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Like an Angry Letter from Home
A well-deserved scolding from a grieving "parent"
I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.
I Corinthians 4:14
Imagine a college freshman, standing in a corridor amid a swirl of chattering students. In two minutes the next class will begin. But, for her, time has stopped. She has just opened a tearstained, 12-page letter from her parents.
The tone of the letter takes her by surprise. Her parents are normally reserved, not given to emotional outbursts. Their letters are warm and friendly. Not this time. Somehow they have heard about her recent behavior on campus, and they are very hurt. In a torrent of words, they pour out their feelings for her and their equally deep disappointment.
First Corinthians reflects the same tone: it is an intimate, well-deserved scolding from a grieved parent. "I am not writing this to shame you," says Paul, "but to warn you, as my dear children" (4:14).
Paul's Shifting Moods
No other letter in the New Testament reveeals such a wide range of Paul's emotions. At his own financial expense, he had invested 18 risk-filled months in Corinth. But afterwards his rebellious "children" had launched personal attacks against him. Paul reacted like any parent first informed of his child's shocking behavior. His moods in 1 Corinthians bounce from anger to shame, from sorrow to indignation.
Chapter 3, for example, begins with a stern lecture to "mere infants in Christ." This leads to biting sarcasm (4:8), which melts into the tender pleas of a spiritual fater. Six times in chapter 6 Paul asks, "Do you not know … ?" Finally, in chapter 7, he gets to the practical questions that had prompted his letter in the first place.
The apostle Paul was a superbly educated logician who could skillfully weave together history and philosophy. But he also brooded over his missionary churches like a parent. He asked the Corinthians pointedly, "Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?" (4:21). In this letter, we see a little of both.
Life Questions: How do you react when someone—a parent, teacher, boss, pastor—tries to straighten you out?
Notes by Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford
 The Student Bible
New International Version
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Taken from New Student Bible. Copyright © 1992 by The Zondervan Corporation. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Page 1196.
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