THE OFFSCOURING

The people of Corinth were proud of their city and of them­selves as individuals and this attitude seemed to infect the character of the believers as well. Clearly, they thought more highly of themselves than they ought to have thought! This resulted in their being ‘puffed up for one against another’, v. 6. Additionally, they seemed to be living and reigning as kings before the time. Paul is anxious to remind them that such things were not typical of a genuine servant of Christ who faced persecution in a world hostile to the gospel and its claims. Such may suffer hunger and thirst, be ill clothed and homeless and open to attack and defamation.

He then employs in verse 13 a very dramatic picture to illustrate how the world really looks upon the Lord’s people. They are ‘the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things’. These two words, ‘filth’ and ‘offscouring’, occur only here in the New Testament, though the same thought is appar­ent in Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 45 where the prophet Jeremiah laments that God has made His people as ‘offscouring and refuse’ in the midst of their enemies. Both words, while sim­ilar, may be subtly different. Imagine a dinner plate after a meal; food remains on it. Some may be rinsed off in running water but some may require to be scraped off. This is rather a disquiet­ing picture of how the world views a believer - of no worth at all and actually a time consuming liability! There is also the sugges­tion that the words are used to describe the action of pagan people who, in order to seek expiation for their sins and to escape the punishment of their gods, would select an unfortu­nate member of society to abuse, and then incinerate him. Having done so, they then sweep his ashes into the sea.

Paul is saying that he and his companions in the Lord’s ser­vice are being viewed in this way, while the Corinthians live a life of ease, intoxicated by their own importance and puffed up with pride. We should remember that the world hated Christ and, if we walk in His steps, it will also hate us. This is not to make us ashamed but to warn us of the danger of living in pride while other saints are in poverty and suffering persecution.