1 Corinthians 4:17

Earlier in the chapter Paul called himself and Apollos servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1). Then, in 1 Corinthians 4:8–13, he turned to sarcasm, setting the Corinthians, who reigned as kings in their own eyes and thought themselves rich and mature, beside the apostles in their suffering and humble service. “We are fools for Christ’s sake,” he wrote (1 Corinthians 4:10). Words like these could easily be heard as an attempt to humiliate, so verse 14 tells the Corinthians how to hear them, and it marks a change of tone that prepares for his appeal in verse 16.

“I write” is gráphō, the ordinary verb for writing, here the writing of this letter. The sharp words were put down on purpose, and Paul now gives their purpose. “To shame” is entrépō, a verb whose root idea is to turn something about. Used in a good sense it means to respect someone, and used in a bad sense, as here, it means to confound or put to shame, to bring disgrace on a person. Corinth was a wealthy, busy and mixed city that prized rhetoric, wisdom and social standing, and public shame was a powerful way of keeping people in line or punishing them. Paul sets that aim aside.

Over against it, with allá, “but”, he puts his real purpose: “as my beloved sons I warn you.” The verb nouthetéō means to put in mind, and so to caution or reprove gently. It is the word for putting sense into someone’s mind for his own good. “Beloved” is agapētós, “beloved, dear”, and “sons” is téknon, a child, the word for one’s own offspring. Fathers held real authority over their children and were responsible for their moral upbringing, so the picture carries both Paul’s affection and his duty to correct. Verse 15 explains why he can call them his children.

Paul now explains why he may speak as a father. “Ten thousand” is mýrioi, which means ten thousand and, by extension, more than can be counted. It is a deliberate overstatement: the Corinthians might have any number of teachers. The word “instructors” is paidagōgós, literally a “boy-leader”. Among the Greeks and Romans this was a trusted servant, often a slave, who walked a child to school, watched over his conduct and saw to his discipline and moral training. The work mattered, but it was a guardian’s work for a season, and it never carried a father’s authority, affection or place in the child’s life. Paul allows that these teachers are truly “in Christ”, and he gives them their due.

“Fathers” is patḗr. The Corinthians have many guides and few fathers, because a father gives life. “I have begotten you” is gennáō, to father or beget, and used figuratively, to regenerate. The pronoun “I”, egṓ, is written out in the Greek, where it stands only for emphasis: Paul is the one through whom they received life. That happened “in Christ Jesus”, within his saving work, and “through the gospel”, euangélion, the good message of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Paul came to Corinth and founded the church there on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18). He says elsewhere in the letter that he laid the foundation and others built on it (1 Corinthians 3:10).

The words “through the gospel” carry weight in a church that admired eloquence and human wisdom. Their new birth came through the message itself, which Paul calls “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16), and his own charm or learning had no part in it. The verse also closes a long defence of his ministry in which Paul has described the apostles as servants and stewards. Here he names the bond that lies under all of it, a life-giving tie no other teacher can share.

“Wherefore”, oûn, draws a consequence from what comes before. Because Paul is their father, it follows that they should take him as their pattern. “I beseech” is parakaléō, which Strong’s glosses as “to call near” and which means to ask earnestly, invite, exhort or encourage. A father’s earnest plea stands beside a direct command, and the appeal rests on the bond he has just described. “Be ye” is gínomai, “to become”, and “followers” is mimētḗs, an imitator. Paul is asking them to become his imitators, deliberately copying his conduct and character.

The whole letter so far stands behind this call. The church was split into factions loyal to Paul, Apollos and Cephas (1 Corinthians 1:10–17), when God’s wisdom is revealed in the cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18–25). True understanding comes from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:1–16). Their jealousy and strife showed them to be infants who could take only milk (1 Corinthians 3:1–4), and Paul and Apollos were servants through whom God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:5–9). In chapter 4 he defended his ministry against their judgments, showing himself humble, suffering and faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1–13).

Corinthian society honoured eloquent speakers and gave a following to whoever spoke and argued best, and that spirit had come into the church. Paul came among them without “excellency of speech or of wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:1), and he was with them “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3–4). His call to imitate him was a call away from what Corinth admired and toward humility, suffering for the gospel and true change of life.

“For this cause” ties Timothy’s journey to all that Paul has just said about their state and his care for them. He sends “Timotheus”, a name Strong’s gives as meaning “dear to God”. Paul calls him “my beloved son”, using the same words as verse 14, agapētós and téknon. Timothy is Paul’s child in the faith just as the Corinthians are, and he shows what a grown son in the faith looks like. He is also “faithful in the Lord”. The word pistós means trustworthy and dependable, so Timothy could be relied on to carry Paul’s instructions and represent his teaching and conduct accurately. Paul commends Timothy’s selfless service in the same way elsewhere (Philippians 2:19–22), and he writes to him as his dearly beloved son (2 Timothy 1:2).

Paul often worked through trusted co-workers to carry his letters and extend his care to the churches he had founded, as when he left Titus in Crete to appoint elders (Titus 1:5). A personal envoy in that world carried the authority of the one who sent him and conveyed his will.

Timothy’s task was to “bring you into remembrance”, a single Greek verb, anamimnḗskō, to remind. The Corinthians had forgotten or drifted from what they first learned. What he would remind them of was “my ways which be in Christ”. The word hodós means a road or path, and figuratively a manner of life. Paul’s “ways” are his conduct, his way of ministering and his teaching of the gospel, the pattern of discipleship he lived out, all of it rooted in Christ. The phrase points back to verse 16: Timothy would show them in person what imitating Paul meant.

Paul’s care for these children reflects the heart of God. Jesus spoke hard truth throughout his ministry, always from love, and God sent his Son into the world to save it, as John 3:17 says (John 3:17). Jesus’ rebukes of the Pharisees exposed their hypocrisy and called them to true righteousness, and his gentle questions to Peter after his denial restored him (John 21:15–19). At the cross God showed his love for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), and that sacrifice is at once the plainest warning against sin and the way to new life.

Paul could beget children only because Christ gives life. Christ is “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18), and we are adopted as God’s children through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5), so God himself is our Father. Every new birth through any messenger of the gospel comes from the risen Christ.

Paul’s call to imitation also leads to Christ. Jesus himself said “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19), and he lived what he asked. He is the pattern of humility (Philippians 2:5–8), he came to serve and to give his life (Mark 10:45), and he came to do his Father’s will (John 6:38). God’s purpose is to conform us to the image of his Son, “the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29), so that believers become living letters of Christ for others to read (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Timothy’s errand has its own echo. Paul sent his beloved son to show the Corinthians his ways, and the Father, who called Jesus “my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17), sent the Son to make himself known (John 1:18). And as Timothy was sent to bring Paul’s ways to remembrance, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would bring his words to the remembrance of his disciples (John 14:26).

These verses show us correction as God means it to be given and received. When a brother or sister speaks a hard truth to us in love, we can look past the sting of the words to the care behind them, and receive the warning as a path to maturity. Those who must correct others have Paul’s example of speaking for the other person’s good, with the warmth of a father and no wish to humiliate.

They also show how God gives life and how he grows it. He brings people to new birth through the plain preaching of the gospel, and he forms them through the example of believers who follow Christ, such as Paul and the faithful Timothy. The ways of Christ are the same in every church and every generation, and the Spirit keeps bringing them back to our minds. Behind every faithful spiritual father stands the Father of us all, who corrects his children because he loves them.