1 Corinthians 16:13
“Final Exhortations”1 Corinthians 16:13–14
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- ΓρηγορεῖτεGrēgoreitedo watchG1127V-PAM-2PVerb Present Active Imperative 2nd Plural
- στήκετεstēketedo stand firmG4739V-PAM-2PVerb Present Active Imperative 2nd Plural
- ἐνeninG1722PREPPreposition
- τῇtēatheG3588T-DSFDefinite article Dative Singular Feminine
- πίστειpisteifaithG4102N-DSFNoun Dative Singular Feminine
- ἀνδρίζεσθεandrizesthedo act like menG407V-PNM-2PVerb Present Middle Or Passive Deponent Imperative 2nd Plural
- κραταιοῦσθεkrataiousthedo be strongG2901V-PPM-2PVerb Present Passive Imperative 2nd Plural
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers 1 Corinthians 16:13–18. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
In this passage the apostle gives,
I.Some general advices; as,
1.That they should watch (1 Corinthians 16:13), be wakeful and upon their guard. A Christian is always in danger, and therefore should ever be on the watch; but the danger is greater at some times and under some circumstances. The Corinthians were in manifest danger upon many accounts: their feuds ran high, the irregularities among them were very great, there were deceivers got among them, who endeavoured to corrupt their faith in the most important articles, those without which the practice of virtue and piety could never subsist. And surely in such dangerous circumstances it was their concern to watch. Note, If a Christian would be secure, he must be on his guard; and the more his danger the greater vigilance is needful for his security.
2.He advises them to stand fast in the faith, to keep their ground, adhere to the revelation of God, and not give it up for the wisdom of the world, nor suffer it to be corrupted by it - stand for the faith of the gospel, and maintain it even to death; and stand in it, so as to abide in the profession of it, and feel and yield to its influence. Note, A Christian should be fixed in the faith of the gospel, and never desert nor renounce it. It is by this faith alone that he will be able to keep his ground in an hour of temptation; it is by faith that we stand (2 Corinthians 1:24); it is by this that we must overcome the world (1 John 5:4), both when it fawns and when it frowns, when it tempts and when it terrifies. We must stand therefore in the faith of the gospel, if we would maintain our integrity.
3.He advises them to act like men, and be strong: "Act the manly, firm, and resolved part: behave strenuously, in opposition to the bad men who would divide and corrupt you, those who would split you into factions or seduce you from the faith: be not terrified nor inveigled by them; but show yourselves men in Christ, by your steadiness, by your sound judgment and firm resolution." Note, Christians should be manly and firm in all their contests with their enemies, in defending their faith, and maintaining their integrity. They should, in an especial manner, be so in those points of faith that lie at the foundation of sound and practical religion, such as were attacked among the Corinthians: these must be maintained with solid judgment and strong resolution.
4.He advises them to do every thing in charity, 1 Corinthians 16:14. Our zeal and constancy must be consistent with charity. When the apostle would have us play the man for our faith or religion, he puts in a caution against playing the devil for it. We may defend our faith, but we must, at the same time, maintain our innocence, and not devour and destroy, and think with ourselves that the wrath of man will work the righteousness of God, James 1:24. Note, Christians should be careful that charity not only reign in their hearts, but shine out in their lives, nay, in their most manly defences of the faith of the gospel. There is a great difference between constancy and cruelty, between Christian firmness and feverish wrath and transport. Christianity never appears to so much advantage as when the charity of Christians is most conspicuous when they can bear with their mistaken brethren, and oppose the open enemies of their holy faith in love, when every thing is done in charity, when they behave towards one another, and towards all men, with a spirit of meekness and good will.
II.Some particular directions how they should behave towards some that had been eminently serviceable to the cause of Christ among them.
1.He gives us their character (1.) The household of Stephanas is mentioned by him, and their character is, that they were the first-fruits of Achaia, the first converts to Christianity in that region of Greece in which Corinth was. Note, It is an honourable character to any man to be early a Christian, betimes in Christ. But they had moreover addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, to serve the saints. They have disposed and devoted themselves - etaxan heautous, to serve the saints, to do service to the saints. It is not meant of the ministry of the word properly, but of serving them in other respects, supplying their wants, helping and assisting them upon all occasions, both in their temporal and spiritual concerns. The family of Stephanas seems to have been a family of rank and importance in those parts, and yet they willingly offered themselves to this service. Note, It is an honour to persons of the highest rank to devote themselves to the service of the saints. I do not mean to change ranks, and become proper servants to the inferiors, but freely and voluntarily to help them, and do good to them in all their concerns. (2.) He mentions Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, as coming to him from the church of Corinth. The account he gives of them is that they supplied the deficiencies of the church towards him, and by so doing refreshed his spirit and theirs, 1 Corinthians 16:17, 1 Corinthians 16:18. They gave him a more perfect account of the state of the church by word of mouth than he could acquire by their letter, and by that means much quieted his mind, and upon their return from him would quiet the minds of the Corinthians. Report had made their cause much worse than it was in fact, and their letters had not explained it sufficiently to give the apostle satisfaction; but he had been made more easy by converse with them. It was a very good office they did, by truly stating facts, and removing the ill opinion Paul had received by common fame. They came to him with a truly Christian intention, to set the apostle right, and give him as favourable sentiments of the church as they could, as peace-makers. Note, It is a great refreshment to the spirit of a faithful minister to hear better of a people by wise and good men of their own body than by common report, to find himself misinformed concerning them, that matters are not so bad as they had been represented. It is a grief to him to hear ill of those he loves; it gladdens his heart to hear the report thereof is false. And the greater value he has for those who give him this information, and the more he can depend upon their veracity, the greater is his joy.
2.Upon this account of the men, he directs how they should behave towards them; and,
(1.)He would have them acknowledged (1 Corinthians 16:11), that is, owned and respected. They deserve it for their good offices. Those who serve the saints, those who consult the honour and good esteem of the churches, and are concerned to wipe off reproaches from them, and take off from the ill opinion fame had propagated, are to be valued, and esteemed, and loved. Those who discover so good a spirit cannot easily be over-valued.
(2.)He advises that they should submit themselves to such, and to all who helped with the apostles, and laboured, 1 Corinthians 16:16. This is not to be understood of subjection to proper superiors, but of a voluntary acknowledgment of their worth. They were persons to whom they owed peculiar respect, and whom they should have in veneration. Note, It is a venerable character which those bear who serve the saints and labour hard to help the success of the gospel, who countenance and encourage the faithful ministers of Christ, and endeavour to promote their usefulness. Such should be had in honourable esteem.
Historical interpretation
Three Centuries of Reception
6 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
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From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts not that I am devoured by brute beasts, for these, as ye know, by the will of God, spared Daniel, but by beasts in the shape of men, in whom the merciless wild beast himself lies hid, and pricks and wounds me day by day. But none of these hardships "move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself," in such a way as to love it better than the Lord. Wherefore I am prepared for [encountering] fire, wild beasts, the sword or the cross, so that only I may see Christ my Saviour and God, who died for me. I therefore, the prisoner of Christ, who am driven along by land and sea, exhort you: "stand fast in the faith," and be ye steadfast, "for the just shall live by faith; " be ye unwavering, for "the Lord causes those to dwell in a house who are of one and the same character."
And while she spoke to me, two men appeared and raised her on their shoulders, and they went to where the chair was in the east. With joyful countenance did she depart; and as she went, she said to me, "Behave like a man, Hermas."
And in another place: "Watch ye, and pray, and stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men, and be strong. Let all things be done with charity."
They were to be watchful, in case they were secretly attacked in their faith. They were to stand firm, being bold in confessing what they had been taught. They were to be strong in both word and deed, because it is the right combination of these which enables people to mature.
Paul tells them to be courageous and strong, like an athlete or soldier of Christ, doing everything with love toward God and each other.
Afterwards indicating that not in the teachers but in themselves they ought to have their hopes of salvation, he saith, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith."
Not in the wisdom which is without: for there it is not possible to stand, but to be borne along; even as "in the faith" ye may "stand." "Quit you like men, be strong." "Let all that ye do be done in love." Now in saying these things, he seems indeed to advise; but he is reprimanding them as indolent. Wherefore he saith, "Watch," as though they slept; "Stand," as though they were rocking to and fro: "Quit you like men," as though they were playing the coward: "Let all that ye do be done in love," as though they were in dissensions. And the first caution refers to the deceivers, viz., "Watch," "stand:" the next, to those who plot against us, "Quit you like men:" the third, to those who make parties and endeavor to distract, "Let all that ye do be done in love;" which thing is "the bond of perfectness," and the root and fountain of all blessings.
But what means, "All things in love?" "Whether any one rebuke," saith he, "or rule or be ruled, or learn or teach, let all be in love:" since in fact all the things which have been mentioned arose from neglect of it. For if this had not been neglected, they would not have been puffed up, they would not have said, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." If this had existed, they would not have gone to law before heathens, or rather they would not have gone to law at all. If this had existed, that notorious person would not have taken his father's wife: they would not have despised the weak brethren; there would have been no factions among them; they would not have been vain-glorious about their gifts. Therefore it is that he saith, "Let all things be done in love."
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This verse
Paul gives the church four short commands, to stay alert, to hold firm in the faith, to act with a mature courage and to be strengthened by God.
“Watch ye,”
Keep awake, grēgoreúō. The first of four commands, calling for alert attention to spiritual danger and to the Lord’s work and return.
“stand fast in the faith,”
Hold your ground in the truth of the gospel and in your trust in Christ. The faith is where you stand, and you stay there against doubt, pressure and false teaching.
“quit you like men,”
“Conduct yourselves like men”, one Greek word, andrízomai, meaning to act with courage and maturity. It is spoken to the whole church.
“be strong.”
Literally “be strengthened”, krataióō. The strength is received from God and grown in, and it is what enables the other three commands.
Passage study1 Corinthians 16:13–14
Stand Fast, Be Strong, and Do All in Love
Summary
As Paul closes his first letter to the Corinthians, he gives the church four short commands: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Then he sets one more over all of them: “Let all your things be done with charity.” The first verse calls a divided and immature church to alertness, firmness, courage, and a strength that comes from God. The second makes love the way every one of those things is to be done, and it gathers the whole letter into a single line.
Where these commands come in the letter
Chapter 16 is the practical close of the letter. Paul has dealt with divisions, immorality, lawsuits between believers, marriage, spiritual gifts and the resurrection. In this chapter he arranges the collection for the saints in Jerusalem, tells the church his travel plans, and commends Timothy and Apollos. Then, before the greetings and the closing words of grace in verse 23, he gives these two verses as a short charge that holds together everything he has been teaching.
The church needed it. Corinth was a Roman colony and a busy port on the narrow isthmus joining mainland Greece. It was wealthy, crowded with people of many backgrounds, and known for its immorality, which was associated with the temple of Aphrodite. The church was made up of Jewish and Gentile converts and was torn by factions, pride and spiritual immaturity, with pagan habits still pulling at it. Paul had begun the letter by pleading “that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Living faithfully in such a city took watchfulness and courage, and living together in such a church took love.
Each of the four commands in verse 13 is direct and urgent, and together they describe a believer who is awake, settled, brave and strengthened.
Watch ye
The Greek verb grēgoreúō means to keep awake, and from there to watch. It comes from egeirō, to rouse. Paul is calling for spiritual alertness, with eyes open to temptation, false teaching and the slow drift into apathy, and open as well to the opportunities to serve that God puts before us. Across Scripture, watching also looks ahead to the Lord’s return, so the watchful believer lives ready for him.
Jesus used this word on the night he was betrayed. Finding his disciples asleep in Gethsemane, he said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:40–41). He himself stayed awake in prayer, attending to his Father’s will while the enemy moved against him.
Stand fast in the faith
To stand fast is to hold your ground. “The faith” here is the body of Christian truth, the gospel Paul preached to them, together with the personal trust in Christ that rests on it. The small word en, “in”, marks the place where believers stand. Their footing is inside the faith, and they are to stay there.
For the Corinthians, with their share of muddled teaching and moral laxity, this was a call to doctrinal faithfulness as much as to personal loyalty. Doubts, the pressure of the city around them and wrong teaching would all push at them, and they were to keep their footing in conviction and in practice. Paul could later say of himself, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
Quit you like men
“Quit you” is old English for “conduct yourselves”, so the phrase means “act like men”. The single Greek word behind it, andrízomai, comes from anēr, a man, and means to act in a manly way, which here is to act with courage. Greeks and Romans linked manhood with courage, honour and self-control, and Paul takes up that ideal and fills it with the character of Christ.
He is calling the church to grow up, to face hard things bravely and with integrity, to take responsibility, and to leave childish timidity and fearful compromise behind. He urges the same in Ephesians, where believers are to come “unto a perfect man” and be “henceforth no more children, tossed to and fro” (Ephesians 4:13–14). For Corinth, whose quarrels had shown how immature it was, this was a pointed word.
Is this verse only for men?
Paul is writing to the whole church, and though the word is a masculine idiom, what it calls for, courage and maturity in the faith, belongs to every believer. Vigilance, faith, courage and strength are needed by every follower of Christ, and Scripture calls women to strength and bravery as plainly as men. It gives examples such as Deborah (Judges 4:4) and Esther, who went in to the king with the words, “if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).
Be strong
The last command, krataióō, comes from krataios, mighty, and means to strengthen, or in the passive to grow in strength. Its form here is passive, “be strengthened”, which points to a strength that is given. God supplies it, and we grow in it as we depend on him and keep to the means he uses to build us up.
Paul says the same elsewhere: “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10), and “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). He learned it in his own weakness, when the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness,” so that he could say, “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
This strength is what makes the other three commands possible. It carries us through trials, against sin, and into the work God gives us. So the verse holds our responsibility and God’s grace together. We are told to watch, to stand and to act bravely, and the power to do it comes from him.
Let all your things be done with charity
Verse 14 sets every one of those strong commands inside love. Watchfulness, firmness, courage and strength sound like the virtues of a soldier, and in a quarrelsome church they could easily turn harsh. So Paul adds that “all your things”, every word, decision, relationship and work of service, in the church and in the world, are to be done with love. “All” is pâs, and it covers the whole of life.
The verb behind “be done” is gínomai, to come into being or to happen. Paul is speaking of the way things take place as we do them, so love is to shape our actions from within as they happen. Good intentions alone fall short of this command, because it asks for love that shows itself in what we actually do. The preposition is en again, the same “in” that stood before “the faith” in verse 13. Believers stand in the faith and they act in love, and love is the setting and the means of everything they do.
What charity means
In the KJV, “charity” translates agápē. In modern English the word has come to mean giving to the poor, but here it is the love that seeks the highest good of another at cost to oneself, something deeper than affection or romance. It is the love God shows the world: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). It flows from who God is, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and as his children we are to show his character in all we do.
Paul has already described this love at length. Without it the greatest gifts and sacrifices count for nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). It is patient and kind, free of envy, boasting and pride, courteous, unselfish, slow to anger, and it keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:4–7). It is the supreme Christian virtue. He tells the Colossians, “above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14), and the Romans that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). This is the heart of the great commandments to love God and our neighbour, and of the new commandment Jesus gave, “That ye love one another; as I have loved you,” by which all men would know his disciples (John 13:34–35).
Why Paul ends the letter on love
This verse gathers the whole letter under one principle. The Corinthians were split into factions (1 Corinthians 1:10–17), there was sexual immorality among them (1 Corinthians 5:1), they took one another to court (1 Corinthians 6:1–11), they disputed over food sacrificed to idols, and they misused spiritual gifts in their worship (1 Corinthians 12–14). If they had acted out of love that seeks the good of others, many of those problems would have been avoided and the rest easily settled. So Paul’s last command before his greetings brings them back to chapter 13. Love is the motive and the method of all Christian living, and the way to unity and health in the church.
Christ, who watched, stood and loved
Jesus lived out both verses perfectly. He watched and prayed in Gethsemane while his disciples slept. He held to his Father’s truth and mission through every opposition and temptation, and he is “the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). He showed the greatest courage when “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51), going willingly toward suffering, betrayal and death for our redemption. In his divine nature and his reliance on the Father he was strong enough to overcome sin, death and the grave, and on the cross he spoiled principalities and powers, “triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
He also did everything with charity. He humbled himself to take on human flesh, served, healed and taught, and became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), and he died for his enemies as well, for “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8–10). So we are told to “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2). His Spirit living in us and his finished work on the cross are where our watching, standing, courage and strength come from, and his life is the pattern for them.
Courage and love together
These two verses belong side by side. You are to stay alert to whatever would pull you from Christ, keep a firm hold on the gospel, and meet hard things with a grown believer’s courage, and every one of those things is to be done for the good of the people around you. In a family, at work or in the church, that looks like words spoken with kindness, decisions made with compassion, service given gladly, and a patience, humility and readiness to forgive that come from Christ himself.
The strength for all of it comes from the Lord. The command is “be strong”, and the One who gives that strength is the same Lord who loved you and gave himself for you.
1 Corinthians 16:13 This verse
“Watch ye,”
Keep awake, grēgoreúō. The first of four commands, calling for alert attention to spiritual danger and to the Lord’s work and return.
“stand fast in the faith,”
Hold your ground in the truth of the gospel and in your trust in Christ. The faith is where you stand, and you stay there against doubt, pressure and false teaching.
“quit you like men,”
“Conduct yourselves like men”, one Greek word, andrízomai, meaning to act with courage and maturity. It is spoken to the whole church.
“be strong.”
Literally “be strengthened”, krataióō. The strength is received from God and grown in, and it is what enables the other three commands.
1 Corinthians 16:14
“Let all your things”
Everything, pâs: words, deeds, decisions, relationships and ministry, in the church and outside it.
“be done”
The verb gínomai, to come about. The command concerns how things are actually carried out, as well as the intention behind them.
“with charity.”
Literally “in love”, en agápē. Love is the motive, the manner and the measure of all Christian conduct, as Paul set out in 1 Corinthians 13.
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