A narrow stone street in a first-century town at dusk, robed figures walking past market stalls toward a glowing wheel of light at the end of the street.

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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 4:6-13, Apostles on display

With biting irony Paul sets the Corinthians, already full, rich and reigning, beside the apostles, put on show last of all like men condemned to die, hungry, ragged, homeless and treated as the world's scum.

Paul's letters1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 4:6-13

1 Corinthians 4:6-13, in every translation this tool compares.

What is going on here

Paul tells the Corinthians not to be puffed up for one leader against another, since everything they have was given to them. Already they are full, already rich, already reigning without the apostles. God, he says, has exhibited the apostles last of all, like men sentenced to death, a spectacle to the world, to angels and to people. They are fools, weak and dishonored; they go hungry and thirsty, are poorly clothed, beaten and homeless, work with their own hands, bless when cursed, and are treated as the scum of the world.

The ancient world behind it

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sages-and-philosophers\/","n":"Philosophers and their schools","s":"Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.","r":""}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/roman-triumph\/","n":"The triumph and the arena","s":"Rome celebrated a great victory with a triumph, a parade of the general, his army and the spoils, with chained captives at the end who were killed or sold. Cities also staged shows in which condemned criminals fought or were thrown to beasts.","r":""}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/orators-and-sophists\/","n":"Orators, rhetoric and boasting","s":"Public speaking was the great skill of the Greek city. Traveling orators performed for crowds and gathered paying students, audiences judged them on voice and gesture as well as argument, and the fans of rival speakers boasted of their own man against the rest.","r":""}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}

Also in this passage

Philosophers claimed to be the only true kings and the only truly rich, and Paul concedes the claim with irony (Keener and his notes); Wright and Bird note that rich and reigning were Stoic catchwords going back to Diogenes, who settled in Corinth. Carson, Moo and Morris add an over-realized hope: the Corinthians thought the blessings of the age to come were already theirs in full, which explains Paul's outburst here. Paul's hunger, poor clothes and homelessness fit the stock picture of the wandering Cynic, and lists of hardships proved a sage's integrity (Keener and his notes). Most sages charged fees, had a patron or begged, and people of status thought manual labor demeaning (Keener and his notes). The picture of 4:9 is read two ways. Wright and Bailey see captives dragged at the end of a Roman triumph, while Keener, his notes and the CSB Study Bible prefer the arena, where the last show of the day was kept for the most wretched condemned criminal. The ESV Study Bible gives both, and the Zondervan dictionary joins them: the captives at the end of a triumph were the ones condemned to fight beasts.

Related passages

1 Corinthians 4:14-21, Ten thousand guardians, one father 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, If the dead are not raised 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Free, unpaid and in training 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, Led in God's triumph

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 4:8, 4:9, 4:11 and 4:12
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 4:8, 4:9, 4:11-13 and 4:12
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 21, 1 and 2 Corinthians
N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, comment on 1 Corinthians 4:6-13
Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, section 1.4
CSB Study Bible, note on 1 Corinthians 4:9
ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Corinthians 4:9
D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, The Character of Paul's Opponents in 1 and 2 Corinthians
J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry games

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