After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you —for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.
- 1 Corinthians 16:5-14
You know you’re getting close to the end of a letter when you get to the section for personal requests as we see from Paul in today’s passage. Next week, we will finish up the letter of 1 Corinthians with Paul’s final greetings for this letter.
The first section here contains Paul’s travel plans in verses 5-9. The journey that Paull writes about here lines up with the travels we see in Acts 19:21-22 and Acts 20:1-3. Paul did end up staying in Greece for about 3 months, which included his stop in Corinth, which was likely the “spend the winter” he referred to in verse 6.
Rather than explicitly asking them for money, Paul asks them to help him on his journey, which likely included supplies, equipment, etc. that he would need for his travels. Back in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul wrote about how he did not want to burden churches with fully supporting him financially, but he did expect them to help him with his travels to get to the next place to share the gospel.
Especially after addressing the various topics and issues that he brings up in this letter, Paul knew that it would be best for him to spend a fair amount of time with the Corinthian church (verse 7). They needed his guidance and instruction as they learned how to navigate being the church, especially in dealing with the pagan culture around them and the differing worldviews of Jews and Gentiles who had adopted the Christian faith.
However, Paul was writing this letter from Ephesus, and his work there was not quite complete (verse 8). He needed more time there before starting his next journey where he would visit Corinth. We see that by this point, Pentecost (Acts 2) was already a significant church holiday as it commemorated the birth of the Christian church. Paul would stay at Ephesus from the time of the letter writing until Pentecost (late spring), then travel to Macedonia in the summer, and then winter in Corinth.
Paul notes that there is much opportunity for him at Ephesus and that God is working there. The verb tense he uses when writing that “a great door … has opened to me” (verse 9) implies that the opportunity continues to be open to him, not just a one-time thing. Paul does not mention who specifically opposes him there, but we can guess from what historians know about the culture of Ephesus that the opposition was likely those who worshiped the goddess Artemis and built shrines to her (Acts 19:23-27).
In verse 10, Paul talks about sending Timothy there, which we see corroborated in Acts 19:22. Timothy was traveling when Paul wrote this and would likely be arriving in Corinth soon (1 Corinthians 4:17). Paul wanted to make sure they treated Timothy well when he arrived (verse 11). The people of the church in Corinth should trust Timothy just as much as they would trust Paul himself. Timothy had been with Paul for several years at this point, so Paul had trained him up in the faith. When Timothy’s work was completed in Corinth, Paul expected them to supply Timothy’s travel needs just as they would for Paul. While we don’t know who the “brothers” coming with Timothy would be, it is likely that they may have included Erastus (Acts 19:22).
In verse 12 when Paul brings up Apollos, it’s the same phrasing he uses to introduce new topics throughout the letter, implying that the Corinthians had brought up the topic with Paul. It appears from the text that Apollos and Paul were working separately. Paul could not convince him to go at the time, but Apollos would travel later. It is likely that Apollos was with Paul when the Corinthians asked Paul about him, but then he had left before Paul actually wrote this letter in reply.
Verses 13-14 include some brief commands of encouragement as Paul often includes at the end of his letters: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” These are good words to live by, whether applied to the first-century church in Corinth or the 21st-century church today. Watch out for any of the evils of this world that may pull you away from your faith, and stand firm in the gospel. We are all called to be courageous, strong, and loving as believers in Christ.
While Paul’s travel plans may not seem all that important to us today, this is helpful for two reasons. First, we see corroboration between Acts and 1 Corinthians, thus further verifying the truth of the Scriptures. Second, it shows that Paul was not simply remaining where he was. Life was probably relatively comfortable for him in Ephesus, but he knew he could not stay there. Paul’s mission from God was to go and make disciples, and he couldn’t do that by staying in one place. That doesn’t mean that all of us are called to uproot our lives and move around all the time as Paul was, but God does call some of His followers to that lifestyle to further spread the gospel message, even in today’s world. With our modern technology, we have opportunities to spread the gospel without leaving home, but God does call us to go elsewhere at times as well.
We sometimes forget that there were so many people besides Paul who were furthering the mission of the early church, so it is helpful for us to see others mentioned, including Apollos and Timothy. While Paul did great things for God’s Kingdom, he was by no means a one-man show. He needed others to support him and to help him with this monumental task of sharing the gospel throughout the known world. We, too, are not alone in this mission; in fact, we have thousands of believers all over the world to help us! But just as Paul did, we must all do our part and go where God calls us to go with the gospel message, whether near or far.
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