1 Corinthians 4

4 ¹ This is how one should regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of our Father. ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³ But it matters very little to me whether I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is our Lord Jesus who judges me. ⁵ Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before our Lord Jesus comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his praise from our Father.

⁶ I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷ For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you had not?

⁸ Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have begun to reign — if only you really were reigning, so that we might reign with you! ⁹ For I think that our Father has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to people. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, and we are homeless. ¹² We labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become, and are still, the scum of the world, the trash of all things.

¹⁴ I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ^a a v15 Paul does not replace our Father; he serves as the human instrument through whom our Father births his children into the family. The gospel itself does the begetting. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if our Lord Jesus wills, and I will find out not what these arrogant people are saying, but what power they actually have. ²⁰ For the kingdom of our Father is not a matter of talk but of power. ²¹ What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?