Page 376 - Demo

Missionary traveling to China in 1861. “Be rm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
16:1 As the letter draws to an end, Paul appeals to the Corinthians to be generous in “the collection for the holy ones.” The collection basket that makes the rounds of our pews each Sunday gives us an opportunity to support the needs of the Church and the poor—a privilege Paul here extends to the Christians at Corinth.
16:5 Paul expresses his intention to visit Corinth, but he did not actually stay as long as he had hoped. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, we will see that this fact put a strain on his relationship with them.
a. [16:1] Acts 24:17; Rom 15:25–32; 2 Cor 8–9; Gal 2:10.
b. [16:5] Acts 19:21; Rom 15:26; 2 Cor 1:15–16.
c. [16:7] Acts 18:21.
d. [16:8] 15:32; Acts 18:19; 19:1–10.
e. [16:9] Acts 14:27; 2 Cor 2:12.
364
* [15:54–55] Death is swallowed up in victory: scripture itself predicts death’s overthrow. O death: in his prophetic vision Paul may be making Hosea’s words his own, or imagining this cry of triumph on the lips of the risen church.
* [15:56] The sting of death is sin: an explanation of Hosea’s metaphor. Death, scorpion-like, is equipped with a sting, sin, by which it injects its poison. Christ defeats sin, the cause of death (Gn 3:19; Rom 5:12).
* [16:1–4] This paragraph contains our earliest evidence for a project that became a major undertaking of Paul’s ministry. The collection for the church at Jerusalem was a symbol in his mind for the unity of Jewish and Gentile Christianity. Cf. Gal 2:10; Rom 15:25–29; 2 Cor 8–9 and the notes to this last passage.
* [16:1] In regard to the collection: it has already begun in Galatia and Macedonia (cf. 2 Cor 8), and presumably he has already instructed the Corinthians about its purpose.
* [16:4] That I should go also: presumably Paul delivered the collection on his nal visit to
Jerusalem; cf. Rom 15:25–32; Acts 24:14.
* [16:5–12] The travel plans outlined here may not have materialized precisely as Paul
intended; cf. 2 Cor 1:8–2:13; 7:4–16.
* [16:8] In Ephesus until Pentecost: this tells us the place from which he wrote the letter
and suggests he may have composed it about Easter time (cf. 1 Cor 5:7–8).
 CORINTHIANS -
asleep, but we will all be changed,z 52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.a 53For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.b 54* And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:c
“Death is swallowed up in victory. 55Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”d
56The sting of death is sin,* and the power of sin is the law.e 57But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.f
58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be rm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
vI. CONClUSION
The Collection.*
161Now in regard to the collection* for the holy ones, you also
a2
should do as I ordered the churches of Galatia. On the rst
day of the week each of you should set aside and save whatever he can a ord, so that collections will not be going on when I come. 3And when I arrive, I shall send those whom you have approved with letters of recommendation to take your gracious gift to Jerusalem. 4If it seems tting that I should go also,* they will go with me.
Paul’s Travel Plans.* 5I shall come to you after I pass through Macedonia (for I am going to pass through Macedonia),b 6and perhaps I shall stay or even spend the winter with you, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. 7For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, but I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.c 8* I shall stay in Ephesusd until Pentecost, 9because a door has opened for me wide and productive for work, but there are many opponents.e