1 Corinthians 4:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

With the following words he reproaches them still more. After saying, "You are already full," he continues, "You are already rich, you have reigned as kings without us. And would indeed that you did reign, that we also might reign with you" (1 Cor 4:8). These words are full of great reproach. Therefore he brought them in at the end, after many rebukes.

Correction is more respected and more quickly received when reproaches are brought in after rebukes. This can touch even the most shameless soul and strike it more than direct rebuke. At the same time, it lightens the grief and vexation caused by the rebuke.

Words of reproach have this remarkable quality: they produce two opposite effects at once. They deliver a blow heavier than direct rebuke, and they dispose the one rebuked to greater patience, even after the heavier wound.

"You have reigned without us." This is a strong reproach both to teachers and to disciples. Here their shamelessness and great folly are shown. The meaning of his words is this: in labors everything is common between us and you, but in rewards and crowns you are first.

Still, he says, I do not grieve over this. Therefore he adds, "And would indeed that you did reign!" And so that these words should not seem ironic, he continues, "that we also might reign with you." Then, he says, we too would have received these blessings.

Do you see how he expresses reproach, concern, and philosophy all at the same time?

"And would indeed that you did reign, that we also might reign with you!" Would, he says, that you did reign, that is, that you had attained perfection. Then, so that the speech should not seem mockery, he adds, "that we also might reign with you," that is, receive the very same blessings. For your glory is mine, since every teacher longs for the perfection of his disciples.

Then the Apostle expresses the boundlessness of humility. "That we also might reign with you." The Apostle always uses such language concerning the Master Christ: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim 2:11). For Christ truly reigns, and His sincere servants are partakers of His Kingdom. Yet here also, in modesty, he used this expression, humbling their pride.

Pointing to the blessings promised to Christians, the Apostle ironically, or better, with sorrow, reproaches the Corinthians. Carried away by the outward advantages of their teachers and by their own spiritual gifts, they imagined that they were truly full and rich, and that they had already received the kingdom. At the same time they forgot that the Apostles, to whom the best share in the Kingdom of Heaven had been promised, were still living far from kingly lives.

"What is especially remarkable is that you intend to reign without us Apostles. It would be good if your dreams about the coming of the promised kingdom (Lk 12:32; 19:17) were reality. In that case we too would reign together with you, since reigning was promised to us before all others (Mt 19:28 and following). Yet your self-deception is so evident that one need only look at the present condition of us Apostles to be convinced of your error."

It seems that the Apostle has in view here especially those Judaizing Christians who, after their conversion to Christianity, brought with them false Jewish ideas about dominion over the nations and over the whole world. Yet in general one hears here a strong rebuke to all the Corinthian parties, and especially to their inflated and self-opinionated leaders.

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."

More directly, it remains to weave self-praises and consequently exalt oneself above others, looking down on them. Since this kind of disposition is very ridiculous in itself, the Apostle uses irony to overthrow it. “You are already full. The Apostle did not use the word ‘already’ in vain. By the very time he shows how groundless and unreasonable their opinion is. He speaks to them ironically: so quickly you have reached the end! This could not be so by the very time. Perfection lies in the future. To be satisfied with little is the sign of a weak soul. To consider oneself rich when one has little belongs to a sick and pitiable soul. Piety is insatiable. To consider oneself to have received everything at the firstfruits, and to have reached the end when only at the beginning of the work, belongs to a childish mind” (Saint Chrysostom). “You have reigned without us.” “We are still in distress and undergo sufferings for the preaching, while you have already enjoyed the kingdom” (Theodoret). Here one must understand “as though.” You carry yourselves as though you had already come to reign, as though the kingdom of glory had arrived, the crowns had been distributed, and blessed rejoicing had begun. But how is this without us? We labor and endure every kind of deprivation, while you have supposedly already entered the kingdom. The Apostle exposes the absurdity of the proud thought that they already have everything in abundance and need labor no more. Here he says: now is the time of labor and sweat. It is absurd to hold oneself as though one already had the kingdom in one’s hands. Or the thought here may be this: we labored both over you and over those whom you gathered to yourselves. You entered into our labor and now arrange things there autocratically, as though you were real kings. All have already turned to you, while we have been pushed out of attention, as though we did not exist and meant nothing. Yet your parties are adorned with our names. But the first thought is more direct. “And would that you did reign!” “The irony has ended. The Apostle expresses his actual disposition toward them and speaks as though saying: in this respect I not only do not envy you, but even wish that you were deemed worthy of such a good” (Theodoret). “And so that these words also might not seem ironic, he continues: that we also might reign with you. Then, he says, we too would receive this good with you” (Saint Chrysostom). By this “the Apostle expressed the boundlessness of his humility. Christ truly reigns, and His servants are partakers of His kingdom. But the Apostle, intending by his modesty to humble the pride of the party leaders, used such an expression” (Theodoret). “As if he were saying: for your sake the kingdom will be given to us also. Perhaps we too will not be deprived of such a good. For it is right that teachers should be where their disciples are, not falling behind them. Or thus: we too would reign with you in you, that is, your glory is our glory. It is an honor to teachers when their disciples stand high” (Oecumenius and Theophylact). The following words compel us to add: but this cannot be now. We would wish that you were already, as it were, in the kingdom, so that we too might be there with you. But this is not the time. Now is the time of labors, sorrows, and deaths. The thought of this passage is rather obscure. It is not evident what the Apostle wished to instill by it.