I Corinthians 4: 10-21
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ;
Paul is trying to encourage these believers, letting them know their standing in Christ. Even if Paul would seem to be a fool for Christ, yet they are still prudent and wise in Christ.
we are weak, but you are strong;
Though we appear to be weak, remember that you are strong in Christ.
you are distinguished, but we are despised.
You are honored and respected, while we are experiencing disrespect, without honor.
To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
Paul is still traveling from place to place, on his missionary travels, so he is experiencing deprivation; he sometimes misses a meal or two, his clothes are wearing out, so strangers on the road treat them with no respect. All part and parcel of the kind of traveling people did then.
and we toil, working with our own hands;
He worked with Aquila and Priscilla, as tent-makers, and they supported themselves when they could. He met this couple in Corinth, and they went with him to Ephesus, from where He wrote this letter.
when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
when we are slandered, we try to conciliate;
However people treat him, he tries to respond in a godly way, not react.
we have become the scum of the World, the dregs of all things, even until now.
He just "don't get no respect" lately, as he travels and preaches and lives from day to day. Which is fine with him, as long as he still gets to promote God's Kingdom by preaching the Gospel!
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Don't feel sorry for me, just notice how much God has blessed you.
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel.
Paul is claiming a special place in their hearts, hoping they will take what he says in the spirit in which it is written.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
He's saying, follow me as I follow Christ. This is how to be.
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
Paul is writing his intent to send Timothy to Corinth, and mentions this again later in the letter. Timothy was saved under Paul, so he considers him his spiritual son, and trusts him to portray him faithfully.
Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power.
Some people there blew off Paul, as though he wouldn't check up on them; but he cares too much to leave them alone, and he wants to come to see if they have any of God's power to do God's work, instead of just talking about it.
For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
God's Word is powerful, but only because it is active and sharp as a double-edged sword. If our words do not have God's power, then they are ineffective in doing His work.
What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Paul is encouraging them to shape up before he shows up. He doesn't want to have to be hard on them, he's all about encouraging them.
O my Father, thank You so much for all You have done already for all of us! And You are still at work in each one of us, and in the World, pushing along Your plan, letting it unfold moment by moment, day by day, administration by administration.
And helping each one of Your children to do the things You have set before us to do each day, each one a thread in Your grand Tapestry of Time.
Father, thank You for Paul's letters that we can read today and trust that they are Your words for us today, too.
Please be with us, day by day, and teach us to love one one another as You have Loved us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
