1 ¶ Let a man so account of us, as of the
ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a
man be found faithful. 3 But with me it
is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment:
yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I
know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me
is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing
before the time, until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things
of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall
every man have praise of God. 6 And
these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to
Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men
above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against
another.
Now comes a passage that links
Paul’s first warning to the Corinthian church about following a person more
than Christ with his condemnation of their allowing open sin in the
congregation. But, first, here is a passage often abused by fundamentalists.
The requirement for stewards of
the mysteries of God, His doctrines found in the Bible, is that they are
faithful to them, not corrupting or subverting God’s intentions for His people.
Unfortunately, many fundamentalist pastors will take verse 2 away from verse 1
and say that it means being faithful to church attendance or loyal to the
pastor. But, sadly, this is typical of
the aberration that is Protestant fundamentalism and it is interesting how
people will take Paul’s warning against following a man and then use this verse
to uphold the heresy.
Paul is not concerned about being
judged by the Corinthians or any person as he has remained faithful to the
doctrines of Christ. He doesn’t even judge himself. It is Christ alone who
judges him. The mysteries of God were difficult for men. They, for all practical purposes, were hidden
things.
Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but
those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our
children for ever, that we may
do all the words of this law.
Daniel 2:22 He
revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light
dwelleth with him.
The Jews, even Christ’s disciples,
did not understand the nature of the Cross and could not wrap their minds
around the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah.
John 20:9 For
as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again
from the dead.
Matthew 16:21 ¶ From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto
his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again
the third day. 22 Then Peter took him,
and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be
unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said
unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest
not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
These things were not made clear
until the Resurrection of Christ had come. Then, Christ’s Apostles made them
plain.
1Peter 1:10 ¶ Of which salvation the prophets have enquired
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto
themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Through them the doctrines of
Christ were made apparent.
Hebrews 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on
of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Another thing to remember is the
importance of prophecy in Christianity.
Revelation 19:10
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
This is not to puff one’s head up
with presumed knowledge but as a matter of faith, so that when things happen we
know that we were already told, even if like the Jews before the Resurrection
we could not make out the understanding of it.
John 14:29 And
now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when
it is come to pass, ye might believe.
John 16:4 But
these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye
may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said
not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
In my lifetime, from The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal
Lindsey in the 1970s, perhaps the first Christian prophecy book published by a
secular publisher, with a film narrated by Orson Welles, through endless
prophecy conferences up until today, people have claimed to know when the end
times would be upon us. Even if they claimed they didn’t know the exact date,
which some like Harold Camping did say they knew, it was implied that a rough
idea of the time was known. The buildup to the year 2000, just like The Gulf
War against Saddam Hussein, saw a huge outpouring of predictions about who was
the “Antichrist” and when he would rise. We understand, in truth, the events of
the Book of Revelation no better than the Jews understood Isaiah 53 or why
Jesus quoted the first verse of Psalm 22 from the Cross. When these events come
about, whether we are here on earth or in heaven itself when we witness them,
we’ll understand and see just how the words written for us applied to the
events and then understand the brilliance and perfection of God’s plan, giving
Him glory for all things.
Paul warns the Corinthians again
not to think of men above that which God has written and not to be puffed up
against each other. This self-righteous regard for oneself as being some kind
of spiritual superman is at least as bad as imputing that perfection of
doctrine and understanding to another person.
So, looking at this passage it
appears that Paul is defending his understanding and his preaching against
criticism as he is faithful to God’s word but also has warned them not to puff
themselves up or to hold others in higher regard than they should be held. Paul
has warned about following mere men more than Christ, has defended his understanding
of Scriptural truth, and has warned them about not holding their own selves
higher than they ought, which he will further illuminate next.
No comments:
Post a Comment