As the family that had first in Achaia received the gospel, Stephanas and his household were regarded by the apostle with peculiar interest and affection. The manner in which they are introduced in this passage is highly instructive and suggestive.

I. THE VOCATION TO SPIRITUAL MINISTRY.

1. Its first condition is sincere personal adhesion to Christianity. Stephanas and his household were converted, baptized, and well instructed in the Christian faith. It was when their had become penetrated with the Spirit of Christ that they were impelled to holy and devoted service. We cannot expect men and women to become unselfish labourers for the welfare of their fellow men, until they have come under the new and Divine motive and power.

2. Christian ministries are of many and very various kinds. These vary with the capacity and opportunity of the labourers, and the necessities of those whose welfare is sought. Too limited a view of ministry is frequently taken; the fact is, that whatever service men render to their fellow men, for the sake of Christ, is a Christian ministry. Not only the preaching of the gospel, but the instruction of the young, the nursing and healing of the sick, the showing of kindness and hospitality, the supporting with generosity of benevolent undertakings, all fall into this class.

3. Services of such kinds involve both labour and cooperation. His people find a pleasure in offering to Christ, their Lord, that which costs them something. And. they delight to help one another; some leading and others following, but all setting before them the same end, and toiling in the same spirit.

4. Ministering "unto the saints" is an especial form of acceptable service. From the beginning Churches have cared for their widows, and for their poor and aged members. The household of faith has a peculiar claim upon the sympathy and affection and liberal support of the Saviour's friends.

II. THE HONOUR AND SUBJECTION DUE TO THOSE ENGAGED IN SPIRITUAL MINISTRY.

1. They should be treated with especial regard and gratitude. Paul himself honoured the good Stephanas and his like-minded wife and household, and he reminded the Corinthians that a family among themselves so distinguished in the annals of the Church, and so dear to the apostle's heart, should be esteemed highly in love for their work's sake.

2. They had a claim upon such as were in a position to render them help in the good cause. Doubtless it was the case at Corinth, as elsewhere, that the burden was too readily left upon the shoulders of those disposed to bear it. But this ought not to be. "When one man is seen working hard for Christ, his neighbour should put to himself the question, "Can I help my brother, relieve him of some pressure, or render his labour more effective?"

3. Submission is, in many cases, a duty in Christian Churches. There are those whom we should be ready not only to work with but to work under. - T.

I. ITS HAPPINESS — united in —

1. Faith.

2. Hope.

3. Purpose.

II. ITS TRUE NOBILITY — precedence of —

1. Heavenly birth.

2. Experience.

3. Rank.

4. Influence.

III. ITS DEVOTED SERVICE.

1. Love to the brethren.

2. Liberality of spirit.

3. Sincere attachment to the cause of Christ.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

We all feel interested in firstborn children, first forms of enterprise, firstfruits of our labour. Natural feeling gives all first things prominence. First things —

I. ARE DONE WITH INTENSE FEELING, as we see in the youth beginning business, the man entering on a new undertaking. Men brace themselves up for first things, and having no experience as to what strength is required, often put too much into it. Happily life is full of these first things, especially early life, and they exert a most gracious influence on us.

II. HAVE A NATURAL PRE-EMINENCE. The position and rights of the firstborn are an illustration of this. First things are felt to have a representative character. When a servant comes into a house the employers watch the first actions to see how they will frame. When a convert joins a Church the first forms in which Christian responsibility is met are closely scrutinised. Turning his mind back to their hopeful first things the apostle says to the Galatians, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you?"

III. HAVE PROMISE FOR FOLLOWING THINGS — as firstfruits have for harvest. A man's first work need not be his maximum standard, but it ought to be his minimum standard. A first result may tell of power, and power always holds the promise of what culture can make it. One convert made in a new sphere of labour holds the promise of a great ingathering.

IV. KEEP A PROMINENT PLACE IN THE MEMORY, e.g., our first school, first place of business, first love, first sickness, etc.

(R. Tuck, B. A.)

I. A VERY NEEDFUL WORK. Many of God's children are poor, and need the necessaries of life; many are afflicted, and need sympathy; many are weak, and need taking by the hand (Galatians 6:10).

II. A VERY HONOURABLE AND BEAUTIFUL WORK.

1. Angel-like (Hebrews 1:14).

2. Christ-like (Matthew 20:28; Matthew 25:40).

III. A WORK THAT MAY BE EXERCISED IN MANY WAYS. Thus it is suited to all.

IV. A WORK THAT MERITS RECOGNITION ON THE PART OF THE CHURCH. Those so engaged should be —

1. Highly esteemed. They do much to elevate the tone of the Church; much to preserve it in peace and content; much to stimulate its zeal.

2. Encouraged. The work is trying. Those who encourage others often want much encouragement themselves.

3. Aided. This is probably what the apostle meant in ver. 16. "As they serve you, serve them."

V. A WORK VERY BENEFICIAL TO THE WORKERS. "They who water others shall themselves be watered." We grow rich by bestowing. A sure way of getting to heaven is to get others there.

(W. E. Hurndall, M.A.)

I. ITS OBLIGATION arises out of their —

1. Age.

2. Experience.

3. Services.

II. ITS EXTENT reaches as far as they act. —

1. In conformity with the apostolic faith; and

2. Help forward its interests.

III. ITS FRUITS.

1. Order.

2. Edification.

3. Unity.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. THE VOCATION TO SPIRITUAL MINISTRY.

1. Its first condition is sincere personal adhesion to Christianity (ver. 15).

2. Christian ministers are of the most various kinds. They vary with capacity, opportunity, necessity.

3. Such services involve co-operation. Some leading, others following, etc.

4. " Ministering unto the saints " is an especial form of acceptable service.

II. THE HONOUR AND SUBJECTION DUE TO THOSE ENGAGED IN SPIRITUAL MINISTRY.

1. Regard and gratitude. Paul here sets the example.

2. Help.

3. Submission. There are many who should be ready not only to work with, but to work under.

(Prof. J. R. Thomson, M.A.)

We should —

I. CHERISH THE HIGHEST RESPECT FOR THEM. Stephanas was one of Paul's first converts in Achaia, and his family the only one Paul baptized in Corinth, He and his were addicted to the ministries of love. Fortunatus and Achaicus had supplied to Paul what the Corinthians had neglected. The truly useful are the only truly honourable. A man is to be honoured not because of his ancestry, his office, his wealth, but because of what he is morally, and what he does generously in the way of helping the race. The philanthropist is the true prince.

II. HEARTILY CO-OPERATE (ver. 16).

1. Co-operate with useful men.

2. In your co-operation let them take the lead. They have proved themselves worthy of your co-operation.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

Achaicus, Apollos, Aquila, Corinthians, Fortunatus, Paul, Prisca, Priscilla, Stephanas, Timotheus, TimothyAchaia, Asia, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Jerusalem, MacedoniaAchaia, Acha'ia, Addicted, Beg, Beseech, Brethren, Brothers, Christ, Converts, Devoted, Earliest, Entreat, First-fruit, Firstfruits, First-fruits, Fruits, God's, Greek, Household, Minister, Ministration, Ministry, Request, Saints, Servants, Serve, Service, Stephanas, Steph'anas, Themselves, Urge1. He exhorts them to a collection for the brothers at Jerusalem.
10. Commends Timothy;
13. and after friendly admonitions,
16. concludes his epistle with various salutations.

1 Corinthians 16:15

     5340   house
     5522   servants, work conditions
     7155   saints
     7944   ministry, qualifications
     8356   unselfishness
     8435   giving, of oneself

1 Corinthians 16:15-16

     5876   helpfulness
     5959   submission
     7943   ministry, in church
     8304   loyalty
     8415   encouragement, examples

1 Corinthians 16:15-18

     7924   fellowship, in service

Strong and Loving
'Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 14. Let all your things be done with charity.'--1 COR. xvi. 13, 14. There is a singular contrast between the first four of these exhortations and the last. The former ring sharp and short like pistol-shots; the last is of gentler mould. The former sound like the word of command shouted from an officer along the ranks; and there is a military metaphor running all through them. The foe threatens to advance; let the guards keep their …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Anathema and Grace
'The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.'--1 COR. xvi. 21-24. Terror and tenderness are strangely mingled in this parting salutation, which was added in the great characters shaped by Paul's own hand, to the letter written by an amanuensis. He has been obliged, throughout the whole epistle, to assume a tone of remonstrance …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Faithful Steward
"GOD IS LOVE." Perfectly blessed in Himself, he desired that other intelligences should participate in his own holy felicity. This was his primary motive in creating moral beings. They were made in his own image--framed to resemble him in their intellectual and moral capacities, and to imitate him in the spirit of their deportment. Whatever good they enjoyed, like him, they were to desire that others might enjoy it with them; and thus all were to be bound together by mutual sympathy,--linked …
Sereno D. Clark—The Faithful Steward

The Twenty-Second Psalm.
The Cross of Christ. THE Twenty-second Psalm contains a most remarkable prophecy. The human instrument through whom this prophecy was given is King David. The Psalm does not contain the experience of the King, though he passed through great sufferings, yet the sufferings he speaks of in this Psalm are not his own. They are the sufferings of Christ. It is written in the New Testament that the prophets searched and enquired diligently about the coming salvation. The Spirit of Christ, which was in …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Of the Duties which we are to Perform after Receiving the Holy Communion, Called Action or Practice.
The duty which we are to perform after the receiving of the Lord's Supper is called action or practice, without which all the rest will minister to us no comfort. The action consists of two sorts of duties:---First, Such as we are to perform in the church, or else after we are gone home. Those that we are to perform in the church are either several from our own souls, or else jointly with the congregation. The several duties which thou must perform from thine own soul are three:--First, Thou must …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Apostolic Scriptures.
"And I think that I also have the Spirit of God."--1 Cor. vii. 40. We have seen that the apostolate has an extraordinary significance and occupies a unique position. This position is twofold, viz., temporary, with reference to the founding of the first churches, and permanent, with regard to the churches of all ages. The first must necessarily be temporary, for what was then accomplished can not be repeated. A tree can be planted only once; an organism can be born only once; the planting or founding …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Clergyman and the Prayer Book.
Dear pages of ancestral prayer, Illumined all with Scripture gold, In you we seem the faith to share Of saints and seers of old. Whene'er in worship's blissful hour The Pastor lends your heart a voice, Let his own spirit feel your power, And answer, and rejoice. In the present chapter I deal a little with the spirit and work of the Clergyman in his ministration of the ordered Services of the Church, reserving the work of the Pulpit for later treatment. THE PRAYER BOOK NOT PERFECT BUT INESTIMABLE. …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

"And Watch unto Prayer. "
1 Pet. iv. 7.--"And watch unto prayer." "Watch." A Christian should watch. A Christian is a watchman by office. This duty of watchfulness is frequently commanded and commended in scripture, Matt. xxiv. 42, Mark xiii. 33, 1 Cor. xvi. 13, Eph. vi. 18, 1 Pet. v. 8, Col. iv. 2; Luke xii. 37. David did wait as they that did watch for the morning light. The ministers of the gospel are styled watchmen in scripture and every Christian should be to himself as a minister is to his flock, he should watch over …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

For if they be Urged from the Gospel that they Should Put Nothing By...
31. For if they be urged from the Gospel that they should put nothing by for the morrow, they most rightly answer, "Why then had the Lord Himself a bag in which to put by the money which was collected? [2572] Why so long time beforehand, on occasion of impending famine, were supplies of corn sent to the holy fathers? [2573] Why did Apostles in such wise provide things necessary for the indigence of saints lest there should be lack thereafter, that most blessed Paul should thus write to the Corinthians …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Tithing
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Down deep in the heart of every Christian there is undoubtedly the conviction that he ought to tithe. There is an uneasy feeling that this is a duty which has been neglected, or, if you prefer it, a privilege that has not been …
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11. This …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Differences in Judgment About Water Baptism, no Bar to Communion: Or, to Communicate with Saints, as Saints, Proved Lawful.
IN ANSWER TO A BOOK WRITTEN BY THE BAPTISTS, AND PUBLISHED BY MR. T. PAUL AND MR. W. KIFFIN, ENTITLED, 'SOME SERIOUS REFLECTIONS ON THAT PART OF MR BUNYAN'S CONFESSION OF FAITH, TOUCHING CHURCH COMMUNION WITH UNBAPTIZED BELIEVERS.' WHEREIN THEIR OBJECTIONS AND ARGUMENTS ARE ANSWERED, AND THE DOCTRINE OF COMMUNION STILL ASSERTED AND VINDICATED. HERE IS ALSO MR. HENRY JESSE'S JUDGMENT IN THE CASE, FULLY DECLARING THE DOCTRINE I HAVE ASSERTED. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'Should not the multitude of words be answered? …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Tithing
There are few subjects on which the Lord's own people are more astray than on the subject of giving. They profess to take the Bible as their own rule of faith and practice, and yet in the matter of Christian finance, the vast majority have utterly ignored its plain teachings and have tried every substitute the carnal mind could devise; therefore it is no wonder that the majority of Christian enterprises in the world today are handicapped and crippled through the lack of funds. Is our giving to be …
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation. …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Ten Reasons Demonstrating the Commandment of the Sabbath to be Moral.
1. Because all the reasons of this commandment are moral and perpetual; and God has bound us to the obedience of this commandment with more forcible reasons than to any of the rest--First, because he foresaw that irreligious men would either more carelessly neglect, or more boldly break this commandment than any other; secondly, because that in the practice of this commandment the keeping of all the other consists; which makes God so often complain that all his worship is neglected or overthrown, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Things Pertaining to the Kingdom.
"Now is there solemn pause in earth and heaven; The Conqueror now His bonds hath riven, And Angels wonder why He stays below; Yet hath not man his lesson learned, How endless love should be returned." Hitherto our thoughts about "The Kingdom of Heaven" have been founded on the teaching of the King respecting His Kingdom recorded in the Gospels. But we must not forget to give attention to the very important time in the life of our Lord extending between His Resurrection and Ascension, during which …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

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