Читать книгу 1 Corinthians - Luise Schottroff - Страница 41

1 You should evaluate us in this way: We are serving the Messiah, and to us has been entrusted responsibility for the divine mysteries. 2 Now, those entrusted with a responsibility must be trustworthy. 3 For me, it is not decisive if I am judged by you or any human court as it deliberates. Nor do I render a judgment about myself. 4 I am not aware of being guilty of anything, but that does not yet mean I have been declared innocent. The Eternal One alone judges me. 5 Therefore do not judge prematurely, before the Eternal One comes, who will bathe in the light what has been hidden by the darkness and reveal the purpose of the hearts. Then all will receive their acknowledgment from God.

6 For your sakes, sisters and brothers, I have made all that clear by applying it to myself and Apollos, so that through us you learn that this principal applies, »Nothing beyond the Scripture.« Then you won’t play the one side against the other, promoting your self-importance. 7 For who is making you so special? What do you have that you have not received? Since you received it as a gift, why are you selling your self-importance, as though you had not received it as a gift? 8 Are you really already full? Are you already rich? Have you, apart from us, already attained regal honor? If only that were true. Then we could share in your regal honor. 9 But it appears to me that God has put us ambassadors at the very end of the procession in the arena, in the place of those who have been condemned to die. We end up a spectacle for the world, for angels and mortals. 10 We have become fools for the Messiah’s sake. And what about you? Are you Christ’s clever ones? We are weak, and you, are you strong? Are you esteemed? We are despised. 11 To this very hour we are suffering hunger and thirst, we run around in rags, we are getting beaten up, and we are homeless. 12 We are working hard with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we see it through. 13 When we are slandered, we cheerfully set things straight. We have become like the scum of the earth, dregs in people’s eyes, until this very day!