Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

1 Corinthians 16:3

This collection was doubly beneficial, because it helped the saints mentioned above and also the poor people who were in the church.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:4

Paul is saying that if the collection is generous, he can go too. For if a bishop is going, he ought to take a large amount with him.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:5-6

Paul is personally strengthening the admonitions by which he is putting them right. The one from whom they have heard Christian teaching is coming to visit. If so, they will be all the more concerned not to be ashamed when he arrives.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:7

Knowing that he has a lot to do in Corinth, Paul does not want to pass through on his way somewhere else but to spend time with them when he comes.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:9

Paul made it clear that he was staying at Ephesus because he had found hearts there who were thirsting for the grace of God, and in them he could quickly instill the mystery of Christ. But because the devil is always restless and hostile to those who long for God, he adds that his enemies there are many. For the more they sought after the faith, the more there were adversaries who contradicted them and fought against the teaching of the Lord.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:10

Although Timothy was preaching what he had learned from Paul and was a gifted evangelist, the apostle commends him since he did not have the same authority. Paul was afraid that Timothy might not be received as he deserved by dissidents in the church, that they would create a fuss, that Timothy would be afraid and that his coming would do nothing for their salvation.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:11

Paul mentions Timothy’s great merit in order to teach them not only that he should be treated with honor in their company but that once he had made preparations to leave he should be sent on his way with deference, because he was an apostle of the Lord.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:12

Paul is hinting that Apollos did not want to go to Corinth because the church there was divided, in the hope that when they heard this they would be eager to make peace. Apollos would come when the church reached agreement.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:13

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.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:14

Where there is strife and dissension, there is no love.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:19

Paul refers to two kinds of church—public and domestic. One in which everyone assembles, he calls public. The other, in which people gather together through friendship, he calls domestic. Any place where a presbyter celebrates the solemn rites is called a church.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:20

The holy kiss is the sign of peace, doing away with discord.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:21

Paul makes it clear that he has written the subscript with his own hand.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:22

Paul is referring to the Jews, who were accursed because they said that the Lord had not yet come.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 16:24

Because the Corinthians did not love one another, Paul gives them this teaching from himself, in order that they might learn to love each other with the same love with which they were loved by the apostle, not with carnal emotion but in Christ Jesus.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES