1 Corinthians 4:8

Contextual Overview

⁷For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? ⁷ For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? ⁷So don't go making judgments about the way other cowboys do things. What gives you the right? What do you have that didn't come from God? And if you answer that everything is from God, then why brag like you're better than the next cowboy? ⁷ For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁷For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁷ For who made you better than your brother? or what have you that has not been given to you? but if it has been given to you, what cause have you for pride, as if it had not been given to you? ⁷ For who makes thee to differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received? but if also thou hast received, why boastest thou as not receiving? ⁷ For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn't received it? ⁷ For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn't receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁷ For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou which thou hast not received? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast, as if thou hadst not received it?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye are full: 1 Corinthians 1:5, 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 5:6, Proverbs 13:7, Proverbs 25:14, Isaiah 5:21, Luke 1:51-53, Luke 6:25, Romans 12:3, Romans 12:16, Galatians 6:3, Revelation 3:17

without: 1 Corinthians 4:18, Acts 20:29, Acts 20:30, Philippians 1:27, Philippians 2:12

and I: Numbers 11:29, Acts 26:29, 2 Corinthians 11:1

ye did: Psalms 122:5-9, Jeremiah 28:6, Romans 12:15, 2 Corinthians 13:9, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 1 Thessalonians 2:20, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-9, 2 Timothy 2:11, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 5:10

Reciprocal: Exodus 16:3 - Would Deuteronomy 8:14 - thine heart 2 Kings 5:3 - Would God Jeremiah 2:31 - We are lords Luke 1:53 - and Luke 18:11 - God Romans 5:17 - shall reign 1 Corinthians 4:10 - are wise 2 Corinthians 1:8 - insomuch 2 Corinthians 12:15 - though Galatians 4:17 - exclude you James 3:14 - glory James 4:16 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 4:3
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD .

Genesis 4:3
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord .

Genesis 4:3
So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground.

Genesis 4:3
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.

Genesis 4:3
And in processe of dayes it came to passe, that Cain brought of the fruite of the grounde, an oblation vnto ye lorde:

Genesis 4:3
At harvest time, Cain brought a gift to the Lord . He brought some of the food that he grew from the ground, but Abel brought some animals from his flock. He chose some of his best sheep and brought the best parts from them. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift.

Genesis 4:3
In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,

Genesis 4:3
Sotheli it was don after many daies, that Cayn offride yiftis to the Lord of the fruytis of erthe;

Genesis 4:3
And in processe of time it came to passe, that Cain brought of the fruite of the ground, an offering vnto the LORD.

Genesis 4:3
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord .

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now ye are full,.... That is, in their own opinion: these words, and some following expressions, are an ironical concession. They were not full of God, and divine things; nor of Christ, and of grace out of his fulness; nor of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, as Stephen and Barnabas are said to be; nor of joy and peace in believing; nor of goodness and spiritual knowledge; but they were full of themselves, and were pulled up in their fleshly minds with an opinion of their abilities, learning, oratory, and eloquence, of their ministers, and of their own great improvements in knowledge under their ministrations. They fancied they had got to a perfection in knowledge and were brimful of it; and as the full stomach, from which the metaphor is taken, loathes the honeycomb, so these persons loathed the apostle's ministry, and the pure preaching of the Gospel; imagining that they had attained to something above it, and stood in no need of it; when, alas! they were but babes, children in understanding, and needed milk instead of strong meat; so far were they from being what they thought themselves to be.

Now ye are rich; not in faith; nor in good works; nor in spiritual gifts and knowledge, though some among them were; but that is not here intended: the meaning is, they were rich, and abounded in knowledge in their own account. Like the Laodiceans, they conceited themselves to be rich, and increased with goods, when they were poor, and wretched, and miserable.

Ye have reigned as kings without us. The saints, in the best sense, are kings, made so by Christ; and have not only the name, and the ensigns of royalty, as crowns and thrones prepared for them, but kingdoms also: they have a kingdom of grace, which they enjoy now, and shall never be removed; in which they reign as kings under the influence of the Spirit of God, over the corruptions of their own hearts, which are laid under the restraints of mighty grace; and over the world, which they have under the feet; and over Satan, who is dethroned and cast out of them; and they shall inherit the kingdom of glory hereafter; but nothing of this kind is here intended. The sense of the words is, that these persons imagined that they had arrived to such a pitch of knowledge, as to be independent of the apostles; needed no instructions and directions from them, and were in great tranquillity and ease of mind, and attended with outward prosperity, so that they lived, as kings, the most happy life that could be desired; upon which the apostle expresses his hearty wish for them:

and I would to God ye did reign; not in carnal security, and in affluence of worldly enjoyments, which the apostle was not desirous of for himself, and other his fellow ministers; nor in a spiritual sense, merely as believers in common, and as he then did; but with Christ in his kingdom state here on earth:

that we also might reign with you; for all the saints will be together when Christ takes to himself his great power, and reigns; they will all reign with him on earth a thousand years; this is a faithful saying, nothing more true, or to be depended on, that those that suffer with him shall also reign with him; and not a part of his people only, but the whole body: hence the apostle wishes, that this reigning time for the church of Christ was come, then he and the rest of the apostles would reign also: but, alas! it was a plain case, from the condition they were in, of which the following words give a narrative, that this time was not yet.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now ye are full - It is generally agreed that this is spoken in irony, and that it is an indignant sarcasm uttered against the false and self-confident teachers in Corinth. The design is to contrast them with the apostles; to show how self-confident and vain the false teachers were, and how laborious and self-denying the apostles were; and to show to them how little claim they had to authority in the church, and the real claim which the apostles had from their self-denials and labors. The whole passage is an instance of most pungent and cutting sarcasm, and shows that there may be occasions when irony may be proper, though it should be rare. An instance of cutting irony occurs also in regard to the priests of Baal, in 1 Kings 18:27. The word translated “ye are full” (κεκορεσμένοι kekoresmenoi) occurs only here, and in Acts 27:38, “And when they had eaten enough.” It is usually applied to a feast, and denotes those who are satiated or satisfied. So here it means, “You think’ you have enough. You are satisfied with your conviction of your own knowledge, and do not feel your need of anything more.”

Ye are rich - This is presenting the same idea in a different form. “You esteem yourselves to be rich in spiritual gifts, and graces, so that you do not feel the necessity of any more.”

Ye have reigned as kings - This is simply carrying forward the idea before stated; but in the form of a climax. The first metaphor is taken from persons “filled with food;” the second from those who are so rich that they do not feel their lack of more; the third from those who are raised to a throne, the highest elevation, where there was nothing further to be reached or desired. And the phrase means, that they had been fully satisfied with their condition and attainments, with their knowledge and power, that they lived like rich men and princes - revelling, as it were, on spiritual enjoyments, and disdaining all foreign influence, and instruction, and control.

Without us - Without our counsel and instruction. You have taken the whole management of matters on yourselves without any regard to our advice or authority. You did not feel your need of our aid; and you did not regard our authority. You supposed you could get along as well without us as with us.

And I would to God ye did reign - Many interpreters have understood this as if Paul had really expressed a wish that they were literal princes, that they might afford protection to him in his persecution and troubles. Thus, Grotius, Whitby, Locke, Rosemuller, and Doddridge. But the more probable interpretation is, that Paul here drops the irony, and addresses them in a sober, earnest manner. It is the expression of a wish that they were as truly happy and blessed as they thought themselves to be. “I wish that you were so abundant in all spiritual improvements; I wish that you had made such advances that you could be represented as full, and as rich, and as princes, needing nothing, that when I came I might have nothing to do but to partake of your joy.” So Calvin, Lightfoot, Bloomfield. It implies:

1. A wish that they were truly happy and blessed;
2. A doubt implied whether they were then so; and,
3. A desire on the part of Paul to partake of their real and true joy, instead of being compelled to come to them with the language of rebuke and admonition; see 1 Corinthians 4:19, 1 Corinthians 4:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 4:8. Now ye — Corinthians are full of secular wisdom; now ye are rich, both in wealth and spiritual gifts; (1 Corinthians 14:26:) ye have reigned as kings, flourishing in the enjoyment of these things, in all tranquillity and honour; without any want of us: and I would to God ye did reign, in deed, and not in conceit only, that we also, poor, persecuted, and despised apostles, might reign with you.-Whitby.

Though this paraphrase appears natural, yet I am of opinion that the apostle here intends a strong irony; and one which, when taken in conjunction with what he had said before, must have stung them to the heart. It is not an unusual thing for many people to forget, if not despise, the men by whom they were brought to the knowledge of the truth; and take up with others to whom, in the things of God, they owe nothing. Reader, is this thy case?