Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Lecture 2. The apostles are fools for Christ
4:6 But these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollo, for your sakes: that in us you may learn that one be not puffed up against the other for another, above that which is written. [n. 198]
4:7 For who distinguishes you? Or what do you have that you have not received, and if you have received, why do you glory, as if you had not received it? [n. 200]
4:8 You are now full: you are now become rich: you reign without us; and I would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. [n. 203]
4:9 For I think that God has set forth us apostles, the last, as it were men appointed to death. We are made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. [n. 208]
4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ: we are weak, but you are strong: you are honorable, but we without honor. [n. 211]
4:11 Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no fixed abode. [n. 214]
4:12 And we labor, working with our own hands. We are reviled: and we bless. We are persecuted: and we suffer it. [n. 217]
4:13 We are blasphemed: and we entreat. We are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now.
198. After berating the Corinthians for the rashness with which they judged Christ’s ministers, the Apostle now censures the self-satisfaction with which they scorned Christ’s ministers.
19In regard to this he does three things.
First, he states his proposition;
second, he assigns a reason, at for who distinguishes you;
third, he belittles their contemptuous attitude, at you are now full.
199. In regard to the first it should be noted that above when the Apostle tried to repress the rivalry about ministers among the Corinthians, he had used the names of good ministers of Christ, as when he said, every one of you says: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I of Cephas (1 Cor 1:12), and again: whether it be Paul or Apollo or Cephas (1 Cor 3:22). But in fact they were not glorying in Christ’s good ministers or disagreeing over them but over the false apostles, whom he chose not to name, lest it seem that he was speaking against them from hatred or envy. Rather he had employed his own name and the names of other good preachers. And that is what he is saying now: but these things, brethren, namely, what I have said about the ministers in whom you glory and for whom you compete, I have in a figure transferred, i.e., speaking figuratively, I have transferred to myself and to Apollo. For it says in Proverbs: to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles (Prov 1:6), and this for your benefit: all things are for your sakes (2 Cor 4:15); that in us you may learn that one be not puffed up, i.e., with pride, against the other, your neighbor, for another, i.e., for any of Christ’s ministers, above that which is written, i.e., beyond the form described in the foregoing; for it is written: he will dash them puffed up and speechless to the ground (Wis 4:19).
200. Then he assigns the reason why one should not be puffed up against another, at for who distinguishes you.
First, he lays down the reason, saying, for who distinguishes you? This can be interpreted in two ways: in one way so that it means: who distinguished you from the mass of the damned? You cannot distinguish yourself; hence you have nothing in you as a ground for exalting yourself. Of this distinction it is said: judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an ungodly people (Ps 43:1). It can be understood in another way: who distinguishes you to make you superior to your neighbor? This is something you cannot do; hence you should not exalt yourself above him. Of this exaltation Sirach says: in the fullness of his knowledge God distinguished them and appointed their different ways (Sir 33:11). But there is no distinction among men, insofar as they are Christ’s faithful, because we, though many, are one body in Christ (Rom 12:5); God put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Acts 15:9).
201. Then he dismisses an apparent reason.
For someone could be distinguished from good or from evil men, because he is better than they on account of the blessings he has, such as faith, wisdom and the like. But the Apostle excludes this, saying, what do you have that you have not received. As if to say: nothing; for all blessings come from God: when you open your hand, they are filled with good things (Ps 104:28); all things come from you, and of your own have we given you (1 Chr 29:14).
From this he draws his conclusion, saying, and if you have received, why do you glory, as if you had not received it? Accordingly, a person boasts as though he did not receive, when he boasts in himself and not in God, as those mentioned in a psalm: men who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches (Ps 49:6).
202. This is the way the first form of pride expresses itself, namely, when a person, taking pride in what he has, says that he has it of himself, as a psalm: with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is our master? (Ps 12:4) But a person boasts as one receiving, when he glories in himself by ascribing everything to God, as was said above: he who glories may glory in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31). To boast in this way is not pride but humility under God, to whom a man gives glory: to him who gives me wisdom I will give glory (Sir 51:17).
203. Then when he says, you are now full, he mocks the pride of those who looked down on Christ’s apostles:
first, in general;
then specifically, at we are fools.
As to the first he does two things.
First, he ridicules them for presuming too much on themselves;
second, for looking down on the apostles, at for I think that God.
In regard to the first he does two things.
First, he mocks them for presuming to attribute to themselves what they did not have;
second, for attributing to themselves an abundance of good things, some of which are internal, at you reign without us.
204. In regard to these he says, already you are filled, i.e., it seems to you that you are now full, i.e., you seem to yourselves to be full, that is, completely sated with spiritual delights, about which it is said: I shall be satisfied, when your glory shall appear (Ps 17:15). But it could have been true to say to them, already you are filled, not with fullness but with nausea: he who is sated loathes honey (Prov 27:7). But some goods were external. In regard to these he says, you are now become rich, as it seems to you, with spiritual riches, about which Isaiah says: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge (Isa 33:6). This is similar to Revelation: you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing (Rev 3:17).
205. But this seems to conflict with his earlier statement: in all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge (1 Cor 1:5).
The answer is that the earlier statement referred to the good men among them; but there he is speaking about the presumptuous ones, who took pride in what they did not have.
Or a distinction can be made between fullness and riches, so that the former refers to using grace to enjoy spiritual things, whereas riches would refer to the very possession of grace.
206. Second, when he says, you reign without us, he makes sport of them for attributing to themselves individually things they did not possess individually.
Hence he says, you reign without us, i.e., you seem to think that the kingdom belongs to you and not to us. For they had been deceived by the false apostles to such an extent as to suppose that they alone possessed the truths of faith, which consists in the kingdom of God, and that the Apostle and his followers were in error. Against these it is said: do you alone live in the middle of the earth? (Isa 5:8).
And lest it seem that the Apostle says this out of envy, he continues: and I would that you did reign. Thus he wishes them to have the true faith: I wish that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains (Acts 26:29).
And to offer them an example of humility he adds, that we also might reign with you, as if to say: if you have anything worthwhile, I am not too proud to follow you, as you disdain to follow us, contrary to what he advises in Galatians: be zealous for what is good in a good thing always (Gal 4:18).
207. It should be noted that the Apostle here touches on four kinds of pride. The first is when a person considers that what he has was not received from God. He touches on this form when he says: if you have received it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it? Which can also pertain to the second form in which a person thinks that he has received by his own merits. The third form is when a person boasts that he has something he really does not have. In regard to this he says, you are now full: you are now become rich. The fourth is when a person, looking down on others, wishes to seem unique. In regard to this he says, you reign without us.
208. Then when he says, for I think that God, he taunts them for looking down on Christ’s apostles.
First, he describes the contempt ironically;
second, the cause of the contempt, at we are made a spectacle.
209. He says, therefore: I have just said that you reign without us. For I think, i.e., you seem to think, that God has set forth us apostles, the last, whereas it says below: God indeed has set some in the church; first apostles (1 Cor 12:28). In this way is fulfilled what is stated in Matthew: the first shall be last, and the last first (Matt 20:16).
Then he gives an example, as it were men appointed to death; for those condemned to death are reckoned last by men, as though not worthy to live. That is what the apostles were considered to be by worldly men: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 44:22).
210. Then when he says, we are made a spectacle, he indicates the cause of the contempt.
In regard to this it should be noted that when people were condemned to death, men were summoned to the execution as to a spectacle, especially when they were condemned to be thrown to wild animals. Now because the apostles had been, as it were, appointed for death, he adds, we are made a spectacle to the world, as though the whole world had assembled to witness their slaughter: you have made us the taunt of our neighbors (Ps 44:13).
Then he explains what he meant by the word world, when he continues, to angels and to men, namely, good and evil. For good angels came to the spectacle to comfort, but evil angels to assail; and good men came to sympathize and to witness an example of patience, but evil men to persecute and ridicule.
211. Then when he says, we are fools, he derides them in particular for scorning the apostles.
As to this he does two things.
First, he mentions the contempt;
second, the cause, at even unto this hour.
212. In regard to the first he taunts them for attributing greatness to themselves and shortcomings to the apostles.
First, in regard to perfect understanding; hence he says, we are fools for Christ’s sake, i.e., we are accounted fools, because we preach the cross of Christ: the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness (1 Cor 1:18), and also because we suffer reproach and opposition for the sake of Christ, in keeping with Wisdom: we fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honor (Wis 5:4), and as exemplified in Acts: Festus said with a loud voice: Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad (Acts 26:24). But you in your opinion are wise in Christ, namely, because you neither dare to confess his cross publicly nor suffer persecution for him: the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer discreetly (Prov 26:16).
213. Second, in regard to power to act when he says, we are weak, namely, in externals on account of the afflictions we endure: I will all the more boast of my weaknesses (2 Cor 12:9); but you in your opinion are strong, namely, in material things, because you live in security without harassment: woe to you who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink (Isa 5:22). You are honorable, i.e., in your own eyes you are worthy of honor, because you do not suffer public shame: I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings (Isa 19:11), but we without honor, according to your opinion and that of others, because we are considered contemptible: the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, God has chosen (1 Cor 1:28). And yet the truth is the exact opposite, for only those who scorn God are worthy of scorn: those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed (1 Sam 2:30).
214. Then when he says, even unto this hour, he discloses the cause of this scorn.
First, he assigns the lack of temporal goods as the cause;
second, the evils they suffered, at we are reviled: and we bless;
third, he reaches his conclusion, at we are made as the refuse.
215. As to the first he mentions the privations they suffered in necessary things.
Hence in regard to food and drink he says: even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, namely, without interruption from the time of our conversion to the present moment: in hunger and thirst (2 Cor 11:17). As to clothing he says, and are naked, i.e., because of our need for clothing, since we are sometimes despoiled: they lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold (Job 24:7).
But this seems to conflict with a psalm: I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread (Ps 37:25).
The answer is that although the apostles suffered, they were not abandoned, because divine providence set limits to their abundance and their needs according to what was suitable for exercising virtue. Hence the Apostle says in Philippians: I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:12).
216. Second, he mentions their lack of things pertaining to the better aspects of human life, the first of which is respect from others. But they received the opposite: and are buffeted, which aims more at shame than punishment; hence we read of Christ that they spat in his face and slapped him (Matt 26:67).
The second is peace and quiet. Here again they endured the opposite: and have no fixed abode, both because they were expelled from place to place by their persecutors: if they persecute you in one city, flee to another (Matt 10:23), and because they went everywhere to perform their office: I have appointed you that you should go (John 15:16).
The third is help from servants. But they experienced the opposite: and we labor, working with our own hands, both because they often received nothing from anyone to support them and because they earned their living by the work of their own hands either to avoid being a burden to the faithful or to rebuff false apostles who preached for money, and also because they wanted to give the idle an example of work (2 Thess 3:9); hence Paul says: these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me (Acts 20:34).
217. Then when he says, we are reviled, we bless, he mentions the evils which the apostles endured: first, in words when he says, we are reviled, i.e., men speak evil of us either to detract us or to insult us or even to curse us: all curse me (Jer 15:10), and we bless, i.e., return good for evil: do not return evil for evil, but on the contrary, bless (1 Pet 3:9).
Second, in deeds; hence he says, we are persecuted, not only because we are chased from place to place, which is persecution in the strict sense, but also because we are harassed in many ways: many are my persecutors and my adversaries (Ps 119:157), and we suffer it, namely, in Christ: a patient man will endure until the right moment (Sir 1:23).
Third, he touches on the cause of each when he says: we are blasphemed, i.e., blasphemies are put against us, and we are called sorcerers, evil-doers and enemies of God: the hour comes that whosoever kills you, will think that he does a service to God (John 16:2); why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying (Rom 3:8); and we entreat God for those who persecute and slander us: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt 5:44).
218. Then when he says, we are made as the refuse, he sums up their contempt, saying: on account of the foregoing, we are made as the refuse of the world, i.e., both Jews and gentiles think that the world is befouled by us and that it would be cleansed by our slaughter, the offscouring of all. Offscouring is the filth scraped from fruit or iron or any other things. He says, even until now, because they suffer these things without interruption. But it will stop sometime according to Wisdom, where from the mouth of the impious it is said: this is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach (Wis 5:4), and then continues: why has he been numbered among the sons of God? (Wis 5:5).