Chapter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Verse
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Corinthians 4:11
ESV To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,
NIV To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
NASB Up to this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless;
CSB Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless;
NLT Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home.
KJV Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
NKJV To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.

What does 1 Corinthians 4:11 mean?

Paul continues to describe daily reality for the apostles who serve Christ by ministering to others. He has contrasted the relatively wealthy and respected position that the Corinthians appear to hold with the apostles' lives of being regarded as foolish by the world and having little to show for it in earthly terms.

Paul now stops the comparison to focus on the great lack that he and the other apostles are experiencing. They live with the constant reality of hunger and thirst. They don't have much clothing, and it is certainly not fashionable by the standards of the day. They are beaten up by the realities of the world—in some cases, literally, physically beaten—for the sake of Christ. Their lives are dangerous, as the Corinthians likely remember well from Paul's time with them.

Finally, Paul and the other apostles are said to be homeless. Paul spent his life as a traveling evangelist and missionary, likely staying with generous hosts and in rented rooms. He never settled down into a home of his own. His specific service to Christ would not allow it.

Paul continues to describe the hardships of living as a minister and apostle of Christ in the following verses, but he also begins to describe their strong and positive response to these conditions.
Expand
Expand
Expand
What is the Gospel?
Download the app:
BibleRef.com is part of Got Questions Ministries

For answers to your Bible questions, please visit