1 Corinthians 4:6-16

Tree of Life Version

⁶ Now I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so you might learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against the other. ⁷ For who makes you different? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸ Already you are full! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish you were kings, so we also might be kings with you! ⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us, the emissaries, on display last of all—like men sentenced to death. For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. ¹⁰ We are fools for Messiah’s sake, but you are wise in Messiah! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are dishonored! ¹¹ To this very hour we are both hungry and thirsty, dressed in rags and mistreated and homeless. ¹² We toil, working with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure. ¹³ When we are slandered, we speak kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the dregs of all things—even to this moment.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to warn you as my dearly loved children. ¹⁵ For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Messiah, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Messiah Yeshua, I became your father through the Good News. ¹⁶ I urge you therefore—be imitators of me.