1 Corinthians16chapter 16

1 Corinthians 16:1-4

the collection for the saints: Now concerning the collection for the saints: the last peri de of the letter turns to the relief fund for the Jerusalem poor that occupies Paul across four epistles and years of travel, Gentile churches carrying material aid to the mother church whose spiritual things they had received, the theology Romans 15:27 states outright. The method is the first Christian giving system on record: upon the first day of the week, every one of you, lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, weekly, universal, private, and proportionate, and the bench draws each mark, with the first-day timing standing among the early evidences of Lord's-day observance. That there be no gatherings when I come guards the gift from pressure, and verses 3 and 4 guard it from suspicion, the churches' own approved men carrying their liberality with letters, Paul refusing sole custody of other men's money, the pattern 2 Corinthians 8:20-21 makes explicit.

1 Corinthians 16:5-9

I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: the itinerary is offered plainly, a possible wintering at Corinth, and the proviso that governs all apostolic planning, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, and verse 9 gives the two reasons in one breath: for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. The bench lingers where Paul joins them with and rather than but, the open door and the opposition listed as parallel reasons for staying, since in his arithmetic adversaries are evidence the door is real; Acts 19's riot is the adversaries' face, and the exposition notes that this stated plan later changed, the change becoming the accusation of fickleness 2 Corinthians 1 must answer.

1 Corinthians 16:10-12

Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: Timothy travels ahead into a church that despised even Paul, and Paul builds the young man's protection in advance, for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do; let no man therefore despise him. The bench reads the pastoral care as the standard for how churches receive junior workers, honored for the work, not the resume. As touching our brother Apollos, the eloquent Alexandrian whose name headed one of the parties, Paul greatly desired him to come, and Apollos's will was not at all to come at this time: the two men whose names divided Corinth are seen here declining to be rivals, Paul urging his colleague toward the church that misused both names, and the exposition lets the quiet fact answer chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong: four military commands in a row, the sentinel's vigilance, the soldier's ground, the man's courage, andrizesthe, and the strength that is received rather than mustered, and the bench hears the letter's whole burden compressed into a drill sergeant's cadence for a church that had been childish (3:1), unstable, and weak. Then verse 14 gives the four commands their law: let all your things be done with charity, agape governing even the militancy, chapter 13 riding shotgun on chapter 16. The exposition keeps the pair together as Paul does, courage without love hardening into the party spirit the letter began against, love without courage dissolving into the tolerance of chapter 5, the two verses being the letter's own two hands.

1 Corinthians 16:15-18

Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints: the household Paul baptized (1:16) has ordained itself to service, etaxan heautous, self-appointed to the towel, and the command follows, that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth, authority in this letter flowing to proven service, not to party or gift. Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus had come to Ephesus, likely carrying the church's letter, and that which was lacking on your part they have supplied; for they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Acknowledge ye them that are such: the bench notes the closing ethic of recognition, a church commanded to see its servants, and the exposition counts the chapter's honored names as chapter 12's body doctrine walking.

1 Corinthians 16:19-21

The churches of Asia salute you: the letter closes its arms around the whole province Paul writes from, and Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house, the couple who had lived at Corinth and hosted Paul's tentmaking now hosting a congregation at Ephesus, their house church greeting the church they helped plant. All the brethren greet you; greet ye one another with an holy kiss, the family sign commanded here as in Romans. The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand: the amanuensis lays down the pen and Paul takes it, his autograph the letter's authentication as 2 Thessalonians 3:17 explains, and the bench pictures the change of hand the Corinthians would have seen on the page.

1 Corinthians 16:22-24

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha: the letter's last warning is written in Paul's own hand, and the two terms are distinct, anathema the Greek of devoted-to-judgment, and Maran-atha Aramaic, kept untranslated as keep-hard philology: read marana tha it is the church's oldest recorded prayer, Our Lord, come, the cry Revelation 22:20 echoes in Greek; read maran atha it is a confession, our Lord has come. The bench names both readings, the prayer reading standing as the likeliest, an Aramaic liturgical fragment preserved in a Greek letter to a Greek church, evidence of how early and how widely Jesus was addressed as Lord in prayer. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and then a closing found in no other epistle: my love be with you all in Christ Jesus, the apostle who has rebuked this church for sixteen chapters signing off with love to all of it, chapter 13 practiced in the letter's last line.