Context No. 3318 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 4:14-21: in context

14I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. 16I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. 17Because 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. 18Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19But 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. 20For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. 21What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

Paul writes to the Corinthians not as a scold but as a father: I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Though they have countless guides in Christ, they have but one father in the gospel, the one who brought them to birth in Christ, and so he can urge, be imitators of me. And he draws a line against the puffed-up who are all talk: the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

Paul's authority is fatherly, more concerned with his children's growth than with winning arguments. And he will not be impressed by mere talk. Some in Corinth were arrogant and full of words; Paul answers that God's kingdom is not a matter of clever speech or boasting but of real power, the power of God at work in changed lives. Talk is cheap; the kingdom shows itself in transformation. His fatherly love is willing to correct, even to come with a rod if he must, but he longs instead to come in love and a spirit of gentleness.

Do I measure the reality of God's kingdom by power that changes lives rather than by impressive talk, and do I receive correction as the fatherly love it can be?

Sources

1 Corinthians 4:15: "For... you don't have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News."
1 Corinthians 4:20: "For God's Kingdom is not in word, but in power."
1 Corinthians 4:21: "Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?"