1 Corinthians 4:16 NIV

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 4:16

Wherefore, I beseech you ,.... Though he might have used the power and authority of a father, yet he chose rather to entreat and beseech them; saying, be ye followers of me ; for who should children follow, but their parents? The Vulgate Latin, adds, "as I am of Christ"; so Chrysostom in his time read it; and Beza says he found it so written in one Greek exemplar; and so it is in one of Stephens's; it seems to have crept in from 1 Corinthians 11:1 . However, though it might not be now... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:16

Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me - It should rather be translated, Be ye imitators of me; μιμηται , from which we have our word mimic, which, though now used only in a bad or ludicrous sense, simply signifies an imitator of another person, whether in speech, manner, habit, or otherwise. As children should imitate their parents in preference to all others, he calls on them to imitate him, as he claims them for his children. He lived for God and eternity, seeking not his own... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:16

Verse 16 16.I exhort you. He now expresses also, in his own words, what he requires from them in his fatherly admonition — that, being his sons, they do not degenerate from their father. For what is more reasonable than that sons endeavor to be as like as possible to their father. (262) At the same time he gives up something in respect of his own right, when he exhorts them to this, by way of entreaty rather than of command. But to what extent he wishes them to be imitators of him, he shows... 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 4:16

Be ye followers; rather, imitators. He makes the same appeal in 1 Corinthians 11:1 ; Philippians 3:17 . Of course, he only uses his human example as a guide to them in the special virtues of humility, self denial, and faithfulness ( 1 Peter 5:3 ; Hebrews 13:7 ). In the highest sense we can only be "imitators of God" ( Ephesians 5:1 ). read more

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

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:16

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:16

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 4:16

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 4:16

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