Servants And Dispensers

Ita nos existimet homo, ut ministros Christi, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei. Hoc signifiacit, quia minus de illo sentiebant aliqui Corinthiorum, sed ut homo hoc de illo sentiret, quod et Deus, qui illum elegerat; ideo ministros Christi ait, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei. Quando enim non verborum strepitu, neque humana sapientia nitebatur intelligi; debuit sacramentum Christi dispensare, in quo non verba, sed virtus fulgebat: non per quod homo, sed Deus gloriosus videretur; collega enim piscatorum, non aliter quam illi, Christum praedicabat. Cum ergo ministrum se Christi et sacramentorum Dei probat, pseudoapostolos notat, et abnegat Christi esse quod tradunt, per id quod discordarent a traditione apostolica. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.202b-c

Let a man think of us as servants of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God. 1 This signifies that some among the Corinthians thought little of him, but a man should think this of him, that God chose him. Therefore he says, 'ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God.' For it was not with the cry of words nor with human wisdom that he was striving to be understood, for the mystery of Christ should be dispensed where power blazes forth and not words, and where the glory of God and not man appears, since as a colleague of fishermen and nothing else he preached Christ. Therefore when he asserts himself to be a servant of Christ and the mysteries of God, he refers to false apostles, and denies they can give the things of Christ, because they are in disagreement with the Apostolic tradition Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 4 1 1 Cor 4.1