Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Lecture 3. Paul as father of Christians
4:14 I do not write these things to confound you: but I admonish you as my dearest children. [n. 219]
4:15 For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel, I have begotten you. [n. 221]
4:16 Wherefore, I beseech you, be followers of me as I also am of Christ. [n. 223]
4:17 For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my dearest son and faithful in the Lord. Who will put you in mind of my ways, which are in Christ Jesus: as I teach everywhere in every church. [n. 224]
4:18 As if I would not come to you, so some are puffed up. [n. 225]
4:19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills: and will know, not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power. [n. 226]
4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.
4:21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod? Or in charity and in the spirit of meekness? [n. 227]
219. After censuring the Corinthians for rashly judging the apostles and presumptuously despising them, the Apostle now applies himself to correcting them.
First, by oral advice;
second, by examples, at wherefore, I beseech you;
third, with the rod of correction, at as if I would not come to you.
220. In regard to the first he does three things: first, he tells how he means to admonish them, saying, I do not write these things, which I have said so far in the epistle, to confound you in an evil way, which leads to despair, although I would like you to be bewildered with the sort of confusion that avoids sin: there is a confusion that brings sin, and there is a confusion that brings glory and grace (Sir 4:25). But to admonish you with the above advice as my dearest children: do you have children? Discipline them and make them obedient from their youth (Sir 7:25).
221. Second, he shows the correct way to admonish, saying, for if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers.
Here it should be noted that a father is one who begets, but a guide nurses and trains the child: the law was our custodian until Christ came (Gal 3:24). Therefore, the Apostle calls himself their father in Christ, because he was the first to preach the Gospel to them.
222. Hence he assigns the reason for this when he continues, for in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel, I have begotten you. But begetting is a process leading to life; and man lives in Christ by faith: in the flesh I live now by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20). Faith, however, comes by hearing; and hearing by word (Rom 10:17). Hence the word of God is the seed by which the Apostle begot them in Christ: by his own will he has begotten us by the word of truth (Jas 1:18).
But he calls others instructors, because they helped them after receiving the faith. In this way we are given to understand that as far as the preaching of the Gospel is concerned, there is the same relationship between instructor and father as that of waterer and planter and that of builder and superstructure to layer of foundation.
223. Then when he says, wherefore, I beseech you, he starts to correct them with his own example.
First, he urges them to follow his example, saying: then, since you are my children and good children should imitate their fathers, I beseech you, be followers of me, so as not to judge rashly (just as I don’t, because I do not ever presume to judge myself) but to think humbly of yourselves and highly of others. Hence it wasn’t by chance that he had said earlier: we are weak, but you are strong, but that we might give ourselves a pattern unto you to imitate us (2 Thess 3:4).
Note that here he is calling the same persons brothers, whom he had just called his children. However, he had called them his children in Christ, because he had begotten them not for himself but for Christ; and because he himself had been begotten in Christ, he could regard them as his brothers and his children. Consequently, they should have imitated him as a father to the same degree as he imitated Christ, who is the main father of all.
This, therefore, removes from subjects an excuse for following the evil examples of their prelates; they should rather imitate their prelates only to the degree that they imitate Christ, who is the infallible standard of truth. Hence he gave himself as an example to the apostles when he said: I have given you an example, that as I have done so you also do (John 13:15). Paul, of course, followed this example: my foot has followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it (Job 23:11).
224. Second, he removes the excuse of ignorance, saying, for this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my dearest son and faithful in the Lord, which agrees with what he said of Timothy in Philippians: I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare (Phil 2:20). Who will put you in mind of my ways, i.e., he will teach you my procedures, i.e., all that is to be done and advise you to follow them: ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk on it (Jer 6:16), which ways are in Christ Jesus. Hence you should not disdain to follow them: show me your ways, O Lord (Ps 25:4); or consider them a burden, because this is what I generally lay upon all; hence he says: as I teach everywhere in every church. You have heard the word of the truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world (Col 1:5).
Or my ways can refer to good works, as I teach everywhere, to doctrines. For Timothy had been sent to induce them to imitate the works and abide by the doctrines of the Apostle.
225. Then when he says, as if I would not come, he threatens them with the rod of correction.
First, he shows that they deserve the rod of correction, saying, as if I would not come to you, so some are puffed up, as though not fearing to be convicted of pride by me; and yet they deserved the rod, because the humble are corrected by words alone, but the proud need stripes: look on all that are proud, and confound them and crush the wicked in their place (Job 40:7).
226. Second, he tells them of his visit, when he will come to judge them. First, he foretells his coming when he says, but I will come to you shortly. But because it says in Proverbs: the heart of man disposes his way, but the Lord must direct his steps (Prov 16:9), he adds, if the Lord wills: if the Lord will and if we shall live, we will do this or that (Jas 4:15).
Second, he tells them that he will make a searching judgment when he says, and will know, namely, by a judicial process: the cause which I knew not, I searched out diligently (Job 29:16); not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power, as if to say: because they who abound in words will not be approved by my examination, but rather they who abounded in virtue: mere talk tends only to want (Prov 14:23).
Third, he assigns the reason, saying, the kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power, i.e., therefore, some who abound in speech do not attain to the kingdom of God: not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father (Matt 7:21).
227. Finally, he threatens to chastise them, but leaves the choice to them, saying: what do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, namely, of discipline, or in charity, i.e., with a display of love, and in the spirit of meekness? As if to say: it depends on you whether or not I shall deal more harshly with you. For if you persist in the foolish way, I must come to you with the rod, as Proverbs says: folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction shall drive it away (Prov 22:15). But if you amend your lives, I will act charitably and meekly: you who are spiritual, instruct such a one in a spirit of meekness (Gal 6:1). However, this does not mean that if he came with the rod, he would not come in charity, since it says in Proverbs: he who spares the rod hates his son; but he who loves him corrects him betimes (Prov 13:24), but because a person chastened with the rod fails at times to sense the gentleness of charity, as those who are encouraged gently.