1 CORINTHIANS 4:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:”
We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; — Paul worked as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3) to avoid being a burden. The response to curse (katara) is blessing (eulogeō); to persecution (diōkō, driven out), endurance (anechō, holding up). These reflect Jesus's teaching on enemy-love (Luke 6:28). Apostles practice what they preach about Christ-centered love.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 4:12
“And labor;” now against the false apostles who endure neither toil nor peril, while they themselves receive the fruits. “But not so are we,” says he: “but together with our perils from without, we also strain ourselves to the utmost with perpetual labor. And what is still more, no one can say that we fret at these things, for the contrary is our requital to them that so deal with us: this, I say, is the main point, not our suffering evil, for that is common to all, but our…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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