1 Corinthians 4:6-13 - The Apostles' Humility

⁶ Now I have applied what has been said above to myself and Apollos, to teach you ... that you are not to be puffed up with rivalry over one teacher as against another. ⁷ Who singles you out, my brother? What do you possess that has not been given you? And if it was given you, why do you boast as if it had been gained, not given? ⁸ You Corinthians have your heart's desire already, have you? You have heaven's rich bliss already! You have come into your kingdom without us! I wish indeed you had come into your kingdom, so that we could share it with you! ⁹ For it seems to me that God means us apostles to come in at the very end, like the doomed gladiators in the arena! We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men! ¹⁰ We, for Christ's sake, are 'fools'; you in Christ are sensible. We are weak, you are strong; you are honoured, we are in disrepute. ¹¹ To this very hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and knocked about, we are waifs, ¹² we work hard for our living; when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we put up with it; ¹³ when defamed, we try to conciliate. To this hour we are treated as the scum of the earth, the very refuse of the world!