G. A personal appeal (4:14–21)
G. A personal appeal (4:14–21)
There is a marked change of mood at this point, but we should bear in mind that Paul’s letters are real letters, not systematic theological treatises. Real letters not infrequently contain abrupt changes of tone and mood like this one.
14. Paul’s sternness gives way to tenderness. What he has said might be understood as an attempt to make the Corinthians feel shame. On occasion Paul can intend to do just that (6:5; 15:34), but not here. He has the warmest of feelings for his dear children, and his purpose is simply to warn them. His verb (noutheteō) does indeed convey the thought of blame for wrongdoing (it is often translated ‘admonish’), but it is criticism in love that is meant as this verse shows plainly. The cognate noun is used of the duty of a father to his children (Eph. 6:4).
15. We see Paul’s affection in his reference to the unique tie between him and the Corinthians. They may have ten thousand guardians, but not one of them is a father to them, and it is that that Paul became through the gospel. It is not easy to translate paidagōgous (NIV, guardians), for in our community we do not have the equivalent. The word referred to a slave who had special responsibility for a boy. ‘The paidagōgos was the personal attendant who accompanied the boy, took him to school and home again, heard him recite his “lines”, taught him good manners and generally looked after him; he was entitled to respect and normally received it’ (Bruce). Clearly he was important, but Craig reminds us that he could be a quite worthless slave and that he could be replaced. There was a great difference between him and the father. By virtue of his activity in founding the church at Corinth Paul stood in the relation of a father in Christ to the believers (cf. 9:2; Philem. 10). This makes two things clear. The one is that his affection for them was, in the nature of things, great (cf. Chrysostom, ‘He is not here setting forth his dignity, but the exceeding greatness of his love’). The other is that, no matter how much they had profited from the ministry of others, they owed most of all to Paul; they should therefore heed his injunctions.
16. Thus he can appeal to them to imitate him (cf. 11:1; Gal. 4:12; Phil. 3:17; 2 Thess. 3:7, 9). He does not wish to attach his followers to himself personally; that would be in contradiction of the whole tenor of this passage. He wants them to imitate him only so that they may in this way learn to imitate Christ (cf. 11:1; 1 Thess. 1:6). While in the different circumstances of today preachers may well hesitate to call on others to imitate them, it still remains that if we are to commend our gospel it must be because our lives reveal its power.
17. Not much is known about Timothy’s visit to Corinth (see Introduction, p. 27). Clearly Paul felt that trouble was beginning and he sent Timothy to clear it up. NIV takes the aorist as epistolary, I am sending, but most see it as the past tense; Paul had already sent him. This is supported by the fact that Timothy is not included in the greetings at the beginning of this letter (contrast 2 Cor. 1:1; cf. 1 Thess. 3:2). He was sent to remind the Corinthians of Paul’s ‘ways (NIV, way of life) in Christ Jesus’. Once more appeal is made to Paul’s example; the term ‘ways’ probably reflects his Jewish background, for it ‘seldom has a moral significance in Greek’ (Barrett), whereas the Jews made much of it in the rabbinical concept of halakah (rule based on Scripture). Paul makes the further point that he was not making exceptional demands on the Corinthians, but that which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church (cf. 7:17; 11:16; 14:33, 36). He had said and done the same kind of thing at Corinth as elsewhere, and he looked for the same kind of behaviour there as elsewhere in the church.
18. Some had become arrogant (see note on ‘puffed up’, v. 6). They had evidently asserted confidently that Paul would not visit their city again. They would have pointed out that it was Timothy, not Paul, who was to visit them. They would say that Paul did not dare to face them; the Corinthians then had nothing to gain from adherence to Paul, and nothing to fear from opposing him.
19. Paul assures them that such assumptions are erroneous. He will come very soon, subject always to the proviso if the Lord is willing (cf. 16:7 and the note there). He is not a free agent. He is subject to the Lord’s direction and recognizes that the Lord may not open up the way for him to go to Corinth at this time. But his point is that it is only divine restraint of this kind that will stop him. There is a characteristic Pauline differentiation between words and deeds (2:4, 13; 1 Thess. 1:5; cf. Rom. 1:16). His opponents at Corinth may be good talkers, but can they show power? The gospel does not simply tell people what they ought to do; in it God gives them power to do it. It does not matter whether Paul’s opponents can speak well, but it does matter whether the power of God is manifest in them, ‘that spiritual efficacy, with which those are endowed who dispense the word of the Lord with earnestness’ (Calvin).
20. The kingdom of God is the most frequent topic in the teaching of Jesus. It is not so prominent in the rest of the New Testament, but Paul speaks of it several times in this epistle (6:9–10; 15:24, 50). The kingdom involves divine power, as in the casting out of devils (Luke 11:20), and it is power that is emphasized here. God’s kingdom is not simply good advice; it is more than a matter of talk, ‘for how small an affair is it for any one to have skill to prate eloquently, while he has nothing but empty tinkling’ (Calvin). People know what they ought to do. The trouble is that, knowing the good, they do the evil. They need God’s power to enable them to live as befits his kingdom. There is probably an intentional contrast with the claims of the Corinthians (v. 8). Here is true royalty.
21. The question is not whether Paul will come, but how he will come. He puts the issue squarely before them. He could come with a whip, i.e. in sternness, ready to chastise and rebuke. Or, he could come in love and with a gentle spirit. But this assumes that they are ready to receive him as such. The choice rests with the people of Corinth.