1 Corinthians 4:8 – You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. 9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. 

10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment. 

14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me. 

17 That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.

18 Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19 But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. 21 Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit? (NLT) 

In today’s passage, Paul is not holding back!  Indeed, Paul uses what some would call dark sarcasm.  The reason for these words is that some of the Corinthians were acting as if they were already reigning with Christ!  Paul is trying to bring them down a notch or two, or at least ground them in the humility of Christian service. 

Paul was making a distinction between how some in the Corinthian church were acting, and how true Christians should act.  Consider the following: “We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us.” (verses 12-13).  I emphasized the ‘we’ because in the Greek they were in the emphatic form, stressing true Christian behavior.  In light of this passage, we must ask ourselves: Are we willing to be a blessing to those who curse us?  How patient are we with others?  Are our responses to criticism gentle or harsh? 

In verse thirteen Paul writes: “Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.” The word that we translate as ‘garbage’ was a Greek word that literally meant ‘that which is wiped off’.  The word was often used for animal refuse that would be wiped off of one’s shoes!  That’s quite a mental picture of what Paul was willing to endure for the sake of Jesus Christ.  What are we willing to endure for Jesus Christ? 

A challenging passage for each of us! Today, let us consider how far we are willing to go for the sake of the Gospel.  Let us be willing to endure just a little more, so that someone might come to know a little more of Jesus.

Posted by Ramón Torres