Devine Scripture

1 Corinthians 4:2

What does 1 Corinthians 4:2 mean?

A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 4:2 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 1 Corinthians 4:2 means

If ministers are stewards, the one essential quality God requires is faithfulness. Not brilliance, popularity, or outward success, but steady loyalty to the charge—guarding and dispensing God’s truth as He gave it. Faithfulness includes integrity in message and life, perseverance through hardship, and obedience to the Master’s instructions rather than pandering to hearers. Paul reduces the Corinthians’ many criteria for evaluating teachers to this single, searching standard. By highlighting faithfulness, he relieves ministers from slavery to shifting public opinion and calls churches to examine leaders by whether they truly keep the trust of the gospel, not by cultural measures of impact, image, or novelty.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And it is right for such servants to be safe persons.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and as to the rest, it is required in the stewards that one may be found faithful,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Here now it is required among the dispensers that a man be found faithful.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Here, further, it is sought in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Context

This verse applies the stewardship image from verse 1. It readies the reader for Paul’s next point: because the criterion is faithfulness before God, human courts of opinion cannot render the final verdict (verses 3–5). In Corinth, where rhetoric and reputation carried weight, Paul insists on a different scale. The upcoming verses will show why neither the Corinthians’ judgments nor Paul’s own self-assessment can justify him; only the Lord can. Thus verse 2 is the hinge that turns from role definition to the matter of judgment and accountability.

v.1Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

v.2This passage

v.3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • 1 Corinthians 4:17

    For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.

  • Colossians 4:7

    All my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto you, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord:

  • Colossians 1:7

    even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

  • Numbers 12:7

    My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house:

  • Luke 12:42

    And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?

  • 1 Corinthians 7:25

    Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy.

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