I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
- 1 Corinthians 4:14-21
Paul delivered some pretty harsh words to the believers at Corinth in the previous section. He called out their boasting of their faith, and how they were acting as if they were more mature than they actually were, and he shared how humbled he and the other leaders were in contrast to that. Now, Paul moves on from that to explain to the Corinthians how they could correct this in their lives.
Paul begins in verse 14 by sharing his intent in writing his harsh words in the previous section – not to shame them but to warn them. He was only harsh with them because he needed to be for their own sake. Their actions could produce serious negative consequences for their lives, and Paul loves them enough to speak the truth in love to them. He knows that there cannot be love without truth, and there cannot be truth without love, so he follows up that hard truth with an expression of love for these believers.
In verse 15, Paul recognizes that they have not had a lot of good influences (“fathers”) up to that point in their Christian walk. But because Paul is their spiritual father, he feels that he has the right and the responsibility to correct them when he sees them going astray. This idea is important for us today as well. We often want to correct anybody and everybody who we see doing something that we think is not good for their faith, but the relationship piece is vitally important. We need to have earned the right and responsibility to speak the truth in love into that person’s life through having a Christian relationship with them.
Because of this relationship, Paul commands the Corinthian believers to become imitators of him in verse 16. Back in verse 6, Paul shared that he and Apollos are examples for them to follow, but here he provides a stronger command regarding that.
But Paul knows that they need to have living people as examples to follow rather than just his letters, which is why he tells them in verse 17 that he’s sending Timothy to them. Paul is also Timothy’s spiritual father. If Timothy has been trained to imitate Paul, and the Corinthians imitate Timothy, then the Corinthians in turn will be imitating Paul, who is their primary physical example for living out the Christian life.
There is some debate among scholars as to whether Timothy was the messenger who delivered this letter to the church in Corinth. The fact that Paul says he sent Timothy could imply that Timothy was the one with whom he sent the letter. But the Greek verb also could be taken to mean that Paul sent Timothy in the past before he sent the letter. This is supported by the fact that Paul does not mention Timothy in the greetings of this letter, implying that Timothy was not with Paul when this letter was written.
But regardless of how Timothy and this letter got to the church in Corinth, Timothy is there to be a faithful witness to the people. Timothy will remind them ot how Paul lives out his Christian life and the fact that Paul practices what he preaches. Paul is not simply giving them instructions to follow that he himself ignores, but Paul is living this out. He knows it can be done, but he also knows that the believers in Corinth need some extra help to figure out how to live obedient lives to God.
Paul knows that some of the Corinthian believers have become arrogant in their faith (verse 18), as evidenced by his rant in the previous section. There were false teachers among the church who were trying to undermine Paul’s authority. They likely thought they could get away with it once Paul was no longer present with them, but Paul found out about that and saw that this needed to be corrected.
Because of that, Paul promised to come visit them again soon, Lord willing (verse 19). While sending Timothy would be a good first step, Paul knew that the situation in Corinth was much more severe and would require him to personally visit, assess the situation, and make corrections as needed. While this letter would serve as a warning, Paul knew through discernment by the Holy Spirit that it would not be enough to correct their ways.
False teachers can easily become a powerful force for evil in the church, so Paul needed to be there in person to fix that rather than simply talking about it in a letter. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (verse 20). When a child needs to be disciplined, which is a more effective punishment – using words or laying down an actual punishment? Talk is cheap, as the saying goes, and Paul knew that back in the first century. He could not let the kingdom of God in Corinth be ruined by false teachers who were spreading lies about him and about the message of the Christian faith.
Paul was definitely coming to visit the believers in Corinth, but the tone of his visit would be their choice. In verse 21 he writes, “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?” If they don’t correct their ways before Paul arrives, he would show up with the rod of discipline to correct their ways. But if they get the problem taken care of on their own (and with Timothy’s help) before Paul gets there, he would be much more gentle toward them. It’s their choice based on their actions after receiving this letter. Would they listen to Paul’s words, truly take them to heart, and change their ways? Or would they keep on letting the false teachers ruin them and being boastful of themselves?
What would you do in your own life? Have you received a rebuke like this before? How did you respond to it? Sometimes, harsh words (even spoken in love) can cause us to become defensive, caught up in our own pride that we are right in that situation. Or, if we are following Paul’s instructions, we should receive reprimand when it is needed and change our ways. The mark of a disciple of Jesus is a true desire to follow Him, no matter what that looks like in our lives.
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