1 Corinthians 4:11

11 Even to this very hour we do not have enough to eat or drink or to wear. We are often beaten, and we have no homes in which to live.

1 Corinthians 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 4:11

Even unto this present hour
What is about to be related was not what befell the apostles now and then, and a great while ago; but what for a considerable time, and unto the present time, was more or less the common constant series and course of life they were inured to:

we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked;
wanted the common necessaries of life, food to eat, and raiment to put on, and gold and silver to purchase any with; which might be, when, as it was sometimes their case, they were in desert places, or on the seas; or when they fell among thieves; or had given all away, as they sometimes did, for the relief of others; or when they were not, as sometimes, taken notice of, and provided for, where they ministered, as they ought to have been.

And are buffeted;
not only by Satan, as the apostle was, but by men; scourged, whipped, and beaten by them; scourged in the synagogues by the Jews with forty stripes save one; and beaten with rods by the Romans, and other Gentiles.

And have no certain dwelling place;
were in an unsettled state, always moving from one place to another, and had no place they could call their own; like their Lord and master, who had not where to lay his head; and like some of the Old Testament saints, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

1 Corinthians 4:11 In-Context

9 But it seems to me that God has put us apostles in last place, like those sentenced to die. We are like a show for the whole world to see -- angels and people.

10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are very wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You receive honor, but we are shamed.

11 Even to this very hour we do not have enough to eat or drink or to wear. We are often beaten, and we have no homes in which to live.

12 We work hard with our own hands for our food. When people curse us, we bless them. When they hurt us, we put up with it.

13 When they tell evil lies about us, we speak nice words about them. Even today, we are treated as though we were the garbage of the world -- the filth of the earth.