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| Cast photo of the Anderson family from the television program Father Knows Best. (Public Domain, Wikipedia) |
Key Words: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
If you were a pastor, how would you go about convincing the people that you really loved them?
This is a problem Paul was facing as he wrote this epistle. If Paul had reminded them about the work he had done among them and for them, they would have simply thought that he was bragging. On the other hand, if he said nothing about his ministry at Corinth, the Judaizers would say, “See, we told you he hadn’t accomplished anything.”
So what did Paul do? He was led by the Spirit of God to use a great comparison that was sure to reach the hearts of the people. He compared himself to a “spiritual father” caring for his family. He says in verse 2, “I have espoused you to one husband.” The word espoused means to give away in marriage. “Just as the father gives his daughter away, I’m giving you to Christ. I am your spiritual father.”
From 1954 through 1960, there was a TV show “Father Knows Best.” It starred Robert Young as the father of three children: Betty, Bud, and Kathy. The essence of the show was that the children were always having to make decisions and seeking advice from their father. Sometimes they would follow the advice and all was well. Oftentimes, though, they failed to follow the advice and would end up with dad having to give more advice to get them out of trouble; but in the end everyone watching knew that “Father Knows Best.”
So it was with Paul. He knew best but had a hard time getting the church to follow.
That’s the way it is in most sound Biblical churches. If you have a Godly pastor, follow him. He’s not perfect and he’ll make mistakes; but more often than not, “father knows best.”
What to do:
✞ I had a drill instructor in the military who used to say, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way”...not bad advice.
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