Parallel Bible results for "1 corinthians 4"

1 Corinthians 4

Good News Translation GNT

1 You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths.

2 The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master.

3 Now, I am not at all concerned about being judged by you or by any human standard; I don't even pass judgment on myself.

4 My conscience is clear, but that does not prove that I am really innocent. The Lord is the one who passes judgment on me.

5 So you should not pass judgment on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes; he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve.

6 For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, "Observe the proper rules." None of you should be proud of one person and despise another.

7 Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?

8 Do you already have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you.

9 For it seems to me that God has given the very last place to us apostles, like people condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of human beings.

10 For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honored!

11 To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place;

12 we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;

13 when we are insulted, we answer back with kind words. We are no more than this world's garbage; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!

14 I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

15 For even if you have ten thousand guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you.

16 I beg you, then, to follow my example.

17 For this purpose I am sending to you Timothy, who is my own dear and faithful son in the Christian life. He will remind you of the principles which I follow in the new life in union with Christ Jesus and which I teach in all the churches everywhere.

18 Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you.

19 If the Lord is willing, however, I will come to you soon, and then I will find out for myself the power which these proud people have, and not just what they say.

20 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power.

21 Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in a spirit of love and gentleness?

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

2 Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.

4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.

6 I have applied all this to myself and Apol'los for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

7 For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

8 Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!

9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.

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

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless,

12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

13 when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.

14 I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

17 Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.

19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.

20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?