Thomas Aquinas Commentary 1 Corinthians 4:6-13

"Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not [to go] beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have come to reign without us: yea and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for Christ`s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonor. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now." — 1 Corinthians 4:6-13 (ASV)

After rebuking the Corinthians for the rashness with which they judged Christ’s ministers, the Apostle now censures the self-satisfaction with which they scorned them. In this regard, he does three things:

1. He states his proposition.
2. He assigns a reason (verse 7).
3. He belittles their contemptuous attitude (verse 8).

Regarding the first point, it should be noted that when the Apostle previously tried to suppress the rivalry about ministers among the Corinthians, he used the names of good ministers of Christ, as when he said, “Each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas’” (1 Corinthians 1:12) and again, “Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas” (1 Corinthians 3:22).

But in fact, they were not boasting about Christ’s good ministers or disagreeing over them, but rather over the false apostles. He chose not to name these false apostles, so that it would not seem he was speaking against them from hatred or envy. Instead, he used his own name and the names of other good preachers. This is what he is saying now: But all this, brethren—that is, what I have said about the ministers in whom you boast and for whom you compete—I have applied to myself and Apollos. For it says in Proverbs 1:6, “To understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.” He did this for your benefit, as it is written, “All things are for your sakes” (2 Corinthians 4:15), so that you might learn from us not to be puffed up with pride in favor of one minister against another, going beyond what is written and the pattern described before. For Wisdom 4:19 states: “He will dash them puffed up and speechless to the ground.”

He then gives the reason why one should not be puffed up against another, saying, “For who sees anything different in you?” This can be interpreted in two ways. First, it can mean, “Who distinguished you from the mass of the damned?” You cannot distinguish yourself; therefore, you have no grounds within yourself for self-exaltation. Regarding this distinction, Psalms 43:1 says, “Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an ungodly people.”

Second, it can be understood to mean: Who sees anything different in you that makes you superior to your neighbor? This is something you cannot do; therefore, you should not exalt yourself above another. Regarding this kind of distinction, Sirach 33:11 says, “In the fullness of his knowledge God distinguished them and appointed their different ways.” But there is no such distinction among people, insofar as they are faithful in Christ, because “we, though many, are one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5), and “God put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).

Next, he dismisses a potential reason for pride. Someone might think he is distinguished from others because he is better on account of the blessings he possesses, such as faith, wisdom, and the like. But the Apostle excludes this, saying, “What have you that you did not receive?” This is as if to say: Nothing, for all blessings come from God. “When you open your hand, they are filled with good things” (Psalms 104:28); “All things come from you, and of your own have we given you” (1 Chronicles 29:14). From this he draws his conclusion: “If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” Accordingly, a person boasts as though he did not receive it when he boasts in himself and not in God, like those mentioned in Psalm 49:6: “Men who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches.”

This is how the first form of pride expresses itself: when a person, taking pride in what he has, claims he has it from himself, as in Psalm 12:4: “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is our master?” But a person boasts as one who has received a gift when he glories not in himself but ascribes everything to God, as was said before: “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). To boast in this way is not pride but humility before God, to whom a person gives glory, as in Sirach 51:17: “To him who gives me wisdom I will give glory.”

Then, when he says, “Already you are filled!”, he mocks the pride of those who looked down on Christ’s apostles, first in general, then specifically. In general, he does two things: first, he ridicules their presumption; second, he addresses their contempt for the apostles (verse 9). Regarding their presumption, he mocks them for two things: first, for claiming what they did not have; second, for claiming an abundance of good things, some of which are internal.

Regarding these internal goods, he says, “already you are filled,” meaning, it seems to you that you are filled, completely satisfied with spiritual delights, about which Psalm 17:15 says: “I shall be satisfied, when your glory shall appear.” But it could also be true to say to them, “already you are filled,” not with fullness but with nausea: “He who is sated loathes honey” (Proverbs 27:7). Some goods, however, were external. Regarding these he says, “Already you have become rich!” That is, it seems to you that you have spiritual riches, about which Isaiah 33:6 says: “Riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.” This is similar to Revelation 3:17: “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.”

This seems to conflict with his earlier statement: “In every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:5). The answer is that the earlier statement referred to the good people among them, but here he is speaking about the presumptuous ones, who took pride in what they did not have. Alternatively, a distinction can be made between fullness and riches, so that the former refers to using grace to enjoy spiritual things, whereas riches would refer to the possession of grace itself.

Secondly, when he says, “Without us you have become kings!”, he makes fun of them for attributing to themselves things they did not possess. He says, “without us you have become kings,” meaning, you seem to think that the kingdom belongs to you and not to us. For they had been deceived by the false apostles to such an extent that they supposed they alone possessed the truths of faith, which constitute the kingdom of God, and that the Apostle and his followers were in error. Against these, Isaiah 5:8 says: “Do you alone live in the middle of the earth?”

So that it would not seem that the Apostle says this out of envy, he continues: “And would that you did reign.” Thus he wishes them to have the true faith: “I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains” (Acts 26:29). And to offer them an example of humility, he adds, “that we might share the rule with you!” This is as if to say: If you have anything worthwhile, I am not too proud to follow you, as you disdain to follow us. This is contrary to what he advises in Galatians 4:18: “Be zealous for what is good in a good thing always.”

It should be noted that the Apostle here touches on four kinds of pride.

1. The first is when a person considers that what he has was not received from God. He touches on this form when he says, “If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” This can also pertain to the second form, in which a person thinks that he has received blessings by his own merits.
2. The third form is when a person boasts that he has something he really does not have. In regard to this he says, “Already you are filled! Already you have become rich!”
3. The fourth is when a person, looking down on others, wishes to seem unique. In regard to this he says, “Without us you have become kings.”

Then, when he says, “For I think that God,” he taunts them for looking down on Christ’s apostles. First, he describes their contempt ironically; secondly, he describes the cause of their contempt (verse 9b).

He says, therefore: I have just said that “you have become kings without us, for I think”—that is, you seem to think—that “God has exhibited us apostles as last of all,” whereas it says later, “God has appointed in the church first apostles” (1 Corinthians 12:28). In this way what is stated in Matthew 20:26 is fulfilled: “The first shall be last, and the last first.” Then he gives an example: “like men sentenced to death.” For those condemned to death are considered last by men, as though not worthy to live. That is how the apostles were viewed by worldly people: “We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Psalms 44:22).

Then, when he says, “we have become a spectacle,” he indicates the cause of the contempt. It should be noted that when people were condemned to death, others were summoned to the execution as to a spectacle, especially when the condemned were to be thrown to wild animals. Because the apostles had been, as it were, appointed for death, he adds, “we have become a spectacle to the world,” as though the whole world had assembled to witness their slaughter: “You have made us the taunt of our neighbors” (Psalms 44:13). He then explains what he meant by the word “world,” when he continues, “to angels and to men,” namely, both good and evil. For good people came to the spectacle to sympathize and to witness an example of patience, but evil people came to persecute and ridicule.

When he says, “We are fools,” he derides them in particular for scorning the apostles. First, he mentions the contempt; secondly, the cause (verse 11).

Regarding the first, he taunts them for attributing greatness to themselves and shortcomings to the apostles. First, concerning understanding, he says, “We are fools for Christ’s sake,” that is, we are considered fools because we preach the cross of Christ—“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18)—and also because we suffer reproach and opposition for Christ’s sake. This is in keeping with Wisdom 5:4: “We fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honor.” It is also exemplified in Acts 26:24: “Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad.’”

“But you,” in your opinion, “are wise in Christ,” because you neither dare to confess His cross publicly nor suffer persecution for him. “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer discreetly” (Proverbs 26:16).

Secondly, regarding the power to act, he says, “We are weak,” that is, in external matters on account of the afflictions we endure: “I will all the more boast of my weaknesses” (2 Corinthians 12:9). “But you,” in your opinion, “are strong,” that is, in material things, because you live in security without harassment: “Woe to you who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink” (Isaiah 5:22).

“You are held in honor,” that is, in your own eyes you are worthy of honor because you do not suffer public shame: “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings” (Isaiah 19:11). “But we in disrepute,” according to your opinion and that of others, because we are considered contemptible: “God chose what is low and despised” (1 Corinthians 1:28). And yet the truth is the exact opposite, for only those who scorn God are worthy of scorn: “Those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 2:30).

Then, when he says, “To the present hour,” he discloses the cause of this scorn. He does this in three steps:

1. He assigns the lack of temporal goods as the cause.
2. He describes the evils they suffered (verse 12).
3. He reaches his conclusion (verse 15).

As to the first, he mentions the deprivations they suffered in necessary things. Regarding food and drink, he says, “To the present hour we hunger and thirst,” that is, without interruption from the time of our conversion to the present moment: “In hunger and thirst” (2 Corinthians 11:27). As to clothing, he says, “we are ill-clad,” because of our need for clothing, since we are sometimes stripped: “They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold” (Job 24:7).

This seems to conflict with Psalm 37:25: “I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.” The answer is that although the apostles suffered, they were not abandoned, because divine providence set limits to their abundance and their needs according to what was suitable for exercising virtue. Therefore, the Apostle says in Philippians 4:12: “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”

Secondly, he mentions their lack of things pertaining to the better aspects of human life. The first of these is respect from others, but they received the opposite: “We are buffeted,” which aims more at shame than punishment; thus we read of Christ that they spat in His face and slapped him. The second is peace and quiet, but here again they endured the opposite: “and homeless,” both because they were expelled from place to place by their persecutors—“If they persecute you in one city, flee to another” (Matthew 10:23)—and because they went everywhere to perform their office: “I have appointed you that you should go” (John 15:16).

The third is help from servants, but they experienced the opposite: “and we labor, working with our own hands.” They did this because they often received no support and had to earn their living, either to avoid being a burden to the faithful, to rebuff false apostles who preached for money, or to give the idle an example of work, as he says in 2 Thessalonians 3:9. Thus Paul says, “These hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me” (Acts 20:34).

Then, when he says, “when we are reviled, we bless,” he mentions the evils the apostles endured. First, in words: “when we are reviled,” that is, when people speak evil of us to detract from, insult, or even curse us—“All curse me” (Jeremiah 15:10)—“we bless,” that is, we return good for evil: “Do not return evil for evil, but on the contrary, bless” (1 Peter 3:9).

Secondly, in deeds: “when persecuted,” not only because we are chased from place to place, which is persecution in the strict sense, but also because we are harassed in many ways—“Many are my persecutors and my adversaries” (Psalms 119:157)—“we endure it,” namely, in Christ: “A patient man will endure until the right moment” .

Thirdly, he touches on the cause of each when he says, “when we are slandered,” meaning we are called sorcerers, evildoers, and enemies of God. “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he does a service to God” (John 16:2); “Why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying” (Romans 3:8). Yet “we entreat” God for those who persecute and slander us: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Finally, when he says, “we have become,” he sums up their contempt, saying: On account of all this, “we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world.” This means that both Jews and Gentiles think the world is defiled by us and would be cleansed by our slaughter. We are “the offscouring of all.” Offscouring is the filth scraped from fruit, iron, or any other thing. He says, “and are now,” because they suffer these things without interruption. But it will stop one day, according to Wisdom 5:4: “This is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach.” The passage then continues in verse 5: “Why has he been numbered among the sons of God?”