1 Corinthians 4:3-5 - I do not even judge myself

4:3,4

The Corinthians were pitting one preacher or apostle against another, or saying they preferred one over the other. Paul is saying that this is of no account to him, and indeed is absolute nonsense. We need to be aware that we can do the same today, comparing one preacher against another. Moreover, Paul does not even judge himself. This does not mean that he paid no attention to how well or otherwise he was doing something, but he did not waste his time comparing whether he was a better or worse apostle than some other apostle. His conscience is clear. Ie he has no reason to doubt himself, as far as he can tell there were no major failings in himself that needed to be addressed. We should assess ourselves in relation to Christ, and if the Spirit is putting His finger on something, then we should do something to address the matter. Even so, our having a clear conscience is not the final arbiter. It is the Lord who judges, He alone is the one who truly knows how well or otherwise we are doing.

4:5

“Judge nothing before the appointed time”. It may seem that a sermon is very good, or not so good, but that actually indicates very little as to its actual effectiveness. We are in the business of serving God, working with Him. The goal is to achieve long term change, lasting results. Only when the Lord returns will the true effectiveness or otherwise of our work been known. Moreover, He will expose the motives of our hearts. Then each will receive praise from the Lord. Two things to note here. The first is that there is praise from the Lord. Sometimes we get so caught up in the fact that we cannot save ourselves, and that we are utterly dependent upon the Spirit, that we cannot see how any concept of praise or reward from God can exist. Yet Jesus often spoke about rewards, and Paul here speaks about praise. So our thinking must be wrong! The second point is that Paul is shifting the emphasis completely away from human judgement to God’s judgement. Praise from men is of limited value. It is God who gives the final assessment of our work, and He is the judge.