1 Corinthians Chapter 4, Verse 21
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21: τι θελετε εν ραβδω ελθω προς υμας η εν αγαπη πνευματι τε πραοτητος
21: What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love,
and in the spirit of meekness?
21: What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod? Or in charity and
in the spirit of meekness?
What will ye. It depends on yourselves how I shall come. If you lay aside your contentions and strifes; if you administer discipline as you should; if you give yourselves heartily and entirely to the work of the Lord, I shall come, not to reprove or to punish, but as a father and a friend. But if you do not heed my exhortations, or the labours of Timothy; if you still, continue your contentions, and do not remove the occasions of offence, I shall come with severity and the language of rebuke.
With a rod. To correct and punish.
In the spirit of meekness. Comforting and commending, instead of chastising. Paul intimates that this depended on themselves. They had the power, and it was their duty to administer discipline; but if they would not do it, the task would devolve on him as the founder and father of the church, and as entrusted with power by the Lord Jesus, to, administer the severity of Christian discipline, or to punish those who offended by bodily suffering. See 1Cor 5:6, 1Cor 11:30. See also the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1, etc., and of Elymas the sorcerer, Acts 13:10, Acts 13:11.
