2 Corinthians 4:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor 4:5).

What is the connection here? How does this relate to what was said above?

Here he points either to those who boasted in themselves and made their disciples call themselves by their names. He spoke of this in the first epistle: "I am of Paul," "I am of Apollos" (1 Cor 1:12).

Or he points to something else, more important.

To what, then? Since the false teachers rose up strongly against the Apostles and attacked them from every side, he says: "Are you arming yourselves and rising up against us, or against the One Whom we preach?

Above he said that we do not walk in craftiness. Then he added concerning unbelievers, how they were covered.

Now he says: we do not deceive, for we do not preach ourselves, as the false apostles do. They encouraged their disciples to call themselves by their names, as he showed in the first epistle: "I am of Apollos," "I am of Cephas" (1 Cor 1:12).

Or else: do not think, you who attack us, that you are attacking us. We do not preach ourselves, but Christ. Therefore you rise up against the One Whom we preach.

We are so far from preaching ourselves that we do not refuse even to be your servants for Christ. That is, because He so loved us and did everything for us.

Those who have the grace of the Holy Spirit willingly humble themselves before those beneath them. With the Apostle they call themselves "servants" of every man in Christ, "the offscouring of all things until now." They also say with him: "We have become as the refuse of the world" (1 Cor 4:13). They use humility spiritually and make themselves last of all, that they may become first of all in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord calls them blessed, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mt 5:3).

The apostle says: "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." Therefore, knowing the fruits of humility and the punishment for pride, imitate the Master in love for one another. Do not fear death or any other penalty for the sake of mutual good. As God walked among us by this path, so you also must walk toward Him. Strive toward the high calling as one body and one soul, in love for God and one another. For love and the fear of the Lord are the first fulfillment of the law.

For we do not preach ourselves in the world, but Jesus Christ the Lord. By our sufferings and by our signs, we as it were preach concerning ourselves that we are His servants.

For this reason the apostle humbly affirms of himself that he is a servant of Christ. He wishes to show that he does not preach for his own sake, but for the benefit of the ministry of the Gospel. By servants he means ministers. Yet he speaks this way to display humility. He truly shows that he preaches the Gospel not for his own glory, but for the glory of our Lord. To Him he is subject, and Him he serves. The Lord Himself says this: "For who is greater, he who sits at table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at table?" (Lk 22:27).

He wrote this also in the First Epistle: "Let a man so account us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor 4:1).

Here, however, he speaks of himself still more humbly, for he calls himself a servant not only of Christ, but also of all believers, out of love for Christ. This is what the words "for Jesus' sake" mean.

Finally, fourth, such mighty properties of Christian revelation, despite its difficulty for reason to receive, remove all despondency from its preachers. They remove every fear of failure and every need to resort to tricks and distortions (2 Cor 4:1-6).

Such things, it seems, were allowed in Corinth by false teachers and dividers of the Christian community.

By contrast, the Apostles, preachers of the Gospel, "by manifesting" the pure and unadorned truth, boldly commend themselves, that is, their preaching, to every man's conscience before God (2 Cor 4:2).

For the preaching of the Lord Jesus acts irresistibly on uncorrupted hearts.

"But even if our Gospel is veiled," the Apostle adds, that is, difficult to receive, "it is veiled to those who are perishing, to the unbelieving.

"In them the god of this age has blinded their minds, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of the invisible God, should shine for them" (2 Cor 4:3-4).

Continuing to unfold the glorious properties of the evangelical proclamation, the Apostle Paul shows its self-acting power. First he points out how irresistibly it acts when preachers proclaim it sincerely and straightforwardly, altering nothing in it.

It acts so when those who hear it listen with a pure heart, without the prejudices of the age. Such prejudices blind many so deeply that the errors of the age are treated as if divine and infallible.

Of those who have such blind attachment to contemporary errors, the Apostle says that the god of this age has blinded their minds. Therefore they do not recognize that truly divine light.

After explaining why the Gospel remains veiled among the perishing, among unbelievers, he turns again to indicate the mystery of the Gospel's action in the conscience of those able to receive it.

This mystery is that in our Gospel we do not put ourselves forward. Neither in manner of speech, nor in manner of action, nor in aims, verse 2, are we seen at all.

Christ the Lord stands in the foreground. We set forth His countenance before the consciences of men, and they themselves recognize in Him the Savior from ruin, the Healer of infirmities, and the Giver of every strength to the powerless.

Therefore they cleave to Him with their whole soul. This is the mystery of the Gospel's action.

It is not we, but He, who has dominion over our faith, receiving or condemning you according to it.