1 Corinthians 16

1. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of 2 Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. 3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to 4 bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with 5 me. Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass 6 through Macedonia. And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye 7 may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now by the way; 8 but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until 9 Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adver- 10 saries. Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he work- 11 eth the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him 12 forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren. As touch- ing our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. 13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be 14 done with charity. I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is 15 the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the 16 saints,) that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and 17 laboreth. I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achacus: for that 18 which was lacking on your part they have supplied. For they have refreshed my spirit 19 and your’s: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such. The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their 20 house. All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. The saluta- 22 tion of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be 23 Anathema Maran-atha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with 24 you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

SPIRITUAL indolence is, in these times, the worst enemy the Church has to encounter. It is not that men openly reject and make war upon her, but that they drowsily sleep around her altar. It is that men are content with such paltry satisfactions and tinsel comforts as the senses can bribe them with, heedless of the inward instincts that claim communion with the skies. It is that eternity has no awfulness to them, life no depth of meaning, enjoyment no obligations, bereavement no solemnity, suffering and sor- row no prophetic suggestions of an hereafter, the soul no aspirations, conscience no echo of God, Christ no enrapturing beauty in his holiness, the resurrection no pledge of heaven. It is that men can stretch themselves on their couches of ease, and slumber amid the sublimest mysteries and most stirring revela- tions of Providence. What we need, then, to bring back the Church to her life is to awake and arise, to hearken and watch, to wait on the Holy Spirit, to snatch the film from our eyeballs, to lift our waiting souls to God like flowers parched with drought to the rain, to breathe in his blessed life, to be regener- ated and consecrated by his inspiration of love communicated through Jesus Christ our Lord. Where the Church lives—where it holds its Master’s spirit and truth, not as the mortuary of a deceased and buried benefactor, but as the inbreathing of a present inspiration—it will never suffer its members to sit idly with folded hands, looking lazily out on the white fields of harvest, where no reaper’s sickle rings against the wheat, but it will send them forth to work, nerved with an impulse that no disappointment can palsy, no misgivings keep back. F. D. H.

THE way in which Paul in this chapter enters on new ground is very characteristic of the abrupt style of the Epistle. The solemn topic of the resur- rection is closed, and now the apostle gives direc- tions respecting a certain charitable collection to be made by the Corinthians, in conjunction with other Gentile churches, for the poor at Jerusalem and in Judea. We have here an illustration of one pecu- liar use of Scripture. The event recorded here has long since passed; the temporary distress spoken of here was long since relieved; even the apostle himself has written simply and entirely for his own time. And yet the whole account is living, and fresh, and pregnant with instruction to us to-day. We find that which was written for a church at Corinth contains lessons for the Church of all ages.

1. The collection for the saints.** The Jewish converts in Jerusalem, being excommunicated and persecuted, were in great distress, and Paul summoned the Gentile converts in Achaia, Galatia, and at Rome to alleviate their difficulties. Observe how all distinctions of race had melted away before Christianity. Christianity unites first to Christ, and then, through Christ, each to the other. So it was that Galatia and Corinth worked together for Jerusalem, inspired with a common sympathy, a common affection, and therefore the Galatians loved the Corinthians and the Corinthians the Galatians. F. W. R.—The churches of Galatia and Phrygia were the last churches which Paul had visited before the writing of this Epistle. He was now at Ephesus, and he came thither immediately from visiting these churches (Acts 18 : 23 ; 19 : 1). These, therefore, probably were the last churches at which he left directions for their public conduct during his absence. Paley.

2. “Gatherings”** would better be expressed “collections,” a word universally understood. The apostle sets his face peremptorily against the great sham of charity sermons, and will have no part in stimulating Christians up to their ordinary duty of almsgiving. A.

The first day of the week. Christ, in the interval between the resurrection and ascension, keeps day with his disciples, meeting them by a weekly manifestation of his presence, as if purposely to give them stated times. All the teachers after him made it a point, in the same manner, to institute a piety whose rule is order, and whose liberty itself is regularity. Thus John is in the Spirit, and meets the vision even of his prophecy on the Lord’s day. Paul observes that day, and gives it as a good rule to lay by what may go for charity on that day, that so there may be order in charity. H. B.

This simple rule decides who shall give: “Every one of you,” rich and poor. It tells when and how the consecration shall be made: “Upon the first day of the week.” Upon the Christian Sabbath the laying aside was to be done, that out of it the Sabbath offering, which was an essential part of the Christian worship, might be made. It directs how much to give. “As God hath prospered him,” or as God has made him able to give. The rule is altogether a plain one to the man in whose heart the love of Christ reigns supreme. There is need of no more specific legislation even touching the amount to be given. An.

The principle is to be systematic, regular, and methodical in our alms, instead of casual and impulsive. All that is necessary in order to this is a little time, a little trouble (very little of either), and perhaps a little moral courage. Let us first settle with our own minds, as in the sight of God, what proportion of our income is due to works of piety and charity. The proportion will vary much; for it is clear that the same proportion will be much more severely felt when subtracted from a very narrow income than when it is the mere exuberant overflow of a very large one. No one man can lay down a rule for another in this respect; the only point of importance is, that we would satisfy, not the expectations of others, but the requirements of an enlightened and a pure conscience in ourselves, or, in other words, the claims of God. The proportion having been settled, all that follows is more or less mechanical, and may be done with a very slight expenditure of time. E. M. G.

Instead of waiting for one stirring apostolic appeal, they were to make charity the business of their lives. Week by week they were to build up a sum for Paul to send to Jerusalem. This contribution, slowly, systematically gathered, was to be a matter of principle and not of impulse. It is possible that one burning speech of Paul’s might have elicited a larger sum. But Paul preferred the effects of steady perseverance to those of vehement emotion. F. W. R.—Such a rule insured to the givers a gradual discipline in Christian benevolence which would be far more beneficial to them and a far greater test of character than one great effort of it. A great effort may be made in a moment of excitement, but continual little efforts can only be made on principle. E. M. G.

This systematic plan of Paul’s costs something and teaches something. It teaches, first, the habit of a thoughtful life; it reminds us continually that there is something which is owed to God, and therefore is not our own. In this world we are recipients, the pensioners of our Father; and it is well that, by an outward system, we should train our inward spirit to the unforgetful thought of our debt to him. It is well that we should remember this, not to wake our fear of his austerity, but to kindle our gratitude in answer to his love. It teaches, secondly, self-denial. It gradually lays the foundation of a life of Christian economy, not that which sacrifices one pleasure for another, for this is but mere prudence, but that which abridges pleasure in order that we may be able to give to God.

The measure of liberality was “as God hath prospered him.” Observe, Paul establishes a principle here, and not a rule. He lays down no rabbinical maxim of one tenth or one fourth. He leaves the measure of each man’s charity to his own conscience. “Ask thyself,” he says to each, “how much owest thou unto the Lord?” Men do not give as God hath prospered them, because they do not give systematically; that is, they who have the most are not they who give most, but the reverse. The reason of this strange difference is, that system is easier with little than with much. The man of thousands squanders. His luxury and his extra expenditure grow into necessities, and he then complains of his larger liabilities and establishment. Yet, withal, it would be a startling thing if well-meaning persons, who say they can not give, were only to compute how much annually is spent in that mere waste which the slightest self-denial would have spared.

5-10. He hoped to visit them, and to winter with them, but not yet, for he was to stay at Ephesus until Pentecost. He remained there, he says, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” So it was not pleasure but duty which kept him there. Ephesus was his post, and at Ephesus he would stay. F. W. R.

10, 11. “If Timotheus come, let no man despise him.” Why despise him? This charge is not given concerning any other messenger whom Paul sent: and, in the different Epistles, many such messengers are mentioned. Turn to 1 Tim. 4 : 12, and you will find that Timotheus was a young man, younger probably than those who were usually employed in the Christian mission; and that Paul, apprehending lest he should on that account be exposed to contempt, urges upon him the caution, which is there inserted, “Let no man despise thy youth.” Paley.

12. Compare this passage with his earnest rebuke of the party of Apollos in the first chapter. On reading that, it might appear natural to say, “Oh, he can not bear a rival!” But behold, it was zeal for Christ, and not jealousy of Apollos. With Apollos he felt only hearty fellowship, for he greatly “desired him to come to them with the brethren.” These are some of the fine touches by which we learn what that sublime apostle was, and what the grace of God had made him. We can but admire, too, the apostle’s earnest desire to make Apollos stand well with the Corinthians. A meaner spirit, feeling that Apollos was a dangerous rival, would either have left his conduct unexplained, or would have caught at, and been even glad of, the suspicion resting on him: why did he stay away? But Paul would leave no misunderstanding to smolder. He simply stated that Apollos had reasons for not coming: “But he will come.” This is magnanimity and true delicacy of heart. F. W. R.

13. Watch ye.** Watch and pray against failures; but take heed of desponding under them. Be content to travel as you are able. The oak springs from the acorn; but does it become a tree at once? The mushroom springs up in a night; but what is a mushroom? Cecil.—Stand fast. There is a courage that springs from an unspotted conscience, and wins the triumphs of generous good-will; the courage that goes into and out of all companies, counting-houses, caucuses, and churches, with an uprightness not to be bent, whether you bring threats, or sneers, or golden baits to tempt it; a courage that lifts up an unblenched face in the most formidable array of difficulties, satisfied to stand on the platform of the New Testament, and on God’s side, to listen to the encouragement of the beatitudes and to hold to the breastplate of righteousness. In the faith. Manliness without faith, at its best estate, is all frailty; at its surest strength, it is unsteadfast; at its fairest promise, it is treacherous; at its fullest joy, it is empty. No doubt, on the other hand, there is such a thing as religion without manliness, pietism and not piety. Religion without manliness acts as if Providence were a tyrant, the world a prison, and man a slave. Instead of holding its clear look up with conscious and grateful dignity to the light, and standing face to face with all the cheerful and solemn facts of life, and looking straight into the eyes of every creature, as faith gives it a supreme right to do, it creeps to the prayer-meeting abjectly, is half afraid to own its cause, and shows its meager mind by abusive and unilluminated criticisms. Why can not the disciples of Christ show the world specimens of human character, as broad in proportions, as free in outline, as magnanimous in temper, as sensible in practice, as appreciative in taste, as liberal in accomplishments, as they are superior by their celestial calling? F. D. H.

Quit you like men, be strong. Be men in knowledge, in faith, in self-denial, in endurance, in effort, in diligence, in perseverance, in love. That which contributes to your inward piety will secure your strength. No increase of outward labor, no pragmatical hurrying from toil to toil, no forwardness of mere act, no almsgiving or other beneficence, will certainly make you mighty men of God. All these may exist where grace is low or even absent. But devoted attention to the Word and prayer will do it; faith and vigilance and love will do it; communion with a dying Saviour will do it; the “unction from the Holy One” will do it. J. W. A.—Let not your biography be summed up: “He turned to God in his youth, he then became lukewarm, being engrossed in the cares and the business and the social demands of the world, and a short time before his death he saw his mistake, and felt that one thing was needful. For years his spiritual life was barely sustained by the prayers of

friends and the weekly services of the sanctuary. He might have been a pillar in the Church, but he was only a weight.” This be far from you. Oh, serve the Lord with gladness, be strong, quit yourselves like men, and abound in the work of the Lord! A. S.

kindlier sympathy when God had shown himself attentive to their prayers on Paul’s behalf. Bonar.