Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 89 of 159
RECONCILIATION AND FAILURE OF THE LAW 89
apostle, `Let no man deceive himself'. Then the utter folly of human wisdom is revealed, `Let no man glory in men,
for all things are yours!' The men whose names you have used as party leaders:
`Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come;
ALL
ARE YOURS; and ye are CHRIST'S; and Christ is GOD'S' (3:22,23).
Here is the true treasure which these poor babes in Christ had thrown aside for very trifles and cyphers. In
chapter 4 the apostle brings this section to a close. In the light of what he has said with regard to the testing of one's
life work, which day should act upon us, man's day or God's day? He had placed himself superficially at a
disadvantage by limiting his testimony among them, but it was the conscience of stewardship that moved him, and
the desire to be approved when the Lord comes.
`Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found FAITHFUL' (4:1,2).
The effect upon the apostle of Luke 15 is very evident, and the intimate connection between Paul and Luke's
Gospel has been already set forth, so that we merely refer to the subject here in passing. Paul's day of judgment was
future, and the judge was the Lord.
`But with me it is the very smallest matter that I should be examined of you, or of man's day, nor do I even
examine myself (for I am conscious of nothing in myself; but I am not justified by this), but He that judgeth me
is THE LORD. Therefore do not judge anything before the proper season, till the Lord shall come ... and then shall
each have his praise from God' (4:3-5 Author's translation).
The apostle had in mind those who had made great pretences to wisdom and authority. He names them not, but
`transfers the application' (metaschematizo, only other occurrence 2 Cor. 11:13-15) to Apollos and himself, for the
principle is true of all:
`That ye may learn in us the lesson of not thinking above what is written, that ye may not be puffed up FOR ONE
AGAINST THE OTHER. For who DISTINGUISHETH thee? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?' (4:6,7
Author's translation).
In contrast with the fulness, the riches, the reigning as kings, that expressed the self-aggrandisement of those
who were `puffed up' with pride of place, the apostle shows the actual position and treatment of the true. He likens
their position to that of the criminals who were condemned to death, and who were driven into the arena last of all,
when the interest of the spectators began to flag.
`... a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men ... We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in
Christ' (4:9,10).
Weak and despised were the apostles. The atimoi (despised) were outlaws unprotected by any laws:
`Till the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and buffeted, and wander homeless, and labour
working with our own hands' (4:11,12 Author's translation).
What a reproach to the self-satisfied church to think that while they were `full and reigned as kings', the apostle
to whose faithfulness they owed their salvation and peace was suffering not merely inconvenience, but positive
destitution, and the menace of death:
`Railed at, (our answer is) we bless; Persecuted, (our attitude is) we suffer it; Insulted, (our reply is) we entreat;
we are become as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things until now' (4:12,13 Author's translation).
Words cannot convey a deeper sense of degradation. They echo Lamentations 3:45, `Thou hast made us as the
offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people'. The word perikatharmata and peripsema refer also to human
sacrifices who were offered to the infernal deities, and who were taken from the very dregs of society and loaded
with insults and curses as they were led along to the place of sacrifice. These things the apostle said he had not
written to shame them, but as his beloved sons he warned them. Though they had ten thousand instructors, they had
not many fathers, he had begotten them through the gospel. Then comes the most wonderful conclusion that such a
list of abject misery and suffering could have: