Tag Archives: 1 Corinthians 4:8

Ἤδη κεκορεσμένοι ἐστέ, ἤδη ἐπλουτήσατε, χωρὶς ἡμῶν ἐβασιλεύσατε· καὶ ὄφελόν γε ἐβασιλεύσατε, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑμῖν συμβασιλεύσωμεν. (1 Corinthians 4:8)

Already you are filled, already you have become rich, you have begun to reign without us; and would that you did reign, so that we might also reign with you.

Reigning Without Us: Literary and Theological Context of 1 Corinthians 4:8

This verse falls within Paul’s biting rhetorical critique of the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 4:6–13. After exposing the pride and self-sufficiency of the Corinthians, Paul turns to irony, contrasting their triumphalism with the apostles’ suffering and marginalization. The grammatical structures in this verse intensify the rhetorical strategy: perfects to suggest completed self-satisfaction, aorists to express isolated acts, and a wish construction to frame eschatological hope.… Learn Koine Greek