4:14
Paul has spoken directly, and the Corinthians could not be blamed for thinking that Paul was having a go at them, for in many ways he was. However, Paul was not doing this in order to condemn them. He was doing this to warn them “as my dear children”. The road they were going down was one that would lead to destruction, and certainly not to the growth of the kingdom amongst them.
4:15,16
And Paul was writing to them as a father, as someone who had a deep and true care and concern for them. And Paul warns them to beware of “guardians”. Guardians had some responsibility for their charges, but it was not the deep concern and care that Paul was talking about. Paul’s preaching had brought them to Christ and Paul had the concern of a father. They needed to beware of having guardians rather than fathers. They needed to imitate the heart with which Paul did things. Today churches need to beware of becoming too managerial. Yes we need to organise ourselves properly, but relationships in Christ must be the real basis of what we do.
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