Paul wants to jolt us out of our natural way of thinking. He wants us to consider the God behind the minister. He wants to point us to true power. He wants to accent the graced-character of gospel ministry and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. In the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul makes two very important claims.

Today, ministry is often cast in terms of strength. Ministers are expected to be self-starters, go-getters, and workhorses. Books on leadership abound.

The apostle Paul, being quite familiar with the church’s craving for powerful personalities, often spoke differently. He liked to turn our natural expectations upside down by introducing terms like weakness, suffering, and grace into our vocabularies. He wanted to give us a different picture:

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. . . . For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. . . . when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (1 Cor. 4:1,9, 13)

For Paul, glory and power belong to God, and God displays his glory through weakness. He had learned this fact firsthand from God himself as he suffered with a weakness that he called a thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7–10).

This is why the apostle uses such strong language: he wants to jolt us out of our natural way of thinking. He wants us to consider the God behind the minister. He wants to point us to true power. He wants to accent the graced-character of gospel ministry and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. In the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul makes two very important claims.

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