Apollos at Corinth
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It is not given to any human being to judge between the different
servants of God. The Lord alone is the judge of man’s work, and He
will give to each his just reward.
The apostle, continuing, referred directly to the comparisons that
had been made between his labors and those of Apollos: “These things,
brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that
which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against
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another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast
thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost
thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”
Verses 6, 7
.
Paul plainly set before the church the perils and the hardships that
he and his associates had patiently endured in their service for Christ.
“Even unto this present hour,” he declared, “we both hunger, and thirst,
and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place;
and labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made as
the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn
you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have
ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through
the gospel.”
Verses 11-15
.
He who sends forth gospel workers as His ambassadors is dis-
honored when there is manifested among the hearers so strong an
attachment to some favorite minister that there is an unwillingness to
accept the labors of some other teacher. The Lord sends help to His
people, not always as they may choose, but as they need; for men are
shortsighted and cannot discern what is for their highest good. It is
seldom that one minister has all the qualifications necessary to perfect
a church in all the requirements of Christianity; therefore God often
sends to them other ministers, each possessing some qualifications in
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which the others were deficient.
The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ, even
as they would accept the Master Himself. They should seek to derive
all the benefit possible from the instruction which each minister may
give them from the word of God. The truths that the servants of God
bring are to be accepted and appreciated in the meekness of humility,
but no minister is to be idolized.