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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-16

Here Paul challenges their regard to him as their father. He tells them, 1. That what he had written was not for their reproach, but admonition; not with the gall of an enemy, but the bowels of a father (1 Cor. 4:14): I write not to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. Note, In reproving for sin, we should have a tender regard to the reputation, as well as the reformation, of the sinner. We should aim to distinguish between them and their sins, and take care not to discover any... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

4:14-21 It is not to shame you that I write these things, but to warn you as my beloved children. You may have thousands of tutors in Christ, but you have not many fathers; for, in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I begat you. So then, I urge you, show yourselves imitators of me. That is why I send to you Timothy, who is my beloved child and faithful in the Lord, for he will bring back to your memory my ways in Christ--exactly the same things as I teach everywhere and in every Church.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14

I write not these things to shame you ,.... Though they had a great deal of reason to be ashamed of the vain opinion they had of themselves, and that they suffered the faithful ministers of Christ to want the necessaries of life, when they abounded so much with the good things of it; and though the apostle's view in giving this narrative was to bring them under a sense of their faults, and to a conviction of them, and so to shame for them, in order to their future reformation and amendment;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:14

I write not these things to shame you - It is not by way of finding fault with you for not providing me with the necessaries of life that I write thus; but I do it to warn you to act differently for the time to come; and be not so ready to be drawn aside by every pretender to apostleship, to the neglect of those to whom, under God, you owe your salvation. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:14

Verse 14 14.I write not these things to shame you As the foregoing instances of irony were very pointed, so that they might exasperate the minds of the Corinthians, he now obviates that dissatisfaction by declaring, that he had not said these things with a view to cover them with shame, but rather to admonish them with paternal affection. It is indeed certain that this is the nature and tendency of a father’s chastisement, to make his son feel ashamed; for the first token of return to a right... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:10-14

Paul's treatment of self. conceited teachers. "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14

To shame you. Such seems to be the meaning of the word, for it is so used in the LXX . (compare the use of the verb in 2 Thessalonians 3:14 ; Titus 2:8 ; and of the substantive in 1 Corinthians 6:5 ; 1 Corinthians 15:34 ). I warn; rather, I admonish. St. Paul here gives the reason why he cannot write angrily or bitterly, even though he has used strong expostulation and keen irony. It is because he regards himself as their spiritual father. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The practical steps which he intends to take with reference to these party divisions. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

Warnings of tenderness. From mood to mood, yet in all, St. Paul had the same dominant zeal and affection in behalf of his converts. Rebuke was not with him a pleasure to which the natural man ministered, but a very painful duty that proceeded from conscience and kept sensibility unalloyed by animal passion. Herein he is distinguished from men who love authority because it is a signal of personal eminence and a means to make others feel their inferiority. A really superior round never likes... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

Spiritual parentage. I. A VERY TENDER RELATIONSHIP . Paul notices: 1. The way in which the relationship is formed. ( 1 Corinthians 4:15 .) The spiritual father He finds them "strangers to the covenant of promise," strangers to Christ, strangers to the Church; but under the preaching of the truth they are led by the Spirit to lay hold of salvation: they become in Christ "new creatures," are "born again;" and he who has been the instrument employed in their conversion... read more

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