14I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
Dig Deeper
From time to time while I was growing up, my parents would leave our house and go out for a while, leaving my older sister in charge of the house and of me. These could be perilous times for me, yet they were no easier, I’m sure, for my sister. Although she was left in charge, and I followed her authority to a degree, I still always knew that she was just a babysitter. She wasn’t the real source of authority in my life. When my parents came home, however, that was different. There was real power there. They had power and authority without even having to use many words. One or two quick commands from them was all it took. In fact, just knowing that they would be coming home soon, kept me in line because I wanted things to go well when they arrived rather than having to face discipline.
To fully understand this passage and Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians, we must have something of this concept in mind. Paul sees himself as their spiritual father, the one who begat, the Corinthians. The other teachers and leaders are important, but they are babysitters (the NIV translates the word ‘guardian’, but the word refers to a servant who acted as the babysitter or nanny for the children of the household). Only Paul has the true power and authority over them that a father has. He addresses them, then, with a great deal of love, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek in this section.
He begins in verse 14, saying that he has not written this letter to shame them. What Paul means by his language here is not that he doesn’t want to embarrass them with a look at their own behavior; he wants to do that. What he is saying is that he doesn’t want them to turn in on themselves and become inactive from shame. His goal is to embarrass them so as to instruct them and motivate them toward change. Paul feels that he is the only one that can truly do this to the level of effectiveness that is really needed because he is their only spiritual father. Why does Paul consider himself to be the father of the Corinthian church? It is because he ‘begat’ them through his preaching of the gospel (this is a bit obscured by the wording in the NIV).
Because he is their father, Paul urges his spiritual children to imitate him. In Paul’s world it was common for children to imitate parents or disciples to imitate teachers. This was not a matter of simple mimicry, though. He is talking about the type of imitation where the values of the one being imitated are internalized until they become like the person they are imitating. Paul, then is not asking them to merely copy him. What he is telling them is that he has dedicated his life to Christ in every possible way, particularly in the way he thinks and views the world. Imitating this same heart is what Paul is calling them to, not a mere imitation of his actions. Imitating actions would not make them more Christlike, only internal change would do that.
To help them with this goal of imitation, they need to be reminded of the heart and life and Paul. Since Paul cannot come to them at the moment, he sees no better way to do that then to send Timothy to them. Timothy has spent so much time with Paul, learning his way of life that he is in a position not just to tell them about the radical new way of living that Paul is calling them to, but he can actually model the life of Paul, which is ultimately the life 0f Christ. 1 Corinthians 16:10-11 hints that Paul is a bit concerned abut the welcome that Timothy will receive in Corinth. There is obvious tension between Paul and some of the Corinthians and Paul is worried that, as his agent, Timothy will come under the same sort of criticism that Paul has.
This reminds us of the incredible organic connection between the churches of the first century. They didn’t have formalized relationships that were mandated but they had interwoven relationships that kept the churches connected and tied together through their common bond in Christ. No one understood the importance of developing personal relationships between churches more than Paul did and one of his primary agents in creating those bonds for Paul was Timothy. In Philippians 2:19-22, Paul describes his desire to send Paul to the Philippian church, writing “ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
In the original Greek, verses 18-20 are really one long, complex sentence. Paul directly addresses those who have criticized him and his ministry. Paul says that he will come to them soon, despite the claims of these troublemakers, and when he does he will see what kind of power they have. His point is that they have been talking a lot, but they don’t even have the authority of a babysitter. When Paul comes, however, he won’t need many words. He will come with the power and authority of their father, their only father in the faith. The true power of the kingdom does not resemble human authority at all. It comes from the spiritual truth of the gospel. Paul’s authority comes from the kingdom; he doesn’t need a bunch of words or convincing arguments to establish a worldly sort of authority. Paul’s language in these three verses has been rather point blank and confrontational, but in verse 21, he returns to a more good-natured, teasing tone, saying that their choice in respecting Paul’s authority will determine whether he comes to them with the rod or in love and with a gentle spirit. (There is little textual support for the NIV’s ‘whip’ here. Paul uses the word for rod, which is an allusion to the Old Testament rod of correction. He is not literally threatening them with physical violence.)
Paul’s tone of authority might be shocking to 21st century westernized Christians. He has no intention of coming to Corinth to take a vote on what kind of church they would like to be. Paul feels that it is his duty and right to exercise the authority of Jesus Christ in the church of Corinth. Yet, he wasn’t bullying them with edicts from afar. He is calling them to nothing less than the life of Christ, found manifest in the lives of Paul and Timothy. He doesn’t need a lot of words, he’ll leave that to the puffed-up trouble-makers. His life, the one that he was calling them to imitate said all that needed to be said.
Devotional Thought
Paul called the Corinthians to imitate his desire to live a Christlike life. Have you ever followed that wise advice? If you haven’t already, find someone you know who is deeply committed to following Christ in a sincere way. Develop a relationship with them so that you can learn to imitate the passion that they have for the life of Christ. If you have, you can still always find someone who is further along, at least in some areas, in living the life of Christ. Get closer to them and learn from them.
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