Paul and the Corinthians—Part Four: Look to Leaders Who Love You (1 Cor 4:1-21)
6 Now these things, family, I have applied to myself and Apollos for you, so that by us you will learn not to go beyond what is written, so that not one of you will look down on another.
7 For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you were not given? But if you received it, why do you brag as if you hadn’t received it?
8 Now you are filled, now you are rich, apart from us you became kings; and I wish that you really did reign, so that we would reign with you!
9 For I think, God has placed we apostles on display last of all as those sentenced to death, because we have become a show to the world and angels and people. 10 We are fools for the Savior; however, you are wise in the savior; we are weak but you are strong; you are honored but we are despised. 11 As of this hour we both hunger and thirst and are poorly clothed and we are mistreated and homeless 12 and we work hard with our own hands; we are despised (yet) we bless, we are persecuted but we endure; 13 we are slandered (but) we encourage; we have become like the “scum of the earth”, (like) trash even until now.
14 I do not write these things to shame you but as my beloved children cautioning you. 15 For if you had countless tutors in the Savior but not many fathers for in Savior Jesus through the proclamation of Good News I fathered you. 16 Therefore, I urge you, to imitate me. 17 For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved child and faithful in the King, who will remind you of my ways that are in Savior Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Now some have become conceited as though I was not returning to you; 19 but I will come to you soon if the King wills, and I will learn not the words of the arrogant but their power; 20 For the kingdom of God is not by talk but by power. 21 What do you wish? Should I come to you with a rod or in the spirit of love?[1]
It is odd to evangelical Christians that the Corinthians were not fully listening to a true apostle chosen directly by King Jesus. What is even odder is that people still claim to be “apostles.” Wayne Grudem notes the unique authority of the apostles in church history. Grudem writes,
…apostles had a unique kind of authority in the early church: authority to speak and write words which were “words of God” in an absolute sense. To disbelieve or disobey them was to disbelieve or disobey God. The apostles, therefore, had the authority to write words which became words of Scripture. This fact in itself should suggest to us that there was something unique about the office of apostle, and that we would not expect it to continue today, for no one today can add words to the Bible and have them be counted as God’s very words or as part of Scripture.[2]
Grudem then speaks to their qualifications,
The two qualifications for being an apostle were (1) having seen Jesus after his resurrection with one’s own eyes (thus, being an “eyewitness of the resurrection”) and (2) having been specifically commissioned by Christ as his apostle.
The fact that an apostle had to have seen the risen Lord with his own eyes is indicated by Acts 1:22, where Peter said that person to replace Judas “must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” Moreover, it was “to the apostles whom he had chosen” that “he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days” (Acts 1:2–3; cf. 4:33).
Paul makes much of the fact that he did meet this qualification even though it was in an unusual way (Christ appeared to him in a vision on the road to Damascus and appointed him as an apostle: Acts 9:5–6; 26:15–18). When he is defending his apostleship he says, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1). And when recounting the people to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection, Paul says, “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle” (1 Cor. 15:7–9).
These verses combine to indicate that unless someone had seen Jesus after the resurrection with his own eyes, he could not be an apostle.
The second qualification, specific appointment by Christ as an apostle, is also evident from several verses. First, though the term apostle is not common in the gospels, the twelve disciples are called “apostles” specifically in a context where Jesus is commissioning them, “sending them out” to preach in his name:
And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these.… These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “… proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ” (Matt. 10:1–7)
Similarly, Jesus commissions his apostles in a special sense to be his “witnesses … to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). And in choosing another apostle to replace Judas, the eleven apostles did not take the responsibility on themselves, but prayed and asked the ascended Christ to make the appointment:
You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside.…’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:24–26).[3]
So, if nothing else, whenever you see someone on social media claiming to be an “apostle”…click off!
Today, when you look for a teacher/preacher it is best to look to someone who works through the Scriptures verse-by-verse and does not flinch from any of it. Locally, it is also best to find a church where the leadership shows love for the congregation even when that requires discipline and that will bring us to chapter 5, so stay tuned.