1 Corinthians 16:5-9 Now I will come to you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.… It is not an unnatural demand that counsel should correspond with the character of the counsellor. How much Seneca and Bacon have lost in moral influence through the discrepancy between what they wrote and what they were! St. Paul's consistency comes out in a comparison between his advice in vers. 13, 14 and his revelation of himself in vers; 8, 9. The Corinthians were exhorted to — I. VIGILANCE. Well, was Paul careless? He resolves to tarry at Ephesus. Here he had to watch — 1. Against the surprises of temptation. He was not ignorant of Satan's devices, and was incessantly watchful "lest Satan should get an advantage over him." "He kept under his body," etc. 2. Against the vicissitudes which might otherwise have thwarted his plans and marred his work. Acts 19. tells us of some of these vicissitudes and how Paul turned them to his own account. It was this Church he addressed when he urged this duty by the force of his well-known example (Acts 20:31). 3. For opportunities. It required no ordinary vigilance to detect in John's disciples the raw material of Christian missionaries, and to secure sufficient influence with the contradictory elements in the Jewish synagogue and the school of Tyrannus (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:19-22). II. STEADFASTNESS. This quality is tested in two ways. 1. By disheartening difficulties. These tried Paul to no ordinary degree in a city whose population "deserved to be throttled man by man," a city notorious for licentiousness, superstition, and idolatry. He was in jeopardy every hour; he died daily, yet his faith never wavered (1 Corinthians 4:9-13). No small portion of the trials enumerated in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 must have fallen to his lot at Ephesus. 2. By the existence of an apparently legitimate excuse for the want of it. A man is sometimes compelled to stand fast because he cannot move. The real test is when a way of escape opens. Such a way opened to Paul in the shape of an invitation to Corinth, and the seeming desirableness of accepting it. How much his presence was needed at Corinth; and the work at Ephesus surely would not suffer under the superintendence of Aquila, Priscilla, and Apollos. The change would do him good. But no; his business was to do the work in hand so that it would not require to be done a second time. So he sent a letter with an influential deputation to Corinth, and chose to abide "at Ephesus till Pentecost." How many Christians beguile their conscience with the persuasion that an invitation to another sphere is a legitimate excuse for the abandonment of their present one of difficulty, whereas it may be only a subtle attack of the adversary on their steadfastness! Our text went further to strengthen a previous exhortation to abide in the calling wherein they were called in God. So it comes to us. III. COURAGE. He who said "Quit you like men," etc., illustrated his own counsel by resolving to "tarry at Ephesus," because — 1. There was "a great door and effectual" there. A great opportunity tests courage because it requires coolness, self-control, fortitude, and all the elements of the nobler heroism, Many a soldier who has nerve to follow when called to command or carry a forlorn hope, loses heart, not because of the danger, but because of the responsibility. 2. There were many adversaries — Jews, magicians, etc. IV. CHARITY. Charity — 1. "Is kind," and he who is so anxious that "all things should be done in charity," sets the example (ver. 10). Timothy had a delicate task to perform, and Paul therefore asked that he might perform it under conditions which would ensure credit and success. How many a promising youth for the want of a kind word or a helping hand has gone to wreck! 2. "Envieth not." It is as alien from the selfishness of jealousy as from the selfishness of greed. Now if any one could have excited Paul's jealousy it was Apollos, and yet hear what he says of him (ver. 12). With what force does the exhortation come to all factions and rivalries, backed as it is by Paul's conduct "as touching his brother Apollos." (J. W. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.WEB: But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. |
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