1 Corinthians 4:8 - Homiletics

Apostolic treatment of vanity.

"Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you." Vanity is a state of mind at once the most prevalent and detestable; it is a plant that springs from self ignorance, and is disgusting to the spectator in all its forms and fruits. See how the apostle treats it here.

I. WITH WITHERING SARCASM . "Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us." The Bible furnishes us with many instances of irony (see 1 Kings 18:27 ; Job 12:2 ), but nowhere have we it in language more full and forceful than here. "Now ye are full," or "already are ye tilled." You have had enough, you want nothing; "ye are rich" or "already ye are become rich." You are affluent in all gifts and graces. "Ye have reigned as kings without us." "Here are three metaphors, the first taken from persons tilled with food, the second from persons so rich that they require no more, the third from those who have reached the highest elevation—obtained a throne." Paul seems to say to these conceited teachers that they were so great that they did not require such services as his. We scarcely know of a more effective way of treating vanity than by sarcasm. Treat the vain, swaggering man before you, not according to your judgment of him, but according to his estimate of himself. Speak to him as one as stupendous as he believes himself to be, and your irony will stab him to the quick. Sarcasm is often the instrument of a great manly soul when roused into indignation.

II. WITH A NOBLE GENEROSITY . "I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you;" or, "I would ye did reign." Here the north wind of sarcasm gives way to the south breezes of love. What he means is a wish that they were as truly full, rich, and royal as they thought themselves to be. The irony of a Christly man, however pungent, is not malign, but generous.