1 Corinthians 4

1 Corinthians 4:1

If thy brother is grieved with [thy] meat. If his feelings are hurt because you eat food that he thinks it is sinful to eat, it would be charitable for you to abstain from it for his sake. Destroy not him with thy meat. His grief, and the effect upon him of seeing you do what he regards as sinful, may be to destroy him. It is kinder to give up the meat than to risk his destruction. If Christ died for him, you surely can do that much.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Let not then your good be evil spoken of. You have greater knowledge than these weak brethren, and know that “nothing is unclean” (Romans 14:14). That is “good”. But if you sternly insist on your right to do what the weak regard as sinful, your “good” will be evil spoken of.

1 Corinthians 4:3

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Christ’s dominion; the church visibly; personally, his sway over your soul. This does not depend on “meat and drink”. It rises higher than food questions. Personally, its essence is not in external things. It consists of: Righteousness. Justification; the forgiveness of sins. Peace. Reconciliation to God, and peace of soul as the result. And joy in the Holy Ghost. The rejoicing of those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1,4). Seek these rather than to eat and drink what you will.

1 Corinthians 4:5

Let us therefore follow . . . peace. Hence, charitably yield what grieves a brother. May edify. Build up and make strong. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

1 Corinthians 4:6

For meat destroy not the work of God. A rigid insistence on eating the meat so offensive to some of the brethren may rend the church. All things indeed [are] pure. All kinds of food are morally clean. See Romans 14:14. But it [is] evil. It is morally unclean to him who eateth with hurt to his conscience.

1 Corinthians 4:7

[It is] good neither to eat flesh, etc. If eating any kind of food, or drinking wine, is the way of your brother’s peace and security, it is better to abstain from both. Deny yourself rather than offend a brother. Compare 1 Corinthians 8:13. This maxim applies to all things indifferent. It applies to wine-drinking at our time. No Christian ought ever to set an example that may destroy another.

1 Corinthians 4:8

Hast thou faith? Art thou strong in the faith, and possessed of knowledge that the weaker brethren have not? Let God take not of it, but do not parade it before the weak. Happy [is] he that condemneth not himself, etc. If one “allowed” that he had the right to eat all kinds of meats, etc., and did it to the injury of his brother, he would condemn himself, because he trampled on the law of love.

1 Corinthians 4:9

He that doubteth is condemned if he eateth. He is contrasted with him “who has faith” (Romans 14:22). He has not faith, or does not believe that it is right to eat these meats. Hence he is “condemned” (“damned”) by his own conscience. Whatsoever [is] not from faith is sin. The context shows that Paul means that whenever actions are done by a Christian which he does not believe are right, he sins in doing them. If he is doubtful whether they are right, he must not do them.

1 Corinthians 4:11

Mutual Love and Forbearance Enjoined SUMMARY OF ROMANS 15: The Strong Must Bear with the Weak. Not to Seek to Please Ourselves. Christ Did Not. As Christ Received Us, So We Should Receive Each Other. Christ the Savior of Both Jews and Gentiles. Paul’s Apostleship. His Work Among the Gentiles. His Purpose to Visit Rome. We then that are strong. In the last chapter Paul contrasts the strong and the weak. The first are those, like himself, who know that no kind of food “is unclean of itself”, and are emancipated from Jewish prejudices. These strong ones are to bear with the “infirmities of the weak”, as has been enjoined in the preceding chapter. The lesson is a practical one of all ages.

1 Corinthians 4:12

Let every one of us please [his] neighbour. We are not to seek to please ourselves, but to please others. Nor are we to seek to please them for our own selfish purpose, as is often the case, but for their good to edification, with a view to their good and upbuilding in Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:13

For even Christ pleased not himself. Our duty to others is enforced by the example of Christ. He forgot himself in his work of saving men. As it is written. In Psalms 69:9. The passage affirms that the Messiah, instead of pleasing himself, became the subject of “the reproaches of them who reproached” his Father.

1 Corinthians 4:14

For whatsoever things were written. The passage just quoted applies to Christ, and all things written in the Old Scriptures are for our learning. Instruction. Might have hope. The purpose of the Scriptures is to impart a present blessed hope through the patience and the comfort they impart to those who suffer for God.

1 Corinthians 4:15

Grant you to be likeminded one toward another. The apostle does not pray that they may be of the same opinion, but that there be harmony of feeling. According to Christ Jesus. Let each be so conformed to Christ that all may be of one mind. See Philippians 2:5.

1 Corinthians 4:16

That ye may with one mind, etc. That being in full accord you may with one voice (“mouth”) utter the praises of God.

1 Corinthians 4:17

Wherefore receive ye one another. Let the strong receive the weak, all receive each other into full fellowship, even as “Christ has received us”. To the glory of God. All must be done so as to glorify God. So Christ hath done.

1 Corinthians 4:18

Now I say. Rather, “For I say”. The work of Christ is given to show the spirit we ought to have. A minister of the circumcision. Christ became a minister of the circumcision; that is, a Jew, of the seed of Abraham. For the truth of God. The Scriptures had declared that he would be of the seed of Abraham. To confirm the promises. Had he not been of the circumcision, the promises would not have applied to him.

1 Corinthians 4:19

That the Gentiles might glorify God. It was a part of this plan, all the while, that Christ, “born under the law” (Galatians 4:4), should save the Gentiles, and enable them to glorify God for his mercy to them. As it is written. Various passages from the Old Testament are now quoted to show God’s purpose to give the gospel to the Gentiles. For this cause, etc. This quotation is from Psalms 18:49, and implies that God shall be confessed, and his praises sung among the Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 4:20

Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. This is found in Deuteronomy 32:43, and is a direct command to Gentiles to worship with the Lord’s people.

1 Corinthians 4:21

Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles. This command to the Gentiles, still clearer and stronger, is found in Psalms 97:1.