1 Corinthians 4 is the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus, composed between 52–55 CE. Paul continues to confront the factionalism of the

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

ian church and describes the role of an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 46 (AD 175–225) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450) *

Papyrus 11 Papyrus 11 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), signed by 𝔓11, is a copy of a part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. It contains fragments 1 Corinthians 1:17-22; 2:9-12.14; 3:1-3,5 ...

(7th century; extant verses 3) * Papyrus 68 (7th century; extant verses 4:12–17; 4:19–5:3)

Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God

In verse 1, Paul writes of "us" as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. The

New Living Translation The New Living Translation (NLT) is an English translation of the Bible. The origin of the NLT came from a project aiming to revise '' The Living Bible'' (TLB). This effort eventually led to the creation of the NLT—a new translation separat ...

and the Living Bible paraphrase both specify that "us" refers to Paul and

Apollos Apollos ( grc-gre, Ἀπολλώς) was a 1st-century Alexandrian Jewish Christian mentioned several times in the New Testament. A contemporary and colleague of Paul the Apostle, he played an important role in the early development of the ch ...

, continuing from the references to factions within the church which Paul has confronted in the previous chapter. The

Weymouth New Testament The Weymouth New Testament ("WNT"), otherwise known as ''The New Testament in Modern Speech'' or ''The Modern Speech New Testament'', is a translation of the New Testament into nineteenth-century English by Richard Francis Weymouth. It was based ...

and Albert Barnes both refer to "us" as "us Apostles".

Heinrich Meyer Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer (10 January 1800 – 21 June 1873) was a German Protestant divine. He wrote commentaries on the ''New Testament'' and published an edition of that book. Biography Meyer was born in Gotha. He studied theology at Jena, ...

argues differently: "us" meaning "myself and such as I, by which other apostles also and apostolic teachers (like Apollos) are meant. In view of 1 Corinthians 3:22 ("whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours") no narrower limitation is allowable." The words generally translated as "servants of Christ" ( grc, υπηρετας χριστου, hypēretas Christou, label=none) could also be translated as "officers" of Christ.

Verse 5

Verse 17

*"I have sent Timothy to you": Out of concern and respect, Paul not only writes, giving his best advice and counsel, promising to come, but, in the meanwhile, sends Timothy (or "Timotheus" in Greek) to the Corinthian church. *"Beloved son": In his epistles, Paul often styles Timothy as his own son in the faith, a dearly beloved son. Paul was not the instrument of his conversion, because Timothy was a disciple of Christ before he knew Paul (Acts 16:1) but either because he was younger than Paul or because of their great affection, he served him in the Gospel (Philippians 2:22) knowing well Paul's methods of doctrine and practice. *"Remind you of my ways": All the preaching, doctrines, rules and orders Paul gave for the "discipline and management of the affairs of churches", which he had formerly delivered to them, were seemingly forgotten by the church. Therefore, Timothy is sent, not to teach new ways, but only to remind them what Paul had formerly taught them. *"In Christ": Paul's doctrines, the sum and substance of them were Christ, what Paul had received from Christ, and such as were agreeably to the mind of Christ. *"As I teach everywhere in every church": Paul's plan of doctrine and discipline was the same in every place.''John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible'', – 1 Corinthians 4:17
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References

Bibliography

External links

* King James Bible – Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate

''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{First Epistle to the Corinthians 04