God’s Word for You
1 Corinthians 4:3-5 what is hidden in darkness
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, December 9, 2022
3 It’s a small thing to me if I am judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but this is not how I am justified. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and he will reveal the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Paul was talking about faithfulness, the faithfulness of a pastor’s preaching and doctrine. Now he confesses: I don’t even judge myself. It is unwise for a man to rely only on his own opinion of his preaching and teaching. He can easily become blind to whether his teaching is effective. And what might have worked as an illustration a decade ago may not be so effective today. And as for a human court, Paul questions whether a secular human court could possibly judge his faithfulness to the gospel and to Christian doctrine.
An interesting side issue here is the phrase Paul uses for the (secular) human court: “by any human court.” Literally this is “by any human day,” or “by any human (court)-date.” It’s not a common phrase, but there is an amulet with the same expression from a little later (120-210 AD, perhaps seventy or more years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians). The amulet says: “I invoke the holy and the greatest name, that it may help me in everything I wish / (and) that it may give me the upper hand in every human ‘day’ (court / judgment).”
God is truly the judge we will face. His judgment of our sin is all that really matters. As for judging ourselves, who is capable? “If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:10). And “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). So we say with the prophet, “My tongue will sing of your righteousness” (Psalm 51:14), not our own. Because even if we look and don’t recognize any sin in ourselves or in our lives, it is still necessary to believe that we are sinners. For we also pray, “Forgive my hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12), and “Please forget the sins of my youth” (Psalm 25:7).
God will uncover and bring to light “what is hidden in darkness and he will reveal the motives of men’s hearts.” Surely Paul means for these two phrases to be parallel: the motives of man’s heart is the very thing that is hidden in darkness. This is why we are careful to remember that we are sinful in our thoughts as well as in our words and deeds. “A man can make a slip without intending it. Who has never sinned with his tongue?” “We have sinned in all things and have not obeyed the commandments.” Only the Christian who has been baptized in the name of Christ, who has been washed clean of sin and guilt, is able to do anything other than sin, for the wicked unbeliever can only sin. “Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Only in the Christian are the evil deeds and desires of the Old Adam drowned and put to death. “For our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). This doing away with sin in us also happens daily when we are sorry for our sins and when we believe that God forgives our sin for Jesus’ sake. For “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10), and “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). So now the motive of my heart is to please God, and even though that motive is distracted by temptations and sins, God looks at Christ who covers my sins and not at the sins themselves, so that my humble desire is seen as a righteous and God-pleasing thing.
What a rare and delightful thing it is, to live each day in the grace of Christ, to know that my stumbling efforts are pleasing to God, not on account of anything delightful or pleasing in me, wretched and unworthy man that I am, but for the sake of Christ my Savior. I don’t pray that God accepts me for who I am, because who I am is a sinner. But I pray that God’s judgment would be turned away according to God’s promise. “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you” (Psalm 143:2). For even if it might be possible that you or I could produce one right thought, a single good word, or a sinless action one time in our lives, it would be useless to stand on that one act with a claim of righteousness, as if one pretty flower petal in a dung heap could be counted as a garden or a bouquet. We rely on Christ for his righteousness and the grace of God, and nothing else.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.