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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 Corinthians 4:12 - 4:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
We toil (kopiōmen). Common late verb for weariness in toil (Luk 5:5), working with our own hands (ergazomenoi tais idiais chersin) instrumental case chersin and not simply for himself but also for Aquila and Priscilla as he explains in Act 20:34. This personal touch gives colour to the outline. Paul alludes to this fact often (1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8; 1Co 9:6; 2Co 11:7). “Greeks despised manual labour; St. Paul glories in it” (Robertson and Plummer). Cf. Deissmann, Light, etc., p. 317.
Being reviled we bless (loidoroumenoi eulogoumen). Almost the language of Peter about Jesus (1Pe 2:23) in harmony with the words of Jesus in Mat 5:44; Luk 6:27.
Being persecuted we endure (diōkomenoi anechometha). We hold back and do not retaliate. Turn to Paul’s other picture of his experiences in the vivid contrasts in 2Co 4:7-10; 2Co 6:3-10 for an interpretation of his language here.