ESV Bible Online: Passage: 1 Corinthians 4: "14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 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. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me."
I don't think Paul appealed to his fatherly relationship to indicate a deficiency in the discipleship structure in the Corinthian church. I think, in his desire to persuade them, he says "I am not a teacher to you like most men. I do not appeal to you as a mere teacher, but as your father. So listen to what I'm saying." A father is more authoritative, a father is more concerned, a father is mor well received. So, in context, I see his pulling the "father" card only to persuade them to hear his arguments.
However, this does not mean that I reject the idea of a father-son type of discipleship model per se. I think it is implied when we realize this was his method, and when we read him imploring his 'sons' to 'be imitators of me.'
Not sure what the implications of that are.
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on another note, i have a bit of a chicken-egg dilemma. Did sola scriptura spring from cessationism, or did cessationism spring from sola scriptura?
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