The Bible Says
1 Corinthians 4:14-21 Meaning

In 1 Corinthians 4:14-21, Paul sets the stage to begin a series of corrective instructions in Chapter 5, noting that he is their spiritual father whom they should emulate, and that they should stop seeking worldly status and instead seek God’s approval.

Referring to the previous section where Paul noted that the Corinthians were behaving as though they were spiritually “rich” while the apostles were being treated as “dregs,” Paul begins, I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children (v.14).

Paul’s intention is to correct, not humiliate (to shame). Like a spiritual father, he seeks the Corinthians’ growth in godliness and spiritual maturity. The Corinthian believers are beloved children because Paul helped establish the Corinthian church. Paul spent a “year and six months” in Corinth “teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:11). Paul was their spiritual father, so is here treating them as a loving father ought and seeks to admonish.

The root of the Greek word translated to admonish you is used by Paul in the phrase translated “give you instruction” in 1 Thessalonians 5:12. The goal is training, and the aim is toward the benefit of the Corinthians believers, Paul’s beloved children. His desire is for them to grow and mature in their faith.

Maturing in our faith comes through walking in obedience to God’s commands, which is to love God. And as Paul asserted in 1 Corinthians 2:9, those who love God will be rewarded beyond what can be imagined. Although discipline is not pleasant, it yields great benefit, which is Paul’s motivation for his spiritual offspring (Hebrews 12:11).

Paul wants his children in the faith to see the discrepancy between their inflated self-image (1 Corinthians 4:8) and the sacrificial life he demonstrates (1 Corinthians 4:11-13).  Throughout the Corinthian letters, there is a tension of Paul having to "prove" his authenticity as an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is likely due to competing voices seeking to bring the Corinthians under their sway, people Paul will refer to as “false apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:13).

Paul founded the Corinthian church and initiated their faith. Paul notes his historical relationship with them, For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel (v.15).

He draws an analogy: even if they had countless tutors, only he was their spiritual father in the gospel. Paul first brought the gospel to them and taught them for a year and a half (Acts 18:11). Just as physical children cannot have many fathers, so it is in the spiritual realm. Paul is their spiritual father.

This fatherly relationship is spiritual; Paul is their father through the gospel. This comes with a responsibility. Just as children gain an inheritance from their parents, so the Corinthian believers needed to adopt Paul’s example of humility, service, and readiness to suffer for Christ that they might share in the reward of His inheritance (Romans 8:17, Revelation 3:21). (For more on the meaning of gospel, see our article on “Why Paul Refers to the Gospel as a Mystery”).

Being a spiritual father also means Paul is appropriately protective. He is concerned they might be harmed by false teachings or prideful tendencies (2 Corinthians 11:13). The fatherly love he exhibits points, ultimately, to the Heavenly Father’s care for all believers (Matthew 10:29-31). Paul is following Jesus’s example, Who asserts in Revelation:

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
Revelation 3:19

Paul is the spiritual father through the gospel for the Corinthians, and he is setting the stage to reprove them that they might repent. Hence Paul urges them: Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me (v.16).

As their spiritual father, Paul desires they follow his example (be imitators of me). In the immediate context, this means he exhorts the Corinthians to live in obedience to Christ which will make them social outcasts to the world around them, even as he is. As he has stated previously:

• He has suffered for the gospel with hunger, thirst, want, slander, and rejection (1 Corinthians 4:11-13).
• He has been, with the other apostles, “a spectacle to the world” who is “without honor” from the world (1 Corinthians 4:9-10).

The Corinthians apparently thought they were above suffering rejection from the world due to the obedience of Christ (1 Corinthians 4:7-8). But as Paul will soon reveal, they are compromising with the world in accommodating gross immorality (1 Corinthians 5, 6:12-20) and suing one another (1 Corinthians 6:1-11). Paul will exhort them to follow God’s will, which is to be sanctified by living apart from sin and the flesh (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Imitation is a strong theme in Paul’s writings. He commands believers to imitate him “just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). This reveals that Paul’s ultimate model is Jesus. He is not seeking the Corinthians’ devotion to him, as he made clear earlier (1 Corinthians 1:12-12). Rather, he desires the Corinthians to live in submission to Christ, recognizing they will stand in judgment before Him (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Though a charge to be imitators of me might sound self-inflating, it is a statement made out of humility because it is true. Humility is the willingness to seek and embrace reality. Moses was a powerful man, but is said to be the most humble man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). This is because he saw himself properly, and faithfully played the role God called him to fill.

As Paul asserts, “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3). Paul sees the reality that he is considered the “scum of the world” and “the dregs of all things” by the world while also asserting that this is transpiring because he is following the example of Jesus, who suffered rejection from men (1 Corinthians 4:13).

Paul also recognized that he is “the least of the apostles” because he persecuted the church prior to his conversion (1 Corinthians 15:9). Notwithstanding this, he was also “not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles” in his authority and mission (2 Corinthians 11:5).

The Greek word “mimetes” is translated imitators in the phrase be imitators of me. This word “mimetes” is the noun form of the Greek word from which the English word “mimic” is derived. Paul invites the Corinthians to endure persecution from the world for following Jesus with all their substance, and in doing so build on the foundation of Christ with gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). In doing so, he also invites contemporary believers to do likewise.

Paul then states a provision he has made to instruct them in the proper way: For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church (v.17).

Timothy was a younger co-worker in the faith, a trusted companion who served alongside Paul (Romans 16:21, Philippians 2:19-22). Paul will cite Timothy as a co-author of 2 Corinthians, which indicates he came to Corinth and became a mentor to them (2 Corinthians 1:1). The phrase For this reason in the phrase For this reason I have sent to you Timothy refers to the immediate context, which is that Paul is their spiritual father who has the responsibility to care for, discipline, and nurture the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:14-16).

Historically, Timothy emerged as a significant figure in the early church, eventually becoming a leader in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). He is believed to have ministered throughout the mid-to-late first century, continuing Paul’s missionary legacy. The stated purpose for Timothy’s visit is to remind you of my ways which are in Christ (v.17). His ways which are in Christ is what Paul taught in the year and a half he remained in Corinth (Acts 18:11). Timothy will now come to remind them of what they learned then.

We know that human memories are short. It took the Israelites less than forty days to forget that God delivered them from Egypt and instead attribute their deliverance to a golden calf (Exodus 24:18, 32:8). It was likely somewhere between two and three years from the time that Paul departed Corinth, after teaching the Corinthians for a year and a half, and the writing of 1 Corinthians. That is more than enough time to hear other teachings and begin to forget the basics taught by Paul.

What Timothy will remind the Corinthians is the same message Paul teaches everywhere in every church he teaches. The message is not unique to them, but common to all believers. For contemporary believers, this tells us that the message of scripture is still relevant to us today. Paul calls Timothy his beloved and faithful child. That he is also Paul’s beloved child in the faith puts him in the same category as the Corinthians, who are also his spiritual children (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). By adding that Timothy is faithful, Paul sets him forth as also being someone they can follow and imitate (1 Corinthians 4:16).

The Greek word translated church is “ekklesia.” In general use in the Greek world, it meant a gathering or assembly. It was adopted in Christianity to refer to those who gathered to stir one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). It is also translated “congregation” in Acts 7:38 which speaks of Moses leading a “congregation in the wilderness.” “Ekklesia” is translated “assembly” in Acts 19:39, 41 in reference to lawful gathering of citizens to decide a matter, as opposed to the mob that had gathered in the theater in Ephesus.

Paul now returns to the theme of pride he previously addressed in 1 Corinthians 4:7-8:
Now as some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you (v.18).

The phrase as though I were not coming to you evokes the image of children left at home behaving as though their parents will not return and hold them accountable for their behavior. Paul has already admonished the Corinthians to live for “the day” of Christ’s judgment (1 Corinthians 3:13). But he has also acknowledged the lack of maturity in the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:6). So he recognizes that they may need earthly accountability, from a person they can see and touch, until they are sufficiently mature to live with a full acknowledgment of their accountability before Christ.

A derivative of the Greek root word “physio” is translated have become arrogant.

• Paul used a form of this same word in 1 Corinthians 4:6 to instruct the believers to not “become arrogant in behalf of one against the other,” which shows that arrogance leads to division.
• He uses a form of “physio” in 1 Corinthians 5:2 to describe those who are sinning without remorse.
• He uses the term in 1 Corinthians 8:1 to say that knowledge without love leads to arrogance.
• He uses a form of “physio” in 1 Corinthians 13:4 as a contrast, to demonstrate what agape love is NOT.
• He also uses a form of the word in Colossians 2:18 saying that having an “inflated” view of ourselves and what we have seen, as determined by a “fleshly mind,” can defraud us of our “prize”—the rewards we gain as believers for faithfully serving Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 3:21).

The picture this paints of what Paul means by have become arrogant is to follow our own way as opposed to submitting to God and following His way. The inference is that when Paul, their spiritual father, comes to them, they will give an account to him. But he is sending Timothy in hope that they will repent before he comes.  Paul frames their decision as a binary choice: What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? (v. 21).

The binary choice when Paul comes is that he can come with a rod or with gentleness. In using a picture of a rod, Paul further invokes the picture of him as their spiritual father (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). The Greek word translated as rod is rendered elsewhere as “staff” and “scepter.” The Greek word translated rod is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in these verses from Proverbs:

“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”
(Proverbs 22:15)

“Do not hold back discipline from the child,
Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.”
(Proverbs 23:13)

The idea behind these verses is that a small amount of pain to learn cause-effect is vastly superior to the immense damage that comes from not having learned cause-effect then experiencing it as an adult. Children that do not learn what is bad for them will be prone to self-harm, which loving parents can help them avoid.

Paul is a spiritual father who will spiritually discipline his disobedient children in order to train them in proper behavior. It is their choice; they can read the words of exhortation for them to repent, words that will begin in the next chapter, and Paul will come in gentleness. Or they can persist in their current state of arrogance, and Paul will give them the rod. The word gentleness is translated in Titus 3:2 as “consideration.” The alternative to discipline is to come in a spirit of affirmation of their behavior.

In verses 19 and 20 Paul sets forth what the spiritual rod of discipline will look like if it is needed: But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power (vv. 19-20).

The rod of Paul will be the power that is the truth of the gospel. The power of the truth will overwhelm the mere words of those who are arrogant. The words of the arrogant are idle boasts. Paul wields the sword of truth with carries with it the power of God. Paul invokes this image of the truth as a weapon in Colossians 6:7 where he says, “the word of truth, in the power of God” is a weapon of “righteousness for the right hand and the left.”  He also calls the “word of God” the “sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6:17.

If certain leaders are merely boasting without the genuine power of the Spirit of truth, it will become evident upon his arrival. Throughout the New Testament, and in all of Paul's experiences and writings, the genuine mark of God’s kingdom is not empty chatter, but transformative power (Romans 1:16, 12:2).

This passage shows how accountability forms an integral part of Christian community. Leaders are responsible for living in line with God’s truth, and the church has the obligation to test the truth of what is taught (Titus 1:9, John 4:1-6).

Paul affirms, For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power (v.20). By kingdom of God, Paul refers to the realm where God’s will is done (Matthew 6:10). The Greek word translated words is “logos” which is also used in John 1:1 to describe Jesus:

“In the beginning was the Word [‘logos’], and the Word [‘logos’] was with God, and the Word [‘logos’] was God.”
(John 1:1)

See The Bible Says commentary on John 1:1 for a full description of the massive depth inferred in the use of “logos” to describe Jesus Christ. In brief, the idle words of arrogant men is of no account when compared to power in the Word who spoke and created the heavens and earth.

The Greek word translated power is “dynamis” from which we derive the English words “dynamite” and “dynamic.” God’s word of truth accomplishes. The idle words of arrogance simply fill the air. If the arrogant Corinthians do not repent, their words will be tested, and if they are words of arrogance, they will get the rod.

As a Greek city full of Greek culture, the people of Corinth would naturally place great value on eloquence and philosophy. Yet Paul had already highlighted that he did not come with “superiority of speech” (1 Corinthians 2:1). Instead, he came in the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings genuine life transformation (1 Corinthians 2:13).

This verse is also a message to the church of today:  Do we believe, teach, preach, and experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we follow the timeless truth of God’s word, and live in its power? Or do we conform to the culture around us and use arrogant “I know better” words to rationalize fitting in, as some believers in Corinth were doing.

Like a compassionate father, Paul desires a loving, peaceful reunion. However, part of biblical love includes confronting sin. By ending with the question What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? (v. 21) frames the basic question that weaves throughout the biblical narrative: Will you choose life or death?

• Adam and Eve were given the basic choice of life or death, and chose death (Genesis 2:17, 3:24).
• Moses framed the entire covenant treaty between God and Israel as a fundamental choice between life and death (Deuteronomy 30:15).
• Proverbs frames the fundamental choice as being between life and death (Proverbs 11:19).
• God even framed the immediate choice of Israel whether to rebel against God’s word and remain in Jerusalem or follow God’s instruction and surrender to Babylon as being a choice between physical life and death (Jeremiah 21:8).
• Believers in Jesus are delivered from death into life as a gift of God’s grace received by those who choose to believe (John 5:242, Romans 5:10).
• Believers in Jesus still have a daily choice whether to walk in the truth of God’s word and have the experience of life or follow the flesh and sin and fall back into death (Romans 6:4, 8:6).

It is worth noting that Paul never questions whether he is actually the spiritual father of the Corinthian believers. This is because new birth in Christ makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). As Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:13, Christ will never deny a believer as being His child because if He did He would be denying Himself. This is because all believers are one in Him.

However, children of God are granted an inheritance. And in order to possess that inheritance requires that they be found faithful (Matthew 25:21). That is why Paul ends this introduction to chastisement that will begin in the next chapter by asking them for an answer to a binary question: What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? (v. 21).

“What will it be?” Paul asks. “Do you want me to come in person with a rod of discipline, or will you listen to Timothy (1 Corinthians 4:17) and to the reproof I am about to give (in the coming chapters) and repent before I arrive?” As their spiritual father, Paul is doing his paternal duty. His job is not to seek affirmation from them. Rather it is to seek their best interest.

It is not in the Corinthian believers’ best interest to persist in arrogance, bending to worldly culture and accommodating sin. Sin leads to death. Paul wants to deliver them from death. Death is separation from our design. Physical death is our spirit separating from our body (James 2:26). In God’s original design, that separation was not intended (Genesis 2:17).

Anyone, including believers, who choose sin also choose the consequences of sin. As Romans 1:18, 24, 26, 28 say, God’s “wrath” is “revealed” by giving us over to our lusts. Lusts become addictions, and addictions lead to a loss of mental health, to use modern terminology.  As Paul says in his letter to the Romans:

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
(Romans 6:16)

Having dealt with factionalism and arrogance, Paul will now delve into a problem of immorality within the church that is going unaddressed by its leadership, pursuing his goal of helping the Corinthian believers mature, and in maturing, gain the most from life.