Article from the East Main Messenger, dated 6/29/2025.
What do you wish?
1 Corinthians 4:21a
As Paul begins to segue into addressing another problem within Corinth, he now communicates why he has just spoken to them so scathingly (1 Cor. 4:7-13). He writes, “I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me” (1 Cor. 4:14-16).
It is noteworthy that Paul goes out of his way to let them know that his purpose in admonishing them so strongly was not to “make you ashamed.” Good communication which “is good for building up” and “give(s) grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29) goes out of its way to let the hearer know that their best interests are your top priority because of your love for them. Telling the one you rebuke, “I don’t want to make you feel bad. I am speaking frankly with you because I care about you,” helps peace between you and them to be maintained “so far as it depends on you” (Rom. 12:18).
In the case of the Corinthians, Paul indeed felt a special bond with them because he was the one who had originally brought the gospel to them and had converted them to Christ. Yes, others such as Cephas and Apollos were among the “countless guides in Christ” who had instructed them since he had left them, but he was the one who had first introduced them to Jesus. This is why he metaphorically thought of them as “my beloved children” and of himself as “your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” In calling himself their “father,” he was not bestowing upon himself the term as a title and thus demanding undue respect and reverence. This was why Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees for using that and similar terms (Matt. 23:5-12), a condemnation which would also apply to the Catholic insistence of referring to their priests as “Father _____________.” However, as Brad Price observes, Paul “used the word to describe his function, not his position.” As the one who had initially shown them the way to salvation, he now urges them to “be imitators of me.”
This was why Paul, in the time since he had left them, had “sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17). Paul had also converted Timothy, and thus figuratively considered him to be his “child in the Lord” just like he viewed the Corinthians. He had taught Timothy sound doctrine, and Timothy in turn was sent to Corinth to teach Corinth sound doctrine. This same doctrine was taught “everywhere in every church.”
However, not all of the Corinthians were receptive to sound doctrine. Paul writes, “Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” (1 Cor. 4:18-21). Paul had detractors in Corinth, as 2 Corinthians brings out in greater detail. These “arrogant” opponents did not think Paul would set foot in Corinth again and admonish them in person. However, he assured the church that he would come to see them personally soon. Once he arrived, Corinth would see that his opponents were “all talk,” but Paul had divine power on his side. As an apostle, he confirmed the divine origin of his teaching by performing miracles by the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5; 2 Cor. 12:12; cf. Mk. 16:20; Heb. 2:3-4; 1 Thess. 1:5; Rom. 15:18-21). He ends his discourse on this subject by asking them if they wished him to discipline them harshly with miraculous power (as Peter had done with Ananias and Sapphira and as Paul had done earlier with Bar-Jesus – Acts 5:1-11; 13:6-12), or in a more loving and gentle manner.
This was an appropriate introduction into the next item of concern which Paul wanted to address in chapter 5. We will study that next week, Lord willing.
— Jon
To read Jon’s series on 1 Corinthians from the beginning and many other articles, visit https://predenominationalchristianity.com.