Still hitting hard at the scandal of the splinter groups who claim to follow one or other of the apostles, Paul makes it clear what the work and authority of an apostle is. In their apostolic ministries, Paul, Apollos and Peter were Christ's servants, given the responsibility of teaching the mysteries or secret truths of God which had been revealed in Jesus Christ.

Their first duty was to be faithful to their master, Christ, and the judge of their work was God alone. The Corinthians had no right what to begin to judge which of the apostles was better or worse than others. The way the Corinthian were behaving, despising one apostle and showing pride in another, was arrogant and wrong. In 4:8-13Paul speaks with both sarcasm and anger, challenging the Corinthians to realize what endless toil and hardship the apostolic ministry entailed. The men who accepted and shared all this voluntarily did it only f sake of Jesus Christ-'for Christ's sake we are fools!' There could rivalry between them.

In 4: 14-21, Paul writes with apostolic authority, as a spiritual father the Corinthian church. Under Roman law, a Roman father had absolute authority over his children. Paul, as an apostle, claimed authority from God to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. When Paul asks the Corinthians to follow his example (4:16) he is not asking for anything to which he is not entitled. Without Paul's apostolic ministry, the Corinthians would not have heard of Jesus Christ; as their spiritual father has led them to salvation.

From 4: 17-20, it is clear that Paul hopes that the Corinthian return to spiritual unity amongst themselves before he makes another visit to Corinth to see them. When he returns, he wants his visit t marked by love and gentleness, not by a struggle between himself those who are causing trouble in the church.

As we reach the end of this section of the letter which deals with problem of disunity in the church in Corinth, we can see something what Paul believed the Church ought to be like. He returns to this 1 III the letter, in chapter 12. The Greek word 'ekklesia' which he uses 'Church' is the word used in the Greek version of the Jewish Script for the assembly of God's people. The word which he uses for 'church members' means 'the holy people'. So the Church is the holy people God, irrespective of race, nationality, sex, class, wealth, importance anything else. The universal Church is made visible in the local church we notice that Paul addresses the Corinthians as 'the church of which is in Corinth'. Paul expected there to be unity, love and peace between church members, the consequences of the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers. If there was disunity and quarrelling, this me that the church members were no longer experiencing the Spirit-life and were turning away from God. They were no longer prepared f the return of Jesus Christ and the hope that they would share in his glory.