1 Corinthians 4:15

1Co 4:15. Παιδαγωγοὺς, instructors) however evangelical they are, being in Christ, not legal instructors. The antithetical terms respectively are, ‘planting,’ and ‘watering;’ “laying the foundation,” and “building upon it:” ‘begetting’ and ‘instructing.’—οὐ πολλοὺς, not many) In like manner every regenerate man has not many fathers. Paul does not say, one Father; for that applies to God alone; not many, is however sufficiently explained by the following word, I. Not only Apollos, his successor, is excluded, but also his companions Silas and Timotheus, Act 18:5. Spiritual fatherhood has in it a peculiar tie of relationship and affection connected with it, above every other kind of propinquity.—ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, for in Christ Jesus) This is more express than the phrase above, in Christ, where he is speaking of other instructors.

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

1Co_4:15 justifies the ὡς τέκνα μου ἀγαπ. νουθετῶ.

For suppose ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ. On μυρίους,[704] compare Mat_18:24; 1Co_14:19.

Respecting the paedagogi among the Greeks and Romans (comp אֹמֵן, 1Ch_27:32; 2Ki_10:1; 2Ki_10:5; Est_2:7; Rosenmüller, Morgenl. VI. p. 272), who, for the most part slaves, had it in charge to educate and give constant attendance upon boys till they came of age, see Wetstein and Hermann, Privatalterth. § 34. 15 ff. The name is here given figuratively to the later workers in the church, the ΠΟΤΊΖΟΝΤΕς (1Co_3:6-8), the ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔΟΜΟῦΝΤΕς (1Co_3:10 ff.), in respect of their carrying on its further Christian development, after Paul (its father) had founded it, had given to it Christian life, had begotten it spiritually. Since the essential nature of the delineation here allowed of no other word alongside of πατέρας except παιδαγ., and since, moreover, Apollos also was reckoned among the παιδαγώγοις, we are not warranted in finding here expressed the idea of imperious and arrogant leadership on the part of the heads of parties (Beza, Calvin, and others, including Pott, Heydenreich, de Wette, Osiander). Compare, too, Erasmus: paedagogus saevit pro imperio. It is not even the inferior love of the later teachers (Chrysostom, Theophylact) that Paul wishes to make his readers sensible of, but only his rights as a father, which can be in no way impaired by all who subsequently entered the same field.

ἈΛΛʼ Οὐ Π. ΠΑΤ.] sc[706] ἔχετε. The ἀλλά after a hypothetical protasis is the at of emphatic contrast, on the other hand (Nägelsbach on the Iliad, p. 43, ed. 3; Baeumlein, Partik. p. 11; Klotz, a[707] Devar. p. 93), and that, too, without a restrictive γέ, in the sense of at certe; see Kühner, a[708] Xen. Anab. vii. 7. 43.

ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ κ.τ.λ[709]] i.e. for in the life-fellowship of Jesus Christ no other than I myself has begotten you, through the gospel. Just as ἐν Χριστῷ, in the first half of the verse, conveys the specific distinction of the ΠΑΙΔΑΓΏΓΟΥς ἜΧΕΙΝ; so here, and that with the emphatic addition of ἸΗΣΟῦ, it conveys that of the moral generation, which has taken place, not out of Christ, but in Him as the element of its being; and ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛ. (comp 1Pe_1:23) is the means whereby this establishment of their existence in the Christian sphere of life has been brought about. In both these respects it differs from physical generation. The antithetic emphasis of the ἘΓΏ forbids us to refer ἘΝ Χ. Ἰ. to the person of the apostle: in my fellowship with Christ, i.e. as His apostle (de Wette, comp Grotius, Calovius, Flatt, al[712]).

ἘΓΈΝΝΗΣΑ] Comp 1Co_4:17; Phm_1:10; Gal_4:19. Sanhedr. f. 19. 2 : Quicunque filium socii sui docet legem, ad eum scriptura refert, tanquam si eum genuisset.

[704] The distinction drawn by the old grammarians between μύριοι (a numeral proper) and μυρίοι (an indefinitely large number) is without foundation. See Buttmann, ausführl. Sprachl. I. p. 284; Ellendt, Lex Soph. II. p. 144.

[706] c. scilicet.

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

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

[709] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

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

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 4:15 . Reason for this lighter reproof, where stern censure was due “For if you should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet (you have) not many fathers! ” The relation of the ἐποικοδομοῦντες to the θεμέλιον τιθείς (1Co 3:10 ) is exchanged for that of the παιδαγωγοὶ to the πατήρ . The παιδαγωγός ( boy-leader ) was not the schoolmaster, but the home-tutor a kind of nursery-governor who had charge of the child from tender years, looking after his food and dress, speech and manners, and when he was old enough taking him to and from school (see Lt [762] on Gal 3:24 ). This epithet has a touch of disparagement for the readers ( cf. Gal 3:25 ); as Or [763] says ( Catena ), referring to 1Co 3:1 f., οὐδεὶς ἀνὴρ παιδαγωγεῖται , ἀλλʼ εἴ τις νήπιος καὶ ἀτελής . μυρίους (1Co 14:19 ) indicates the very many probably too many teachers busy in this Church ( cf. Jas 3:1 ; Jas 3:18 above), in whose guidance the Cor [764] felt themselves “rich” and Apostolic direction superfluous (1Co 4:8 ). ἀλλά ( at certe ) introduces an apodosis in salient contrast with its protasis: “You may have ever so many nurses, but only one father!” From this relationship “non solum Apollos excluditur, successor; sed etiam comites, Silas et Timotheus” (Bg [765] ): ἐγώ (I and no other) ἐγέννησα ὑμᾶς ( cf. Phm 1:10 , Gal 4:19 ); in the Rabbinical treatise Sanhedrin , f., xix. 2, the like sentiment occurs, “Whoever teaches the son of his friend the law, it is as if he had begotten him”; similarly Philo, de Virtute , p. 1000. διὰ τ . εὐαγγελίου : cf. 1Pe 1:23 ; also 1Co 1:18 above, 1Th 1:5 ; 1Th 2:19 ; Joh 6:63 , etc.

[762] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[763] Origen.

[764] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[765] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

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

Vv. 15, 16. “For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16. I beseech you therefore: be ye imitators of me.”

In 1Co 4:15, Paul presents the almost ridiculous figure of a flock of pupils placed under the rod of several thousands of tutors. There is an allusion to that host of teachers who had risen up at Corinth after the departure of Paul and Apollos, and to whom was addressed the warning in 1Co 3:12-15, regarding those who continued a building once founded. The pedagogue (tutor) among the Greeks was the slave to whom a child’s education was committed till he reached his majority; literally: he who guides the child to school.—᾿Αλλά: here, like the at of the Latins. It was Paul to whom God had given to beget the Corinthians to that new life which the others only promoted; comp. a similar figure, Gal 4:19. This term γεννᾶν, to beget, applies not only to the ministry of preaching, but to the intense labour of the whole man which is carried out in his personal relations and in the act of prayer.

It should be remarked that Paul prefixes to the idea of his labour the two qualifications: in Christ Jesus and by the gospel. It was in virtue of the communion and power of Christ, and by means of the gospel which he received from Him, that he was able to produce this spiritual creation. He thus excludes beforehand every appearance of boasting in what he says of himself in the last words: ἐγὼ ἐγέννησα.

But if it was Christ who acted with His power and word, it was nevertheless through him, Paul (ἐγώ, I), that He produced this creation. Hence Paul’s right and duty to exhort them, and even to admonish them as he does.

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_4:15

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.

Paul was entitled to admonish them as sons, for he was their spiritual father. The words in Christ are not connected with instructors, as though the sense were, instructors who are in Christ, i.e. Christian instructors. The position of 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 teachers, ye have not many fathers. The pedagogues (παιδαγωγοί) among the Greeks were usually slaves, who were the constant attendants, rather than the teachers, of the boys of a family. They had, however, the charge of their education, and therefore the word is used in the New Testament for instructors. Paul contrasts his relation to the Corinthians as their spiritual father, with that of their other teachers. The point of the contrast is not that he loved them, and they did not; or that they were disposed to arrogate too much authority, and he was not; but simply, that he was the means of their conversion, and they were not. His relation to them preceded theirs and was more intimate and tender.

He was their father, for in Christ Jesus he had begotten them. That is, in virtue of his union to Christ, as his apostle and minister. In himself he could do nothing. It was only as an instrument in the hand of Christ that he was successful in bringing them to the obedience of faith. Comp. Gal_2:8. By the gospel, i.e. by means of the gospel. There are three agencies in the conversion of men. The efficiency is in Christ by his Spirit; the administrative agency is in preachers; the instrumental in the word. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. We cannot do without the first and the third, and ought not to attempt to do without the second. For though multitudes are converted by the Spirit through the word, without any ministerial intervention, just as grain springs up here and there without a husbandman, yet it is the ordinance of God that the harvest of souls should be gathered by workmen appointed for that purpose.

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

ten thousand--implying that the Corinthians had more of them than was desirable.

instructors--tutors who had the care of rearing, but had not the rights, or peculiar affection, of the father, who alone had begotten them spiritually.

in Christ--Paul admits that these "instructors" were not mere legalists, but evangelical teachers. He uses, however, a stronger phrase of himself in begetting them spiritually, "In Christ Jesus," implying both the Saviour's office and person. As Paul was the means of spiritually regenerating them, and yet "baptized none of them save Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas," regeneration cannot be inseparably in and by baptism (Co1 1:14-17).

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 15. For though ye have ten thousand instructers] μυριους παιδαγωγους, Myriads of leaders, that is, an indefinite multitude; for so the word is often used. The παιδαγωγος, from which we have our word pedagogue, which we improperly apply to a school master, was among the Greeks, the person or servant who attended a child, had the general care of him, and who led him to school for the purpose of being instructed by the διδασκαλος, or teacher. It seems there were many at Corinth who offered their services to instruct this people, and who were not well affected towards the apostle.

Not many fathers] Many offer to instruct you who have no parental feeling for you; and how can they? you are not their spiritual children, you stand in this relation to me alone; for in Christ Jesus-by the power and unction of his Spirit, I have begotten you-I was the means of bringing you into a state of salvation, so that you have been born again: ye are my children alone in the Gospel. Schoettgen produces a good illustration of this from Shemoth Rabba, sect. 46, fol. 140. "A girl who had lost her parents was educated by a guardian, who was a good and faithful man, and took great care of her; when she was grown up, he purposed to bestow her in marriage; the scribe came, and beginning to write the contract, said, What is thy name? The maid answered, N. The scribe proceeded, What is the name of thy father? The maid was silent. Her guardian said, Why art thou silent? The maid replied, Because I know no other father but thee; for he who educates a child well, is more properly the father than he who begot it." This is the same kind of sentiment which I have already quoted from Terence, Ro 16:13.

Natura tu illi pater es, consiliis ego.

Adelphi, Act i., scene 2, ver. 47.

Thou art his father by nature, I by instruction.

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

15. For though you had ten thousand. He had called himself father, and now he shows that this title belongs to him peculiarly and specially, inasmuch as he alone has begotten them in Christ. In this comparison, however, he has an eye to the false apostles to whom the Corinthians showed all deference, so that Paul was now almost as nothing among them. Accordingly he admonishes them to consider what honor ought to be rendered to a father, and what to a pedagogue “You entertain respect for those new teachers. To this I have no objection, provided you bear in mind that I am your father, while they are merely pedagogues.” Now by claiming for himself authority, he intimates that he is actuated by a different kind of affection from that of those whom they so highly esteemed. “They take pains in instructing you. Be it so. Very different is the love of a father, very different his anxiety, very different his attachment from those of a pedagogue What if he should also make an allusion to that imperfection of faith which he had previously found fault with? For while the Corinthians were giants in pride, they were children in faith, and are, therefore, with propriety, sent to pedagogues He also reproves the absurd and base system of those teachers in keeping their followers in the mere first rudiments, with the view of keeping them always in bonds under their authority.

For in Christ Here we have the reason why he alone ought to be esteemed as the father of the Corinthian Church — because he had begotten it. And truly it is in most appropriate terms that he here describes spiritual generation, when he says that he has begotten them in Christ, who alone is the life of the soul, and makes the gospel the formal cause. Let us observe, then, that we are then in the sight of God truly begotten, when we are engrafted into Christ, out of whom there will be found nothing but death, and that this is effected by means of the gospel, because, while we are by nature flesh and hay, the word of God, as Peter (1 Peter 1:24, 25) teaches from Isaiah, (Isaiah 40:6, 7, 8,) is the incorruptible seed by which we are renewed to eternal life. Take away the gospel, and we will all remain accursed and dead in the sight of God. That same word by which we are begotten is afterwards milk to us for nourishing us, and it is also solid food to sustain us for ever.

Should any one bring forward this objection, “As new sons are begotten to God in the Church every day, why does Paul say that those who succeeded him were not fathers?” the answer is easy — that he is here speaking of the commencement of the Church. For although many had been begotten by the ministry of others, this honor remained to Paul untouched — that he had founded the Corinthian Church. Should any one, again, ask, “Ought not all pastors to be reckoned fathers, and if so, why does Paul deprive all others of this title, so as to claim it for himself exclusively?” I answer — “He speaks here comparatively.” Hence, however the title of fathers might be applicable to them in other respects, yet in respect of Paul, they were merely instructors We must also keep in mind what I touched upon a little ago, that he is not speaking of all, (for as to those who were like himself, as, for example, Apollos, Silvanus, and Timotheus, who aimed at nothing but the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, he would have had no objection to their being so named, and having the highest honor assigned to them,) but is reproving those who, by a misdirected ambition, transferred to themselves the glory that belonged to another. Of this sort were those who robbed Paul of the honor that was due to him, that they might set themselves off in his spoils.

And, truly, the condition of the Church universal at this day is the same as that of the Corinthian Church was at that time. For how few are there that love the Churches with a fatherly, that is to say, a disinterested affection, and lay themselves out to promote their welfare! Meanwhile, there are very many pedagogues, who give out their services as hirelings, in such a manner as to discharge as it were a mere temporary office, and in the meantime hold the people in subjection and admiration. At the same time, even in that case it is well when there are many pedagogues, who do good, at least, to some extent by teaching, and do not destroy the Church by the corruptions of false doctrine. For my part, when I complain of the multitude of pedagogues, I do not refer to Popish priests, (for I would not do them the honor of reckoning them in that number,) but those who, while agreeing with us in doctrine, employ themselves in taking care of their own affairs, rather than those of Christ. We all, it is true, wish to be reckoned fathers, and require from others the obedience of sons, but where is the man to be found who acts in such a manner as to show that he is a father?

There remains another question of greater difficulty: As Christ forbids us to

call any one father upon earth, because we have one Father in heaven, (Matthew 23:9,)

how does Paul dare to take to himself the name of father? I answer, that, properly speaking, God alone is the Father, not merely of our soul, but also of our flesh. As, however, in so far as concerns the body, he communicates the honor of his paternal name to those to whom he gives offspring, while, as to souls, he reserves to himself exclusively the right and title of Father, I confess that, on this account, he is called in a peculiar sense the Father of spirits, and is distinguished from earthly fathers, as the Apostle speaks in Hebrews 12:9. As, however, notwithstanding that it is he alone who, by his own influence, begets souls, and regenerates and quickens them, he makes use of the ministry of his servants for this purpose, there is no harm in their being called fathers, in respect of this ministry, as this does not in any degree detract from the honor of God. The word, as I have said, is the spiritual seed. God alone by means of it regenerates our souls by his influence, but, at the same time, he does not exclude the efforts of ministers. If, therefore, you attentively consider, what God accomplishes by himself, and what he designs to be accomplished by ministers, you will easily understand in what sense he alone is worthy of the name of Father, and how far this name is applicable to his ministers, without any infringement upon his rights.

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.

(15) For.—The reason why he has a right to address them as a father would his children. They may have had since their conversion a host of instructors, but they could have only one father who begot them in Jesus Christ. That father was Paul. “I have begotten you.” I, emphatic as opposed to “many.” The word rendered “instructors” originally signified the slave who led the child to school, but subsequently had the larger meaning, which we attach to the word pedagogue. (See Gal_3:24-25.) There is a contrast implied between the harsh severity of a pedagogue and the loving tenderness of a father.

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

15. yet have ye not many fathers] We have here an interesting example of the fact that the spirit rather than the letter of Christ’s commands is to be observed, and that one passage of Scripture is not to be strained so as to contradict another. ‘Call no man your father on earth,’ says Christ (St Mat_23:9): that is, as explained by the present passage, in such a spirit as to forget Him from whom all being proceeds.

in Christ Jesus I have begotten you] i.e. because Jesus Christ dwells in His ministers, and their work is His. Cf. ch. 1Co_3:5-9.

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.

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ,.... Or "schoolmasters"; by whom he means the false teachers, whom, for argument sake, he admits to be instructors in Christ, or ministers of his, as in Co2 11:23 and who were many, and of whose number the Corinthians boasted; though they were not so numerous as here supposed; for the expression is hyperbolical: perhaps some reference may be had to the multitude of schoolmasters, tutors, and governors, and who also were called "fathers", which those that were Jews of this church at Corinth had before they believed in Christ; as the members of the great sanhedrim, the great number of doctors, wise men, Scribes and Pharisees, who pretended to instruct them: now though it should be allowed, that the present teachers among them were instrumental in instructing them further in the knowledge of Christ; or as the Arabic version reads it, "in the love of Christ"; yet they had no hand in their conversion; the apostle first preached the Gospel to them, and ministerially laid Christ the foundation among them, and directed them unto him, and was the minister by whom they believed; these teachers at most and best built on his foundation, and that only wood, hay, and stubble; and whereas they were only a sort of schoolmasters, and not fathers, they taught with mercenary views, and for lucre's sake, and with severity, as such men do; and not with such a single eye to their good, and with that tenderness and affection a parent has, and in which relation he stood to them:

yet have ye not many fathers; as it is in nature, so it is in grace; how many masters and instructors soever a child may have, whether together or successively, he has but one father; and so how many after instructors, either nominally or really, believers may have to lead them on, or who pretend to lead them on to a further knowledge of Christ; yet have they but one spiritual father, who has been the happy instrument and means of their conversion, as the Apostle Paul was to the Corinthians;

for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel; which is to be understood of regeneration, a being born again, and from above; of being quickened when dead in trespasses and sins; of having Christ formed in the soul; of being made a partaker of the divine nature, and a new creature; which the apostle ascribes to himself, not as the efficient cause thereof, for regeneration is not of men but of God; not of the will of the flesh, of a man's own free will and power, nor of the will of any other man, or minister; but of the sovereign will, grace, and mercy of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father of Christ beget us again according to his abundant mercy; and the Son quickens whom he will; and we are born again of water and of the Spirit, of the grace of the Spirit; hence the washing of regeneration, and renewing work are ascribed to him: but the apostle speaks this of himself, only as the instrument or means, which God made use of in doing this work upon the hearts of his people; and which the other phrases show: for he is said to do it "in Christ"; he preached Christ unto them, and salvation by him, and the necessity of faith in him; he directed them to him to believe in him, and was the means of bringing of them to the faith of Christ; and it was the power and grace of Christ accompanying his ministry, which made it an effectual means of their regeneration and conversion: and which were brought about "through the Gospel"; not through the preaching of the law; for though by that is the knowledge of sin, and convictions may be wrought by such means; yet these leave nothing but a sense of wrath and damnation; nor is the law any other than a killing letter: no regeneration, no quickening grace, no faith nor holiness come this way, but through the preaching of the Gospel; in and through which, as a vehicle, the Spirit of God conveys himself into the heart, as a spirit of regeneration and faith; and God of his own will and rich mercy, by the word of truth, by the Gospel of grace and truth, which came by Christ, so called in distinction from the law which came by Moses, begets us again as his new creatures; which shows the usefulness of the Gospel ministry, and in what account Gospel ministers are to be had, who are spiritual fathers, or the instruments of the conversion of men.

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

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.

Ver. 15. Ten thousand instructors] Gr. pedagogues, who often prove orbiliusses, sharp and severe above measure, Verberibus pluunt, colaphis grandinant. So did these Corinthian school masters, 2Co 11:20. They were also too well skilled in the Doric dialect, crying, Give, give; and taught little more than elegant elocution.

I have begotten you through the gospel] For together with the word there goeth forth a regenerating power, Jas 1:18. The exhortations thereof are operative means of sanctification, and practical; as when God said, "Let there be light," or Christ said, "Lazarus, come forth." The Spirit maketh the seed of the word prolific and generative; and hence ministers are made fathers, as Moses was father to Aaron’s children, Num 3:1, who are therefore there called "his generation." And as propriissimum opus viventis est, generare sibi simile, as saith the philosopher, it is the most proper work of every living thing to beget its like; so here.

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.

For though ye have ten thousand instructors - Though you may have or though you should have. It matters not how many you have, yet it is still true that I only sustain the relation to you of spiritual father, and whatever respect it is proper for you to have toward them, yet there is a special right which I have to admonish you, and a special deference which is due to me, from my early labors among you, and from the fact that you are my spiritual children.

Instructers - Greek: pedagogues; or those who conducted children to school, and who superintended their conduct out of school hours. Hence, those who had the care of children, or teachers (in general). It is then applied to instructors of any kind.

In Christ - In the Christian system or doctrine. The authority which Paul claims here, is that which a father has in preference to such an instructor.

Not many fathers - Spiritual fathers. That is, you have but one. You are to remember that however many teachers you have, yet that I alone am your spiritual father.

In Christ Jesus - By the aid and authority of Christ. I have begotten you by preaching his gospel and by his assistance.

I have begotten you - I was the instrument of your conversion.

Through the gospel - By means of the gospel; by preaching it to you, that is, by the truth.

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

The great lesson of this text is: That people ought to have a tender respect for those ministers whom God hath hononred with their first conversion, and bringing them home to Christ. God may make use of a multitude of ministers to instruct Christians, and carry on his work in their souls to perfection; but he maketh use of some particular minister at first to convince them, and be an instrument in the changing of their hearts; such they ought to have a great value for, they are their spiritual fathers in a proper sense.

For, saith the apostle, in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel: where we have regeneration (as it signifieth a new state) set out in its causes. The principal efficient cause is Christ Jesus; the instrumental cause is the minister of the gospel; the means is the doctrine of the gospel, or the preaching of the gospel.

In Christ Jesus signifieth here by the grace of Christ Jesus; those who are born again, are not born of flesh or of blood, but of the will of God, Joh 1:13, and by the influence of Christ upon their hearts; though God makes use of the minister of the gospel as his instrument, and the minister makes use of the word and the preaching of the gospel, as the sacred means which God hath appointed to that end, 1Pe 1:23. All these causes unite and concur in the work of regeneration.

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

15. For—As the ground of my assuming this authority.

Instructors— Tutors, or children-governors.

Fathers… I—At this decisive point Paul asserts his authority as one and sole.

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

Ten thousand; never so many. The word in Greek is used indefinitely, but here implies a touch of impatience at the itch of teaching which seems to have prevailed at Corinth. Tutors; rather, pedagogues, in a technical sense. We have no exact equivalent in English to the paidagogos, the slave who led boys to school. The word also occurs in Gal_3:24, Gal_3:25. The father loves most, and has the nearer and dearer claim. In Christ. So he says, "The Law was our paidagogos to Christ. These guides or guardians were such "in Christ," i.e. in the sphere of Christian life. Not many fathers. St. Paul felt a yearning desire that his unique claim as the founder of their Church should not be so ungratefully overlooked, as though it were of no importance. (comp 1Co_3:6 1Co_9:1, 1Co_9:2; Act_18:11) I have begotten you. The word is here only used in a secondary and metaphoric sense, as in Phm_1:10; Gal_4:19. In the highest sense we are only begotten by the will of God, by thatWord of truth, (Jam_1:18) to which he alludes in the words "through the gospel." The "second birth" is, however a doctrine more dwelt on by St. John (Joh_3:3; 1Jn_3:9 1Jn_5:1, etc.) than by St. Paul, who, as Mr. Beet observes, only refers to it in Tit_3:5.

Spiritual paternity.

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." The subject of these words is spiritual paternity, and three remarks are suggested.

I THAT ONE MAN MAY BECOME THE SPIRITUAL FATHER OF ANOTHER. What is it to become the spiritual father of another?

1. Something more than to become the father of one"s ideas. There are men in society gifted with that intellectual vitality and vigour which enables them to generate the leading ideas in the minds of their contemporaries. This they do by their conversation, their speeches, their writings. But these are not spiritual fathers, they are mere schoolmasters or teachers. Coleridge and Carlyle are examples of this.

2. Something more than the author of a certain style of thinking. There are men in society who not only generate leading thoughts in the minds of their contemporaries, but, what is perhaps something higher, a style of thinking a style characterized by precision, freshness, and force. Aristotle,bacon, etc., are examples. But a spiritual father is one who is the father of man"s moral character, 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 amongst men the sensual, the sceptical, the selfish. The Christly character stands in sublime contrast to these; it is disinterested, spiritual; Divine.

1. The man who generates in others this character imparts the highest good. In the Christly character is harmony, kinghood, and paradise. To be like Christ is the highest end of being, it is the summum bonum of souls.

2. The man who generates this character in others creates the highest mutual affection. Far deeper and profounder is the affection subsisting between the spiritual father and his offspring than that which exists between the physical. Christ recognized this when he said, "Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brothel and my sister, and my mother." Paul called Timothy his "beloved son;" and elsewhere he 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 IN OTHERS BY THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. "I have begotten you through the gospel." Natural religion cannot do it; Judaism cannot do it; Mohammedanism cannot do it; heathenism cannot do it; no speculative creeds, no moral codes, no 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 as sage, king as king, has ever done. Every man may and ought to become a spiritual father.

Children, tutors, and fathers.

Our religion makes use of all the many and various relationships that obtain among men to set forth and to assist us in understanding spiritual realities.

I GENERALLY SPEAKING, CHRISTIANS MAY BE DESCRIBED AS CHILDREN.

1. Like the Corinthians, most members of the Church of Christ need constant and watchful care. Providence has appointed that children should be born more dependent than the offspring of the inferior animals upon parental attention and devotion. From infancy unfit the approach of manhood and womanhood, human beings stand in need of the supervision and assistance of their parents. So is it with the members of Christ"s Church. They are in need of pastoral care and kindness, and without this are not likely either to grow in Christian character or to escape the assaults of their foes.

2. In addition to care, they need wise and fatherly counsel. It would be well if spiritual pastors bore in mind the inexperience of a large proportion of the flock. Paul was a faithful counsellor, and in writing to these Christians at Corinth he warned them very faithfully against the faults and errors they were in danger of falling into. Not with severity, but with directness and earnestness, he admonished his spiritual children, and entreated them to render obedience to his advice and directions. Even sincere disciples of Christ are often in peril by reason of their own want of knowledge and experience, and by reason of the temptations which beset them in this world. Hence the importance of such pastoral admonitions as those of which Paul here gives an example.

II THERE ARE IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THOSE WHO MAY BE DESIGNATED SPIRITUAL FATHERS. At Corinth the apostle occupied a pre-eminently honourable and influential position. He claims in this passage to have been, what the history of the Acts shows that he was, the planter of the vineyard, the founder of the edifice, the father of the family. It was by his labours, his bravery, his perseverance, that the Christian community came into existence. In the highest sense, of course, the Father was God himself, who gives the Spirit of adoption to all his people. But instrumentally, the apostle was blessed by God, through the preaching of the gospel, to the begetting and birth, so to speak, of this congregation, this spiritual household. This relationship involved the obligation on their part to reverence, honour, obey, and gratefully to love and rejoice in, one to whom they were, under God, so immeasurably indebted. For his was a unique position with regard to them. No other could claim to stand in the same relation, and Paul was bold to tell them so. Still are there those who are honoured by the calling of God to this spiritual fatherhood; and such should meet with that respectful and grateful recognition which is the due of benefactors so signally favoured by God himself.

III TUTORS AND INSTRUCTORS IN CHRIST OCCUPY IN THE CHURCH A POSITION ONLY INFERIOR TO THAT OF SPIRITUAL FATHERS. At Corinth the charisma of teaching seems to have been imparted and exercised in a measure almost embarrassing in its abundance. Paul speaks hyperbolically of the "myriads" of tutors who followed up his apostolic labours. The same Spirit bestows gifts in multiplicity and variety. Let Christians be grateful for all the "means of grace," and especially for the holy and devout ministrations of the learned, the wise, the sympathetic, and the strong. For thus is it appointed that the Church should grow in grace. T.

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

I have begotten you - 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.

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

15. “For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, but you have not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel;” i. e., the gospel was one instrument in their conversion and Paul was another, and both used by the Omnipotent Spirit in their regeneration. Some have very erroneously tried to construe this passage in favor of regeneration without the Spirit, which is utterly untrue. Paul was simply speaking of the instrumentality, and not of the Omnipotent Agency.

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

Though ye have ten thousand tutors [literally, pedagogues: the large number rebukes their itch for teachers] in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers [they had but one--Paul]; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel . [In the first, or highest, sense disciples are begotten by the will of God ( Joh_1:13 ); but in a secondary sense they are begotten by the teacher of gospel truths ( Jam_1:18 ). The Corinthians had many builders, but one founder; many waterers, but one planter; many tutors, but one father. He had rights, therefore, which could never be rivaled.]

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.

15. Yet have ye not many fathers. They might have many tutors, who sought to train them as children, but Paul was their father who had begotten them in the gospel; that is, converted them.

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.

15. γάρ gives the reason for τέκνα.

παιδαγωγούς. The παιδαγωγός (see Bishop Lightfoot on Gal 3:24) was originally (1) employed to escort the boy to school, and thence (2) was ‘entrusted with his moral supervision.’

ἀλλ’ οὐ πολλοὺς πατέρας. We have here an interesting example of the fact that the spirit rather than the letter of Christ’s commands is to be observed, and that one passage of Scripture is not to be strained so as to contradict another. ‘Call no man your father on earth,’ says Christ (Mat 23:9); that is, as explained by the present passage, in such a spirit as to forget Him from whom all being proceeds.

ἐγώ. Although the pronoun is emphatic, I begat you, the Apostle does not forget that it is ‘in Christ Jesus.’ Cf. ch. 1Co 3:5-9.

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.

15.] Justification of the expression τέκνα μου.

μυρίους, the greatest possible number—see reff.

παιδαγ.] He was their spiritual father: those who followed, Apollos included, were but tutors, having the care and education of the children, but not the rights, as they could not have the peculiar affection of the father. He evidently shews by μυρίους, that these παιδαγωγοί were more in number than he could wish,—including among them doubtless the false and party teachers: but to refer the word only to them and their despotic leading (as Beza, Calvin, al., and De Wette), or to confine its meaning to the stricter sense of παιδαγωγός, the slave who led the child to school, is not here borne out by the facts. See ref. and note: and for the wider sense of παιδαγ., examples in Wetst.

ἀλλʼ οὐ brings out the contrast strongly, giving almost the sense of ‘at non ideo:’ so Æsch. in Ctes. § 155, καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν αὐτὰ διεξίῃ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ ψηφίσματος προστάγματα, ἀλλʼ οὐ τόγʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας αἰσχρὸν σιωπηθήσεται. See Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. 40.

ἐν γὰρ χρ.] For in Christ Jesus (as the spiritual element in which the begetting took place: so commonly ἐν χριστῷ, applied to relations of life, see ver. 17, bis,—not to be joined as De W. with ἐγώ, q. d. ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐν χ. Ἰησοῦ δ. τ. εὐ. ὑμ. ἐγέννησα) by means of the gospel (the preached word being the instrument) I (emphatic) begat you (there is also an emphasis on ὑμᾶς, as coming before the verb, q. d. in your case, I it was who begat you).

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

15. ἐὰν γάρ. The reason for his taking on himself this duty; ‘If, as time goes on, ye should have in turn an indefinite number of tutors in Christ, yet ye will never have had but one father.’ The conditional clause, with a pres. subjunct. and ἄν, in the protasis implies futurity as regards the apodosis. As there is but one planting and one laying of the foundation-stone (3:6, 10), so the child can have but one father.

παιδαγωγοὺς … ἐν Χριστῷ. The words are closely connected. Without ἐν Χριστῷ to qualify it, παιδαγωγούς would have been too abrupt, if not too disparaging. There is no hint that they have already had too many. The παιδαγωγός (Gal 3:24) was not a teacher, but the trusty slave who acted as tutor or guardian and escorted them to and from school, and in general took care of those whom the father had begotten.† He might be more capable, and even more affectionate, than the father, but he could never become father. The frequent ἐν Χριστῷ gives “the ideal sphere of action” (Ellicott).*

ἀλλʼ οὐ πολλοὺς πατέρας. ‘Still (8:7) not many fathers.’ The verb to be understood must be future, for the possibility of μυρίοι παιδαγωγοί of is future: ‘however many these may be, yet ye will not have (or, have had) many fathers.’

ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰ. The whole process, first and last, is ἐν Χριστῷ.† That was the sphere, while the Gospel was the means (διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγ.). The two pronouns, ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς, are in emphatic proximity; ‘whoever may have been the parent of other Churches, it was I who in Christ begat you.’ The thought is that of ἐλὼ ἐφύτευσα (3:6) and of θεμέλειον ἔθηκα (3:10), while the παιδαγωγοί are those who water the plant, or build the superstructure.

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

Tutors [παιδαγωγους] . From paiv boy and ajgwgov leader. The Paedagogus was a slave to whom boys were entrusted on leaving the care of the females, which was somewhere about their sixteenth year. He was often a foreigner, sometimes educated and refined, but often otherwise; for Plutarch complains that seamen, traders, usurers, and farmers are engaged in this capacity. The office was one of general guardianship, not of instruction, though sometimes the paedagogus acted as teacher. He accompanied the boy to school, carrying his books, etc., and attended him to the gymnasium and elsewhere. 87 See, further, on Gal 3:24.

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