1 Corinthians 4:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They present themselves as leading persons in the Church of God, and strive only to exalt their own authority. They act as though they could create the work of Christ by their personal efforts and natural gifts, such as teaching ability, eloquence, and the like. All these are gifts of God.

Therefore, if they dare to judge him without having the right to do so, he gives no weight to their judgment. Consequently they must leave off their judgment of the Apostles as a useless matter, and as something belonging not to them but to God. The thought of his own account before God gave the Apostle occasion to speak also about everyone's answer before God. In doing so he especially notes evil deeds, which are usually committed in darkness and obscurity, and also the thoughts of the heart, which are even less known than deeds done in darkness. Everything, everything will then be revealed. No one will then be hidden with his most secret thoughts and intentions, for which there will also be recompense according to their true worth. This recompense will not be according to the verdict now pronounced by men, who often judge many things by appearance, and not by a deep and many-sided examination of the matter. St. John Chrysostom, dwelling on the Apostle's rebuke of judging others, says: "I do not know how, among other kinds of evil, the evil of scrutinizing and inappropriately condemning one's neighbors entered human nature. Christ also rebuked it when He said, 'Judge not, that you be not judged' (Mt 7:1). It does not even provide any pleasure, as other sins do, but leads only to unpleasantness and punishment. Meanwhile we ourselves are guilty of countless sins and have, as it were, a beam in our own eyes, yet we carefully examine the sins of our neighbor, which are no more than a speck (Mt 7:3). So it was among the Corinthians. They mocked and rejected pious men pleasing to God because of their lack of learning, while they honored men guilty of countless vices for their eloquence. For two reasons, or rather for three, our judgment is not right. First, even if we know nothing against ourselves, we are not guiltless before the judgment of Him Who exposes our sins with exactness. Second, the greater part of deeds remains undisclosed and unknown to us. Third, many actions of others seem good to us, but are not done with a good intention. Men cannot see everything. This is possible only for the one unsleeping Eye. We can deceive men, but never Him. Therefore do not say, 'Darkness and walls surround me; who sees me?' There is One Who penetrates even to soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Heb 4:12)."

Rather, it must be fixed on how faithful he is, and how faithfully he fulfills what has been entrusted to him (4:1-5). This faithfulness must consist in imparting to others what he was commanded to impart, without appropriating it to himself, but referring everything to the One who entrusted it. Apply this to yourselves. You have been taught by us, and everything you know about the work of Christ you know from us. Why, then, do you draw disciples after yourselves, as though what you know you know from yourselves? This is utterly unfitting (4:6-8). As for my being unimpressive and poor, this is in the order of things. It was pleasing to God that we should be a spectacle, the refuse of the world. You see this in me and in all the Apostles (4:9-13). But let my speech not seem bitter to you. It is the fruit of fatherly love toward you (4:14-16). Instruction on how to judge the Apostles, 4:1-5. You have begun to judge us by the personal qualities of each, and you have fallen into error. If one is to judge us, then one should judge only from this side: how faithful each is to the Lord, who entrusted His work to us. But who can judge this except the Lord Himself? I do not consider it important how anyone judges me. Nor do I judge myself, but I commit the judgment to the Lord. You should do the same. Do not judge before the time. The Lord will come, examine everything, and render to each according to his works. By “us” he means himself, Apollos, Peter, and the Apostles in general. “Let a man so account,” let him consider, let him place on that level. “As servants,” ὑπηρέτας, and stewards, οἰκονόμους. As in the house of a rich master there are servants and stewards, managers over various parts, so also with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Master of all spiritual treasures for the human race. He has servants and stewards to whom He entrusted the distribution of His treasures and the ordering of His work on earth: the salvation of men through the planting of Churches everywhere. Such are we. But as servants and stewards in a master’s house have nothing of their own, and everything belongs to the master, so we have nothing of our own. Everything is Christ’s. As servants and stewards cannot do anything according to their own desire, but must do only what the master commanded and as he commanded, so we cannot do anything according to our own will and understanding. We do everything as the Lord commanded. There is no need to strain to show a distinction between servants and stewards in the kingdom of Christ. The Apostle’s purpose is only to instill that they are not independent agents, have nothing from themselves, and can do nothing by themselves. He says they are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. For all that is Christ’s is God’s, and all that is God’s is Christ’s. “All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine,” the Lord says to God the Father. Here “mysteries” does not mean only the sacraments. It means the ordering of the whole work of Christ on earth, which is called the wisdom of God hidden in mystery. It is not only the mysteries of teaching, but the whole divine economy of salvation. Into this enter teaching, the establishment of right life, and the imparting of the sanctifying sacraments.