<p>4:1 <i>Let a man regard us as servants of Christ- </i>Paul now begins to justify himself against criticism and gossip, and to lay the basis for his authority in appealing to the Corinthians regarding their serious misbehaviour and wrong teaching. Clearly some did not regard him and his team as &quot;servants of Christ&quot;. The word for &quot;servant&quot; is that used by the Lord on the Damascus road in giving Paul authority to do the work he did: &quot;I have appeared unto you... to make you a servant and witness of these things which you have seen&quot; (Acts 26:16). The word <i>huperetes</i> is literally an 'under oarsman'. He was rowing, but the Lord Jesus was the captain directing the ship; and Paul was 'under' Him. He plays on this idea in 4:3 where he reasons that therefore it means nothing to him to be <i>hupo</i> man's judgment; for he is in fact <i>hupo</i> or 'under' the Lord's mastership. This is a liberating principle, and it flows directly from the apparently painless statement that Jesus is Lord and Master. If we are indeed 'under' Him, then we will not allow men to put us down, to make us 'under' their judgment. Their words and judgments will mean the less, indeed, nothing at all. For we are not 'under' them but the Lord.</p><p><i>And stewards of the mysteries of God- </i>&quot;Stewards&quot; continues the idea of a 'servant' being 'under' a master. For a 'steward' was a slave within a household who managed day to day affairs. The goods in view were God's mysteries- and not Paul's own. I noted earlier that the Gospel of Christ was only a mystery to those who shut their eyes from understanding it. </p>