NOTES for Co1 4:7

The apostle Paul says today that no one has the right to attribute God's gifts to himself. Is there anything good in us that would not be from God? By definition, no, for every good comes down only from Him. And this means that all our gifts, abilities, and skills are His gift. One can of course boast about a gift... but does it make sense to claim that it is not a gift at all, but "my own invention"? Having forgotten the One who gives every good thing, we consider ourselves entitled not to reckon with His will. And this is what the apostle Paul warns us against.

These priceless words of the apostle compel to remember oneself, they serve as antidote against ecstasy and condemnation of other people. If only we could remember that always.

My existence is in itself a gift, and how much beautiful besides the fact of my being I have! I have a heart, mind, feelings, will, body, the love of the parents and other people - for nothing! Just because I am who I am! I have friends’ loyalty and the love of animals, I have knowledge, house, things and many other ... I have the sun and the stars, the clouds and the trees, I have the sky and the earth, I have God! All that I have, - was given to me and everything was created by God for me.

In comparison with this, glorifying oneself in front of others, and especially be proud, arrogance and to condemn - is simply stupid. If it is really necessary to glorify - then only God, Who gave everything to me.

The comprehension of the fact that, all that I possess, - was given to me, helps not only not to be excited, but frees (because when I appropriate something - no matter spiritual qualities or material object, I am not free any more: what is appropriated " ties up in the hands", and by the very same I " lose my hands ", according to the metropolitan Antony of Sourozh), gives a genuine peace - and humbling is the source of gratitude to the one, by whom I received everything - God and people.

Continuing the conversation about ministry, Paul turns to another theme very important for the servant and for everyone seeking the Kingdom: the theme of judgment and evaluation both of the person himself and of his activity. The apostle's reasoning undoubtedly echoes the Savior's words: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged," and for Paul they prove to be the expression of one of the most important principles of life and of relationships between people in the Kingdom. The key to the apostle's understanding of the problem of judgment and evaluation is his remark that he not only has no concern for other people's evaluations of his activity, but does not even evaluate himself in any way (vv. 3-4). Judgment is God's affair; it will take place at the end of time, so one should not get ahead of events with hasty evaluations (v. 5). Only in this way can mutual self-exaltation be avoided (vv. 6-7), and therefore one can become faithful servants and witnesses of Christ and the Kingdom (vv. 1-2).

Such an approach is not accidental, if we remember that in the Kingdom each person receives precisely his own reward. The Kingdom presupposes not collectivism but community life. A collective is a purely human phenomenon, and therefore the criteria for evaluating each person in it will inevitably be purely human and, consequently, universal. Here standardization is inevitable, and a final evaluation both of everything done by a member of the collective and of judgment concerning the person himself is entirely possible. By earthly measures, a person proves to be only, in the words of sociologists, a "product of the environment"; in himself he means nothing, and everything he has done is valuable only insofar as it is useful "for society," or more precisely, for the particular collective to which the person belongs. In the Kingdom, however, only God can evaluate both the person himself and everything he has done.

Of course, in a community a person's relationships both with God and with neighbors are extremely important, but here the person does not become derivative of the community in the way that in our still untransformed world he often becomes derivative of society, of the collective. And in that case it becomes clear that neither the community as a whole nor any of its members individually can or should "judge" a person, that is, give a final evaluation of the person himself and of his activity. Of course, if certain actions contradict the Torah and the one who committed them does not repent of anything and regrets nothing, the situation becomes quite unambiguous; but in that case one can say of the offender that he brings God's condemnation upon himself. In all other cases, as we can see, it is better to refrain from evaluations until the end of time, when the One to whom the decisive word belongs at the Last Judgment will speak His word.