"With rhetoric full of sarcasm and irony he [Paul] goes for the jugular. His own apostleship, which he portrays in bold relief, contrasting his own shame' with their perceived high station,' is alone consonant with a theology of the cross."91
4:6 Paul had used various illustrations to describe himself and Apollos: farmers, builders, servants, and stewards. To exceed what God has written would be to go beyond the teaching of the Scriptures (cf. 15:3-4). If his readers avoided this pitfall, they would not take pride in one of their teachers over another.
In this letter Paul often used the verb translated "arrogant"or "puffed up"(Gr. physioomai) to describe attitudes and activities that smacked of human pride rather than godly wisdom and love (cf. vv. 18-19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4). The frequent use of this word identifies one of the Corinthians' main problems. Their attitude was wrong because their outlook was wrong. Paul proceeded to deal with it, and the rejection of him that it produced, in the remainder of this pericope.
4:7 The apostle reminded the Corinthians that they were not intrinsically superior to anyone else, an attitude that judging others presupposes. God had given them everything they had. Consequently they should be grateful, not boastful.
4:8 His readers were behaving as though they had already received their commendation at the judgment seat of Christ. This is an indication of their over-realized eschatology. They should have been conducting themselves as under-rowing stewards and paying attention to serving God faithfully (v. 1). Ironically Paul wished the time for rewards had arrived so he could enjoy reigning with his readers. Unfortunately suffering must precede glory.
"The irony is devastating: How they perceive themselves, masterfully overstated in vv. 8 and 10, is undoubtedly the way they think heought to be. But the way he actually is, set forth in the rhetoric of vv. 11-13, is the way theyall ought to be."92
4:9 Paul may have had the Roman games in mind here, specifically the battles between condemned criminals and wild beasts in the amphitheaters.93Another view is that Paul was thinking of the Roman triumph, a figure that he developed more fully elsewhere (2 Cor. 2:14). At the end of that procession came the captives of war who would die in the arena.94In either case, Paul seems to have been thinking of the apostles as the ultimately humiliated group. They were the leaders, and their sufferings for the cause of Christ were common knowledge. How inappropriate it was then for the Corinthians to be living as kings rather than joining in suffering with their teachers.
"The Corinthians in their blatant pride were like the conquering general displaying the trophies of his prowess; the apostles were like the little group of captives, men doomed to die. To the Corinthians the Christian life meant flaunting their pride and their privileges and reckoning up their achievement; to Paul it meant a humble service, ready to die for Christ."95
Paul evidently meant good angels since he used "principalities and powers"to refer to what we call bad angels.
4:10 These contrasts between the apostles and the Corinthians clarify the differences in their conditions. Natural men thought the apostles were fools, but they were willing to suffer this judgment for Christ's sake. The Corinthians and others, on the other hand, regarded themselves as prudent in their behavior as Christians. To the naturally wise the apostles looked weak, but the Corinthians appeared strong. They looked distinguished while the apostles seemed to be dishonorable.
4:11-13 Paul proceeded to detail the dishonor that befalls those who bear the message of the cross. The Greeks despised people who did manual labor, as Paul had done in Corinth (cf. 9:4-18; Acts 18:3, 5; 2 Cor. 11:9; 12:13-17); they regarded it as the work of slaves.96To the world it is foolish to bless those who curse us, but that is what Paul did following the teaching and example of Jesus (cf. Luke 6:28; 23:34). All of these descriptions of the apostles emphasize the depths to which they were willing to stoop to proclaim the gospel (cf. Phil. 2). They did so even though people who viewed things naturally called them fools.
In this section (vv. 6-13) Paul contrasted the viewpoint of the Corinthians with that of the apostles. The viewpoint of the Corinthians was virtually identical to that of natural unsaved people. The viewpoint of the apostles whom his readers professed to venerate and follow was quite different. Not only were the Corinthians unwise, but they were also proud.
