1 Corinthians 4:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Consequently, you have received not only this or that, but everything you have. Your excellences are not from you, but from the grace of God. If you point to faith, it is from the calling. If you point to forgiveness of sins, to gifts, to the ability to teach, to virtues, you received everything from there.

Tell me, then, what do you have that you did not receive, but attained by yourself? You cannot point to anything. You received, and therefore you exalt yourself? For this very reason you ought to humble yourself, since what was given belongs not to you, but to the Giver.

If you received, then you received from Him. If you received from Him, then you received what is not your own. If you received what is not your own, why do you exalt yourself as though you had everything from yourself? Therefore the Apostle added, "Now if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?" (1 Cor 4:7).

Thus, after proving his thought consistently, he then shows that they still lack much. He says: even if you had received everything, you still should not boast, because all this is not yours. But now you still do not have much.

At the beginning he hinted at this when he said, "I could not speak to you as to spiritual men" (1 Cor 3:1). And again, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). Here, however, he impresses it upon them with reproach and says, "You are already full, you are already rich" (1 Cor 4:8). That is, you need nothing more. You have become perfect, have reached the very summit, and consider yourselves in need of no one's help, neither Apostles nor teachers.

Anticipating such thoughts, the good teacher says, "What do you have that you did not receive?" From whom do you have this? Is it not from Him who distinguished you from another, by not giving him what He gave you? "Now if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?"

I ask, does he desire anything other than that everyone who boasts should boast in the Lord? Nothing is so contrary to this meaning as boasting in one's merits as though one made them for oneself, and not the grace of God. Yet I mean that grace which distinguishes the good from the evil, not the grace common to the good and the evil.

There is, then, a grace given to nature, according to which we are rational animals and differ from beasts. There is also a grace given to nature by which, among men themselves, the beautiful differ from the ugly, and the talented from the dull, and all else of this kind.

But the man whom the Apostle rebuked was not exalting himself over beasts. Nor was he exalting himself over another man in some natural gifts, which even the worse may possess. Rather, the one who exalted himself attributed to himself, and not to God, something belonging to the good life.

For this he deserved to hear from the Apostle, "For who makes you differ? What do you have that you did not receive?" The capacity to have faith belongs to nature, but does the actual possession of that faith belong to nature? "For not all have faith" (2 Thess 3:2), although the possibility of having faith belongs to all.

The Apostle does not say, "What can you have that you did not receive, so that you could have it?" Rather, he says, "What do you have that you did not receive?" Therefore, that a man can have faith, as he can have love, belongs to his nature. But to have faith, as also to have love, belongs to the grace of the faithful.

Thus the nature among whose gifts the possibility of having faith was given to us does not distinguish one man from another. Faith itself distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever. Therefore it is said, "For who makes you differ? What do you have that you did not receive?"

Anyone who dares to say that he has faith from himself, because he did not receive it, openly contradicts this clear truth. This is not because believing or not believing does not belong to man's free will, but because in the elect the will is prepared by the Lord (Prov 8, according to the Septuagint).

Therefore the saying also applies to faith itself, which belongs to the will: "For who makes you differ? What do you have that you did not receive?"

Such was the judgment of Caesar that the Apostle sought for himself. But judges may refrain from exalting themselves in thought above the accused. They need not boast that they are better than he, nor find in his fall an occasion for self-praise. Was not the thief crucified with Christ worse than all? Yet before all, and before the judges who lawfully condemned him to crucifixion, he obtained salvation and Paradise. Therefore, if it falls to you to bear the duties of a judge, do not despise the accused, even if he has transgressed the law. Do not boast of your superiority over him, even if your deeds are not like his. Remember that your judgment over him is only an examination of the deeds he committed, as the Apostle Paul wanted for himself. It is not the final judgment. Then you will fulfill the Apostle’s commandment: “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, and then each one’s praise will come from God.” The Apostle did not say that only then will judgment be made concerning every deed. He said that only then will each one’s praise come, because he forbids not every judgment concerning one’s neighbor, but judgment joined with self-praise. Compare the expressions that follow: “Who makes you differ? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?” (v. 7). In accordance with this, the words of verse 6 are also explained: “These things, my brethren, I have transferred to myself and Apollos for your sake, that from us you may learn not to think beyond what is written. That none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against another.” The Stundists like to appeal to these words, asserting that one must think only as it is written in Scripture and add nothing from Holy Tradition. But such appeals are based on ignorance of the original text of Scripture. The Greek words φρονεῖν ὑπέρ and ὑπεφρονεῖν generally mean “to be high-minded,” “to have a high opinion of oneself,” and “to be proud.” That this is also the meaning here of the Greek ὑπέρ-φρονεῖν and of the translated expressions, “to be wise beyond” and “to think beyond. ” is clear from the words that follow: that you may “not be puffed up one against another.” In the Epistle to the Romans, in almost the same connection of thought, the expression “to think beyond,” Greek ὑπεφρονεῖν, is translated in Russian as “to think of oneself more highly,” with the addition, “but to think soberly” (Rom 12:3). What, then, is to be understood by “what is written”? The Stundists understand all Scripture in general, supposing that the Apostle here forbids beliefs and rites for which there are no direct indications in the Bible. But “to think beyond” means to be proud. Therefore by “what is written” one must understand only those admonitions or rebukes by which Scripture instructs the proud. Chiefly, one must understand what Paul has just “applied to himself and Apollos.” In the preceding chapter, chapter 3, he wrote: “Who is Paul, and who is Apollos? They are only ministers. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Therefore neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth” (vv. 6-7). This is the “written” thing with which everyone must conform his opinion of himself. Contrary to it, one must not hold a lofty opinion of one’s own dignity and merits.

They must treat others as the Apostle taught them in this very writing. Namely, they must not appropriate to themselves the right of judgment over them. This belongs to God and to His chosen servants, the ministers of the mysteries of God, to whom it was said: "Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain, they are retained" (Jn 20:23).

Besides the sin of condemnation, the Corinthians also fell into self-deception. Seeing in themselves the fruits of regeneration, they were filled with self-satisfaction. They did not think of the perfection still required. They imagined that the Kingdom of Christ had already fully come, and so they became proud.

In exposing this frivolous attitude toward Christianity, the Apostle surely uses comparisons from ordinary life with purpose: "you are full," "you are rich." He teaches them to regard the life of grace not as external, but as spiritual. Its perfection is not attained as quickly as food or wealth. The full possession of perfection will be only in the eternal kingdom of glory. It must be reached through many sorrows and labors. In this the holy Apostles serve as an example for all, while the Corinthians imagined that they had already attained perfection.

According to St. John Chrysostom, "perfection is in the future. To be satisfied with little is a sign of a weak soul. To count oneself rich with little belongs to a diseased and pitiable soul. Piety is insatiable. To count oneself as having received everything at the beginnings, and as having reached the end while still at the start, belongs to a childish mind."

In the words, "you are already full," St. John Chrysostom sees irony. But when he dwells on the words, "and would that you did reign," he says: "The irony has ended. The Apostle expresses his real disposition toward them. And so that these words too should not seem ironic, he continues: 'that we also might reign with you.' Then, he says, we too would have received this good with you."

According to blessed Theodoret, here "the Apostle expressed the boundlessness of his humility, intending by his own modesty to humble their pride."

Concerning self-exaltation, St. John Chrysostom says: "Suppose even that you are worthy of praise and that you truly have gifts. Even then you ought not to be high-minded. Your excellences are not from you, but from the grace of God. If you point to faith, it is from the calling. If you point to forgiveness of sins, to gifts, to the ability to teach, to virtues, you received everything from there. You should have humbled yourself, because what was given belongs not to you, but to the Giver."

"Here, leaving the subordinates, he turns again to the leaders. The meaning of his words is this: how is it known that you are worthy of praise? Was there a judgment? Was there an examination, investigation, and exact inquiry? You cannot say this. If men have judged so, their judgment is unreliable." Here diakrinei means he discerns, distinguishes, separates.

"Suppose even that you are worthy of praise, that you truly have gifts, and that human judgment is not false. Even then you ought not to be high-minded. You have nothing from yourself, but have received everything from God. Why then do you present yourself as having from yourself and for yourself what you do not have from yourself and for yourself? What you have, others also have together with you, for it was given for them. You received everything you have, not only this or that special gift.

"Your excellences are not from you, but from the grace of God. If you point to faith, it is from the calling. If you point to forgiveness of sins, to gifts, to the ability to teach, to virtues, you received everything from there. Tell me, then, what do you have that you did not receive, but attained by yourself? You cannot point to anything.

"You received, and yet you exalt yourself? At this point you ought rather to humble yourself, because what was given belongs not to you, but to the Giver. If you received, then you received from Him. If you received from Him, then you received what is not your own. If you received what is not your own, why do you exalt yourself as though you had everything from yourself?

"Therefore the Apostle added, 'Now if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?' Thus, after proving his thought consistently, he then shows that they still lack much. He says: even if you had received everything, you still should not boast, because all this is not yours. But now you still do not have much.

"At the beginning he hinted at this when he said, 'I could not speak to you as to spiritual men' (1 Cor 3:1). Here he impresses it upon them with reproach, and says" (Chrysostom).