1 Corinthians 4:15
New International Version
Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

New Living Translation
For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you.

English Standard Version
For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Berean Standard Bible
Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Berean Literal Bible
For if you should have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

King James Bible
For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

New King James Version
For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

New American Standard Bible
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

NASB 1995
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

NASB 1977
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Legacy Standard Bible
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Amplified Bible
For even if you were to have ten thousand teachers [to guide you] in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers [who led you to Christ and assumed responsibility for you], for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the good news [of salvation].

Christian Standard Bible
For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

American Standard Version
For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For if you should have 10,000 instructors in The Messiah, however, there are not many fathers, for in Yeshua The Messiah I have begotten you by The Gospel.

Contemporary English Version
Ten thousand people may teach you about Christ, but I am your only father. You became my children when I told you about Christ Jesus,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, I have begotten you.

English Revised Version
For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You may have countless Christian guardians, but you don't have many [spiritual] fathers. I became your father in the Christian life by telling you the Good News about Christ Jesus.

Good News Translation
For even if you have ten thousand guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you.

International Standard Version
You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah, but not many fathers. For in the Messiah Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Literal Standard Version
for if a myriad of child-conductors you may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I begot you;

Majority Standard Bible
Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

New American Bible
Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

NET Bible
For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, because I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

New Revised Standard Version
For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

New Heart English Bible
For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.

Webster's Bible Translation
For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

Weymouth New Testament
For even if you were to have ten thousand spiritual instructors--for all that you could not have several fathers. It is I who in Christ Jesus became your father through the Good News.

World English Bible
For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.

Young's Literal Translation
for if a myriad of child-conductors ye may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I -- I did beget you;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Paul Warns his Children
14I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me.…

Cross References
Numbers 11:12
Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that You should tell me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries an infant,' to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

1 Corinthians 1:30
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

1 Corinthians 3:6
I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

1 Corinthians 3:8
He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

1 Corinthians 9:1
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

1 Corinthians 9:12
If others have this right to your support, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:14
In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.


Treasury of Scripture

For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

ye have.

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

for.

1 Corinthians 3:6,10
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase…

1 Corinthians 9:1,2
Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? …

Acts 18:4-11
And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks…

Jump to Previous
Begat Beget Begotten Birth Christ Countless Fathers Glad Good Gospel Guardians Guides Instructors Jesus Myriad News Several Spiritual Teachers Ten Thousand Tidings Tutors
Jump to Next
Begat Beget Begotten Birth Christ Countless Fathers Glad Good Gospel Guardians Guides Instructors Jesus Myriad News Several Spiritual Teachers Ten Thousand Tidings Tutors
1 Corinthians 4
1. In what account the apostles ought to be regarded.
7. We have nothing which we have not received.
9. The apostles spectacles to the world, angels, and men;
13. the filth and offscouring of the world;
15. yet our fathers in Christ;
16. whom we ought to follow.














(15) For.--The reason why he has a right to address them as a father would his children. They may have had since their conversion a host of instructors, but they could have only one father who begot them in Jesus Christ. That father was Paul. "I have begotten you." I, emphatic as opposed to "many." The word rendered "instructors" originally signified the slave who led the child to school, but subsequently had the larger meaning, which we attach to the word pedagogue. (See Galatians 3:24-25.) There is a contrast implied between the harsh severity of a pedagogue and the loving tenderness of a father.

Verse 15. - Ten thousand; never so many. The word in Greek is used indefinitely, but here implies a touch of impatience at the itch of teaching which seems to have prevailed at Corinth. Tutors; rather, pedagogues, in a technical sense. We have no exact equivalent in English to the paidagogos, the slave who led boys to school. The word also occurs in Galatians 3:24, 25. The father loves most, and has the nearer and dearer claim. In Christ. So he says, "The Law was our paidagogos to Christ." These guides or guardians were such "in Christ," i.e. in the sphere of Christian life. Not many fathers. St. Paul felt a yearning desire that his unique claim as the founder of their Church should not be so ungratefully overlooked, as though it were of no importance (comp. 1 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 9:1, 2; Acts 18:11). I have begotten you. The word is here only used in a secondary and metaphoric sense, as in Philemon 1:10; Galatians 4:19. In the highest sense we are only begotten by the will of God, by that Word of truth (James 1:18), to which he alludes in the words "through the gospel." The "second birth" is, however a doctrine more dwelt on by St. John (John 3:3; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:1, etc.) than by St. Paul, who, as Mr. Beet observes, only refers to it in Titus 3:5.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Even
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

if
ἐὰν (ean)
Conjunction
Strong's 1437: If. From ei and an; a conditional particle; in case that, provided, etc.

you have
ἔχητε (echēte)
Verb - Present Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2192: To have, hold, possess. Including an alternate form scheo skheh'-o; a primary verb; to hold.

ten thousand
μυρίους (myrious)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3463: Plural of an apparently primary word; ten thousand; by extension, innumerably many.

guardians
παιδαγωγοὺς (paidagōgous)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3807: A boy's guardian or tutor, a slave who had charge of the life and morals of the boys of a family, not strictly a teacher.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Christ,
Χριστῷ (Christō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5547: Anointed One; the Messiah, the Christ. From chrio; Anointed One, i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus.

[you do] not
οὐ (ou)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

[have] many
πολλοὺς (pollous)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4183: Much, many; often.

fathers;
πατέρας (pateras)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

for
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Christ
Χριστῷ (Christō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5547: Anointed One; the Messiah, the Christ. From chrio; Anointed One, i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus.

Jesus
Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

became your father
ἐγέννησα (egennēsa)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1080: From a variation of genos; to procreate; figuratively, to regenerate.

through
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

gospel.
εὐαγγελίου (euangeliou)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 2098: From the same as euaggelizo; a good message, i.e. The gospel.


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NT Letters: 1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you have ten thousand tutors (1 Cor. 1C iC 1Cor i cor icor)
1 Corinthians 4:14
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