The apostle closes his epistle,

I.With salutations to the church of Corinth, first from those of Asia, from Priscilla and Aquila (who seem to have been at this time inhabitants of Ephesus, vid. Act 18:26), with the church in their house (Co1 16:19), and from all the brethren (Co1 16:20) at Ephesus, where, it is highly probable at least, he then was. All these saluted the church at Corinth, by Paul. Note, Christianity does by no means destroy civility and good manners. Paul could find room in an epistle treating of very important matters to send the salutations of friends. Religion should promote a courteous and obliging temper towards all. Those misrepresent and reproach it who would take any encouragement from it to be sour and morose. Some of these salute them much in the Lord. Note, Christian salutations are not empty compliments; they carry in them real expressions of good-will, and are attended with hearty recommendations to the divine grace and blessing. Those who salute in the Lord wish their brethren all good from the Lord, and breathe out their good wishes in fervent prayers. We read also of a church in a private family, Co1 16:19. It is very probable that the family itself is called the church in their house. Note, Every Christian family should in some respects be a Christian church. In some cases (as, for instance, were they cast away on a foreign shore, where there are no other Christians), they should be a church themselves, if large enough, and live in the use of all ordinances; but in common cases they should live under the direction of Christian rules, and daily offer up Christian worship. Wherever two or three are gathered together, and Christ is among them, there is a church. To these salutations he subjoins, 1. An advice, that they should greet one another with a holy kiss (Co1 16:20), or with sincere good-will, a tacit reproof of their feuds and factions. When the churches of Asia, and the Christian brethren so remote, did so heartily salute them in the Lord, and own and love them as brethren, and expressed so much good-will to them, it would be a shame for them not to own and love one another as brethren. Note, The love of the brethren should be a powerful incentive to mutual love. When the other churches of Christ love us all, we are very culpable if we do not love one another. 2. He subjoins his own salutation: The salutation of me Paul with my own hand, Co1 16:21. His amanuensis, it is reasonable to think, wrote the rest of his epistle from his mouth, but at the close it was fit that himself should sign it, that they might know it to be genuine; and therefore it is added (Th2 3:17), Which is my token in every epistle, the mark of its being genuine; so he wrote in every epistle which he did not wholly pen, as he did that to the Galatians, Gal 6:11. Note, Those churches to whom apostolical letters were sent were duly certified of their being authentic and divine. Nor would Paul be behind the rest of the brethren in respect to the Corinthians; and therefore, after he has given their salutations, he adds his own.

II.With a very solemn warning to them: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, Co1 16:22. We sometimes need words of threatening, that we may fear. Blessed is he, says the wise man, who feareth always. Holy fear is a very good friend both to holy faith and holy living. An how much reason have all Christians to fear falling under this doom! If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha. Here observe, 1. The person described, who is liable to this doom: He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ. A meiōsis, as some think; he who blasphemes Christ disowns his doctrine, slights and contemns his institutions, or, through pride of human knowledge and learning, despises his revelations. It stands here as a warning to the Corinthians and a rebuke of their criminal behaviour. It is an admonition to them not to be led away from the simplicity of the gospel, or those principles of it which were the great motives to purity of life, by pretenders to science, by the wisdom of the world, which would call their religion folly, and its most important doctrines absurd and ridiculous. Those men had a spite at Christ; and, if the Corinthians give ear to their seducing speeches, they were in danger of apostatizing from him. Against this he gives them here a very solemn caution. "Do not give into such conduct, if you would escape the severest vengeance." Note, Professed Christians will, by contempt of Christ, and revolt from him, bring upon themselves the most dreadful destruction. Some understand the words as they lie, in their plain and obvious meaning, for such as are without holy and sincere affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who have his name much in their mouths have no true love to him in their hearts, will not have him to rule over them (Luk 19:27), no, not though they have very towering hopes of being saved by him. And none love him in truth who do not love his laws and keep his commandments. Note, There are many Christians in name who do not love Christ Jesus the Lord in sincerity. But can any thing be more criminal or provoking? What, not love the most glorious lover in the world! Him who loved us, and gave himself for us, who shed his blood for us, to testify his love to us, and that after heinous wrong and provocation! What had we a power of loving for, if we are unmoved with such love as this, and without affection to such a Saviour? But, 2. We have here the doom of the person described: "Let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, lie under the heaviest and most dreadful curse. Let him be separated from the people of God, from the favour of God, and delivered up to his final, irrevocable, and inexorable vengeance" Maran-atha is a Syriac phrase, and signifies The Lord cometh. That very Lord whom they do not love, to whom they are inwardly and really disaffected whatever outward profession they make, is coming to execute judgment. And to be exposed to his wrath, to be divided to his left hand, to be condemned by him, how dreadful! If he will destroy, who can save? Those who fall under his condemning sentence must perish, and that for ever. Note, Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ must perish without remedy. The wrath of God abides on every one who believes not on the Son, Joh 3:36. And true faith in Christ will evermore be productive of sincere love to him. Those who love him not cannot be believers in him.

III.With his good wishes for them and expressions of good-will to them. 1. With his good wishes: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Co1 16:23. As much as if he had said, "Though I warn you against falling under his displeasure, I heartily wish you an interest in his dearest love and his eternal favour." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ comprehends in it all that is good, for time or eternity. To wish our friends may have this grace with them is wishing them the utmost good. And this we should wish all our friends and brethren in Christ. We can wish them nothing more, and we should wish them nothing less. We should heartily pray that they may value, and seek, and obtain, and secure, the grace and good-will of their Lord and Judge. Note, The most solemn warnings are the result of the tenderest affection and the greatest good-will. We may tell our brethren and friends with great plainness and pathos that, if they love not the Lord Jesus Christ, they must perish, while we heartily wish the grace of Christ may be with them. Nay, we may give them this warning that they may prize and lay hold of this grace. Note also, How much true Christianity enlarges our hearts; it makes us wish those whom we love the blessings of both worlds; for this is implied in wishing the grace of Christ to be with them. And therefore it is no wonder that the apostle should close all, 2. With the declaration of his love to them in Christ Jesus: My love be with you all, in Christ Jesus, Amen, Co1 16:24. He had dealt very plainly with them in this epistle, and told them of their faults with just severity; but, to show that he was not transported with passion, he parts with them in love, makes solemn profession of his love to them, nay, to them all in Christ Jesus, that is, for Christ's sake. He tells them that his heart was with them, that he truly loved them; but lest this, after all, should be deemed flattery and insinuation, he adds that his affection was the result of his religion, and would be guided by the rules of it. His heart would be with them, and he would bear them dear affection as long as their hearts were with Christ, and they bore true affection to his cause and interest. Note, We should be cordial lovers of all who are in Christ, and who love him in sincerity. Not but we should love all men, and wish them well, and do them what good is in our power; but those must have our dearest affection who are dear to Christ, and lovers of him. May our love be with all those who are in Christ Jesus! Amen.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus - It appears exceedingly strange that the apostle should say, My love be with you; as he said, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We can easily conceive what the latter means: the grace of Christ is an active, powerful, saving principle; it is essential to the existence of the Christian Church that this grace should be ever with it: and without this grace no individual can be saved. But what could the love of the apostle do with them? Has it any meaning? I confess I can see none, unless it be intended to say, I love you; or, I continue to love you. The pronoun μου, my, is wanting in the Codex Alexandrinus, and in 73, an excellent MS. in the Vatican, written about the eleventh century. This will help us to a better sense, for it either says, May love prevail among you! or supplying the word Θεου God, as in Co2 13:14, The love of God be with you! This gives a sound sense; for the love of God is as much a principle of light, life, and salvation, as the grace of Christ. And probably ΜΟΥ, my, is a corruption for ΘΕΟΥ, of God. And this is the more likely, because he uses this very form in the conclusion of his second epistle to this Church, as we have seen above. I conclude, therefore, that the reading of the two MSS. above is the true reading; or else that μου is a corruption for Θεου, and that the verse should be read thus: The love of God be with you all, in (or by) Christ Jesus.

Amen - So be it: but this word is wanting in most MSS. of repute, and certainly was not written by the apostle.

1.The subscription to this epistle in our common English Bibles, and in the common editions of the Greek text, is palpably absurd. That it was not written from Philippi, but from Ephesus, see the notes on Co1 16:5, Co1 16:8 (note), Co1 16:10 (note), Co1 16:19 (note); and that it could not be written by Silvanus, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and Timotheus," needs no proof. But this subscription is wanting in all the best MSS. and versions, either in whole or in part. In some it is simply said, The first to the Corinthians; in others, The first to the Corinthians is finished; written from Ephesus - from Asia - from Ephesus of Asia - from Philippi of Macedonia - from Philippi of Macedonia, and sent by the hands of Timothy; so the Syriac. Written from Ephesus, by Stephanas and Fortunatus; Coptic. Written from Philippi by Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus; Slavonic. Written, etc., by Paul and Sosthenes. Written from the city of Philippi, and sent by Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and Timotheus; Arabic. There are other variations, which need not be set down. Those only appear to be correct that state the epistle to have been sent from Ephesus, of which there can be no reasonable doubt.

2.In closing my observations on this epistle, I feel it necessary once more to call the reader's attention to the many difficulties contained in it as an excuse for any thing he may find handled in an unsatisfactory manner. Perhaps it will be of little consequence for him to know that this epistle has cost me more labor and difficulty than any portion of the same quantity which I have yet passed over either in the Old or New Testament.

3.It has been already noticed that the Church at Corinth had written to the apostle for advice, direction, and information on a variety of points; and that this epistle is, in the main, an answer to the epistle from Corinth. Had we that epistle, all difficulty would vanish in this; but, as the apostle only refers to their questions by mere catch words from their letter, it is impossible to know, in all cases, what the questions contained. To them the answers would be clear, because they knew on what they had consulted him; to us the answers must be, as they really are in some cases, necessarily obscure, because we know not the whole bearing and circumstances of the questions. Indeed the epistle contains more local matter, and more matter of private application, than any other in the New Testament; and there is in it, on the whole, less matter for general use than in most other parts of the sacred writings. Yet it is both very curious and useful; it gives insight into several customs, and not a few forms of speech, and matters relative to the discipline of the primitive Church, which we can find nowhere else: and it reads a very awful lesson to those who disturb the peace of society, make schisms in the Church of Christ, and endeavor to set up one preacher at the expense of another.

4.It shows us also how many improper things may, in a state of ignorance or Christian infancy, be consistent with a sincere belief in the Gospel of Christ, and a conscientious and zealous attachment to it.

5.In different parts of the epistle we find the apostle speaking very highly of the knowledge of this Church; and its various gifts and endowments. How then can we say that its blemishes arose from ignorance? I answer, that certainly only a few of the people at Corinth could possess those eminent spiritual qualifications; because the things that are attributed to this Church in other places are utterly inconsistent with that state of grace for which the apostle, in other places, appears to give them credit. The solution of the difficulty is this: There were in the Church at Corinth many highly gifted and very gracious people; there were also there many more, who, though they might have been partakers of some extraordinary gifts, had very little of that religion which the apostle describes in the thirteenth chapter of this epistle.

6.Besides, we must not suppose that eminent endowments necessarily imply gracious dispositions. A man may have much light and little love; he may be very wise in secular matters, and know but little of himself, and less of his God. There is as truly a learned ignorance, as there is a refined and useful learning. One of our old writers said, "Knowledge that is not applying, is only like a candle which a man holds to light himself to hell." The Corinthians abounded in knowledge, and science, and eloquence, and various extraordinary gifts; but in many cases, distinctly enough marked in this epistle, they were grossly ignorant of the genius and design of the Gospel. Many, since their time, have put words and observances in place of the weightier matters of the Law, and the spirit of the Gospel. The apostle has taken great pains to correct these abuses among the Corinthians, and to insist on that great, unchangeable, and eternal truth, that love to God and man, filling the heart, hallowing the passions, regulating the affections, and producing universal benevolence and beneficence, is the fulfilling of all law; and that all professions, knowledge, gifts, etc., without this, are absolutely useless. And did this epistle contain no more than what is found in the 13th chapter, yet that would be an unparalleled monument of the apostle's deep acquaintance with God; and an invaluable record of the sum and substance of the Gospel, left by God's mercy to the Church, as a touchstone for the trial of creeds, confessions of faith, and ritual observances, to the end of the world.

7.I have often had occasion to note that the whole epistle refers so much to Jewish affairs, customs, forms of speech, ceremonies, etc., that it necessarily supposes the people to have been well acquainted with them: from this I infer that a great majority of the Christian Church at Corinth was composed of converted Jews; and it is likely that this was the case in all the Churches of Asia Minor and Greece. Many Gentiles were undoubtedly brought to the knowledge of the truth; but the chief converts were from among the Hellenistic Jews. In many respects Jewish phraseology prevails more in this epistle than even in that to the Romans. Without attention to this it would be impossible to make any consistent sense out of the 15th chapter, where the apostle treats so largely on the doctrine of the resurrection, as almost every form and turn of expression is Jewish; and we must know what ideas they attached to such words and forms of speech, in order to enter into the spirit of the apostle's meaning. His ignorance of this caused a late eminent writer and philosopher to charge the apostle with "inconsistent reasoning." Had he understood the apostle's language, he would not have said so; and as he did not understand it, he should have said nothing. A man may be qualified to make great and useful discoveries in the doctrine of gases or factitious airs, who may be ill qualified to elucidate the meaning of the Holy Spirit.

8.Before I finish my concluding observations on this epistle, I must beg leave to call the reader's attention once more to the concluding words of the apostle: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran-atha. These words have been as often misunderstood, and perhaps as dangerously applied, as another passage in this epistle, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, etc. Though I am ready to grant that the bad Christian, i.e. the man who professes Christianity, and yet lives under the power of sin, is in a very dangerous state; and that he who, while he credits Christianity, is undecided as to the public part he should take in its profession and practice, is putting his eternal interests to the most awful hazard; yet I must also grant that the meaning generally put on the words in question is not correct. The words apply to the gainsaying and blasphemous Jews; to those who were calling Christ anathema, or accursed; and cannot be applied to any person who respects his name, or confides in him for his salvation; much less do they apply to him who finds through the yet prevalence of evil in his heart, and the power of temptation, that he has little, and, to his own apprehension, no love to the Lord Jesus. The anathema of the apostle is denounced against him only who gives the anathema to Christ: of this, not one of my readers is capable. It is the duty of all to love him with an undivided heart: if any be not yet able to do it, let him not be discouraged: if the Lord cometh to execute judgment on him who calleth Jesus accursed, he cometh also to fulfill the desire of them who fear him; to make them partake of the Divine nature, and so cleanse their hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, that they shall perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his name.

Yea, and winter with you - He purposed to stay till pentecost at Ephesus; after that to go to Macedonia, and probably to spend the summer there; and come in the autumn to Corinth, and there spend the winter.

That ye may bring me on my journey - That ye may furnish me with the means of travelling. It appears that, in most cases, the different Churches paid his expenses to other Churches; where this was not done, then he labored at his business to acquire the means of travelling.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. This is the apostle's salutation in all his epistles, and is a token of the truth and genuineness of them; See Gill on Rom 16:20; and is a wish for a supply of all grace from Christ, and an increase of it in the saints; that they may have the communications of it to them, to quicken, invigorate, and draw forth into exercise the grace they have received, and to enable and assist them in the discharge of every duty.

1 Corinthians 16:24

My love, &c.--After having administered some severe rebukes, he closes with expressions of "love": his very rebukes were prompted by love, and therefore are altogether in harmony with the profession of love here made: it was love in Christ Jesus, and therefore embraced "all" who loved Him.

The subscription represents the Epistle as written from Philippi. Co1 16:8 shows it was written at Ephesus. BENGEL conjectures that perhaps, however, it was sent from Philippi (Co1 16:5), because the deputies of the Corinthians had accompanied Paul thither. From Ephesus there was a road to Corinth above Philippi.

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