>> Jen: Welcome to the bible explained podcast faithful listeners. My name is Jen. I am the host here. Grab your bible and your cup of coffee, because today we're going to be in first Corinthians four. As you can see, my voice sounds better today. Yesterday, I was a little bit more sick in the throat, and today I'm actually pretty much back to 100%. And today I'm just enjoying my time podcasting, and also, um, just the wonderful weather that we've been experiencing, experiencing here in
my great state of Ohio. I have my clothes actually drying outside. I've recently discovered clothes drying outside. Oh, uh, you know, I mean, I always knew that it existed. I've seen the amish people hang their clothes outside, but I never considered doing it until actually this month when I was like, it's so nice outside. I enjoy being outside. I'm going to give it a shot. And my husband's like, that's stupid. Don't do it. He's like, why would you do that? We have a dryer. And, uh, probably
most men feel that way. They're probably like, why would you waste your time doing that? But I'm telling you, the clothes smell very good, like out in the sun as compared to the dryer. I'm telling you there's something different about it. Tell me if you've ever experienced that. Tell me if you've ever hung your clothes outside, and I whether or not you like it better or you think it's a waste of time, I'd like to hear about all of that.
But speaking of dirty laundry, Paul is about to expose the dirty laundry of the corinthian church. So let's go ahead and read first Corinthians four, 8 through 21. And today I'll get to some of the verses that I didn't get to on Tuesday. So grab your Bible in the version that you prefer, but I'll be reading this out of the web. You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did
reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God bless has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for christs sake, but you are wise. In Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonorous. Even to this present hour. We hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. We
toil working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all. Even until now, I don't write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have 10,000 tutors in Christ, you don't have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the good news. I beg you, therefore, be imitators
of me. Because of this, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere, in every assembly. Now, some are puffed up as though I am not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly if the Lord is willing. And I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power for God's kingdom is not in word, but in
power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? This is the portion where Paul really lays it in to the corinthian church. And you can see there's a lot of sarcasm in what we read today. You can see that there's a lot of anger in what we read today because the corinthian church, there was a lot of problems going on, and I think Paul was very frustrated, because Paul was with the Corinthians for a year and a half.
It was one of his longest missionary journeys. It was one of the cities that he stayed the longest in. And yet now, after he's left only a short period of time later, it's like the church almost fell off the deep end or something, and they're starting to just do all sorts of terrible things, which Paul is going to get into more in the coming chapters. And from what I can remember, Paul has
addressed two problems up until this point. The first problem was that the church was divided over which preacher they liked the best. So some of the church would be like, I like Peter the best. I'm going to listen to Peter. Oh, I like Paul the best. I'm going to listen to Paul. And Paul is like, that is so dumb, because Peter and I and Apollos and any of the other apostles that you're listening to,
we're all preaching the same gospel. So why would you get divided over which preacher you like the best when the gospel message is exactly the same? So that was the first
problem he addresses. And now this is the second problem that he addresses, this arrogance that the corinthian church was experiencing, even though they had no right to be arrogant, because they were starting to do all sorts of really crazy and terrible things that the city of Corinth was known for, like the debaucherous lifestyle and everything.
So in verses 8 through 13 of, uh, first Corinthians, four, Paul is just laying into the sarcasm because the Corinthians truly thought that they were so spiritually mature. And Paul is going to explain to them, no, you are not spiritually mature. In fact, you're very far from that. He says, you are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without
us. So he's making fun of the Corinthians, and he's saying, you know, you already think that you're so rich in spiritual maturity, you think that you are already reigning. But what about us apostles? What about us apostles that are going out and doing all of this work? Here's what's going on with us. We are made a spectacle to the world. We are like men sentenced to death. We are fools for Christ's sake. We have hunger. We have
thirst. We are naked. Sometimes we are beaten. We have no place to live. And Paul is explaining all this and kind of mocking the Corinthian church because they think that in their cozy church, where they have really no problems and they're not addressing any problems in their church, and they've become kind of lukewarm, that they are spiritually mature and that they are already like kings and queens
of Christ. Yet the apostles who are going out and spreading the gospel to all of these other areas and all these other nations are getting ridiculed and beaten and persecuted and everything taken from m them, which is where Paul says, we're naked. We've seen in the book of acts where sometimes it wasn't just physical, uh, persecution the apostles would experience, it was also financial persecution.
Religious elders and the Romans would actually come after the finances of the apostles and force them to pay exorbitant fees in order to, you know, continue to spread the gospel message or something like that. So in every single way that the apostles could be persecuted, they were persecuted. And yet through all of these persecutions, the apostles
maintained their faith in Christ. And yet the Corinthians, in their much more comfy circumstances, we're beginning to waver on the gospel message, and we're beginning to invite arrogance and division and sexual misconduct and corruption into their churches. And so Paul is making fun of them. You are so arrogant to think that you are more righteous than the people going out and getting persecuted for the gospel message. I think that, uh, the corinthian church actually, in many ways is like the
american church. The american church is very similar in the fact that many churches have compromised their beliefs by allowing sin to come into the church and promoting that sin as fact or saying, oh, you know, God bless is just love. God bless is just love. There's no such thing as sin. There's no such thing as, you know, hell. So you just go on doing whatever you're going to do. That's kind of what the corinthian church was beginning to do.
And they were becoming very arrogant. They're like, yeah, you know, we can allow all these things into our church, and we're still kings and queens of Christ. We are still spiritually mature. So Paul goes on in verses 14 through 21, which is probably the most controversial portion that we have read in first Corinthians so far, he says, I don't write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. So Paul says, look, I am not making fun of you, to shame you or to insult
you. I am, um, using it as a way to teach you. You truly believe these things, corinthian church, you believe that you are so much better than everybody else, and yet look at what's going on. He says, I am trying to admonish you, in other words, correct you as my beloved children. Then he kind of talks about the term beloved children. He sort of goes into a different direction. He says, for though you have 10,000 tutors in Christ, you don't have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus,
I became your father through the good news. So a lot of critics will actually take this verse and they'll be like, oh, well, this is, uh, Paul actually disobeying the commandment of God bless. Which don't get me wrong. I mean, Paul was a sinner, just as every human being is. And we've talked about certain sins that Paul has done in the past, but personally, I do not think that this is one of the sins that Paul is
guilty of. And if you guys have no clue what I'm talking about, let's go over to Matthew, chapter 23, and read verses 8 through through twelve. I'm reading this out of the NIV version, and this is Jesus speaking to his disciples. He says, but you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth Father, for you have one father and he is in heaven, nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the
messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant, for those who will exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. So a lot of people will say that Paul was disobeying Jesus words, because Jesus says in verse nine here, do not call anyone on earth father. But what was Jesus talking about in this entire passage? He was talking about humility versus pride in a religious context. So, first and foremost, he says, don't call anybody rabbi
because you have one teacher. Now, Rabbi, at the time of Jesus, that was a honorific for somebody who taught the Old Testament scriptures. And Jesus says, don't call anybody rabbi. Don't use that prestigious title, because you have one teacher, the Holy Spirit. And plus, on top of that, you are all brothers. You are all equal in Christ. And then Jesus says, don't call anyone on earth father. That honorific title, that religious title, because you have one Father,
and he is in heaven, God bless the Father. Nor are you to be called instructors. Another honorific title for religious leaders, for you have one instructor, the messiah or myself is what Jesus says. And then the two verses after that actually prove that Jesus was talking about humility versus pride, because he says, you know, the least among all of you guys is going to be the greatest. The servant among all of you guys is the one who is going to
be exalted. So don't make yourselves out to be these great men and these great people. So, is Paul doing that in first Corinthians four, was he making himself out to be greater than the corinthians? I don't believe so. In fact, what does Paul say at the very beginning of first corinthians four? Think of us as Christ's servants and as stewards
of God's mysteries. So I don't think that Paul was making himself out to be this great person and telling the corinthians, call me father, because that's an honorific religious title that I just need. I don't think that's what Paul was doing, especially if you go into the heart of what Matthew 23 812 really says. On top of this, turning back to, uh, Matthew 23, verse nine, the word father that Jesus states here, if you go back to the Greek, the word is paterden.
Okay? So that was the word that people would use, pater for both God bless and also for religious leaders. But if you turn to first Corinthians four and you look at the greek word for Father that Paul uses in verse 15, it's a different greek word. It's not pater, it's geneo. And geneo means to become the father of, to conceive, to bear, to have, uh, children. And in one instance in the Bible, it's actually even referred to
as a mother. So the greek word that Paul uses for Father actually means more like a parent rather than the honorific title of father, as the religious leaders in Jesus day and Paul's day would have used. So it's a different greek word as well. That's why Paul calls the corinthian church my beloved children. So Paul really had a feeling of just care and love for the people that he ministered to.
So now that we have the father thing cleared up, we move into verse 16 of first Corinthians four, where Paul says, I beg you, therefore, be imitators of me. So people can absolutely take this portion and be like Paul was elevating himself to godhood. But that can't be possible because Paul called himself the slave to Christ so many times, and a slave is not the same as the master. A slave can't be the same as a master.
So Paul couldn't have been elevating himself to the level of godhood in first corinthians four if he calls himself a slave quite often, which he actually did, like I said, at the very beginning of first corinthians four. So what
does Paul mean when he says, be imitators of me? Now, I've heard this interpreted many ways, one way being that Paul was telling the corinthian church, you know, if it is too hard to imitate Jesus because of his absolute perfection, then imitate me, because I am doing my best to imitate Christ. And it's going to be less intimidating for you to imitate me than it would for you to imitate Christ, until, of course, you grow more in your relationship with Christ, and it becomes easier then
to imitate Christ instead of me. So that's one way I've heard it interpreted, and I actually like that interpretation. But another way that this could be interpreted is that, you know, the Bible was not widely available yet to the average person, and many people couldn't read in Paul's time period. So because they had no written copies of the gospel yet, they didn't have a full understanding, a full picture of everything that Jesus wanted them to do.
We know that this is the case, actually, because the Corinthians were gentiles. Don't forget, they were not jewish. They were gentile peoples. They came from a background of paganism. So they weren't going to have a full and clear picture of everything they were supposed to do yet, unless somebody showed them how to do it, unless they were able to imitate what they saw somebody else imitating. And that's where Paul comes
in. Paul is imitating Christ. He's got a very good knowledge of the gospel message of the Old Testament laws, whereas the Corinthians didn't yet. So Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. He says, because of this, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. There it is again. Like Paul considers himself as, like, uh, an
affectionate dad towards Timothy. He says, I am sending Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways, which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly. Notice that Paul qualifies his previous statement of imitate me with the words my ways, which are in Christ. So Paul always gives the glory back to God bless. Christ was the one who did all of this, not me, not my actions, not my words. It was
Christ who has done all of this. Paul is sending Timothy to the corinthian church to help fix the mess that the Corinthians have gotten themselves into. He says, some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you. He says, you guys have become so arrogant, you think that I've just abandoned you, that I am not going to come again, that, you know, my words don't really matter, which. All of this is actually laid out in two
Corinthians. Some of the people who went to the corinthian church were pretty much trying to smear Paul as best they could. And some of the Corinthians were actually believing these lies about Paul. He says, I have not abandoned you. In fact, I want to come to you very shortly, if the Lord is willing, and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power and what Paul is getting at there. He says, words are cheap. Let's see what
the power is behind those words. The people who are, you know, lying about me and saying that I am, um, just abandoning you guys. Let's see what the power behind those words are when I actually come to you very shortly. And he expands upon that in verse 20. For God's kingdom is not in word, but in power. Then to conclude, what do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? So Paul finishes by saying, you guys are really testing my
patience. He's like, what do you want when I come to you? Do you want to get punished? Do you want me to yell at you guys? Because I'm pretty close to that, he says, or do you want me to come in love and a spirit of gentleness? Corinthians, it is your choice. What do you want from me? And, man, if that isn't, like, a statement a parent would say, I don't know what is. So Paul really did consider himself kind of like a parent
of this corinthian church. But the moral of this story and all of first corinthians is that we need to be watching out what is going on in our churches, because we can definitely see many of the problems that Paul lays out here that our churches in the west are imitating. And like the corinthian church, are we going to imitate what the world does, or are we going to imitate Jesus and the things that Jesus wants us to do?
Faithful listeners, if you want to show that you are imitators of Christ, then check out the psalm 40 beanie that I have listed in my shop for sale. You know, cold weather, like fall, is just around the corner. My. My leaves on my trees are actually already starting to change. I'm looking out right now, and I can see the different shades of orange and yellow. And you're gonna need a nice, cozy, warm, unisex hat to wear
for those colder temperatures. And also it has a nice little leatherette patch on the front that has the verse of psalm 40, verses one and two on the front. And that will not only keep you nice and warm, but it will express your faith and show that you are imitators of Christ wherever you go. But now that I'm done with that shameless advertisement, I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your day and that you enjoy the cooler temperatures that are coming in. Tell me if
your leaves are starting to change. I'd love to hear from all of you guys. And also, don't forget to send your prayer requests my way. If m you do in fact have a prayer request. Faithful listeners, I'll see you guys on Monday on the podcast. Tomorrow's psalm episode will be for members only, so if you're interested in gaining access to the Friday podcast episodes, become a coffee tier member on Ko Fi and check that out. Faithful listeners, I'll see you all
Monday. Have a wonderful weekend. Happy listening, and God bless bless.