Article from the East Main Messenger, dated 6/1/2025.
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
1 Corinthians 4:5
After appealing to the Corinthians to regard him and other evangelists simply “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1), Paul gives the church at Corinth some insight into his own perspective of their veneration of him. He writes, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court…” (1 Cor. 4:3a). The term “judged” (anakrino) in this context carries with it the idea of the estimation – the level of esteem – one has for another. The Corinthians held Paul in high esteem, too much in fact. In an effort to get them to change, he wants them to know that he doesn’t care very much about all the praise they’ve given him. He says this not to hurt their feelings, but rather to get them to change their perspective from one of desiring to give their loyalty to him to where it should have always been: desiring to give their loyalty solely to Christ.
To bring home his point, the apostle goes on to say, “…In fact, I do not even judge myself” (1 Cor. 4:3b). In other words, “I do not even hold myself in sort of esteem, high or otherwise.” He had just referred to himself, Apollos, and Peter as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1b), and had also pointed out, “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). Yet who made that requirement? Who determines whether Paul and his fellow apostles and ministers are “found faithful”? The requirement and the standards of faithfulness in stewards of God’s mysteries did not originate with the Corinthians, nor with any other members of Christ’s church. Neither did it originate with Paul, which is why he says, “I do not even judge myself.” The apostle is saying, “Corinthians, you and I did not make me a faithful steward, nor are we the ones who determine if I’m doing the job correctly. So why should I judge– estimate – myself to be doing it correctly? And why should you put me on the high pedestal on which you’ve set me?”
Paul was very aware that he was both unqualified and ill-equipped to make such estimations about himself, which is why he goes on to say, “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:4). The apostle was very aware of the natural human tendency to assume oneself to be right rather than be open to the possibility, or proven certainty, that one has done wrong. Yet just because one might assume that one has done nothing wrong does not inherently mean that one is “thereby acquitted,” i.e., found to actually be not guilty of wrongdoing. Later in the book, he will point out that God would not need to judge or discipline us if we had first “judged ourselves truly” (11:31-32). It is God who will put each of us into proper estimation, not us.
Thus, the point Paul makes in verse 5 (cited above) is to urge his Corinthian brethren to not “pronounce judgement” (i.e., estimate anything about him) “before the time,” specifically “before the Lord comes.” On the day Christ comes back and we are all brought before him in judgment (1 Cor. 2 Cor. 5:10), he “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1 Cor. 4:5b; cf. 1 Cor. 3:13; Eccl. 12:14). Only then will “each one…receive his commendation from God” (1 Cor. 4:5c). In other words, Paul is saying, “Corinthians, you don’t know everything there is to know about me like God does, so you are not properly equipped to esteem me as highly as you have. Wait until God has revealed all on Judgment Day and has commended me himself before you esteem me as highly as you do.”
It took a lot of humility on Paul’s part to say this. What a great example for all of us!
— Jon
To read Jon’s series on 1 Corinthians from the beginning and many other articles, visit https://predenominationalchristianity.com.