First Reading1 Corinthians 4:6b-15
From the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
6Now these things, brothers,I have in a figure transferred to myselfand Apollos for your sakes,that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written,that none of you be puffed up against one another.7For who makes you different?And what do you have that you didn’t receive?But if you did receive it,why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8You are already filled.You have already become rich.You have come to reign without us.Yes, and I wish that you did reign,that we also might reign with you!9For I think that God has displayed us,the apostles, last of all,like men sentenced to death.For we are made a spectacle to the world,both to angels and men.10We are fools for Christ’s sake,but you are wise in Christ.We are weak, but you are strong.You have honor, but we have dishonor.11Even to this present hour we hunger,thirst, are naked,are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.12We toil, working with our own hands.When people curse us, we bless.Being persecuted, we endure.13Being defamed, we entreat.We are made as the filth of the world,the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
14I don’t write these things to shame you,but to admonish you as my beloved children.15For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ,you don’t have many fathers.For in Christ Jesus,I became your father through the Good News.