1 Corinthians 4:14-15

It was not Paul’s purpose in writing the immediately preceding verses to humiliate the Corinthians. Other congregations would read this epistle. However, he did want to admonish them strongly as their father in the faith. They had many "tutors" or "guardians" (Gr. paidagogoi) who sought to bring them along in their growth in grace, but he was their only spiritual father.

"The paidagogos was the personal attendant who accompanied the boy, took him to school and home again, heard him recite his ’lines’, taught him good manners and generally looked after him; he was entitled to respect and normally received it, but there was no comparison between his relation to the boy and that of the boy’s father." [Note: Bruce, p. 51.]