Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 4:14-21, Ten thousand guardians, one father
Paul writes as the Corinthians' father in the gospel, sends Timothy to remind them of his ways, and asks whether they want him to come with a rod or with love.
1 Corinthians 4:14-21, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul says he writes not to shame them but to warn them as his dear children. They may have countless guardians in Christ, but not many fathers, for he became their father through the gospel, so he urges them to imitate him. He is sending Timothy, his faithful son in the Lord, to remind them of his ways, and he will come soon to test the power, not the talk, of those who are arrogant. Shall he come with a rod, or in love and a gentle spirit?
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/paidagogos\/","n":"The child's guardian","s":"A trusted household slave walked a boy to school and back, watched his manners and kept him out of trouble until he came of age. He was neither the teacher nor anything like the father.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/family-first\/","n":"The family's name","s":"Families lived, worked and stood together. Walking out of the family business or putting kin second was a public offense.","r":""}
Moralists said they admonished people only because they cared for them, often in a parent's terms, and fathers were responsible for their sons' education (Keener). The guardian was a slave who escorted boys to and from school, and Keener notes that by calling himself their father Paul demotes the other teachers, since slave attendants were nothing like fathers; Wright pictures the guardians as household baby-sitters and the other teachers in Corinth as being like them. Disciples could call a teacher father and be called his children, and students imitated their teachers; Keener calls imitation one of the most common ideas in Greek literature. Fathers used the rod, and Roman political rhetoric made the proper father stern; Corinthians shaped by Roman values liked gentle fathers but knew that a father put duty first (Keener and his notes). Carson, Moo and Morris trace what followed: Timothy found the situation beyond him, and Paul's warning came true in a painful visit (2 Corinthians 2:1).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 4:17 and 4:18-21
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 4:14, 4:15, 4:16 and 4:21
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, comment on 1 Corinthians 4:14-21
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Occasion, Historical Reconstruction
