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1 Corinthians 4:1-21 — The Ministry of Apostles

1Cor.4.1-21

¹Let a person regard us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Here, moreover , it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴For my conscience is clear, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God. ⁶Now these things, brothers, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn the rule, “Do not go beyond what is written ,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against the other. ⁷For who makes you different? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁸Already you are full! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And I wish indeed that you had become kings, so that we also might reign with you. ⁹For I think God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are dishonored! ¹¹Up to this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are beaten, and we are homeless, ¹²and we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; ¹³when slandered, we answer gently. We have become as the scum of the world, the refuse of all things, until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me. ¹⁷For this very reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus , just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Now some have become puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of those who are puffed up, but their power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. ²¹What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

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4/11/2026

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