1 Corinthians 4:15

Note

A child may have many minders but only one father. With that picture Paul tells the Corinthians what he is to them, and how it came about: through the gospel.

For four chapters Paul has been reasoning with a church divided behind names. He has told them that "I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow" (1 Corinthians 3:6), and that the apostles have been made a spectacle to the world. Now his tone changes: "I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children" (1 Corinthians 4:14). This verse gives the reason he may speak so, and the next draws the conclusion: "Therefore I urge you to imitate me" (1 Corinthians 4:16).

The "guardians" are paidagōgoi (παιδαγωγός), the household slaves who walked a boy to school and watched over his conduct. Corinth might have ten thousand (murious) of them, but a father is the one who gave life. The verb is gennaō (γεννάω) in the aorist, egennēsa, "I begot," with the pronoun egō set before it for weight: I, and no one else. The means is dia tou euangeliou, "through the gospel," the noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον). Paul does not claim to have made the life himself. It is "in Christ Jesus," and he was the one through whom the news came. James says the same of God: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth" (James 1:18).

The versions catch different sides of the word. The KJV calls them "instructers," which suggests teachers; the LSV's "child-conductors" spells out the Greek, a leader of children; the BSB's "guardians" is the word it also uses when Paul says that "the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24). For the verb, the KJV keeps "I have begotten you" and the LSV "I begot you," while the BSB says "I became your father," the same sense in plainer English. Others had led and taught the Corinthians since, but it was Paul who first brought them the gospel (Acts 18:11).

Wesley notes that the words "I have begotten you" exclude "not only Apollos, his successor, but also Silas and Timothy, his companions" Wesley, and adds that "the relation between a spiritual father and his children brings with it an inexpressible nearness and affection" Wesley. Matthew Henry observes: "Though the apostle spoke with authority as a parent, he would rather beseech them in love" Matthew Henry. And he says what makes such fatherhood possible: whenever the gospel is effectual, "it comes not in word only, but also in power, by the Holy Spirit, quickening dead sinners" Matthew Henry.

Paul speaks this way elsewhere too. He calls Onesimus "my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains" (Philemon 1:10), and tells the Galatians that he is again in labour over them until Christ is formed in them (Galatians 4:19). The gospel does not only pass on information; it brings people into a family.

Most who come to believe the gospel first heard it from someone. This verse holds two things together for them: the life they received came from Christ, not from the one who told them; and yet it came through that person, and the bond is real.