1 Corinthians 4:15

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

Instructers. Gr. paidagogoi, “tutors,” “guardians.” The word has been adopted into English as “pedagogue.” Originally the paidagogos in a Greek household was the slave whose duty it was to take the boys to school and to look after them outside of school hours; he was not necessarily a teacher. Men of various occupations were assigned to this task. Some of them did teach the children. In English the term has been applied to teachers in general. Being a slave, the paidagogos could exercise only that authority delegated to him by the head of the household, namely, that of guardianship. Paul pointed out that in spite of the fact that the Corinthians may have had many tutors, none of them could have the same relationship to them as he himself had. No other person had any claim to parental authority over them; that was the special prerogative of the apostle. He alone had the right to admonish them as a father and to receive their particular deference.

Begotten you. As in the natural sphere there can be only one father, so there could be only one spiritual father of the church at Corinth, namely, the apostle Paul, for it was in response to his preaching that they were led to forsake idolatry and to turn to the living God (see Acts 18:10, 11, 18; 1 Cor. 3:6). He was the instrument of their conversion.