Comforted Christians And Harassed Apostles

 "So, then, you are already rich and satisfied, and feel like kings, without us!  I wish you really were kings, so that we might enjoy the kingship with you!

It seems to me, that GOD has placed us, the apostles, in the last place, as if condemned to death, and as spectacles for the whole world, for the angels as well as for mortals.

We are fools for CHRIST, while you show forth the wisdom of CHRIST.  We are weak, you are strong.  You are honored, while we are despised.  Until now we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated, while moving from place to place.  We labor, working with our hands.  People insult us and we bless them, they persecute us and we endure everything; they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace.  We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.

I do not write this to shame you, but to warn you, as very dear children.  Because, even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one FATHER; and it was I who gave you life in CHRIST through the gospel." - 1 Corinthians 4:8-15 

(The Corinthians feel rich in their faith, rich in their spiritual gifts.  They have made fair progress in the road of knowledge, and as people expert in the matter, they charitably look down on Paul, the poor Jewish preacher.

The apostle knows that his own culture and strong personality would have given him a bright future.  He sees at the same time the narrow-mindedness of his adversaries but allows them to make fun of him.  They think he is a fool, and in a way he is.  However, even if taken for a fool he brought them to CHRIST.)

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