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The apostles are presented by God to the world like the unfortunate beings, brought on
at the close of a display in the arena, and as such condemned to death by mortal combat
with one another, or with wild beasts. The word "spectacle" is theatron, theatre, the
place where such spectacles were presented. The sense is "for we became a spectacle to
the whole world, angels and men alike" (100: K. Barrett). How very different from the
picture conjured up in the Corinthians' boastful minds! Paul now goes on to contrast
himself and his fellow workers with the self-satisfied believers at Corinth:
"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 dishonour. 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; beings defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the
off-scouring of all things, even until now" (4: 10-13 R.V.).
The Corinthians may have imagined that they had come into their kingdom and the
problems were over. Not so the Apostle. For him there was no relief from labour,
privation or suffering. Going hungry, thirsty and naked possibly resulted from the
depredations of robbers in his frequent journeyings and through sheer lack of supplies.
He includes `perils of robbers' in his long list of sufferings for Christ (II or. 11: 26). His
language here in I Corinthians reminds one of The Sermon on the Mount, returning
good for evil.
He ends this section by describing himself as the world's scapegoat, no better than the
scum of the earth. This was the price he was willing to pay in order to be a faithful
servant and witness of Christ! How very different from some of the Christian leaders at
Corinth! As they read this epistle, describing what Paul was undergoing, they ought to
have been ashamed, though Paul insists that he did not deliberately set out to shame
them, but rather to warn them as his dear children (verse 14). They might have thousands
of tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers; for the relationship of father and son is much
closer and intimate, and it was through his faithful preaching of the gospel when he first
visited Corinth that they came to spiritual birth and a personal knowledge of Christ our
Saviour. Paul had begotten them through the gospel. He does not use the word
`regeneration' for this is God's work. The Apostle only uses this figure of begettal to
stress the closeness of his relationship to the believers at Corinth. He can therefore ask
them to be `imitators of me' (16). In 11: 1 he again exhorts them to copy him, even as
he imitated Christ. A man must live very closely to the Lord to be able to use such
language with truth and without hypocrisy. But there was no doubt that this man's
practice squared with his preaching and therefore he could sincerely make such a
tremendous statement without any idea of advertising or exalting himself. We should see
to it that we are worthy representatives of the Saviour in the same way, for the
unbelieving world around us knows Him not. It would indeed be a great thing if they
could see some reflection of Christ in us in the way we act and speak.
Because Paul is so concerned with the Corinthians saints he is going to help them to
this end, by sending Timothy: