Anderson - I Corinthians - 4

4:1  Let each one so think of us as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

4:2  Now it is required in stewards, that each one be found faithful.

4:3  But with me, it matters very little, that I should be judged by you, or by the judgment of men: indeed, I do not judge myself.

4:4  For, though I am conscious of no wrong, yet by this I am not justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.

4:5  So, then, judge nothing before the time, till the Lord comes, who will bring to light the secret works of darkness, and will also make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall each have his praise from God.

4:6  And these things, brethren, I have, in figure, applied to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think more of teachers than what has been written; and that no one of you be vain of one to the injury of another.

4:7  For who gave you distinction, as a teacher? And what have you as a teacher, that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?

4:8  You, Corinthians, are already full; you are already rich; you have reigned as kings independently of us. And that you did indeed reign, that we also might reign with you!

4:9  For I think that God has appointed us the apostles, to the lowest place, as under sentence of death; for we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

4:10  We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are despised.

4:11  Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed, and are maltreated, and wander about without a home,

4:12  and labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

4:13  when defamed, we entreat; we have become like the outcasts of the world, the offscouring of all things to this day.

4:14  I do not write these things that I may make you ashamed; but as my beloved children I admonish you.

4:15  For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

4:16  I exhort you, therefore, be imitators of me.

4:17  For this reason have I sent to you Timothy, who is my son, beloved and faithful in the Lord, that he may remind you of my ways that are in Christ, as I teach everywhere, in every church.

4:18  Now, some have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you;

4:19  but I will come to you quickly, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the speech of those who have become arrogant, but the power.

4:20  For the kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.

4:21  What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of gentleness?