First Corinthians Chapter 4
Have you ever seen competition escalate from rivalry to hostility? League official for children’s sports regularly remind parents “It’s just a game.” in hopes of warding off angry confrontations between overheated parents. Our political campaigns have veered further and further away from reasoned debate about policy into venomous personal attacks. Even competition for an open parking space can spark a nasty confrontation.
Paul has something to say to us about all that.
In chapter four Paul made a move that was probably more surprising to the Corinthians than it is to us. Watch closely or you might miss it. Paul begins this chapter by using the word ‘steward’ to describe both he and the other missionary, “Apollos.” Paul accorded to another leader a rank equal to himself. No one in Corinth was expecting that. It’s different for us, so the passage hits us differently. We love talk of equality. We are so used to it we forget to be shocked. A modern American might blow right past that sentence about the two leaders both being stewards, but I think it must have stopped the Corinthians in their tracks.
The move toward equal footing was counter cultural. Remember, the problem being addressed is the existence of factions, some loyal to Paul, others loyal to Apollos. The Corinthians shared the bedrock beliefs of the time, that personal honor must be maximized and personal shame minimized. Boasts such as, “I belong to Paul” Or “I belong to Apollos” are the proof that those early Christians were simply dragging their cultural baggage into the church. The need to prove you were above others was insatiable. It was habit. It was the water everyone swam in.
They were at risk of making faith in Christ a kind of competition. Does that sound familiar? The time honored phrase “Holier than thou.” became common coin because there are so many instances of spiritual competition and snobbery.
Paul refused to make Apollos into an adversary. The people of Corinth might have expected Paul to try to grind Apollos under his heel. They expected Paul to achieve honor by winning more followers to the ‘Paul’ side away from the ‘Apollos’ side. He used an idiomatic phrase, “nothing beyond what is written” as a way of reminding them not to make too much of any human leader.
Paul was counter-cultural in a second sense. By using the word ‘steward’ he not only makes Apollos equal to himself, but he puts both himself and Apollos in the position of servant, or subordinate. The steward is not the owner. That too went against the grain of how people thought about leaders.
At verse 8 Paul shows the depth of his passion and annoyance by launching into some thick sarcasm. He is being ironic when he says of the Corinthians, “Already you have become rich… …you have become kings!”
Following the logic of people trying to collect honor and avoid shame, it appears the Corinthians thought of their baptismal identity as something that made them better than others. They might have been taking the identity ‘child of God’ to mean ‘better than everyone else.’ Perhaps they thought their faith journey was complete. It’s not too much of a stretch, since they had been taught their righteousness was completed by Christ. They thought they had arrived in a cosmic sense. Cool, right?
Paul says, “Not so fast.” He then calls to mind the sufferings he has endured because of his preaching and teaching. Paul’s tribulations echoed the suffering of Jesus, who took the cross for the sake of the world. Jesus anticipated his followers might suffer for the gospel. Jesus even said,
“If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!” (Matthew 10:25)
So Paul calls them to think more about service and less about honor. He calls them to follow his own example by claiming his place as their spiritual father. Paul was clever. While fighting against one deeply held cultural value (a negative one) he employs an equally deep cultural value- the imitation of the father- to call his fellow Christians to lives of service and humility.
Our own culture has its strengths and weaknesses. If honor/shame was the water the Corinthians swam in, what does our water look like? We swim in materialism and the pursuit of wealth, comfort and novelty. We may not think in terms of honor/shame, but I think we are not so different. Does it say something about our values when we see we are more willing to talk about sex than we are about money? We may not pursue honor in the same vein as the Corinthians, but pursue we do. Our competitions, small and large are surely about trying to be better than others. The squabbles on the soccer sidelines suggest we all need a reminder of Paul’s teachings for the Christians at Corinth.
Have you ever seen competition escalate from rivalry to hostility? League official for children’s sports regularly remind parents “It’s just a game.” in hopes of warding off angry confrontations between overheated parents. Our political campaigns have veered further and further away from reasoned debate about policy into venomous personal attacks. Even competition for an open parking space can spark a nasty confrontation.
Paul has something to say to us about all that.
In chapter four Paul made a move that was probably more surprising to the Corinthians than it is to us. Watch closely or you might miss it. Paul begins this chapter by using the word ‘steward’ to describe both he and the other missionary, “Apollos.” Paul accorded to another leader a rank equal to himself. No one in Corinth was expecting that. It’s different for us, so the passage hits us differently. We love talk of equality. We are so used to it we forget to be shocked. A modern American might blow right past that sentence about the two leaders both being stewards, but I think it must have stopped the Corinthians in their tracks.
The move toward equal footing was counter cultural. Remember, the problem being addressed is the existence of factions, some loyal to Paul, others loyal to Apollos. The Corinthians shared the bedrock beliefs of the time, that personal honor must be maximized and personal shame minimized. Boasts such as, “I belong to Paul” Or “I belong to Apollos” are the proof that those early Christians were simply dragging their cultural baggage into the church. The need to prove you were above others was insatiable. It was habit. It was the water everyone swam in.
They were at risk of making faith in Christ a kind of competition. Does that sound familiar? The time honored phrase “Holier than thou.” became common coin because there are so many instances of spiritual competition and snobbery.
Paul refused to make Apollos into an adversary. The people of Corinth might have expected Paul to try to grind Apollos under his heel. They expected Paul to achieve honor by winning more followers to the ‘Paul’ side away from the ‘Apollos’ side. He used an idiomatic phrase, “nothing beyond what is written” as a way of reminding them not to make too much of any human leader.
Paul was counter-cultural in a second sense. By using the word ‘steward’ he not only makes Apollos equal to himself, but he puts both himself and Apollos in the position of servant, or subordinate. The steward is not the owner. That too went against the grain of how people thought about leaders.
At verse 8 Paul shows the depth of his passion and annoyance by launching into some thick sarcasm. He is being ironic when he says of the Corinthians, “Already you have become rich… …you have become kings!”
Following the logic of people trying to collect honor and avoid shame, it appears the Corinthians thought of their baptismal identity as something that made them better than others. They might have been taking the identity ‘child of God’ to mean ‘better than everyone else.’ Perhaps they thought their faith journey was complete. It’s not too much of a stretch, since they had been taught their righteousness was completed by Christ. They thought they had arrived in a cosmic sense. Cool, right?
Paul says, “Not so fast.” He then calls to mind the sufferings he has endured because of his preaching and teaching. Paul’s tribulations echoed the suffering of Jesus, who took the cross for the sake of the world. Jesus anticipated his followers might suffer for the gospel. Jesus even said,
“If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!” (Matthew 10:25)
So Paul calls them to think more about service and less about honor. He calls them to follow his own example by claiming his place as their spiritual father. Paul was clever. While fighting against one deeply held cultural value (a negative one) he employs an equally deep cultural value- the imitation of the father- to call his fellow Christians to lives of service and humility.
Our own culture has its strengths and weaknesses. If honor/shame was the water the Corinthians swam in, what does our water look like? We swim in materialism and the pursuit of wealth, comfort and novelty. We may not think in terms of honor/shame, but I think we are not so different. Does it say something about our values when we see we are more willing to talk about sex than we are about money? We may not pursue honor in the same vein as the Corinthians, but pursue we do. Our competitions, small and large are surely about trying to be better than others. The squabbles on the soccer sidelines suggest we all need a reminder of Paul’s teachings for the Christians at Corinth.
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