1 Corinthians 4:8 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 4:8

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The apostle is clearly employing irony. ‘Now ye are full.’ You know everything. In Corinth you have got people, and even preachers who think they have arrived, they have learned everything they could possibly need to know. They have got all the grace of God and Christian experience and judgement. ‘Ye have reigned as kings without us.’ You make your own decisions. You decide what's what, who’s good, who’s bad; but you do it without us, the apostles, without the apostolic word. As Christian people you have got tremendous self-satisfaction. That should not be the attitude of a Christian. Yes, we praise God for every blessing, but we never think we have arrived. Of course, there is no resentment in these words; rather, Paul pities them for their shallowness. He is not trying to deprive them of anything but is full of generous desire that they will come to see what true riches are.‘Without us.’ If we were applying this to ourselves we would simply say, ‘Without the word of God.’ Christians use their own judgement for all kinds of things. Evangelicalism as a whole does this. Churches everywhere are using their own judgement, not just in legitimate areas, but concerning the essentials of worship. They are employing methods and matters of worship which they have invented themselves. They have decided this is going to attract large numbers into their services. Sadly, we are capable of doing this; we can borrow from the world; we can invent a new method every year. ‘Ye have reigned’, determined your own affairs without us, the apostles; without the word of God. ‘I would to God that ye did reign’, says the apostle, reign over your pride, reign over your worldliness, bring into submission all these things that spoil you as a church. I wish had self-mastery, and reigned over sin, that we also might reign with you. It is a way of saying, that then we would have genuine cause to rejoice in you; we could be so pleased with you, and share the joy with you.

Application

Christians get like this even today. This is the Internet culture, and all the social networking – opinions, opinions: nothing but opinions. You think to yourself, ‘Where is the modesty? Where is the caution? Where is the maturity?’ Strong opinions. Well, you are like kings! You are on the throne. Your word is law. Nobody will challenge it. ‘Yes sir’, they will say, ‘No sir’; and they will carry it out. And that is how you are – super confident people. That is not how Christians ought to be. The Christian is never satisfied. He is someone who in accordance with the words of Christ on the Sermon on the Mount ‘hungers and thirsts after righteousness’, longs to make further progress. Every true Christian walking with Christ is very happy in the Lord, but he knows he has a long way to go. That is our attitude. We are keenly aware of every failure and every fall, and we are striving to go forward. We delight in learning more, and we want to advance, so we check our words and monitor our tongue. We don’t peremptorily command this, and authoritatively determine this, that or the other. No, we are not full. We are very wonderfully supplied by the Lord, but we are not full; we are not rich. But that was the direction the Corinthian Christian culture was drifting in.

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1 Corinthians 4:8 Commentary and Bible Study