloved

children

ancestor

in Christ

good news

imitate

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

14. οὐκ ἐντρέπων ὑμᾶς γράφω ταῦτα. The object of the foregoing passage might be mistaken, and therefore the Apostle refers to the mutual relation between himself and the Corinthian Church. His object is not reproach, but the amendment of their lives. It is the rebuke of a father, not the strong language of a man who harbours a grudge.

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.

14-21.] Conclusion of this part of the Epistle:—in what spirit the has written these words of blame: viz. in a spirit of admonition, as their father in the faith, whom they ought to imitate. To this end he sent Timothy to remind them of his ways of teaching,—would soon, however, come himself,—in mildness, or to punish, as the case might require.

14. οὐκ ἐντρέπων] not as one who shames you, see reff., and ch. 6:5; 15:34,—and for the force of the participle, ch. 2:1.

νουθετῶ contrasts with ἐντρέπων γράφω, the construction being purposely adopted, to set in a more vivid light the paternal intention:—I am not writing these things (vv. 8-13) as shaming you,—but I am admonishing you as my beloved children.

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

14. οὐκ ἐντρέπων ὑμᾶς. The severity of tone ends as abruptly as it began (v. 8). Aspera blandis mitigat, ut salutaris medicus. These sudden changes of tone are much more common in Paul than in other N.T. writers. The section that follows (14-21), with its mingled tenderness and sternness—both alike truly paternal, forms a worthy colophon to the whole discussion of the σχίσματα. The root-meaning of ἐντρέπειν is perhaps ‘to turn in,’ and so to make a person ‘hang his head,’ as a sign, either of reverence (Mat 21:37; Luk 18:2, Luk 18:4; Heb 12:9) or of shame, as here (cf. ἐντροπή, 6:5, 15:34). In these senses it is frequent in late writers, in LXX, and in Paul. The participle expresses the spirit in which the Apostle writes; ‘not as shaming you,’ ‘not as making you abashed.’ What he had written might well ‘make them hang their heads,’ but to effect that was not his purpose in writing; he wrote to bring home to their hearts a solemn fatherly warning.

νουθετῶν. The duty of a parent, as appears from Eph 6:4.* Excepting in a speech of St Paul (Act 20:31), νουθετεῖν and νουθεσῖα do not occur in N.T. outside the Epistles of St Paul, and they cover all four groups. Νουθετεῖν ‘to put in mind,’ has always a touch of sternness, if not of blame; ‘to admonish,’ or ‘warn.’ We have νουθετεῖν τοὺς κακῶς πράσοντας (Aesch. Pr. 264), and νουθετεῖν κονδύλοις (Aristoph. Vesp 254). Plato (Gorg. 479 a) combines it with κολάζειν. See Abbott on Eph 6:4 and Col 1:28.

νουθετῶν (א A C P 17, RV.) rather than νουθετῶ (B D E F G L, Vulg. AV.); but the evidence is not decisive. Lachm. and Treg. prefer νουθετῶ.

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

To shame [εντρεπων] . Lit., as shaming. See on Mt 21:37. The verb means to turn about, hence to turn one upon himself; put him to shame. Compare 2Th 3:14; Tit 2:8. Also, in the middle voice, in the sense of reverence; to turn one's self toward another. See Mr 12:6; Luk 18:2. The kindred noun ejntroph occurs twice : 1Co 6:5; 1Co 14:34. Compare Sophocles : "Think you he will have any regard [εντροπην] for the blind man" (" Oedipus at Colonos, " 299).

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