1 Corinthians chapter 4

vs 1

Paul wraps up his previous idea about the church not being divided over which servant of God they follow, and someone cunningly puts it in the next chapter.

vs 2

But now it seems he is going on to talk about his own faithfulness and accountability. This verse is more generally about all those entrusted with the message of Christ, but Paul goes on to be more specific about himself in the next verse.

vs 3

So judgement from humanity, whether it be by persons, by some sort of human authority like a court, or even by himself, is just not valuable to Paul. He's not working for those people, so he doesn't really care what they think. With regards to being accountable, anyway.

vs 4

Paul strives to do everything he can to serve God, because it is to God he is accountable. And he feels confident that he is in the right. Now, he doesn't necessarily feel that he is perfect and blame-free. Instead, he feels confident that it will be God who judges him for his wrongdoings, and not people.

vs 5

Long verse this one. On an aside, this verse sort of mentions that we will know the final judgements of people when Jesus returns, which is one more reason not to be an asshole - because it will be exposed to everyone at the end.

But the practical application of this verse is clear - that we should refrain from judging people, because God is going to do it at the end of time. And not only will he judge - he will also give praise.

vs 6

So Paul isn't just talking about himself - he is applying this stuff to Apollos as well (although Peter is absent here). He says that the idea is to teach them what he means when he says "Do not go beyond what is written", but I'm having a bit of a hard time getting what he means there.

I don't think that Paul is saying he is attributing these things to himself, and to Apollos, but not to the Corinthians. He does go on to jab them about thinking how great they are in the next verse, but I can't really see a correlation in that sense.

One thing I have read (though not recently) was a theory that Paul is referring back to the letter that he received in response to his first letter to the Corinthians. So either the Corinthians said something about "not going beyond what is written", or Paul said it in his first letter and is now explaining it more fully.

vs 7

They shouldn't be prideful of learning something from one person or another, because it doesn't make them cool. It just means that they are reliant on one person instead of another. Not really boastworthy, says Paul.

vs 8

Paul is now starting on a quite nasty condemnation of the Corinthians, who think they are so cool, and think they are so wonderful. This might be because of the assurance they have of being the children of God - so they think they are princes among men - or just because they are so darn smart because of what they've been taught. In any case, they have left Paul behind in this belief - perhaps they think that they have outgrown their childish ways and are now the masters and the teachers.

vs 9

But Paul is going to show them that being rich materially, and thinking you are cool, is not necessarily a blessing from God to show you how good a Christian you are. The Apostles, the best Christians by rank, have been treated like crap, and made an example of, both on earth but even in heaven. They are pitiful, dirty slaves captured as spoils of war. Paul is saying here that the Apostles know their position before God and are humbled by it. They are slaves to God, not kings! They humble themselves, and let Christ exalt them.

vs 10

I love that Paul uses sarcasm here. It makes me feel vindicated. I was just thinking this morning of university, when someone asked me "If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big he can't move it". My snarky response would have been "Let me ask a question about who you worship - can you even make a rock?". I didn't say it, and I wonder if I should have. But Paul feels no qualms about pointing out the flaws of the Corinthians in sarcasm. My feeling is that the letter he received from them was fairly nasty, and so he feels ok with blasting them back a bit.