1 CORINTHIANS 4:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;”
To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless — Paul catalogs apostolic hardship: hunger, thirst, nakedness ('in rags,' gymnoi), physical abuse (kolaphizō, struck), homelessness (aperipatoi, unsettled). These are not metaphors but lived reality. The Corinthians' comfort contrasts sharply. Yet Paul's point is not to solicit pity but to show apostolic fidelity despite cost.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 4:11
“Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked.” Do you see that all the life of Christians must be such as this; and not merely a day or two? For though the wrestler who is victorious in a single contest only, be crowned, he is not crowned again if he suffer a fall. “And hunger;” against the luxurious. “And are buffeted;” against those who are puffed up. “And have no certain dwelling-place;” for we are driven about. “And are naked;” against the rich.
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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