1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 16.
Concluding Admonitions. 1 Corinthians 16, 1–24.
A concluding exhortation: V. 13. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. V. 14. Let all your things be done with charity. V. 15. I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) v. 16. that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us and laboreth.
According to his custom, the apostle here gives the gist of all his admonitions in a few brief sentences. The unusual and abundant gifts of grace which the Lord had given to the congregation at Corinth had produced a carnal and dangerous sleepiness in their midst.
Hence the call: Watch, stand firm in the faith, prove yourselves men, be strong, manfully, mightily active. Watchfulness is necessary, lest they yield once more to the sins which Paul has reproved in his letter to them, to the attack of treacherous foes, both from without and from within.
This watchfulness goes hand in hand with steadfastness in faith, a faith not dependent upon man's wisdom, but upon God's power. This faith was a gift of God's grace, and, as such, must be held with all firmness.
It brought about, in turn, a courageous, manly attitude, and a summoning up of strength to resist the might of every foe. It is the same admonition which we find Ephesians 6, 10-17.
On the other hand, however, it behooved the Corinthians to remember that all their doings should be carried on in love. All divisions and strife must be abandoned where the real spirit of Christ lives, where the spirit of unselfish service has the undisputed mastery.
The Corinthian Christians would have a good opportunity to exercise the proper brotherly love, according to the exhortation of Paul, in the case of the household and family of Stephanas, whom he calls the first-fruits of the province of Achaia. There were earlier individual converts in the province, Acts 17, 34, but this family as such was the first to be received into the Christian Church by Baptism, thus becoming the nucleus of a subsequent Christian congregation (Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent Discovery, 385-411).
The apostle gives them the testimony that they all, the entire household, set themselves for ministering to the saints, were always ready to give their ability and their time in the interest of any service of the brethren. In return for such services, which the Corinthians had enjoyed, the apostle wants to see them willing to submit themselves to such as these, since they were probably holding offices in the congregation, Heb. 13, 17, and to everyone that shares in the work and labors.
This admonition does not establish a hierarchy, but merely "enjoins spontaneous submission to the direction of those that are able and disposed to lead in good works." The gift of proper, tactful service ought to be recognized by every congregation, and the brethren and sisters that possess it ought to be honored accordingly.