How keenly alive Paul is to the danger and folly of religious sectarianism in the Church of Jesus Christ! Here, in this chapter, he still has one more word of rebuke to utter about it. He has shown the Corinthians that to give their attention to one teacher exclusively, and to shut their ears to every other minister of Christ, is to impoverish and defraud themselves. All teachers are theirs. And these teachers are not sent to win disciples to themselves, who may spread their fame and reflect credit on their talents; but rather, they are sent to serve the Lord’s people, and to labor in His Kingdom in self-obliterating toil. The preachers, Paul tells them, exist for the Church; and not the Church for the preachers.
The Apostle now proceeds to demonstrate the futility of the judgment passed upon the Lord’s ministers and teachers by the Corinthians. Paul and the rest were servants of Christ – stewards sent by Him to dispense to others what He had entrusted to them. The question, therefore, was whether or not they were faithful to that calling. Did they dispense what they had received, in conformity with Christ’s purpose? The question was not whether they were eloquent, philosophical, or well-educated. Criticism will always by hurled by somebody at every preacher; they must not expect to escape it. But Paul reminds us to always bear in mind that even a minister who has no great attraction to us may still serve some good purpose for the cause of Christ. The gifts dispensed by the Lord Jesus are various, and who is any one of us to say which of these styles is most edifying to the Church? And who shall say which teacher is most faithfully serving his Master? Which of us shall set ourselves up to determine whether this preacher or that one is the better steward, who is most truly seeking his Lord’s glory and not his own? May it not be expected that when the motives and thoughts of the heart – which are, at present, hidden in darkness – are brought to light in Christ’s judgment, many whom we would not have considered skillful in their ministry shall be recognized by Him for extraordinary service in His Kingdom?
A person who is conscious that he is the servant of Christ, and that he must give his account to Him, can always say with Paul, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of man’s judgment” – whether for acquittal and applause, or for condemnation and abuse. It is to his own Master that he stands or falls; and if he feels sure that he is doing his Master’s will, he can neither be greatly astonished nor greatly perturbed by the opposition of mortal human beings. And on the other hand, the approval and applause of men come to him only as a reminder that there is no finality in man’s judgment, and that it is only Christ’s approval which will give any permanent satisfaction.
Paul concludes this portion of his Epistle with a pathetic comparison of his condition as an Apostle with the condition of those in Corinth, who were glorying in this or that teacher. They spoke as if they needed his instructions no more, and as if they had already attained the highest Christian advantages. “Already ye are full; already ye are rich: ye have reigned as kings without us.” They behaved as if all the trials of the Christian life were over. With the frothy spirit of young converts, they were full of triumph – which they despise Paul for not inculcating. By one leap, they had attained – or thought they had attained – a superiority to all disturbances and all trials and all need of teaching; but in fact, as Paul’s own experience had taught him, this can only be attained in heaven. While they thus triumphed, he who was their spiritual father was being treated as the offscouring and filth of the world.
Paul can only compare himself and the other Apostles to those gladiators in the Roman “games,” who were condemned to die and came into the arena last, after the spectators had amused themselves with other bloodless performances. “I think that God hath set forth us the Apostles last, as it were appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels and to men.” Those gladiators came into the arena knowing that they would never leave it alive, and that they were there for the purpose of enduring the worst that their enemies could do to them. Similarly, it was no gentle fight that Paul and his friends were engaged in. While others sat comfortably looking on, with curtains to shade them from the heat and refreshments to save them from exhaustion or from faintness at the sight of blood; they were in the arena – exposed to wounds, rough treatment, and death. They had as little hope of retiring to live a quiet life as the gladiators who had said farewell to their friends and saluted the Emperor, as those about to die. Life became no easier to Paul, and the world no kinder, as time went on. “Even unto this present hour of writing,” he says, “we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place.” Here is the finest mind and the noblest spirit on earth, and this is how he is treated – driven from place to place, thrust aside as one who interrupted the proper work of men, passed by with a sneer at his rags, refused the commonest charity, and paid for his loving words in blows and insolence. And yet he goes on with his work and lets nothing interrupt it! “Being reviled, we bless,” he declares; “being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat.” In fact, it is a life which he is so far from giving up himself, that he calls the easy-going Christians of Corinth to enter into it alongside him. “I beseech you,” he says, “be ye followers of me.”
And if the contrast between Paul’s precarious and self-sacrificing life and the luxurious and self-complacent life of the Corinthians might be expected to shame them into some vigorous Christian service, a similar contrast – candidly considered – may also accomplish some good results in us. The Corinthians were already accepting that pernicious conception of Christianity which looks upon it as merely a new luxury – enabling those who are already comfortable in all earthly respects to be comforted in spirit as well, and to have their minds purged from all anxieties and strivings. They recognized how happy a thing it is to be forgiven, to be at peace with God, and to have a sure hope of life everlasting. For them, the battle was over, the conquest was won, and the throne had already been ascended. As yet, they had not caught a glimpse of what is involved in becoming holy as Christ is holy; nor had they steadily conceived in their minds the profound inward change which must pass upon them. It was enough for them that they were called to be God’s children, and provided for by their heavenly Father; Christ’s own view of life and of men had not yet even dawned upon their souls – causing them to feel that until they could live for others, they had no true life.
Are there none among us, even today, who listen to Christianity only as a voice soothing their fears, and not also as a bugle summoning them to conflict? They are satisfied if the Gospel enables them to comfort their own soul; and they do not yet respond to Christ’s call to live under the power of that Spirit of His, which prompted Him to all sacrifice. Paul does not summon the whole Church to be homeless, destitute, comfortless, and cast out from all joy; and yet there is meaning in his words when he says, “Be ye followers of me.” There is not one standard of duty for him, and another for us. All is wrong with us until we are somehow made to recognize that we have no right to be surrounding ourselves with all manner of selfish aggrandizement, when even Paul himself was driven through life with scarcely one day’s bread provided. If we are Christ’s, as Paul was, then we must cordially yield to him all that we are and all that we have. Our very selves – with all our tastes and aptitudes, all that we have made by our toil, and all the fruits of our labor – we gladly yield to Him. If our hearts are His, this is inevitable and delightful; but unless they are so, it is impossible and seems extravagant.
So when our Lord claims our service, He is giving us the opportunity of sinking our selfishness, and of living for a worthier object than our own pleasure or our own careful preservation. When He tells us to live for Him and to seek the things that are His, He is only telling us – in other words, and in a more attractive and practical form – to seek the common good of the Church. We seek the things that are Christ’s when we act as He would act if He were in our place, and when – by considering what He wishes us to do – we cause His influence to have an effect in this world. If this was done by each and every Christian, the result would be the same as if Jesus had personal command of all the resources for good that are possessed by His people; it would be as if He Himself were spending all the money, energy, and time that are being expended by the members of His Church. And thereby, at every point where there is a Christian, Christ’s purposes would be forwarded. This is the devotedness that we are called to, and this is the devotedness that we must cultivate until – by the grace of the Lord – we make some considerable attainment in it.
Dear Lord, we beseech You to give all Your faithful servants grace, so that they may be content to suffer shame, as long as Jesus is honored; and so that they may delight to go forth unto Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach! Amen.
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