格林多前书 1 Corinthians Chapter 4
1 Corinthians
Chapter 4
1 Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
这样说来，人当以为我们为基督的服务员和天主奥秘的管理人。
2 Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
说到管理人，另外要求于衪的，就是要他表现忠信。
3 It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself;
至于我，或受你们的审断，或受人间法庭的审断，为我都是极小的事，就连我自己也不审断自己，
4 I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.
因为我虽然自觉良心无愧，但我决不因此就自断为义人；那审断我的只是主。
5 Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.
所以，时候未到，你们什么也不要判断，只等主来，衪要揭发暗中的隐情，且要显露人心的计谋：那时，各人才可由天主那里获得称誉。
6 1 I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written, 2 so that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over against another.
弟兄们，我为了你们的缘故，把这些事贴在我自己和阿颇罗身上，好叫你们跟我们学习“不可越过所记载的，”免得有人自大，高看这个，鄙视那个。
7 Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?
谁使你异于别人呢？你有什么不是领受的呢？既然是领受的，为什么你还夸耀，好象不是领受的呢？
8 You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have become kings 3 without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might become kings with you.
你们已经饱满了，已经富足了，已无需我们，自己可为王了；恨不得你们真为了王，好叫我们与你们一同为王！
9 4 For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike.
我以为天主把我们作宗徒的列在最后的一等，好象被判死刑的人，因为我们成了供世界、天使和世人观赏的一场戏剧。
10 We are fools on Christ's account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
我们为了基督成了愚妄的人，你们在基督内却成了聪明的人；我们软弱，你们却强壮；你们受尊敬，我们受羞辱。
11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless
直到此时此刻，我们仍是忍饥受渴，衣不蔽体，受人拳打，居无定所，
12 and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
并且亲手劳碌操作。被人咒骂，我们就祝福；被人迫害，我们就忍受；
13 when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world's rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment.
被人诽谤，我们就劝戒；直到现在，我们仍被视为世上的垃圾和人间的废物。
14 I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 5
我写这些话，并不是为叫你们羞愧，而是为劝告你们，就如同劝告我所亲爱的孩子一样，
15 Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
因为你们纵然在基督内有上万的教师，但为父亲的却不多，因为是我在基督耶稣内藉福音生了你们。
16 Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.
所以我求你们：你们要效法我！
17 For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ (Jesus), just as I teach them everywhere in every church.
为了这个缘故，我打发弟茂德到你们那里去，他在主内是我亲爱和忠信的孩子，他要使你们想起我在基督内怎样行事，和我到处在各教会内所教导的。
18 6 Some have become inflated with pride, as if I were not coming to you.
有些人以为我不会到你们那里去，就傲慢自大；
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I shall ascertain not the talk of these inflated people but their power.
其实，主若愿意，我必很快就要到你们那里去；并且我所要知道的，并不是那些傲慢自大者的言辞，而是他们的能力，
20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
因为天主的国并不在于言辞，而是在于德能。
21 Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?
你们愿意怎样呢？愿意我带着棍棒到你们那里去呢？还是怀着慈爱和温柔的心情到你们那里去呢？
Footnotes(注解)
1 [6-21] This is an emotionally charged peroration to the discussion about divisions. It contains several exhortations and statements of Paul's purpose in writing (cf 1 Cor 4:6, 14-17, 21) that counterbalance the initial exhortation at 1 Cor 1:10.
2 [6] That you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written: the words "to go" are not in the Greek, but have here been added as the minimum necessary to elicit sense from this difficult passage. It probably means that the Corinthians should avoid the false wisdom of vain speculation, contenting themselves with Paul's proclamation of the cross, which is the fulfillment of God's promises in the Old Testament (what is written). Inflated with pride: literally, "puffed up," i.e., arrogant, filled with a sense of self-importance. The term is particularly Pauline, found in the New Testament only in 1 Cor 4:6, 18-19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4; Col 2:18 (cf the related noun at 2 Cor 12:20). It sometimes occurs in conjunction with the theme of "boasting," as in 1 Cor 4:6-7 here.
3 [8] Satisfied . . . rich . . . kings: these three statements could also be punctuated as questions continuing the series begun in v 7. In any case these expressions reflect a tendency at Corinth toward an overrealized eschatology, a form of self-deception that draws Paul's irony. The underlying attitude has implications for the Corinthians' thinking about other issues, notably morality and the resurrection, that Paul will address later in the letter.
4 [9-13] A rhetorically effective catalogue of the circumstances of apostolic existence, in the course of which Paul ironically contrasts his own sufferings with the Corinthians' illusion that they have passed beyond the folly of the passion and have already reached the condition of glory. His language echoes that of the beatitudes and woes, which assert a future reversal of present conditions. Their present sufferings ("to this very hour," 11) place the apostles in the class of those to whom the beatitudes promise future relief (Matthew 5:3-11; Luke 6:20-23); whereas the Corinthians' image of themselves as "already" filled, rich, ruling (1 Cor 4:8), as wise, strong, and honored (1 Cor 4:10) places them paradoxically in the position of those whom the woes threaten with future undoing (Luke 6:24-26). They have lost sight of the fact that the reversal is predicted for the future.
5 [14-17] My beloved children: the close of the argument is dominated by the tender metaphor of the father who not only gives his children life but also educates them. Once he has begotten them through his preaching, Paul continues to present the gospel to them existentially, by his life as well as by his word, and they are to learn, as children do, by imitating their parents (1 Cor 4:16). The reference to the rod in 1 Cor 4:21 belongs to the same image-complex. So does the image of the ways in 1 Cor 4:17: the ways that Paul teaches everywhere, "his ways in Christ Jesus," mean a behavior pattern quite different from the human ways along which the Corinthians are walking (1 Cor 3:3).
6 [18-21] 1 Cor 4:20 picks up the contrast between a certain kind of talk (logos) and true power (dynamis) from 1 Cor 1:17-18 and 1 Cor 2:4-5. The kingdom, which many of them imagine to be fully present in their lives (1 Cor 4:8), will be rather unexpectedly disclosed in the strength of Paul's encounter with them, if they make a powerful intervention on his part necessary. Compare the similar ending to an argument in 2 Cor 13:1-4, 10.