The Dangers of Arrogance; 1
Corinthians 4:3-21
The chapter has
basically three divisions in it. In vv. 1-5 the main idea is that God is the only
qualified judge and evaluator of a pastor’s ministry. In vv. 6-13 the emphasis
is on the dangers of arrogance and how arrogance fragments not only the
individual but also the congregation. Then in vv. 14 on Paul apples that to the
congregation and warns them of the dangers of their continuing in arrogance.
Definition of the
gift of pastor-teacher: The Gift of pastor-teacher is an enhanced ability
provided at salvation by God the Holy Spirit to extract the meaning of the
Scriptures through a process of study, investigation and analysis of the Word
of God, and to explain its meaning so that believers can grow spiritually and
to lead a congregation toward spiritual maturity.
What is means by
an enhanced ability is that there are a lot of people who have natural talents
in teaching but it is not a spiritual gift. This is a gift that is given by the
Holy Spirit and it is an enhanced ability to communicate. It doesn’t have
anything to do with natural talent. What is involved in this gift is the
ability to extract the meaning of Scripture. That doesn’t come automatically.
You are trained as a pastor-teacher, you are trained in the skills of Bible
study, it is not an automatic insight into the
Scriptures. Just because a person has the gift of pastor-teacher it doesn’t
mean that can just flop their Bible open and read a
verse, then tell you what it means. That is not what the gift means; that is a
mystical distortion of the gift. It involves training, maturity, and a thorough
understanding of other parts of Scripture. So it is not an automatic insight,
not an automatic ability to get into the Word, and there is no automatic desire
to study. One of the greatest dangers to every Christian is arrogance and one
of rhe greatest dangers to pastors is arrogance, and one of the greatest
manifestations of it is laziness. The volition to study is part of their
responsibility.
In verses 3-5
Paul emphasizes the fact that in light of this responsibility and requirement
as a pastor no human being has the knowledge required to perform that
evaluation. You can evaluate a man on the basis of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1
because that is something that is obvious and evident in a person’s life, but
in terms of a person’s faithful teaching of the Word of God, especially
teaching in fellowship, teaching under the power of God the Holy Spirit, that
is not evident to any human being. We do not have the ability to even evaluate
our own lives and determine what is producing gold, silver and precious stones
and what is wood, hay and straw.
1 Corinthians 4:3 NASB
“But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by {any}
human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.” This is an idiom in the
Greek and it means that it is insignificant that Paul should be judged by them.
In other words, the Corinthians evaluation is not relevant. He uses the Greek
word ANAKRINO [a)nakrinw] and this word is used several times in this context.
It means to evaluate and to examine. “…or by any human court.” Literally in the
Greek is means “a day of man.” That is a Greek idiom for public opinion. Then
he says that he doesn’t even “examine” himself, and he uses that same word. In
1 Corinthians
[4] “For I am conscious of nothing
against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is
the Lord.” The word translated “acquitted” is DIKAIOO [dikaiow] which is the verb for justified, but it is not used
in that technical sense of justification here. What Paul is saying is, “I am
not aware of anything overt that is negative about my ministry, but that
doesn’t acquit me because there are things I don’t understand.” The one who
examines him is the Lord and that judgment only takes place at the judgment
seat of Christ.
Therefore he draws a
conclusion [5] “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, {but
wait} until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in
the darkness and disclose the motives of {men’s} hearts; and then each man’s
praise will come to him from God.” Don’t get involved in judging any pastor’s
ministry because you don’t know what the real issues are. There are levels of
evaluation, in some form of overt sin that is bringing shame upon himself and
the congregation, then that needs to be dealt with if it is a violation of
those standards in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Aside from that, don’t wander
around evaluating somebody’s ministry. But this qualification should be added:
That is a different issue from evaluating the doctrine that is taught in
somebody’s ministry. That is different. We are called upon as believers to
exercise discernment, and there are time when it is
necessary to examine or evaluate what someone teaches. It is not personal, you
are not evaluating them as to where they are spiritually, but it is important
to evaluate a system of doctrine that is being taught because its negative
effect on the body of Christ. Sometimes it is important to identify who teaches
false systems because sheep don’t always identify who the false teacher is.
Paul sets the principles in
the first five verses related to the requirements and the responsibilities of a
pastor. In his case he is an apostle and the problem that is going on in
[6] “Now these things,
brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so
that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you
will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.” In chapter one he has
said that some were saying “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” There were probably more groups
than that and those probably weren’t the actual groups. He is just using that,
figuratively speaking, in order to identify the fact that they were identifying
themselves and aligning themselves with different charismatic figures and
intellectual heroes in their congregation. “…so that in us you may learn not to
exceed what is written.” In other words, you have to stick with what the
Scripture says, “…so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one
against the other.”
The problem in Greek culture
was philosophy. At the very foundation of studying doctrine is exegesis, and
exegesis is related to a particular passage. And the exegesis must be related
to context. The next step is to begin to build a synthesis,
you begin to identify various categories. As these various categories are
developed that are being taught in the passage, then you start comparing those
with other Scriptures. This leads to a third level which is what we will call
biblical theology. For example, you look at how Paul uses certain terminology,
then how John uses the terminology, Peter, and so on. The Holy Spirit inspires
the Word of God but each author writes within his own style and his own
personality. So there are certain distinctions. After the biblical theology
then you go to the crowing achievement which is the systematic theology, and
that then comes back and helps with the exegesis. The danger is that when
systematic theology becomes so abstract that it cuts itself loose and becomes
an absolute in itself and you develop a hardened, calcified systematic theology
and read that back into the passage. That is what happened after the Reformation.
In Lutheran theology, rather than continuing to develop in their understanding
of the Scriptures things hardened into various creeds that were written in the
16th century and those creeds, then, become the way the Bible is
interpreted. The issue is no longer what does the Bible say, the issue is what
does the theological system teach, and that then determines how you interpret
various passages. This is because historically there was this impact of Greek
philosophy on the early church, and the tendency in Greek philosophy is to get
theology and abstract it where you separate it from its grounding in the Word.
(Prep school teachers: When you teach principles of doctrine, always ground it
in a biblical event and a biblical situation)
At the conclusion of verse 6
Paul says, “so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against
the other.” The Greek word translated “arrogant” is the Greek word and it means
to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, to be bloated, to be
puffed up with air, to think that you have come up with things that you
haven’t. This is the idea of generating theology to go far beyond anything that
you can demonstrate through the text. This is apparently what they were
beginning to do and it was leading them into all kinds of areas where they were
becoming intellectually impressed with themselves with what they were coming up
with about Scripture. And remember, they didn’t even have a completed canon. So
Paul brings them back to reality with three questions in verse 7. All three of
these questions are to bring them back to recognizing that God is the source of
everything, that we must have a theocentric view of life.
[7] “For who regards you as
superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it?” First of all, Who makes you different? Everybody is different. Some people
have one talent, other people have another talent, some people are smarter,
some people aren’t, but we are all sinners and we are all equally obnoxious to
God. Any positive differences in us, whether it is intellectual, whether it is
material, whether it has to do with talents or gifts, are all due to God’s
grace. At salvation the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts to us and
throughout life God’s grace distributes different blessings to everyone.
Everyone is different, the positive differences are due to the grace of God and
the negative differences are due to our own failures following our own sin
natures. So the first question is to focus attention on the ultimate source of
all their positive blessings, and that is God. Second, What
do you have that you did not receive?
The emphasis here is, don’t boast in all of these things that you think
you have accomplished, it was God who gave you the
ability and the accomplishment. The third question, which is really his
conclusion, And if you did receive it [if you didn’t
generate that difference on your own], why do you boast as if you had not
received it? Why are you bragging about it? Paul is emphasizing the fact that
they have completely failed at grace orientation. Grace orientation recognizes
that everything we have has been given to us by God, and only when we recognize
that can we have genuine humility.
Then a little
sanctified sarcasm. [8] “You are
already filled [you had it all], you have already become rich, you have become
kings without us; and indeed, {I} wish that you had become kings so that we
also might reign with you.” Paul is trying to shame them by his tone. You
really don’t need us, you are so smart, and you have everything figured out
that you are far beyond anything that we could do for you!
Then he comes back to
emphasize the truth in verse 9. The truth is really the conflict of values
between human viewpoint thinking and divine viewpoint. Human viewpoint puts its
emphasis on intellectual ability, on material gain, on education, on fame, on
all of the overt signs of success, but divine viewpoint puts its emphasis on
character, a character developed on humility. The contrast in this chapter is
arrogance versus humility. Remember, Satan is the architect of all human
viewpoint thinking, what we call cosmic thinking. What God is demonstrating in
the angelic conflict is that the only way the creature can have success it
though genuine humility and grace orientation—authority orientation to God and
reliance upon His grace; whereas Satan, the creature, is saying the way to have
real success is for the creature to promote himself and to run everything independently
of God. That is the essence eof arrogance. In divine viewpoint the emphasis is
humility and dependence upon God in everything. The trappings of success that
human viewpoint promotes are going to be just the opposite of the trappings of
success that divine viewpoint promotes. [9] “For, I think, God has exhibited us
apostles last of all [in the sense of priority], as men condemned to death;
because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”
Why were they a spectacle to angels and to men? To demonstrate the principle in
the angelic conflict that it is only when the creature develops humility, grace
orientation and dependence upon God that he can have real success, and real
success is defined in terms of character and that which endures throughout
eternity. So he is emphasizing the fact that God is teaching values that are
180 degrees opposite from the Satanic values of the
cosmic system.
[10] “We are fools for Christ’s
sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are
distinguished, but we are without honor.” It is not
that they were in actuality fools, but that in the light of the value system of
human viewpoint they were fools, they were not emphasizing the things that
culture said should be emphasized. “but you are
prudent in Christ,” they were making the claim that they were the wise ones. He
is emphasizing this contrast that the Corinthians were developing everything in
light of the value system of the culture, and what the apostles were was
insignificant to the value system of the culture.
[11] “To this present hour we
are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated,
and are homeless; [12] and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are
reviled, we bless” – this is humility because they have transformed their
humility and grace 0orientation into real impersonal love for all mankind—“when
we are persecuted, we endure; [13] when we are slandered, we try to conciliate;
we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, {even} until
now.” But even though they are rejected by man their character demonstrates
that they are exhibiting the character of Christ.
Then in vv. 14-21 Paul is going
to warn them against the arrogance because of its fragmentary consequences.
[14] “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my
beloved children.” Real humility is going to respond to criticism by saying, Well that’s true, there is something valid there, I am going
to learn from this and go through the corrective procedures. The person who is
arrogant is going to react, he is going to be hostile
whenever he is met with any kind of constructive criticism. Paul warns the
Corinthians because of the judgment seat of Christ.
[15] For if you were to have
countless tutors in Christ, yet {you would} not {have} many fathers, for in
Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” They don’t have many
fathers, i.e. those who are genuinely responsible for your spiritual welfare.
He is saying to these false teachers that they may be promoting their own
systems, they may be great teachers, they may give them
great intellectual thrills and entertainment, but they are not really concerned
about their spiritual welfare as he was. He was their spiritual father.
[16] “Therefore I exhort you,
be imitators of me.” In what way? Were they to imitate
Paul in being a tent maker? No. They were to imitate Paul in terms of grace
orientation and humility. That is the character of Christ. So when we come to
these passages of Scripture where Paul says, “Imitate me,” that is a
spiritually mature believer talking to those in his congregation that they need
to imitate the character of Christ that has been formed in them already.
[17] “For this reason I have
sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he
will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in
every church.” Notice that Timothy is faithful. What is required of a steward?
That they be found faithful. They need to be reminded again and again of the
values of divine viewpoint.
Then the
warning in vv. 18-19 against arrogance. [18] “Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.”
You think that because I am not coming back that you can start running the
congregation, that you can do whatever you want. [19] “But I will come to you
soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are
arrogant but their power.” Don’t think you are going to get away with it
because I will confront you when I come in person. We are going to be able to
determine whether the power comes from your own sin nature or from the Holy
Spirit. [20] “For the
[21] “What do you desire?
Shall I come to you with a rod [discipline], or with love and a spirit of
gentleness?” It was up to them. It was their decision as to how Paul would come
to them, as to whether they would apply doctrine and respond to his correction
or not.