HOW DO YOU TREAT THOSE WHO BROUGHT YOU TO CHRIST?

1 Corinthians 4:9-13

1Co 4:9 Because I think that God has displayed us – the missionaries — last, as if sentenced to death, because we have become a theatrical show to the world, and to angels, and to human beings.

1Co 4:10 We are stupid for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are highly esteemed, but we are dishonoured.

1Co 4:11 To this hour just now we are hungering and thirsting, we are being poorly clothed and battered and homeless,

1Co 4:12 and we are labouring, working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless; when persecuted, we bear with it;

1Co 4:13 when being slandered, we keep encouraging. We have become like rubbish of the world, the wiping rag of all things – up to this point.

wiping rag

Paul’s tone sharpens here because the situation in Corinth has reached an absurd and painful point. The very missionaries who had poured out their lives to establish these congregations—Paul, Apollos, Sosthenes, and others—are now being treated as disposable. They were once valued as spiritual parents, but the Corinthians now regard them as tools that served a temporary purpose and can be discarded once something more exciting comes along. Paul describes this with imagery that borders on indignation: they have become like a wiping rag, useful only until something cleaner or more fashionable appears.

This disrespect did not arise in a vacuum. The Corinthians had been exposed to new teachers, new styles of rhetoric, and new theological emphases. These fresh voices appealed to their cultural instincts—love of novelty, admiration for eloquence, and a desire to appear wise and sophisticated. As a result, they began to view their founding missionaries as outdated, simplistic, or insufficiently impressive. The ones who had labored, suffered, and prayed for their salvation were now considered inferior to the latest wave of teachers who promised deeper insight or more advanced spirituality.

Paul reacts strongly because this attitude reveals a deeper spiritual sickness. It is not merely ingratitude; it is arrogance. The Corinthians imagine themselves to have surpassed the very people who introduced them to Christ. They believe they have matured beyond the need for apostolic guidance, as though the Christian life were a ladder and they have climbed higher than their teachers. This is why Paul’s words carry both grief and sarcasm. He wishes they truly had reached such maturity, because then he and the other apostles would be sharing in that glory. But the reality is that they are still infants in need of nourishment, still unstable, still vulnerable to deception.

The tragedy is not that they are learning new things. Growth requires new understanding, new applications, and new insights. The tragedy is that they have embraced novelty at the cost of humility. They have confused intellectual stimulation with spiritual maturity. They have mistaken rhetorical brilliance for apostolic authority. They have allowed admiration for new leaders to turn into contempt for the old ones.

True wisdom does not behave this way. A genuinely wise person can receive new teaching without despising the teachers who laid the foundation. Wisdom honors the past even while learning in the present. It recognizes that growth is cumulative, not competitive. It builds on what has been received rather than discarding it.

LORD, make us people who are thankful for all who minister among us, and always respectful of those who brought us to you.