1 Corinthians 4:12

And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) And labour.—While at Ephesus, whence this letter was written, the Apostle supported himself by working with Aquila and Priscilla at tent-making. This labour was no recreation or pastime with St. Paul, it was hard and earnest work. (See 1Thessalonians 2:8-9; 2Thessalonians 3:8.) That this labour was rendered more excessive from the Apostle’s characteristic generosity to others, we may conclude from the expression used in his farewell to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:17-38), “Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.”

Being reviled, we bless.—A striking contrast to the way in which the Corinthians would act under similar circumstances, and yet a literal obedience to the teaching of the Master (Matthew 5:39; Matthew 5:44). Thus the Apostle became in the eyes of the world, “a fool” for Christ’s sake.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:7-13 We have no reason to be proud; all we have, or are, or do, that is good, is owing to the free and rich grace of God. A sinner snatched from destruction by sovereign grace alone, must be very absurd and inconsistent, if proud of the free gifts of God. St. Paul sets forth his own circumstances, ver. 9. Allusion is made to the cruel spectacles in the Roman games; where men were forced to cut one another to pieces, to divert the people; and where the victor did not escape with his life, though he should destroy his adversary, but was only kept for another combat, and must be killed at last. The thought that many eyes are upon believers, when struggling with difficulties or temptations, should encourage constancy and patience. We are weak, but ye are strong. All Christians are not alike exposed. Some suffer greater hardships than others. The apostle enters into particulars of their sufferings. And how glorious the charity and devotion that carried them through all these hardships! They suffered in their persons and characters as the worst and vilest of men; as the very dirt of the world, that was to be swept away: nay, as the offscouring of all things, the dross of all things. And every one who would be faithful in Christ Jesus, must be prepared for poverty and contempt. Whatever the disciples of Christ suffer from men, they must follow the example, and fulfil the will and precepts of their Lord. They must be content, with him and for him, to be despised and abused. It is much better to be rejected, despised, and ill used, as St. Paul was, than to have the good opinion and favour of the world. Though cast off by the world as vile, yet we may be precious to God, gathered up with his own hand, and placed upon his throne.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And labour ... - This Paul often did. See the note at Acts 18:3; compare Acts 20:34; 1 Thessalonians 2:9. 2 Thessalonians 3:8.

Being reviled - That they were often reviled or reproached, their history everywhere shows. See the Acts of the Apostles. They were reviled or ridiculed as Jews by the Gentiles; and jeered by all as "Nazarenes," and as deluded followers of Jesus; as the victims of a foolish superstition and enthusiasm.

We bless - We return good for evil. In this they followed the explicit direction of the Saviour; see the note at Matthew 5:44. The main idea in these passages is, that they were reviled, were persecuted, etc. The other clauses, "we bless," "we suffer it," etc. seem to be thrown in "by the way" to show how they bore this ill treatment. As if he had said "we are reviled; and what is more, we bear it patiently, and return good for evil." At the same time, that he was recounting his trials, he was, therefore, incidentally instructing them in the nature of the gospel, and showing how their sufferings were to be borne; and how to illustrate the excellency of the Christian doctrine.

Being persecuted - See the note at Matthew 5:11.

We suffer it - We sustain it; we do not revenge it; we abstain from resenting or resisting it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. working with our own hands—namely, "even unto this present hour" (1Co 4:11). This is not stated in the narrative of Paul's proceedings at Ephesus, from which city he wrote this Epistle (though it is expressly stated of him at Corinth, compare Ac 18:3, 19). But in his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Ac 20:34), he says, "Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities," &c. The undesignedness of the coincidence thus indirectly brought out is incompatible with forgery.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And labour, working with our hands; we do not only labour in the word and doctrine, but we labour with our hands, that we might not be burdensome to the church, our hands ministering to our necessities, Acts 20:34; though, as he saith, 1 Corinthians 9:4, they had a power to eat and drink, that is, a right to have demanded meat and drink of them, and might have forbore working; for who goeth a warfare at his own charges? 1 Corinthians 3:6,7. Whence we may observe, that though the ministers of Christ ought to be maintained by the churches to which they relate, and they sin if they neglect it; yet where this either is not done through men’s sinful neglect of them, or cannot be done through the poverty of the members of such churches, it is lawful for them to labour with their hands.

Being reviled, we bless; we are reviled and spoken ill of, but we do not revile others, but speak well of them, and wish well to them.

Being persecuted, we suffer it; though we be hunted and pursued to the endangering of our lives and liberties, yet we do make no resistance, but patiently suffer it. By this the apostle showeth them the duty of Christians, as well as their lot and portion in this life; and also tacitly reflecteth on them and their teachers, who were some of those that thus reviled the apostles; and though they did not, it may be, smite them with their hands, yet they persecuted them with their tongues; and leaves it to their consideration, whether the apostles or they lived more up to the rule of Christianity given by Christ, Matthew 5:39-41.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And labour, working with our own hands,.... As the apostle did at Corinth, Acts 18:3 and elsewhere; partly to minister to his own necessities, and those of others; and partly that he might not be burdensome to the churches; and also to set an example of diligence and industry to others; though he had a right and power to claim a maintenance of those to whom he ministered.

Being reviled, we bless; as Christ commanded, Matthew 5:44 and the apostle himself directed and exhorted to, Romans 12:14

being persecuted, we suffer it; that is, patiently; neither resisting our persecutors, nor murmuring and repining at our unhappy circumstances; but taking all in good part, as what is the will of God, and will make for his glory.

Geneva Study Bible

And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. and labour, working with our own hands] Consult Paley, Horae Paulinae, 1st Ep. to Corinthians, No. vi, for a full discussion of the remarkable coincidence between this passage and the speech to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:34, where, though the words were spoken on a different occasion, and are related by a different author, we find statements exactly corresponding. St Paul, in this Epistle written from Ephesus, and in that speech spoken at Ephesus, states that he laboured with his own hands there, and in both cases the remark is dropped undesignedly. The coincidence is the best proof possible of the genuineness both of Epistle and narrative. See also ch. 1 Corinthians 9:6 and Acts 18:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8.

being reviled, we bless] Compare St Matthew 5:5; Matthew 5:38-45; St Luke 23:34; St John 18:23; 1 Peter 2:23.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 4:12. Κοπιῶμεν, we labour) as if compelled by necessity. Few of the Corinthians did so.—εὐλογοῦμεν—ἀνεχόμεθα,—παρακαλοῦμεν, we bless—we endure—we entreat) i.e. we do not return reproaches, persecution, evil speaking, but we only bless; nothing else is lawful; the world thinks that despicable.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Labour, working with our own hands. St. Paul supported himself by the dreary toil and scant earnings of a tent maker, in the express determination to be no burden upon his converts (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 9:6; 2 Corinthians 11:7, etc.). Such conduct was the more noble because all mechanical trades were looked down upon by the Greeks as a sort of banausia. And though it was repellent and mechanical work to be handling the strong scented black goats' hair all day, yet by this labour he maintained not only himself but also his brother missionaries (Acts 20:34). Being reviled. The early Christians were falsely accused of the most execrable crimes, so that the very name "Christian" was regarded as equivalent to "malefactor" (1 Peter 4:14, 16). We bless. Herein they obeyed the direct precept of our Lord (Matthew 5:44), as well as his example (Luke 23:44; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9). 1 Corinthians 4:12

Vincent's Word Studies

Labor (κοπιῶμεν)

Rev., toil. Unto weariness. See on Luke 5:5.

Reviled (λοιδορούμενοι)

See on Acts 23:4.

We bless (εὐλογοῦμεν)

See on blessed, John 12:13.

We suffer (ἀνεχόμεθα)

Lit., we hold or bear up.