1 Corinthians 4:15

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 4:15

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ ,.... Or "schoolmasters"; by whom he means the false teachers, whom, for argument sake, he admits to be instructors in Christ, or ministers of his, as in 2 Corinthians 11:23 and who were many, and of whose number the Corinthians boasted; though they were not so numerous as here supposed; for the expression is hyperbolical: perhaps some reference may be had to the multitude of schoolmasters, tutors, and governors, and who also were... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:15

For though ye have ten thousand instructers - Μυριους παιδαγωγους , Myriads of leaders, that is, an indefinite multitude; for so the word is often used. The παιδαγωγος , from which we have our word pedagogue, which we improperly apply to a school master, was among the Greeks, the person or servant who attended a child, had the general care of him, and who led him to school for the purpose of being instructed by the διδασκαλος , or teacher. It seems there were many at Corinth who... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:15

Verse 15 15.For though you had ten thousand. He had called himself father, and now he shows that this title belongs to him peculiarly and specially, inasmuch as he alone has begotten them in Christ. In this comparison, however, he has an eye to the false apostles to whom the Corinthians showed all deference, so that Paul was now almost as nothing among them. Accordingly he admonishes them to consider what honor ought to be rendered to a father, and what to a pedagogue (254) “You entertain... 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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The father and his children. The apostle has used sharp words, but they have been dictated by love. He has written as a father who desires the correction and not the shame of his children. I. SPIRITUAL FATHERHOOD . 1. How constituted. "For in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel." Conversion is the beginning of a new life, the birth by which we enter on spiritual being. This change is wrought by the agency of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Christ's redemptive work;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:15

Ten thousand; never so many. The word in Greek is used indefinitely, but here implies a touch of impatience at the itch of teaching which seems to have prevailed at Corinth. Tutors; rather, pedagogues, in a technical sense. We have no exact equivalent in English to the paidagogos, the slave who led boys to school. The word also occurs in Galatians 3:24 , Galatians 3:25 . The father loves most, and has the nearer and dearer claim. In Christ. So he says, "The Law was our ... read more

Group of Brands