1 Corinthians 16:12-24 - Persevering through Love

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

1 Corinthians 16:12–24

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Main Point: Pastors who love the church will urge right believing and right behaving, and Christians who love Christ and one another will strive to live accordingly, assured of the blessings God has promised to those who live this way.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Thirteen months ago, we began our study of this letter from the Apostle Paul to the divided and confused and dysfunctional church in Corinth. The letter began with a prayer for grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and it closes with a similar prayer. The letter’s content was a pastoral plea for unity… for no divisions… but instead for the church in Corinth to share the same mind and judgment about the gospel, about who is in and out of the church, about what makes a good leader, and about the way Christians are to live in the world and with each other.

We’ve learned about the wisdom of God, that the scandal and foolishness of the gospel is more powerful and glorious and wise than the best schemes and knowledge in the world.

We’ve learned that order in the church has to begin with an understanding of what the local church is – it’s God’s field, God’s temple… the family and kingdom of Christ in the world that displays the glory of God now and forevermore.

We’ve learned that such a church must be comprised of those who are repenting and believing, turning from their sin and clinging to Christ, believing that Jesus is both the substitute for sinners and the King who reigns over them.

We’ve learned that Jesus intends to govern His people (both scattered about in the world and gathered together as local churches)… that Jesus intends to govern His people through the preaching and teaching and application and living according to His word… Indeed, that all things are to be done in order, according to Scripture and for the edification of the saints.

And we’ve learned that the central theme of the gospel and of the whole Bible is that the same Christ who died and rose from the dead is presently reigning in the world and leading His people… and He will come again to raise all those who love and trust Him to a resurrection just like His.

Now, in these concluding verses we will read this morning, the Apostle Paul offers a summary, a structure, and a warning… all shot through with love… real love.

May God help us trust the Savior, may He help us obey His commands, and may He help us heed the warning… so that we might persevere through love… love for Christ and love for one another.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 16:12–24 (ESV)

12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.

17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.

19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Main Idea:

Pastors who love the church will urge right believing and right behaving, and Christians who love Christ and one another will strive to live accordingly, assured of the blessings God has promised to those who live this way.

Sermon

1. Love that Leads (v12)

The Corinthians must have asked Paul about Apollos in their previous letter to him, since Paul (again) used the header, “Now concerning…,” this time with the topic of: “our brother Apollos” (v12). You might remember (from earlier in this letter) that Apollos was kind of a big deal in Corinth. He was a highly respected teacher or worker or pastor there. Some of the church members were even fighting about how they favored Apollos (as a leader) over Paul (1 Cor. 1:12, 3:4-9).

There is an irony (it seems to me) in the fact that a letter from the church of Corinth would include a request for Paul to send Apollos to them. It would, no doubt, be those who favored Apollos overPaul that would want Apollos to come, and here they were asking Paul(the church leader they didn’t like) to send him.

And yet, Paul says that he did honor their request. He said that he “strongly urged [Apollos] to visit” (v12), along “with the other brothers” who were making their way to Corinth (v12). We read no hint of jealousy or ill-will in Paul here. Though he knew of the childishness of the request, he still tried to make it happen.

We know that “Timothy” was among the “brothers” who were coming, since Paul said as much in v10. Paul knew the church needed help, so he sent them a qualified and well-equipped pastor. Apparently, it was Timothy who brought this letter (1 Corinthians) to the church in Corinth (he was certainly among the brothers who did bring it). And Paul said earlier that he sent Timothy to them precisely because he was Paul’s “beloved and faithful child in the Lord” who would “remind” them of his own “ways in Christ” and how Paul taught other Christians to believe and live “everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17).

At any rate, Paul sent a delegation of Christian “brothers,” but these were not dispassionate managers or cunning politicians. These were Christians(fellow believers and followers of Christ) who loved the church of Corinth. And they were sent from an Apostle who also loved the church of Corinth (Remember Paul had given nearly two years of his life to teach, lead, and disciple them!). And this delegation was sent to do them good (help them recalibrate belief and behavior).

It’s no wonder, then, why Paul concluded this letter the way he did. Look down at v23-24. There are only two of Paul’s letters in the NT that end with something other than the phrase we read in v23. Nearly all of his letters to various churches, and all four of his letters to specific pastors (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon)… they end with a prayer for “grace” fromGod and/or Christ to the recipient (just like he begins almost all his letters – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” [1 Cor. 1:3]).

But with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, and with Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, there is a different ending.

In Romans, Paul ends with doxology or praise. “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ… to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen” (Rom. 16:25-27). And here in 1 Corinthians, Paul ends with a personal affirmation of love. “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen” (v24).

I’m not going to speculate this morning about Romans, but this personal affirmation of love at the end of 1 Corinthians is important for us to consider. Over the last year, we’ve read a lot of pastoral instruction from Paul to the Corinthians. We’ve read repeated rebukes, many commands, and all about the right order for Christian living and churching together. And this personal affirmation of love reminds us that it is precisely love that motivates this sort of letter and content.

In our culture today, we hear and see (and sometimes even feel) all manner of distorted versions of love. Our children will sometimes accuse us of being unloving if we don’t give them what they want. Grown-ups all around us may accuse us of being unloving if we don’t give public approval to their false sense of identity, their inverted list of priorities, and/or their disordered sexual desires.

Love, in our culture, seems to be defined completely opposite of the biblical definition of love. For many (maybe even for some of us here) love is the complete affirmation of total freedom to do and be whatever you want. “If you love me, you’ll just support and affirm and empower me.”

But this whole letter from the Apostle Paul to the church of Corinth has been a loving call… not to live with absolute freedom… but to live within the boundaries of good constraints and designed order… living within the limitations of a set community (with an inside and an outside), a set ethic (rules of behavior), and a set polity (forms of relational structure).

Brothers and sisters, the Bible does not define love as the freedom to be and do anything you want… but instead, the Bible defines love as the intentional and self-controlled giving up of yourself… for the good (or upbuilding or edification) of others… and for the praise and glory of the God who made you… the God who saves sinners from themselves and renews them and will one day bring them into a new creation where glorified saints will be freer than they’ve ever been before… free to live without sin… free to pursue every good desire without the distortion of lies or misunderstanding or deceit or ulterior motives.

This is biblical love. And this is the sort of love that stirred the pastoral heart of the Apostle Paul to write a letter full of instructions and imperatives (i.e., dos and don’ts). Like a good pastor, he loved them enough to not let them continue living and churching in such disorder. He loved them enough to explain a better way… a way that leads to edification in this life and blessing in the life to come.

Let’s revisit some of these imperatives or commands, since the Apostle Paul summarizes them in the text we have before us today.

2. Imperatives for Life (v13-14)

Paul loved the church in Corinth, and he wanted them to know Christ, to build up one another, and to persevere through whatever trials and afflictions might come. So (like a loving father might do after a long lecture), Paul summarized all that he’d said before in a sort of bullet-point takeaway fashion. The list is tight and comprehensive at first (this is what I’m calling the imperatives), and then it focuses in on three specific ways that they ought to structure their relationships so as to live in keeping with these all-of-life commands (this is what I’m calling institutions). Of course, there are also several imperatives in v15-20, but I’ll try to show you how I’m seeing these other three imperatives as relationship structures in point 3.

Let’s start with the first five.

In v13-14, we see five imperatives stacked tightly together. They read like a rapid-fire summary of all that Paul has been teaching throughout this entire letter, and each command seems to build and depend on the other. For example, “watchfulness” soon becomes paranoia without “manliness,” and “strength” may become harsh without “love.”

Let’s consider each in turn.

First, “be watchful” (v13). This phrase (which is really a single word in the Greek) appears many times in the NT, and it’s usually in reference to the second coming of Christ. Paul (in this letter) has certainly emphasized the importance of living with a kind of “watchfulness” or “awareness” or “keen perspective” that the coming day of the Lord will reveal the reality of all things – the foolishness of worldly wisdom, the impotence of worldly power, the emptiness of worldly pleasures, and the certainty of God’s salvation for those He loves… as well as God’s judgment for those who continue in their rebellion against Him.

Various translations render the word “be watchful” (ESV), “be on the alert” (NASB), and “be on your guard” (NIV84). The same word is used in Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus is talking about the “coming” of the “Son of Man” (Matt. 24:44). And Jesus says, “stay awake [there’s the word], for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming… Therefore you… must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:42, 44).

Brothers and sisters, the Bible urges Christians to live as “watchful” and “alert” (dare I say “woke”) people. Many of you know that term the kids are using these days – woke. It’s not just kids, though… It’s university presidents, company managers, and political and cultural leaders. They usually mean (by “woke”) “awake” rather than “asleep” – awake to various systems and structures of injustice in the world. To be “woke” is to be aware that all is not as it seems and that there is something evil and oppressive entrenched in every aspect of society… especially against those who are among the minority classes of ethnicity, gender (whatever that means these days), and socio-economic class.

The Bible does not deny that evil and oppression are widespread and even systemic in this world. As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches us that the problem is far more devastating and comprehensive than we can know. But the Bible also urges us to live as those who are “awake” to the reality that Christ is King now, and He will soon return to pull the curtain back on everything. Not one wrong in the world has caught Him by surprise, and nothing will be left unaddressed.

We ought to do what we can to live faithfully, show love for neighbor, speak and live with honesty and justice… but we aren’t working to stamp out all injustice in the world… Only Christ will do that.

May God help us to live with a “watchfulness” about that coming day of the Lord, and may we be counted among those who are eagerly awaiting Him.

The second imperative is “stand firm in the faith” (v13). This is a call to remain unmoved (specifically) from the sure foundation of the gospel and (more generally) unmoved from the word of God. And this is very similar to the language we read at the close of 1 Corinthians 15.

Because Christ died for the sins of those He came to save, and because He was resurrected from the dead, and because Christ reigns over all creation right now, and because He will soon come again to bring judgment to the wicked and full victory to those who love and trust Him… “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).

And friends, we need the Bible to tell us all of this! We learn all of these reasons for our faith and our work (our believing and our living as faithful witnesses of Christ)… we learn about who Christ is, what He has done, and what He will do from the Scriptures. Remember that Paul emphasized the fact that Christ’s substitutionary death, His burial, and His resurrection were all “according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). All the OT pointed forward to the coming of the Messiah, and all the NT points backward and explains the who the how and the why… as well as the right response we ought to have to such glorious news.

It was this “gospel” that Paul “preached” to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:1) – the “gospel” that was and is the culmination of the OT “Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4) – it was this same gospel that the Corinthians had “received” and in “which [they] stood” (1 Cor. 15:1)… and this “gospel” would “save” all who believed it, “if [they would] hold fast to the word” that was preached to them (1 Cor. 15:2).

Friends, this is a call to perseverance… perseverance in clinging to Christ (He alone is my hope in life and death, for I am exceedingly guilty, but His grace is perfectly sufficient), and perseverance in following and obeying Christ (He is both my Savior and my Lord, and His words are more believable and trustworthy than mine or anyone else’s)… Clinging and obeying are not mutually exclusive… these are what it means to believe, to be a disciple, to be a Christian.

May God help us to “stand firm in the faith” (v13), and may He preserve us through all our doubts, our trials, and our temptations to wander.

The third and fourth imperatives are a tandem pair – “act like men” and “be strong” (v13). The Greek word translated “act like men” is literally “be manly.”[i] This is the only time the word is used in the NT, and most of the 20 or so times it shows up in the Greek translation of the OT, it comes along with another word that is translated either “strength” or “courage” (see “ἰσχυε” and “ἀνδριζου” in Deut. 31:6-7, 23; Josh. 1:6-7, 9; 1 Chron. 22:13, 28:20; 2 Chron. 32:7; LXX).

So, we see here that the Apostle Paul is calling for “manliness” or “courage” (CSB, NIV84, NET) and “strength” (v13)… But not like the world measures such things. Instead, “manliness” and “strength” as God has designed and defined them. Some in our culture seem to want manliness or masculinity to be eradicated. They apparently think that any show of strength is toxic. And others in our culture seem to want to bring back a cartoonish form of manliness, where strong men dominate others, assert themselves, and act more like brutes than men.

But the Bible teaches us of a “manliness” that is both powerful and humble, both assertive and obedient, both strong and protective of the weak. The godly man is most courageous and strong when he listens to and obeys God’s words over all others. He is most manly when he honors God, leads with love, and does what is right… even at great personal cost. Brothers and sisters, if we are going to “stand firm in the faith” (v13), we are going to need to “act like men” and “be strong” (v13)… because there be dragons out there.

To my knowledge, there is only one known map (from the 1500s) to include the phrase “Here be dragons,” but it is likely that this was a common way for ancient mapmakers to depict the dangers that were likely to exist in unexplored areas. The unknown is scary, it’s dangerous, and whether you believe in monsters or not, it is easy to see why one might talk of monsters in the dark, on the open sea, or living in the unexplored and dangerous parts of the world.

The Bible certainly uses this imagery, and we will soon see it in our study through the book of Revelation. The devil is depicted as a “dragon” who has committed himself to “make war” on all those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17). Christians used to draw upon this imagery a lot in their writing and talking, and many Christians in the west are now increasingly taking up the view of many of our ancestors.

May God help us to “act like men” and “be strong” (v13), growing up into spiritual maturity, and taking up the sort of courage we will need to “stand firm” in the “evil day” (Eph. 6:13)… so that when the world, the flesh, and the devil make war against our souls, we will prove faithful all the way to the end.

The fifth imperative in these two verses is there in v14, “let all that you do be done in love” (v14). You may remember that love is a central theme of this whole letter. “Love” is the posture all Christians have toward Christ (1 Cor. 2:9, 8:3). “Love” is the motivation for Paul’s letter of discipline and instruction (1 Cor. 4:21). “Love” is the defining factor between that sort of knowledge that “puffs up” and that sort of wisdom and understanding that “builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1). And, of course, “love” is the “greatest” of all spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 13).

It is no surprise that love is a major feature of this closing section of Paul’s letter. Paul concludes with a personal affirmation of his “love” (v24). He spoke of “love for the Lord” as the dividing line between those who receive cursing and those who receive blessing (v22). And here (in v14), Paul commands the saints in Corinth to do everything that they do “in love” for one another (v14).

Once again, love is not a mere feeling or emotion. It is a decisive concern and effort to serve the well-being of others. The Scriptures teach us what love is by saying, “By this we know love, that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers[i.e., fellow Christians]… let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 Jn. 3:16-18).

Pastors who love the church (the members under their shepherding care) will urge right believing and right behaving, and Christians who love Christ and one another will strive to live according to that love… they will “be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, and be strong” (v13). And they will do all of this, not merely to edify themselves and preserve their own souls, but to edify others and help others persevere in Christ… because they love them.

But, yet again, we must emphasize the reality that love is not mere sentiment or feeling. There is a structure to the sorts of relationships that Christians have with one another. And after Paul gave the command to “let all that you do be done in love,” he proceeded to lay out three more imperatives that form just such a structure… This is the institutionalization or shaping of Christian love.

3. Institutions for Love (v15-20)

I said earlier that v15-20 provide three specific ways that Christians ought to structure their lives so as to live in keeping with these all-of-life commands (and this is what I’m calling “institutions”). There are three more imperatives here, and they each outline for us three relationship planks that form a kind of institutional framework in which Christians are to live with an all-of-life posture of love.

“Now I urge you, brothers… be subject to such as these…” (v15-16).

“Give recognition to such people” (v18).

And “greet one another with a holy kiss” (v20).

I can’t really show my homework on all of this today, since I’m seeing a connection here between each of these imperatives and the various ways Paul has been instructing the Corinthian church throughout this whole letter to think about what it means to be a church and how they are supposed to interact with one another as well as with other churches.

The short summary is that Paul has been teaching them (throughout 1 Corinthians) a better way to understand and to follow good church leaders, a better way to recognize or observe the sort of Christians who are worth emulating, and a better way to greet or receive those who share their love of Christ and also to rebuke and even remove those who do not from among them.

And now, here at the very end of the letter, Paul commands the church of Corinth to “be subject to” those “workers” and “laborers” like “Stephanas” who have “devoted themselves to the service of the saints” (v15-16). This is clearly familiar language that is describing the men who lead and work among the church as pastors or elders or leaders.

The church of Corinth was dividing into factions, each one following what they perceived to be a celebrity preacher – Paul, Apollos, Peter. But here, Paul names a guy whose appears nowhere else in Scripture, and he says, “be subject to such as these” (v16).

In other words, the better way to understand and to follow good church leaders is to look for those guys who have devoted themselves to the service of the saints – to the edification and instruction and discipling and teaching of fellow Christians – and “be subject” to them (v16) or “be in subjection” to them (NASB) or “submit” to them (NIV84). The author of Hebrews says it this way, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17).

Friends the Christian life is to be lived in submission to faithful leaders or pastors. The text is clearly from an Apostle to a bunch of Christians, and it clearly says, “I urge you, brothers… be subject to such as these” (v15-16). If you think you are a Christian who can live separated from the pastoral care and oversight of others, then I wonder what you do with this command.

And brothers and sisters, the kind of relationship described here is actually quite comforting to those who do submit themselves to godly pastoral care and oversight. Hardly anyone in the world outside of this local church knows the names of the men who serve as pastors here, but the pastors of this church love the members under their care. We pray regularly for you by name, we arrange the word-ministry of this church with you in mind, and we give ourselves to entering into the difficult and painful and sometimes embarrassing places in the lives of those in our care.

This doesn’t mean we know every member as well as we’d like or that we meet all of your expectations… but this does mean that we are genuinely trying to show the kind of love for you that the Bible describes and commands. We are aiming to present all of our members mature in Christ on the last day (Col. 1:28).

Next (in v17), Paul mentioned three guys (though Sephanas may well be the same as the one mentioned before), and all of them are the kind of people who deserve “recognition” or “careful observance” among the church of Corinth (v18). Remember that the Corinthians were highly interested in recognizing those among them who were wealthy, or socially influential, or even spiritually dramatic. But here Paul says there’s a better way to pick which Christians to recognize.

These are the kind who visited Paul and “refreshed” him in his ministry. This probably not only means that they were good company to him but also that they were a practical help (maybe time, effort, money, particular skill or expertise). And these guys also “refreshed” the church of Corinth, which probably means they were just as practically helpful and encouraging at home.

Brothers and sisters, these are the sorts of Christians we want to “recognize” and “appreciate” and emulate. The Bible warns us not to show the kind of partiality that is so prevalent in the world (James 2:1-7). We are to praise neither the wealthy for their money nor the poor for their poverty. And we are not to suppose that either the highly emotional or the oddly stoic spiritually mature just because of their passion or lack of it. No, time will tell who among us are spiritually mature and spiritually growing… and Christians who are able and willing to “refresh” others are deserving of our recognition and our emulation.

These Christians give of themselves for the good of others. They use their time, treasure, and talent to build up others. And we want to be like them.

Last (in v19-20), Paul lists a handful of churches that “send… greetings” to Corinth, and he commands the Christians in Corinth to “greet one another” (v20). The mention of a “holy kiss” could easily be a distraction for us, but this is just a common way of intimate greeting (usually a family member). The point is not to figure out how Christians ought to “kiss” each other today in obedience to this passage, but instead to understand the “welcome” or “greeting” or “reception” Christians and churches have with one another.

The “churches of Asia” (v19), the “church” that met in the “house” of “Aquila and Prisca” (v19), and “all the brothers” with Paul at the church in Ephesus (v20) share meaningful fellowship with the church in Corinth. They share this bond because they are all believing the gospel, repenting from sin, and striving to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world. And everyone who thinks and speaks and acts this way is welcome to share in that same greeting.

Remember that the church in Corinth was fractured over all sorts of un-Christian division. But here, Paul is calling them to a better way. They are to “greet” or “welcome” or “receive” one another, not on the basis of their personal preferences or their status in Corinth, but on the basis of their shared love for Christ and love for one another.

But so too, they were not to “greet” or “welcome” or “receive” everyone who might want to be associated with them… and that’s where we must go next.

4. Blessing and Cursing (v21-24)

In v21, Paul picks up the parchment and the pen for himself, and he signs his own name to the letter. It was common for people (and is still in some cases) to dictate their letters to a scribe or an amanuensis, who would write it all down (Silvanus was a scribe explicitly mentioned by Peter [1 Pet. 5:12]). The true author of the text would read through the document to ensure that all was as he intended it to be and then sign his name to it, giving it the seal of his own authenticity.

At any rate, Paul is the author of this whole letter, but here he pens his final words himself. And what Paul offers is a blessing and a curse. This is reminiscent of other places in the Bible when instructions have been given and the choice is now laid before the reader or hearer… You can read and heed, believe and obey… or you can disregard what has been written for your instruction here… but either way there are consequences.

We’ve already looked a little at the blessing. In v23-24, Paul wrote a prayer of blessing – “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you” (v23) – and a personal affirmation of love – “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen” (v24). This is a wonderful blessing and affirmation, but both are conditional… both are directly connected with one’s relationship to or with Christ.

Paul prays that they all would have “grace,” but not just some generic grace… the “grace of the Lord Jesus” (v23), which is tied to the person and work of Christ. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord and Savior of guilty sinners. Those who turn from sin and trust in Him are in or under or recipients of His grace.

But there’s a curse here that is important to note. You can see it there in v22. Paul wrote, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed” (v22). The word here is the same that Paul used in his letter to the Galatians about those who would preach a false gospel (Gal. 1:6-9). Paul wrote, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9).

It’s the same word that John used when he described the holy city in Revelation 22. John wrote, “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him” (Rev. 22:3).

Friends, the Bible tells us of God’s grace in Christ. The Bible teaches us that God loves sinners, and that He sent Christ to live and die and conquer death for sinners like us. The Bible also tells us how we are to respond to that good news and how we are to live in light of it. We are to repent and believe, and we are to live in keeping with repentance and faith.

Furthermore, the Bible teaches us a whole lot about how Christians are to show love for one another and love for Christ… especially in ordered relationships within the institutional structures of a local church. And this whole letter of 1 Corinthians has taught and explained all of this in great detail.

As we complete our study of this letter this morning, let us hear the promise of blessing and the warning of a curse that is laid before us here.

May God help us to always have pastors who love the church enough to urge right believing and right behaving.

May God help us to be Christians who love Christ and love one another, always striving to live according to the way the Bible defines such love.

And may God grant us assurance… assurance of the blessings God has graciously promised in Christ Jesus… assurance that Christ is reigning now, that His words and commands are more trustworthy than all others, and that Christ will soon return to reveal all things for what they truly are.

Until that day, may God help us to be watchful, to stand firm in the faith, to act like men and be strong… and may God help us to do all that we do in love for Christ and love for one another.

Endnotes

[i] 437 ἀνδρίζομαι (andrizomai): vb.; ≡ Str 407; TDNT 1.360—LN 25.165 be courageous, conduct oneself in a courageous way, be manly (1Co 16:13+). Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), Electronic ed., Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.

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The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.

Vaughan, Curtis, and Thomas D. Lea. 1 Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. Founders Study Commentary. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002.

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