World English Bible · Under Rome
1 Corinthians 4
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So let a man think of us as Christ's servants and stewards of . Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found . But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don't even judge my own self. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not by this, but he who judges me is . Therefore judge nothing before the time, until comes, who will both bring to the hidden things of and the counsels of the . Then each man will get his from . Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn't receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you! For I think that has displayed us, , last of all, like men sentenced to . For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to and men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have , but we have dishonor. Even to this present hour we , thirst, are , are beaten, and have no certain . We toil, working with our own hands. When people us, we . Being persecuted, we . Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now. I don't write these things to you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don't have many fathers. For in Christ , I became your through the . I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. Because of this I have sent to you, who is my beloved and child in , who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every . Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the . For Kingdom is not in word, but in . What do you want? Shall I come to you with a , or in love and a of gentleness?
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.