1 Corinthians 4:14-18, Some are Puffed Up

1 Corinthians 4:14-18 (KJV) ¹⁴  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. ¹⁷  For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. ¹⁸  Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

William MacDonald observed well, “When Paul explained that he was sending Timothy to them, perhaps some of his detractors in Corinth would rise quickly to suggest that Paul was afraid to come himself. These men were puffed up in suggesting that Paul was not coming personally.”

To be puffed up is to be filled with pride and self-conceit, a haughty spirit, lacking in humility and graciousness. It describes an inflated ego and a superiority complex. It is a prideful contempt of others and an air of self-importance that puts down others to elevate oneself. The character of biblical love is without such self-exaltation or arrogance but is in fact filled with lowliness. To think that the Apostle Paul was a spiritual father to them. The Bible tells us that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). It is a disposition that gives way to others. It is a mindset that esteems others better than themselves. There is not an air of presumptuous superiority. A sober assessment of the redeemed man is to know his position as a sinner saved by grace. There is nothing he can boast about himself because he has a proper perspective of his own depravity and a holy reverence for his God. The fear of God rules in such a heart so that he has no occasion to feel any good in himself but is brought low in humbleness before his God.

This is a man who realizes that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). He is aware that the garment of his redemption is not his own. It was graciously given to him by the sacrifice of his Saviour on the cross at Calvary. He knows that it is by the mercy of God that he is not consumed. He knows that he regularly transgresses God’s commandment and is in constant need of repentance and cleansing and renewal.

May God bless His church with His love for charity is not puffed up. Amen.