GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CORINTHIANS 4:10
10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are despised.
Paul is still talking with irony or sarcasm to the Corinthians about the puffed-up way they have of thinking of themselves. He calls himself and other preachers “fools” using the same word he used in 3:18: “If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.”
In the second phrase, he uses “weak” and “strong” as the contrast. The one who preaches the gospel must seem like a weakling in his faith, since you Corinthians are so strong. This should have been a stern warning for anyone knowing their Bible. For the Lord said to his prophet: “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. But the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice” (Ezekiel 34:16). And Paul had said to the Romans: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1), and again, “Everyone should build up he neighbor” (Romans 15:2). So those who look down on the weak should understand their own humble state: The Lord has given them, the strong, the task of building up and supporting the weak. The strong must become like the flooring to the weak, like strong planks and joists and floorboards so that the weak will not stumble, but have a firm and sure footing as they learn more about Christ and grow in their faith. And all of this must be built upon the one foundation of Christ.
In the third phrase, Paul reverses the order of the subjects. To begin with, he said “we are fools, you and wise,” and then, “we are weak, you are strong.” Now he changes things and says, “You are honored, but we are despised.” This is not only for variety or rhetoric. The change helps him to emphasize a new point. The previous warnings about being “wise” and “strong” showed that the Corinthians considered themselves to have a certain status or place in the church. Now he says something more. When he says, “You are honored,” he means that although they are honored by Christ (Psalm 62:7; 84:11; 1 Peter 1:7), they act as if they deserve such honor, which is an altogether dishonorable thing, for “humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 15:33). “Do not exalt yourself lest you fall, and thus bring dishonor upon yourself.” But more than this, they were acting as if, because of their superior status, that they should bring shame upon Paul and other pastors. Maybe they thought that by doing so, Paul would finally shape up and behave more like the Corinthian elite. They felt that they were helping him and even helping the gospel by doing this.
Luther brilliantly illustrates the seemingly impossible place where Paul found himself: “If I say, I am more learned than you, I am a proud dunce. If I humble myself, then nobody will want to learn from me. Therefore I say, “I am utterly nothing. God knows it. But when I accomplish anything through God, I do it not for the sake of the crowd but to commend our office… We still preach better than you, because we preach the New Testament.”
So, “Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil” (Proverbs 3:7). True wisdom is blind and deaf to the values of the world. True wisdom takes God’s word and God’s will into account. True wisdom behaves like an actor on a dark stage. Without caring about the size of the audience, all he wants to do is remain in the spotlight, not so that the audience can see, but so that the light will be on him; so that God’s eye will see him. He wants to be in the true light of the Lord always, because he knows what without the light he is lost (Proverbs 5:23), but with the light, he sees God’s holy path (Psalm 16:11). As Jesus said to us all: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Learn where there is true wisdom, where there is strength, where there is understanding, that you may at the same time discern where there is long life in the world, and eternal life in heaven, where there is light for the eyes, and peace.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Corinthians 4:10 we are despised