1 Corinthians 4:11

Listen to 1 Corinthians 4:11
11 unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and wander about,

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.

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1 Corinthians 4:11 In-Context

9 for I think that God did set forth us the apostles last -- as appointed to death, because a spectacle we became to the world, and messengers, and men;
10 we [are] fools because of Christ, and ye wise in Christ; we [are] ailing, and ye strong; ye glorious, and we dishonoured;
11 unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and wander about,
12 and labour, working with [our] own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer;
13 being spoken evil of, we entreat; as filth of the world we did become -- of all things an offscouring -- till now.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.