Lessons #119 and 120
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Understanding the sufferings of the apostles (1 Cor 4:8-13)
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Many times, we are indifferent to the suffering of others, especially if we have no immediate human relationship to the one suffering. In other words, many of us do not truly care about the suffering of others and so we may not learn anything from their suffering. However, believers are expected to be concerned with sufferings of their fellow believers, especially the ministers of the word of God. Failure to be concerned with the suffering of others is not a joking matter. For when we fail to show concern for the suffering of others, especially fellow believers then at that instant we have sinned. You may say to yourself that is ridiculous. How is not being concerned with the suffering of others a sin? I tell you how! Let me begin with the fundamental fact that sin is disobedience to God’s instruction. This being the case, then not being concerned about the suffering of other believers is a sin because such a failure is one that ignores the command of the Holy Spirit to us through Apostle Paul in Romans 12:15:
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
There are two commands in this passage of Romans 12 that involve good and bad times. If you truly rejoice with a fellow believer because of the individual’s blessing, then you have obeyed God’s word. Likewise, if you mourn when a believer mourns, that is, to show sympathy to the suffering of a fellow believer then you have obeyed God’s instruction. If, however, you do not carry out the instructions of this passage then you have sinned. Consequently, when we are not concerned about the suffering of others we sin. This aside, the truth is that we are expected to care about the suffering of others, especially believers and ministers of God’s word. This can only happen if we truly learn from the Scripture the right approach to suffering. Thus, in the passage before us we have Apostle Paul’s focus on the sufferings of the apostles and their attitudes towards them that all believers should imitate although he did not use the word imitate but that is implied in the things he wrote concerning the response of the apostles to the sufferings they encounter whether due to physical deprivation or persecution in general.
The passage before us is directed first to the Corinthians who seem to be indifferent to the sufferings of the apostles because of their comfortable position they enjoy in comparison to the apostles. In effect, if you are comfortable you may not care much about the suffering of others, as we have stated. That aside, the passage we are about to consider concerns Apostle Paul’s focus on the sufferings of the apostles. He implies that the Corinthians did not understand the sufferings of the apostles partly because of their comfortable position and partly because they are ignorant of the status of the apostles as those that God had placed in a position that demands they suffer as they are visible in the process of carrying out the task of preaching God’s word. The focus of the apostle leads us to the message we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you. The message is this: You should endeavor to understand the sufferings of ministers of God’s word when they occur and respond properly. But before we consider the message, we need to consider an important observation regarding the passage before us within its context.
An important observation that may not be easily obvious considering the context of our passage, is that suffering of believers are part of what God brings on us to fulfill His plan. You see, in the preceding section, the apostle focused on the fact that believers have no reason to feel superior to others since everything that distinguishes an individual from others is from God’s goodness to the person. This means that the Holy Spirit would have flooded the apostle’s mind with this thought of everything that we have is from God so that his thought with respect to suffering is that God has also granted to the apostles the sufferings that he addressed in this passage. This should not be surprising since there is technically no connective between our present section and the previous. Absence of any connective may be interpreted either that the apostle is moving to a different topic or that he was still thinking of what he stated in the previous section. This second interpretation would mean that the apostle considered sufferings of the apostles as what God gave them for His purpose. This understanding should not be strange since the Holy Spirit through the apostle has revealed that suffering is part of being a Christian, as for example, he writes in Philippians 1:29:
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,
The Holy Spirit through the apostle indicates that sufferings or trials are lot of believers, as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 3:3:
so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them.
This being the case, it is not difficult to understand that the apostle, based on the previous section, wants the Corinthians and so all believers to be clear that he understood his sufferings and those of the other apostles as coming from God to accomplish His plan. The implication is that the apostle would have wanted the Corinthians to realize that he was not writing this section because he was feeling sorry for himself or the other apostles. No! He wanted them to have the right perspective regarding his and other apostles’ suffering as they preached and taught God’s word.
Be that as it may, it is our assertion that the message the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you is You should endeavor to understand the sufferings of ministers of God’s word when they occur and respond properly. This message we will expound by bringing to your attention the responsibilities you should have regarding the sufferings of ministers of God’s word when they suffer for the gospel and not for their failures. In effect, it is possible that some ministers may suffer because of their personal failings and not because of their ministry of the word of God. This is possible since they are among believers who are cautioned to be careful that they do not suffer because of sin in their lives, as stated in 1 Peter 4:15–16:
15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
Hence, the responsibilities we will expound assume that ministers of God’s word suffer not for their failures but for carrying out the ministry of the word.
Your first responsibility regarding the message of the passage we are considering is that you should guard against factors that affect improper understanding of sufferings of ministers of God’s word. There are three factors that affect improper understanding of ministers’ sufferings that we derive from the passage we are considering. A first factor that affects improper understanding of sufferings of ministers of God’s word is a feeling of spiritual and perhaps material self-sufficiency at any given time. It is not uncommon that believers who feel they have all they need would not care about the sufferings of those who preach the word of God. They would not care if they are in need because they have all they want and do not care about others. Our use of the term “self-sufficiency” is derived from the descriptions of Apostle Paul regarding the Corinthians. He described them as those who at the time of his writing are fully satisfied that they need nothing more as in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have all you want!
We need to make a general comment before we consider this first clause of verse 8. It is the perspective of many scholars regarding the entire verse. Many take the view that because of what the apostle said in the verse that the Corinthians were guilty of acting as if the messianic age has already been realized or technically that they were involved in “over realized eschatology” in the sense of not conforming to what Apostle Paul taught about the last events of human history. This view is not adequately supported by what the apostle said since the issues of sufficiency and wealth he mentioned are more in keeping with the ideology of “men of wisdom” in Greco-Roman and Hellenistic Jews’ writings that according to them, they are not only wise, but they are free and are also kings. Since the apostle had considered in the first three chapters the subject of wisdom, especially human wisdom that cannot appropriate the message of the cross, it is more likely that the apostle had in mind the viewpoint of the so called “men of wisdom” as the background of what he wrote in our verse than anything that has to do with being in the messianic age. Thus, we contend that the apostle was not concerned with wrong theological perception of eschatology, that is, the study of the last things or end times including death, the intermediate state, the afterlife, judgment, the millennium, heaven, and hell. This means that the use of the word already is used to emphasize the present state of affairs the Corinthians claimed to be true but in fact are false.
In any case, the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have all you want is ironical in the sense that it expresses the opposite of what the literal meaning conveys. In effect, what the apostle stated in the clause is opposite of what is true of the Corinthians. This we can understand from the expression “have all you want” that is translated from a Greek word (korennymi) that appears only twice in the Greek NT that means “to satiate, fill, have enough.” In its first usage, it is certainly used literally regarding having enough of food so that it means “to have enough, be filled to a full feeling in the stomach” as it is used to describe the state of the passengers in the ship that was transporting Apostle Paul to Rome that eventually became shipwrecked regarding food, as the word is used in Acts 27:38:
When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
The clause of the NIV When they had eaten as much as they wanted may alternatively be translated when they had eaten enough. In the second usage of the Greek word that occurs in our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8, it is most likely used in a figurative sense since so far in the context of this passage the apostle had made no reference to physical food but spiritual food. The fact the apostle mentioned “hunger” in verse 11 is not a strong support for taking our Greek word in a literal sense because the flow of the thought of the apostle would be more logical if he referred to something, he already mentioned in the text than what he would yet mention in verse 11. Therefore, when the apostle stated Already you have all you want, he certainly meant the Corinthians thought they had all the spiritual food they need. This is certainly the opposite of what he meant to convey. This is because of two assertions of the apostle regarding the Corinthians. He had indicated they were not yet spiritual, as in 1 Corinthians 3:1:
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.
Furthermore, the apostle had already informed them that they were not even spiritually matured for advance teaching of the word of God because he only taught them basic doctrines of the Christian faith, as he stated in 1 Corinthians 3:2:
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
Those described in these two ways could hardly claim to have all they need spiritually and continue to have all they need since the apostle used a perfect tense in the Greek to convey not only what is true in the past but what was true in the present regarding the Corinthians at the time of writing. Thus, we are certain the apostle was being ironical in the clause Already you have all you want in that the feeling of self-sufficiency of spiritual food by the Corinthians does not agree with reality.
Another irony that the apostle states that indicates the Corinthians have a feeling of spiritual self-sufficiency is in the next clause Already you have become rich! This clause is not concerned with physical wealth or riches but spiritual richness. This we can demonstrate by considering the expression “have become rich” that is translated from a Greek word (plouteō) that may mean “to be rich” in the sense of being wealthy as the word is used by Apostle Paul to warn those who are preoccupied with being wealthy in 1 Timothy 6:9:
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
The word may mean “to be rich in, have a great deal of” in the sense of being plentifully supplied with something as Apostle Paul used it in encouraging the rich believers to be generous in the instruction given in 1 Timothy 6:18:
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8, it is used in the sense of having a great deal of something which in this case refers to spiritual food. Thus, the apostle indicates the Corinthians think they have great spiritual nourishments they need. In other words, they think they all have received all the doctrines they need. They are like many misguided Christians today who think because they know few basic doctrines of the Christian faith, they need no further instructions from the word of God. They think they have arrived spiritually. Of course, there is a sense that the Corinthians are rich regarding spiritual gifts as the apostle already communicated to them in 1 Corinthians 1:5–7:
5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
But richness in 1 Corinthians 4:8 deals with spiritual nourishment.
It is our interpretation that the claim of the Corinthians in the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have become rich is concerned with spiritual richness but there are those who think otherwise, that is, that the claim is being materially wealthy. This interpretation implies that the claim of the Corinthians is similar to that of the church in Laodicea, as stated in Revelation 3:17:
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
The claim of the Laodiceans I am rich has generally been interpreted in three ways. That it is a reference to spiritual wealth or material wealth or both. The interpretation of both spiritual and material wealthy probably mean that the Laodiceans may have been claiming to be in good spiritual condition or that their healthy economic condition indicated a healthy spiritual condition similar to what is claimed by many prosperity preachers of our time. Those who take the claim of Laodiceans as a reference to both spiritual and material wealth would probably have a firmer ground of comparing the Laodiceans to the Corinthians. That notwithstanding, it is our interpretation that the claim of the Laodiceans should be understood primarily as a claim to be materially wealthy for several reasons. First, most people who are rich do not go around talking about it; generally, it is those who are not rich that often want to claim to be rich to satisfy their egos. The Bible recognizes this fact as reflected in Proverbs 13:7:
One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
The first half of this verse is applicable to the concept of what is referred as “keeping up with the Jones.” Second, the interpretation of materially wealthy agrees with the background of the city of Laodicea which is known to be inhabited by wealthy individuals. We can look at this country today to understand the church in Laodicea. True, there are many homeless people in the soup kitchens to get one meal a day but by far the average persons in this country can provide for their basic needs including Christians; consequently, many local churches have wealthy members. Third, this matter of being rich as it pertains to the Laodiceans is in contrast with the church in Smyrna where our Lord said they were poor but rich, as stated in Revelation 2:9:
I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Poverty in this verse should be understood in the literal sense in order to resolve the apparent contradiction of concepts in the passage of being poor and rich at the same time. In the same fashion, unless we take the Laodiceans of being rich in a material sense then it is difficult to understand the Lord’s offer to the church in Laodicea stated in Revelation 3:18:
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
The clause so you can become rich is to be understood as a reference to spiritually rich. Thus, we contend that although it is possible that the Corinthians could be compared to the Laodiceans but that is more probable that they claimed to be rich spiritually. Furthermore, for them to claim to be rich materially would not agree with their assessment by the apostle when he wrote concerning them in 1 Corinthians 1:26:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
Hence, the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have become rich is ironical that indicates that the feeling of self-sufficiency of spiritual food by the Corinthians does not agree with reality.
Still another irony that the apostle states that indicates the Corinthians have a feeling of spiritual self-sufficiency is in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 You have become kings—and that without us! This clause is dripping with sarcasm. The expression “have become kings” is translated from a Greek word (basileuō) that may mean to exercise authority at a royal level hence “to rule or reign, be king” as it is used of the ruler in Judea when Jesus’ parents returned to Israel in Matthew 2:22:
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,
It is used of Christ’s eternal rule in Revelation 11:15:
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
The word may mean to obtain a royal power hence means “to become a king” as this is the sense of the word although translated “reigns” in Revelation 19:6:
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
The word may mean “to be in control” as that is the sense of the word in the instruction of Apostle Paul to believers regarding sin in Romans 6:12:
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
To say that believers should not allow sin to reign in their bodies, is to say that believers should not allow sin to control them inwardly. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8, the sense of the word is “to reign as a king.” Thus, the apostle stated that the Corinthians have acted as those who are kings.
How did the Corinthians act as kings? The apostle did not directly state but the context indicates the way they acted as kings. You see, a king is one exercises power and authority especially in dispensing of justice. Thus, a king would pass judgments on his subjects. It is this specific role of the king of passing judgment on the king’s subjects that must have been in the apostle’s mind when he sarcastically declared the Corinthians as those who have become kings. We say this because the apostle had already instructed the Corinthians not to judge the ministers of God’s word in 1 Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
The Corinthians have taken upon themselves to judge the ministers of God’s word that led to the partisanship among them. Thus, when they assumed the role of deciding that one minister is better than the other, they have arrogated to themselves the judging function of a king or ruler. We may not always recognize this truth that whenever we are involved in judging others, we have set up ourselves as authorities over those we judge. We assume that we know better, which may or may not be true. Nonetheless, any time we judge others we should recognize that we have set ourselves above those we judge and by implication that we claim to have authority to do so. Anyway, the Corinthians by their conduct of judging the ministers of the word of God assumed to be kings or act as rulers. Our interpretation that the apostle must have had in mind the role of the Corinthians in judging the ministers of God’s word when he stated sarcastically that the Corinthians had become kings, is supported not only by the context of judging that the apostle already considered in this fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians but also because he used an aorist tense in the Greek to summarize the past action or actions of the Corinthians that imply the acted as kings.
We have, of course, indicated that the apostle was being sarcastic in that the Corinthians acted in a presumptuous manner by taking the role of judges over the ministers of God’s word. That the apostle was dripping in sarcasm is conveyed in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 4:8 and that without us. The word “without” is translated from a Greek word (chōris) that may pertain to something occurring separately or being separate or by itself hence means “separately, by itself, apart” as it is used to describe, after Jesus’ resurrection, the position of the burial cloth that had been around His head in John 20:7:
as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
The word may mean “separated from someone, far from someone, without someone” as it is used to describe the inability of believers to be spiritually fruitful without being under the control of the Lord Jesus, that is, to be controlled by the Holy Spirit as the Lord stated in John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
It is in this sense that the word is used to describe the status of Gentile believers prior to their being saved as stated in Ephesians 2:12:
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
The clause at that time you were separate from Christ is literally at that time apart from Christ. The word may mean “apart from someone’s activity or assistance” as Apostle Paul used it to convey that people do not respond to the gospel message without someone giving them the message in Romans 10:14:
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8, the word is used in the sense of “without someone” implying without assistance of another. Thus, the apostle meant that the Corinthians have become kings without the apostles being included or without the assistance of the apostles. This declaration of the apostle tells us that he was being sarcastic. The apostles were those who preached the gospel to others, so it is laughable that those who responded were in a better relationship to the Lord than they. That is not all, the sarcasm of the apostle drips all over the place because no segment of Christians could become rulers without the other but more importantly such position would take place in the future when Christ returns, as we read for example in Revelation 20:6:
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
This passage implies that believers would be rulers with Christ in the future. True, we are already priests of God as indicated in Revelation 5:10:
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
But we are not yet rulers of the earth in the sense of ruling with Christ as that is something that will happen in the future. Therefore, for anyone to think that the individual is already a ruler in the sense of ruling with Christ would be delusional since jointly believers will reign with Christ at His Second Coming. All the same, the apostle indicated that the Corinthians had become kings without the apostle and the other apostles because of the phrase without us. The pronoun “us” here refers to the apostles since they are the ones the apostle focused in 1 Corinthians 4:9 that we will get to at the appropriate time.
Apostle Paul was certainly a master communicator. Consequently, he made certain that the Corinthians would understand he was being sarcastic regarding them being kings without him and the other apostles. Hence, the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:8 How I wish that you really had become kings. The expression “how I wish” is translated from a Greek word (ophelon) that is used as a marker to introduce an expression of a wish that something had taken place or would take place, hence means “O that, would that” or “how I wish.” It is to introduce an unattainable wish that Apostle Paul used it to state what he wished those who were advocating circumcision as necessary for salvation should do to themselves in Galatians 5:12:
As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
It is as a marker of what one wishes to happen that the word is used to describe what Jesus wished for the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:15:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
It is in the sense of describing something that is not attainable, at least in the time of the epistle that Apostle Paul used the word. As we have indicated, being kings or having the role of ruling is something that would only occur when Christ returns so the apostle merely expressed something that was unattainable when he penned How I wish that you really had become kings.
It is not only the Greek word (ophelon) translated “How I wish” in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 4:8 that indicates the apostle was being sarcastic but also the word “really.” The use of the word “really” in the NIV is intended to express that the claim of the Corinthians was not according to fact. The word “really” is translated from a Greek particle (ge) that is used to focus attention upon a single idea associated with it as to shine light on the idea involved hence, it is used for emphasis and may be translated “at least, even, indeed.” When the particle is used without other particles, it may indicate intensification of what is stated as the word is used in Romans 8:32:
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Our Greek word was not explicitly translated in this verse in the NIV. An explicit translation would mean that the sentence He who did not spare his own Son may be translated He who did not spare even his own son. When our Greek particle is used with other particles it may mean “really, indeed” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s question to the Galatians regarding their abandoning the concept of grace and turning to salvation by works in Galatians 3:4:
Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8, it is used to emphasize that what the apostle stated was indeed not true of the Corinthians. Thus, he indicated that their acting as kings is premature and do not conform to reality.
The apostle continued to indicate he was being sarcastic in his remarks about the Corinthians being kings that he stated what he wished he and the other apostles could then do in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 so that we might be kings with you! This clause is certainly sarcastic because the apostle used a word that implies believers, especially the apostle and ministers of God’s word, reigning with Christ when He returns. You see the expression “be kings with” is translated from a Greek word (symbasileuō) that means “to reign jointly, rule (as king) with someone.” It is used only twice in Greek NT, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 4:8 and in 2 Timothy 2:12:
if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;
The fact the apostle used in 2 Timothy 2:12 the Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 4:8 enables us to recognize that the apostle was being sarcastic because there are two facts that we learn from the passage of 2 Timothy 2:12 that do not yet apply to the Corinthians at the time the apostle wrote the clause we are considering.
A first fact of 2 Timothy 2:12 that enables us to recognize that the apostle was being sarcastic in the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 so that we might be kings with you is that the apostle expressed confidence of reigning with Christ in the sentence of 2 Timothy 2:12 we will also reign with him. The pronoun we by the context refers to at least Apostle Paul, Timothy, and the other apostles but in application refers to some believers. Although there is no explicit statement in the Scripture that indicates that not all believers will rule with Christ but that is implied in the messages delivered to the seven Asiatic churches. For example, the Lord Jesus Christ would not have indicated to Apostle John in connection with the message to the church of Thyatira that only those who overcome and do His will to the end would be given authority to rule the nations, according to Revelation 2:26:
To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
Still in the same vision and in the message to the church in Laodicea, the concept of special privilege of sitting with Jesus Christ in His throne was given. This privilege belongs to those who are victorious, as recorded in Revelation 3:21:
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
It is interesting that this promise was given in connection with the church in Laodicea since this church had believers who had become lukewarm. It is as if the Lord is warning us that if we simply have the attitude that we are going to heaven because of the work of Christ without relying on the Holy Spirit to enable us to become victorious over this world system, then that there will be no reward for us in the eternal state, implying loss of ruling with Christ. This aside, the fact the apostle asserted he would reign with Christ in his epistle to Timothy would indicate that it would be ironical for the Corinthians to be ruling with Christ so that the apostle and the other apostles would want to join them. The apostle who had expressed confidence of ruling with Christ being left out would imply that the Corinthians were not ruling as they might think.
A second fact of 2 Timothy 2:12 that enables us to recognize that the apostle was being sarcastic in the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 so that we might be kings with you is that the apostle indicated that reigning with Christ, as we have already stated, is a future event, according to the sentence of 2 Timothy 2:12 we will also reign with him. Believers reigning with Christ will occur during His millennial reign on this earth. The reason for this assertion is that it is only on this earth that it makes sense for believers to have control and authority because in heaven believers would be servants of God so it is difficult to see how we would reign with Christ in heaven. This is not to say that this is impossible but only that as far as the Scripture is concerned such reign is not revealed. Furthermore, every statement of believers ruling is related to this earth. Apostle John in one of his visions reported in the fifth chapter of Revelation indicates that believers are to be servants and priest of God but then he asserted that they are to be rulers on earth as we read in a passage we cited previously, that is, Revelation 5:10:
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
This verse, of course, is a song by the four living creatures in heaven and the twenty-four elders that worship Jesus Christ. They were careful in their song in that they did not specify where believers are to serve as priests of God, but they did not leave us to guess where believers, in the vision of John, would reign; it is on the earth. This is because in another vision in the book of Revelation, Apostle John mentioned the length of the reign of believers with Jesus Christ as a period of one thousand years in Revelation 20:4:
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Time is of no significance with eternal state so that the one thousand years in question must take place on this earth. Therefore, believers are to reign with Christ on this planet when He returns to rule for a thousand years. The point we are making is that believers will reign with Christ during His millennial rule on this planet.
It is true that the reigning with Christ is certainly a future event but there is also in a sense in which that rule has begun with those who are believers and in fellowship with Him. Jesus Christ is the overall ruler of the earth so it would seem that those who are redeemed would in some sense share in this rule at the present time. We say this because it was God’s original intention that man should share in the rule of this world as in Genesis 1:26:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
The word “rule” is translated from a Hebrew word (radah) which also means to manage or to govern an entity. So, it was originally God’s plan for man to exercise authority over God’s creation as well as manage it but the fall into sin affected that rule. Therefore, it makes sense that if as believers we have been delivered from the penalty of sin that we should be a part of the rule of this earth with Jesus Christ even at the present time. This implies that we must be concerned about the fish in the water and the birds in the air. Hence, we should not destroy their environment. We should make sure that these lower creations have places to live in the environment that God has placed them. We should not in our greed to satisfy ourselves drive them into extinction. I know that many times people feel that the various world governments are interfering about fishing in the ocean and so on, but I think that it is part of man’s duty to maintain the existence of the fish in the ocean. We cannot ignore the fact that our modern technology has given us tremendous advantage of how we catch fish and other animals. God knew man will have these advantages and that is why he must maintain self-restraint to be sure that he does not thin the population of these lower creatures. This whole idea of being concerned about the fish and the birds may sound strange to us because some Christians think that all environmental concern is evil, but that is not true. God wants us to care and provide a haven for animals. In fact, He clearly instructed the Israelites to do precisely that by not planting their field every seventh year in Exodus 23:11:
but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
A good ruler is one that is concerned about his subject, so if we are to rule the lower creatures, we must be concerned about them. My point is that although we are going to rule with Christ in His millennial kingdom, we should at this point be also involved in the rule of this earth through careful stewardship of God’s creation.
We digressed to make a point about the function of a ruler because the apostle indicated that if the Corinthians were already ruling, he would join them, but the truth is that as a believer he is already a ruler in the sense that we have mentioned of sharing in ruling of the earth at this point because of being in Christ. Therefore, if he implied that he was not a part of ruling with the Corinthians then his statement must be taken as ironic. Thus, we contend that the clause of 1 Corinthians 4:8 so that we might be kings with you is a sarcastic statement of the apostle towards the Corinthians to indicate their thinking of ruling is false, especially as they were involved, for example, in partisanship that would be unbecoming of those who rule with Christ. Anyway, the first factor that affects improper understanding of the suffering of the apostles is the feeling of spiritual and perhaps material self-sufficiency at any given time among the Corinthians. In effect, if you feel you are spiritually and material self-sufficient you will become insensitive to the suffering of not only the ministers of the word of God but of other believers. This brings us to the second factor which is where we begin in our next study. But let end by reminding you the message of the section we are studying which is: You should endeavor to understand the suffering of ministers of God’s word when they occur and respond properly.