1 Corinthians 4:9-16

New Testament for Everyone

⁹ This is how I look at it, you see: God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like people sentenced to death. We have become a public show for the world, for angels and humans alike. ¹⁰ We are fools because of the Messiah, but you are wise in the Messiah! We are weak, but you are strong! You are celebrated, we are nobodies! ¹¹ Yes, right up to the present moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are badly clothed, roughly treated, with no home to call our own. ¹² What’s more, we work hard, doing manual labor. When we are insulted, we give back blessings. When we are persecuted, we put up with it. ¹³ When we are slandered, we speak gently in return. To this day we have become like the rubbish of the world, fit only to be scraped off the plate and thrown away with everything else.

Puffed up or powerful?

¹⁴ I’m not writing this to make you ashamed! I am simply treating you as dear children, and putting you straight. ¹⁵ You’ve got a thousand babysitters in Christ, I know, but you haven’t got many fathers—because I became your father in the Messiah, Jesus, through the gospel.

¹⁶ So let me appeal to you: copy me!