Already ye are filled; already ye have been enriched; ye have reigned without us; and I would that ye reigned, that *we* also might reign with you.
Paul has just asked the Corinthians what they have that they did not receive. Now he draws a picture. The church acts as if the day of glory has already come, while the men who brought them the gospel still suffer.
The words are not praise. One writer hears irony in them, and points to the bad teaching behind it.
But he strikes another blow, and this one is the sharpest irony. Isaiah did the same when he exposed the folly of idol-worship. Poor, even corrupting, doctrine always lowers practice. Without noticing it, the Corinthians had given up the place of sufferers with Christ. The apostle points this out witheringly. "Already" here means before the time. When Christ reigns, we shall indeed be at ease and fully satisfied. But now is the time to deny self, to take up one's cross, and follow Him, who suffered many things, indeed all things, here below. They were deceiving themselves: the time had not yet come.
Their fullness showed itself in material things. One writer ties it to money and comfort, and to what those had done to the church.
This spirit had also led to self-satisfaction and a focus on material advantage. That focus practically made them reign as kings. They were filled up with earthly things (Corinth means "satiated"), and rich — but not in any practical spiritual sense. This display of material prosperity does not suit the character of the Church of God. His people trust a despised, rejected Lord. They wait for the time when He will be exalted and reigning.
These two small words carry the sting. The apostles were not reigning at all, and that fact sets a test for every claim of prosperity.
They were full, they were rich, they had reigned as kings, "without us," adds the apostle. It is plain that the apostles were not reigning... they were a spectacle to the world for their sufferings, and to angels as well as men. What a false test, then, of a Christian's condition is what men would call his prosperity!
A bigger absence lies behind the missing apostles. Christ Himself is not reigning yet.
The thought that the church will one day reign without Christ is very harmful, though it comes naturally to man's heart! The Corinthian saints fell into it (1 Cor. 4:8) and were rebuked for its unspiritual, worldly character. What could be more opposed to the portion of the apostles, and of Christ? We are called to suffer now, not to reign... A loyal Christian heart could not enjoy, or even accept, a reign of saints without Christ, the Firstborn among many brothers.
This was more than a mood. What they believed had changed what they wanted.
No doubt it was with much anguish of heart that Paul wrote these words. Bad doctrine, as it always does, had produced bad practice. They had forgotten that the Lord's pathway through this world was one of suffering, shame and loss, and that theirs should be the same. Instead of suffering they preferred indulgence. Instead of trouble they preferred triumph. Instead of the world's curse they preferred its crown... Paul waited patiently for the time of reigning, so he could share it with his beloved children. But they preferred to reign without him.
The Corinthian mistake is still alive. One writer pictures it at a coronation.
At the crowning of a British king or queen, the lords and ladies who may attend Westminster Abbey bring their coronets with them. But they do not put them on until the crown goes on the sovereign's head. Today many Christians seem eager to put on their coronets before the Saviour appears, crowned with His many crowns.
- Already — The key word is timing. They claimed the fullness, riches and royalty of the coming kingdom now, while their Lord is still rejected.
- Without us — Look at the company they had left behind: the apostles, who suffered and became a spectacle to the world. Prosperity that leaves such servants behind proves nothing about spiritual health.
- Without Him — Deeper still, a reign begun now is a reign without Christ, who is not yet on His own throne. No loyal heart could want a crown He is not wearing.
- Doctrine into practice — Bad teaching produced bad living. They chose indulgence over suffering, triumph over trouble, and the world's crown over its curse.
- Would that you did reign — Paul truly wanted that day, shared with them and with Christ. Until it comes, the coronets stay off.
For I think that God has set us the apostles for the last, as appointed to death. For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
The Corinthians were living as if the day of glory had already come. Paul sets his own life beside theirs and turns their picture of success upside down. God places His apostles at the end of the parade, marked out for death, with the whole universe watching.
The Corinthians had taken the honour and comfort of the world while their Lord was still refused by it. Paul's wish that they really were reigning carries an edge:
They were full and rich, and reigning like kings, having a real "good time." Meanwhile their Lord was still rejected, and His apostles were sharing His rejection. There is a touch of holy sarcasm in Paul's words: "I wish you really were reigning, so that we might reign with you too." The saints will reign when Christ reigns, and the apostles will not be missing from their thrones.
Paul's picture comes from the public games. The order of events there explains the force of "last":
First came the smaller fights, with men and beasts. The great spectacle was kept for the end. Perhaps it was some famous prisoner of war, some notorious criminal, or some fighter who would draw the eager eyes of the blood-crazed crowd. They would shout for his death till they could shout no more. "I think," said Paul, as it were, "that it is like that."
The Corinthians wanted honour now. God's own ranking runs the other way:
How movingly the apostle corrects their worldly-minded desire. Those whom He put first in the church He displayed last, as patterns of outward suffering. What could be plainer than the place God shows the Christian here below — a place of affliction, apart from the world?
Being placed last is not a demotion. It is the closest a servant can stand to his Master:
This was the ambition of the apostles — if ambition can ever be holy. God gave it to them when He appointed them last. That place put them nearest to Christ, who went down into depths of suffering where no one could follow Him. But there are sufferings of Christ which grace does share with the Christian, and the apostles knew these best.
The onlookers are not a holiday crowd only. Angels are watching, and what they are watching is instruction, not entertainment:
As far as this world is concerned, the apostles had much the same lot as the poor people condemned to death. The Romans kept them back for the last scene in their great public shows. The onlookers are not just a holiday crowd at an arena. They are the world, the angels and men. We do well to remember that the church is the lesson-book of the rulers and powers in heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10).
Why must angels watch and learn? Some things about God show only in redeemed people:
Man is not like the angels — glorious creatures, but kept unfallen by the power of God... In a certain way angels do need mercy, for no creature can even stand unless God upholds it. But they do not need redemption. Grace, mercy and love all come out in man. As Paul says, "we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men."
This verse shows the present scene, not the last one. Glory is coming, and with it a reversal:
They gave themselves to Him, and so became a spectacle to the world, to angels and men. How right it will be that they are lifted up with Christ in the coming day of glory!
- Last — God put the apostles at the end of the parade, like the condemned kept back for the closing act of the games. "Last" describes their public standing, not their worth.
- First — God set the same men first in the church. The lowest place in the world and the highest place in the church belong together.
- Nearest — that last place brought them closest to Christ. They shared the sufferings He lets His people share.
- Watched — the arena has a wider audience than the crowd. Angels learn from the church what only redeemed people can show.
- Then — the Corinthians tried to reign too early and without the apostles. The reign comes when Christ reigns. Then those who were the spectacle will be lifted up with Him.
*We* [are] fools for Christ's sake, but *ye* prudent in Christ *we* weak, but *ye* strong *ye* glorious, but *we* in dishonour.
Paul sets himself beside the Corinthians in three short contrasts: fool against wise, weak against strong, honoured against despised. Every comparison makes him the loser. The sting is that he means it as a rebuke to them, not a complaint about himself.
Is Paul serious here, or ironic? One writer weighs how much human praise counts now:
When God makes the counsels of the heart plain, people will get praise that is worth something, but now it is all a mere nothing.
The sharpness is not bitterness. It comes with real love:
The apostle writes with the finest feeling. There is sarcasm, but also real love that could use it for good. He sets out the true path of Christ: a path of suffering, but of victory over the world. Faith working by love can alone secure such victory.
The word "fools" is not Paul's own verdict on himself. It is the world's label, and he accepted it:
The world viewed them as "fools" and "weak", and so "despised" them. But they were content to be thought fools "for Christ's sake". Sadly, like the believers at Corinth, we may often be tempted to use our knowledge of Christ to appear wise in the eyes of the world. We may use it to gain power and honour there.
Paul does not say the Corinthians were wise for Christ. One writer draws out the double meaning in the phrase:
The saints at Corinth were wise (not for Christ, but) in Christ; they were strong and they were honourable. There is a double meaning in this description. For them, as for their teacher, there is wisdom, strength, and honour in their Head. But the apostle truly grasped his own standing as a man in Christ, and this led him to live and work for Christ.
The Corinthians held real truth. What they refused was the cost that comes attached to it:
The world held them up to contempt and ridicule. They were a strange sight to angels and to men, willing to be fools in the world's eyes for Christ's sake. This was practical experience. The Corinthians would stop short at the position that was theirs as "wise in Christ." They did not choose to accept the experience of suffering with Christ that goes with it. In this real Christian experience the apostles were "weak" and "despised." The Corinthians wanted only the attractive side of the truth, with its strength and honour.
Behind this lay a bigger mistake: they treated the present hour as their time to reign. God arranged things otherwise for His servants:
They were taking their ease, reigning as kings without us, he said. "And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you," that is, at Christ's appearing. Instead of that, God set the apostles last of all. He did not display them in fine clothes, feasting in luxury every day, though they were first in spiritual power and authority. He set them out as men doomed to death, a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
At first glance the Corinthians look like the fortunate ones. One writer sets Paul beside Obadiah, a man who took ease and honour among the ungodly, and reaches the opposite verdict:
How much Obadiah missed by pandering to the world, accepting ease and honour among the ungodly! … "You are held in honor," wrote the Apostle to the ease-loving Corinthians, "but we in disrepute." But Paul was happier than they. Yes, standing apart from the world system is loss, as men judge. But the spiritual gain in fellowship with God is immense.
The question does not stop with Corinth:
From a worldly standpoint how foolish of Moses to leave the splendid place he had in Pharaoh's court! And so we might go on until we come to Paul and his companions, who were "fools for Christ's sake." What are we who profess the name of Christ? Have we fitted ourselves to the spirit of the age so well that we hardly know what reproach for Christ is?
- Irony — Paul writes the three contrasts with a sting, but not with spite. No present verdict on who is wise counts for anything. That waits until God makes the heart's counsels plain.
- Fools — "Fools" and "weak" are the world's labels. Paul took them gladly, because they came "for Christ's sake." Our temptation is to use our knowledge of Christ to look wise to the world instead.
- In Christ — The Corinthians were wise in Christ but not for Christ. The wisdom is real, because it is theirs in their Head. But it never shaped how they lived.
- Position — They kept the attractive half of the truth, strength and honour, and refused the half that costs. So they reigned as kings, while God set His servants last, a spectacle to the world.
- Reversal — Disrepute looks like the losing side. Yet the writers call Paul the happier man: loss as men judge it, immense gain in fellowship with God, and reigning with Christ when He appears.