1 Corinthians 4:15 (ESV)

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.

The word guide refers to a slave who is tasked to educate the children of a certain household. Paul’s role in the Corinthians’ lives is more fundamental than that of a guide. He is their father, since he is the one who had led them to faith in the gospel. Literally, Paul says that he has begotten the Corinthians.

Paul’s foundational role in the Corinthian church was also described in 1 Corinthians 3:10, where Paul compared the church with a building and himself with a master builder.