1 Corinthians 16:10-24 Final exhortation & Benediction

Alright, so today we're going to cover chapter 16 verses 10 through 24, the last of this letter by Paul to the Corinthians. And we've covered a lot of material getting all the way through 16 and a third of the chapters or so. There's a lot of material that we've gone over and I think as we look at this closing we're going to see some of Paul's kind of what I would consider to be some of his exclamation point emphasis, just trying to bring some points back home for these last few sentences that he's got here. And hopefully you won't be shocked by anything that's in here. You'll think, wow, this is Paul wrapping things up, trying to close off the idea that's here. There's even some ideas that are mirrored from the beginning of the book that that kind of tie up nicely here.

I'm going to go ahead and read it out loud just so it's nice and clean for the recording, but we'll take turns reading throughout the rest of the lesson. So starting in verse 10, he says, Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord's work, as I also am. So let no one despise him, but send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren. But concerning Apollos, our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity. Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Now I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints, that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. for they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. This, or the greeting, is in my own hand. Paul. If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Alright, so a lot of different ideas in there, right? It's the closing comments and it seems like Paul's like, oh shoot, I ran out of time and we're out of paper. We've got to send this, they've got to leave. And you get some kind of a machine gunning of ideas there, right?

But one of the things that's funny about when you co-teach in one of these books is that I managed to also get the end of Romans chapter 16. And I have to tell you that 1 Corinthians chapter 16 is a much easier book to close and teach on, because there's some good doctrinal meat here. Whereas in Romans 16, it's almost like a who's who of where you get to say, this is this person, and we know nothing about them.

And this is this person. They were mentioned once in this verse. We don't know anything else about them. So this is good here in 1 Corinthians. So, Paul writes in verse 10 that Timothy should be coming and he should not have to be afraid and that no one should despise him and that they should send him away in peace so that he may come to Paul for he expects him with the brethren. So Timothy is an interesting character. Timothy is somebody that we do know actually quite a bit more about.

When we think about Timothy, we think about this guy who Paul wrote two letters to. We think about a guy whose parents were of Jewish and Greek descent, where his mother was Jewish and his father was Greek. Some of you may think of this, I always do, for the reason that he was an adult, and that is that Paul circumcised Timothy. Adulthood circumcision seems way more painful than infant circumcision, at least as far as what you remember, right?

Timothy drew much less attention than Paul, comparatively. Paul at times left he and Silas, as we see in Acts, behind. Paul had actually intentionally sent him through Corinth. Why would Paul send Timothy through Corinth? What's the purpose of Paul and Timothy's relationship where Paul sends Timothy through Corinth? Lawrence is basically a lot like his native turf, so he'd be able to clear the way, find out if there's anything in the way, keep up on the latest, and that way be able to tell Paul safe to turn on those cameras. Okay.

What do we know about Timothy? that Paul had a relationship with Timothy, what do we know about their relationship? He was like a son. He was like a son to Paul. And they had spent quite a bit of time together and Timothy had absorbed the doctrine that Paul had. Like Timothy, when he showed up, you didn't think, Paul sent us Lackey, the guy who doesn't know anything.

You think, okay, this is Timothy who's been walking with Paul and teaching with Paul and working with Paul and writing the letters and carrying them and being a messenger and an agent. He's aware of the proper theology at that point in time. Remember, they don't have the New Testament completed yet, but Timothy has pretty much as much doctrine as can be attributed to someone who is not an apostle. and he's traveling here. So when Paul snatched Timothy out of his boring life in Derby and Lystra, there in Acts 16, he wanted Timothy to travel with him and he grabbed him. So Timothy could go and he can show up at your church.

If he showed up at Holly Hills and listened to our teaching and watched our fellowship and watched our interactions, he could go back to Paul and say, well this is how Holly Hills is. And then Paul could write us a letter and he'd probably say some things like, hey, watch this thing.

I'm grateful for Paul's letters. I'm also grateful that they weren't directed to me specifically, because some of them would be a little hard to take. The Holy Spirit still corrects us. Timothy received two epistles. Paul sent them to Thessalonica as well, and Corinth. But Paul's concern is for Timothy's safety.

When we look through the book of Acts, and my dad is going to be going over that over the coming year, I suspect it will be longer than a year, going through the Book of Acts upstairs in the main service, we're going to see that there were lots of threats that Paul and those who traveled with him, and frankly for all Christians.

When we read some of these letters, like last week when Bob went over the gathering of money for the saints who are in need, There was a lot of oppression going on. There were people not getting jobs because they were Christians. There were people who were persecuted because they were Christians all around Rome. And so, the threat is real.

And Paul is warning the church that they should themselves not make it difficult for Timothy, but make sure that he's taken care of so that when he leaves, he can leave in peace. Now, I'm going to just call out as a stipulation, you can't control the secular world around you, right? So, when Timothy shows up, they decide to riot. Oh, as Paul acquaints Timothy, or his best friend Timothy, and they're going to harass him. The church can't stop that, but they can do whatever they are able, within themselves, as a body, to take care of him.

After we see Timothy here, I should call out here, so, for I expect him with the brethren. Who are the brethren? Brethren, it seems like there is a group of believers who are traveling with Timothy towards Paul. We don't have a very specific name. Oh, it's these six people or something like that. It involves Timothy at the very least with a group of other folks.

Verse 12, we see Apollos, but concerning Apollos, our brother, I encourage him greatly to come to you with the brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity. I thought that was kind of fascinating. How many times in Paul's letters does he write about the Holy Spirit shutting the door, or waiting for the Holy Spirit to create an opportunity? It happens over and over, right? But here's Apollos. Paul urged him, hey, go see the church in Corinth. And he's like, not right now. Now is not the time. And sometimes as believers, what do we have to do? We have to say no to things. And we have to, as abiding believers, have discernment.

And so Apollos had to say no. obviously a reference point for the church in Corinth. All the way through the book, Paul refers to the I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, or if Apollos does this and I do this. So throughout the book, those kinds of things are passed on. Things we know about Apollos, he was an Alexandrian. As far as we know, from what I can tell, I think he's a Gentile, but was a believer.

He was very familiar with the scriptures in Acts 18.24-25. He was corrected by Priscilla and Aquila.

Acts 18.26. I think that's awesome. Let's turn there in Acts 18. It's kind of an interesting way that things are worded. So we'll start in 24. I'm sorry. I say as a Gentile, I was totally. I should be careful with that. In 24, there is a Jew named Apollos. He's not a Gentile. And I apologize for that. I even cited the verse that says that incorrectly. So scratch that out versus Gentile. And I'm going to make a correction for the power or for the handout.

Anyways, he was an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man who came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures. Now what's the scriptures? Old Testament. Old Testament scriptures, right, that's what they have canonized so far. He was mighty in the scriptures.

This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things of Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him to write to the disciples to welcome him, and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who believed through grace. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus and found some disciples.

So Apollos had been in Corinth already. They know who he is. How is it that Apollos needs correction? What's the information that Apollos has? preaching the gospel, but what does it tell us that he knows up to the point that he's preaching the gospel there?

In that business. The baptism of John. He's got up to the baptism of John, but there's more. There's more about who Jesus is and what's going on. And so Priscilla and Aquila having the truth of the gospel and more information teach him. And why is it that Apollos can take what Priscilla and Aquila are teaching? because he wanted to become mightier in the scriptures and this was his opportunity and the Lord was blessing him and he had the scriptures to go on there is very much about Christ and the coming gospel that can be shown in the Old Testament the prophecies of who Jesus was beyond the baptism so there is a lot of good information there So Priscilla and Aquila can teach and Apollos can learn those things and he can take them and he can share those with other believers.

When we defend the veracity of who Christ is, using the scriptures is an important thing. Before we move forward, in Deuteronomy, Moses says, one is coming who is greater than me. Right? And so we start to move through the scriptures and we can see the Psalms where we see a prophecy, or Isaiah 53. But the Messiah is coming and this is building.

And Apollos could teach on those things as can we, even as we engage. Prophecy is a very compelling argument. Apollos was able to use that, Paul was able to use it, and so can we. Interestingly, Paul has urged Apollos to go to Corinth, but it's not a priority. Now is not the time. So Apollos sought out opportunity in direction of the Holy Spirit, so that when the opportunity was not right, he could confidently continue what he was doing where he was at.

This is totally anecdotal, but I will share it with you anyways. In my own relationship with my wife and our walk with the Lord, there have been times when we have wrestled and said, Lord, where do you want us to go? What do you want us to do? And he said things like, well, it's totally cool. Why don't you move to Texas and go to seminary? And we're like, awesome. We can do that. So we did that. And then there were times when we said, OK, this situation we're in, we don't like it. We'd like to move. What do we need to do? And he has said, you're going to stay right where you're at. I'm not done with you there. And it's like, OK, well.

Alright, so Apollos isn't saying, I hate the Church of Corinth, right? He's just saying, not now, the opportunity isn't right. And so, Apollos is not going, even though Paul had urged him. I think Paul is saying that not to tell him that, oh, Apollos said no, but he's saying it more to say that I want you to know that I want you to be looked after. And you know Apollos, and you trust Apollos.

Next verse here, verse 13. Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. And for a very short verse with little fragments in it, there's actually a lot to meditate on and consider in these passages. So he says, be on the alert, like a watchman waiting for difficulty. The Gospels are replete with admonitions and parables to do just this. Christ tells several parables about the watchman. So we should ask, what does it mean to be alert? Don't be asleep. Don't be asleep. Okay, so you're awake. What other properties of a person who's alert?

Let's think you're driving down the road. It's late at night. being aware of your surroundings, being aware of what dangers are possible. Some things we can't foresee, but if we're awake and aware, we have a chance to at least say, well, I didn't expect a rhinoceros to go barging in, but at least I was awake and aware. Now we have to deal with the rhinoceros. In the church in Corinth, remember there's all kinds of division, and all kinds of separation, and all kinds of pride and arrogance that are playing out. And so Paul wants them to be aware. They also need to be alert and aware because of the risks and dangers of people that are coming through, right? In light and relationship with what Timothy is doing.

So how do we stay alert as believers? We're not the Corinthians, but I suspect that it's not a bad principle for us as believers to also be alert. What things would we say we would expect in the body today? Discernment as far as what does the Word of God say. Discernment is really important. What does the Bible say? So how do we know what the Bible says? We've got to read it and maybe listen to it and talk about it and study it, right? The other thing I want to call out, sometimes when you think of alertness, we're often thinking about how awake we are, but it's the awareness, it's the visibility of what's going on around us.

I've heard it said before that a good percentage of fighter pilots that are in the military, right, in the Air Force, or the Navy, A lot of those pilots are actually farm boys because they tend to have a greater awareness and alertness to what's going on in their peripheral vision. Because when you're on a farm, the last thing you need to have is a wild animal or even one of your own animals charge you from behind or whatever else. My dad's got a lot of good stories about being in an interesting situation with a large pig or a cow or a bull or something like that. But that alertness, that awareness is somewhat trained, right? It's intentional. It's something that's part of that.

So as believers we actually need to be considerate of what's around us and actually be paying attention to it. The other thing that's awesome, and I'm going to say this, this is not directly in the text but I think observationally is valuable, is that we're not alone in this as a body, right? So we can have each other's backs. We can come together and listen, I can see really good on this quarter and you can look at this quarter and you can look at this quarter and we'll all work together and we'll be aware together, right? So, alertness.

It's not just staying awake, but it's an awareness of situation and potential. So then he says, stand firm in the faith. One of the things that I I think is interesting about this is that if there's so much division in the body Okay, you're in Corinth. There's we've already had lots of examples of division about who's your leader I'm a better part of the body than you are I Am more righteous than you my doctrine is better than you Division division division right if you're standing firm in your faith After a while when you hear enough negativity, when you hear enough division, you hear enough fighting, it's easy to want to give up.

I think if anything in the last several elections, and I'm not saying this to be political, but in the last several elections I've noticed that after the results are announced there's a major number of people that get disheartened and disillusioned and they're not standing firm.

Right? I don't care about this political party or that political party or this person or that person lied and I just don't care anymore. Right? Those kinds of things happen and they build up. It wears us down. So Paul is encouraging them. Listen, you've got church politics going on. Stand firm. Are you standing firm in the church politics? What are you standing firm in?

In the Lord, in the truth, in what's been revealed, in what you have that's been confidently taught by Paul or Apollos or Timothy or whomever else has carried a letter maybe to another church through Corinth, right? So they have truth, but they need to be standing firm in it. Are there any particular core doctrines that you think Paul is concerned about them standing firm in? Well, Randy, I was just noticing that this has a definite article there, the faith, so you kind of, you know, Verne's done this several times, you track that through, it's a body of truth that defines who we are in Christ and those kind of things, so it's, when that kind of shows up, your little antenna should go up, so to speak, and say, the faith, oh wow, this is a particular focus on the body of truth. Okay, and which body of truth is that? Right, that's what I'm trying to get at. I'm sorry, that was the direction of the question, but yes, thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you off on that. No, no, no. So what's our answer for that?

What is the faith? What is the doctrine or what are the core doctrines that are part of the faith? Well, it's certainly the gospel, certainly. Okay. And Paul went over that, right? When we look at chapter 15, a major piece of chapter 15 is the beginning with the gospel and then a preservation of the doctrines associated with being identified with Christ and the resurrection.

The faith is important. If you're not believing the gospel, what's the consequence? Maybe you're not presenting the gospel and someone's not believing the right thing and they're not saved. The consequence of that is very real. So we have this principle here that we be standing firm in the faith, that it's the gospel and the truth of who we are in Christ.

Then he says, and this is a fun one, this is one Greek word, but it gets translated, act like men. And it's in the middle voice, which means that you are to consider yourself in your current state, in your current behavior, and resolve if you're not mature. I will restate this in the situation here that we would have maturity, that we would observe what's going on as believers.

In Corinth, were there issues with other non-biblically manly behaviors? All the time. Do you remember at the beginning of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 how Paul had written to them about their behavior? He described people being effeminate. He described people as being homosexual and carnal. He said, such were some of you. They'd been redeemed from that behavior, but they were not living those things out. So in light of that, he says, such were some of you, but in this case, he's saying, but be men.

Now, how is it that we as believers can be men? Or in the case of you godly ladies, godly ladies, how do we How do we know that that is possible? Is it our own strength? Is it our own doing? No, it's God's Word at work within you. The Holy Spirit makes it come out. Yeah, it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit, right? And last week my dad in the main service talked about biblical manhood and womanhood and this week he's going to continue on looking at it from a how do you grow your children into biblical manhood and womanhood and those are key things that come together in a meaningful way where the Holy Spirit does the work but we need to be willing vessels and we need to be volitionally involved right we're not just Going, God make me a man.

And then just stand there. Just wait. There's lots of stories and jokes and parables about the person who's waiting to be saved and God keeps sending somebody to save him. And they're going, no, I'm waiting for God to save me. He sent somebody to save you, right? So those things are there.

But the idea that we're involved volitionally is important. They're the middle voices that we're doing this by the power of the Holy Spirit. but we're actively involved with what that maturing looks like. I'd like to turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5-10 and if you get there will you please read out loud those verses. 2 Peter 1 verses 5-10.

And now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply of moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, in your knowledge self-control, in your self-control perseverance, in your perseverance godliness, in your godliness brotherly kindness, in your brotherly kindness love. For if these qualities are yours, are increasing and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for who having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brother, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling in choosing you. For as long as you are practicing these things, you will never stumble."

Alright, so Peter I think here is writing out in long form some of the details of this Be a Man principle. That there's a development and a growth that's there. And you'll notice that all of those elements, well for the most part, are the fruit of the Spirit. Right? Peter's saying, listen, this is how the fruit of the Spirit is going to work out in your life. If you're abiding, that you would be able to carry those truths and take those things into your life and God would use those for your growth and your development.

So be a man by itself is a little terse. But we can go look at other places in the scripture and we can see what that looks like. Paul writes to Timothy in his letters that he's looking for godly men who will carry on teaching the truth after the Lord takes them on, if the Lord tarries, that there be this continuing on. So manliness, while we often think of it in today's world as being something to do with having a massive amount of muscle and not taking any garbage from anybody, like we have these John Wayne or Clint Eastwood type Models. Biblical manliness is not the same.

Alright, so we have act like men, and then he says be strong. And the thing that's interesting about act like men is that it's in the middle voice, but be strong is actually passive. And I think that's kind of interesting because if I tell Roger to be strong, how does Roger prove his strength? You have to have some other thing engage you.

In other places this same Greek word is translated to be strengthened and the idea is that we have other believers probably involved. That we have other outside things like the Scriptures being involved in our lives and they impact us in a positive way and they strengthen us.

It's not of our own doing. We don't make ourselves strong. It's other things make us strong. If we were to go to 1 Peter instead of 2 Peter, verse 7 talks about there being testing that proves what God has done in our lives, but it takes the test to prove the strength, right?

And that's kind of a fascinating element to strength. But when Paul says be strong, how do we ourselves become strengthened? How do we get strengthened? If it's passive, we're relying upon His strength, right? His strength, His work, His word, and His truth, right? Imagine, if you will, being in Corinth, and you've already read through chapters 12 through 14 where He's talked about the body, and He's talked about how we're supposed to be interconnected.

The strengthening is in that context. He's saying you're going to need to be strengthening one to another, and strengthening one another and building on one another. It is imperative though. He is still telling them, you need to focus on being strengthened. It's not something that's passive. In the sense of, I'm just going to hope it happens to me. There's volition involved.

Then he says, let all that you do be done in love. Now, in 1 Corinthians 13, we went over in great detail what love is. And the thing that I wanted to highlight is I normally read out of the New American Standard Bible. I think it's a pretty decent translation. The older I get, the more I love that the King James uses the word charity. I think we use love in our modern culture so sloppily that we hear love and we think, oh, I love ice cream. Do everything in the way you love ice cream? That's weak.

But when we say do it in charity, when we say do it in benevolence, whatever you're doing, do it in the character that is consistent with God's agape love. That's the Greek word there, agape or benevolent love. Whatever they're doing, whatever activities they're involved in, they need to be rooted in love. So who empowers us to walk by love, or walk in love? The Holy Spirit. Love gets its definition in the Father, it gets manifested and shown to us through the sacrificial work of Christ, and it's empowered in our own lives by the Holy Spirit.

So all three parts of the Trinity are actively involved, if you will, in engaging with love in these places. Can you imagine, or how do you imagine, a strong, mature, manly man acting where everything is done in love? Is that how our culture describes manliness?

But this is godly manliness. Standing firm. Being alert. Love it. That's a powerful, powerful person to understand and to be seeking the Lord's direction in becoming. Now, can we become that alert, standing, manly? Not on our own. But we can. We're being transformed into the image of Christ. There is no more perfect image of these attributes than Christ himself.

In verse 15, he says, Now I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints, that you also be in subjection to such men, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, Because they have supplied what was lacking on your part, for they have refreshed my spirit in yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

So, Stephanus. As I said in Romans, there's a lot of names of people that we don't have more information about. With Stephanus we've got a glimpse more information on him. Stephanus was mentioned earlier in this book. Paul said that he baptized Stephanas and his household. And Stephanas seems to be from down south of Corinth on the Isthmus down further in Achaia.

And so he would be familiar to the people maybe as a believer but it doesn't sound like he was part of the body directly there in Corinth. I couldn't get clear direction on that so hopefully we can When we get to heaven, we'll ask the Lord all kinds of questions. I'll ask him about Stephanas, if I can stop just gasping at his glory.

So we saw in 1 Corinthians 1.16 that he himself baptized this household.

Paul is rejoicing over this guy's character. He says, that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. So Stephanus probably exemplifies this godly character, this standing strong, this biblical loving manliness. And so Paul wants the body there to subject themselves to such men. They know who he is. They know what kind of man he is. And if there's men like that in the church in Corinth, they need to subject themselves to that sort of man. And what is Stephanas' goal? What's he working towards? He's helping in the work and labors of the church, ministering to the body and taking care of those who are there.

And Paul is rejoicing over Stephanas, but then he's also rejoicing over these two other characters that we don't actually have any more information about. So Fortunatus and Achaicus we don't have more information on. So I'm sorry that I don't have some kind of third or secondary source where we go, oh yeah, Fortunatus and Achaicus. These guys were such and such. We don't know a lot more about them, but we do know that Paul was refreshed. And I think that that's kind of an interesting thing.

So when we say refreshed, what do we mean? What does it mean to be refreshed? To be encouraged. Maybe to get a break, to be able to take rest and have someone else minister to you. If you've been pouring out, you've been going, you've been working, If you're Paul, we'll later on take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where he lists all these burdens and trials and tribulations he went through, gladly, to preach the gospel. But Paul says he was refreshed by these believers. I'm going to be careful how I say this.

There's probably a good likelihood that even the elders here at Holly Hills may need you to come up and encourage them. Give them a hug. Tell them, hey, thanks for teaching. Thanks for loving our family. And don't do it just because it's Christmas or I said so. But let the life of Christ Show towards them. Being thankful. And it's by the Holy Spirit, hopefully, that they're doing what they're doing anyways. So they're not going to take credit and be like, I am pretty awesome. Right?

But being refreshed is a big deal when you're serving, when you're having things come and put on your plate. You know, like, hey, here's a problem that's going on. And then it gets plumped down on your plate and you're like, all right, you deal with this. I think sometimes people think of eldership as this responsibility where you have authority, but I think often for elders it's kind of like being a plumber.

You've got to come in and there's all this garbage and you've got to try to get it unstuck and get it cleaned up. So Paul was refreshed and even they were refreshed and I think that's a powerful thing. Because he says, you too are refreshed, right? For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. So that's a good place to be. Then Paul says, therefore acknowledge such men.

And I think the word acknowledge, my first choice wouldn't be to translate it, acknowledge, there. Because often we think of acknowledge as just recognizing someone's presence. Like if you walk into a room and someone goes, oh hi, your name here, right? We think of that as acknowledgement, an awareness of someone's presence. Or maybe to say, hey, we're going to give the employee of the month award to this person and acknowledge them. The idea here is to know better, to develop intimacy.

So it's not just acknowledging them, but also maybe submitting ourselves to them. This lines up with this earlier statement that we should be subject to men like Stephanas. Alright, so that's the first half, and I don't know how much time we've got. We've got maybe ten minutes to get through the second half if we can, so this will be exciting. Paul says, the church of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla, and of course we heard about them earlier, greet you heartily in the Lord and with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. So Randy, this is just kind of an aside. Yeah. I was reading this.

Is Priscus the same as Priscilla? Do we think that's... We think that it's... I haven't actually studied that out. That's what I've been taught. Okay. It's what I can... You know, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, it's a different nickname for that person. If I'm wrong on that, I will gladly take correction, but that's what I was taught. So I don't think that's the case. Actually, the ending to Priscilla is a diminutive of the same name.

Yeah, and it's at their house, so I think the idea is that they're paired. I thought it was. So it's like saying, that's not just Tom, that's Tommy. Yeah, and so maybe it's a nickname or if Paul had a closeness with him. Okay, that's cool. But that's what I was taught, so if I'm wrong, I couldn't find otherwise, but we'll go with that.

So the Church of Asia greets you. Obviously we think of Asia as a giant continent today with our modern understanding of geography, but I think we can talk about those who have heard the gospel in Asia so far are sending greetings. By the end of the lifetimes of all the apostles, the gospel had actually stretched quite far across Asia. We think that Thomas may have gone all the way as far as India or China. That's a big distance to cover.

So we have the believers there. We have Aquila and Priscilla. Their home church sends greetings, which is cool. That would be people that they knew. Then we get to the greet one another with a holy kiss. And this is a good one, because I mentioned earlier that I got to teach the end of Romans 16, and he says there also, greet each other with a holy kiss. This is one of those good ones where people look for a very literal application of this. Do I kiss everybody at church?

Do I have to worry about germs? That's not the point. What does holy mean? Holy means to be reverent, to be set aside. So greet each other in reverence. greet each other and respect. And I'm going to worry less on whether or not it's a kiss on the cheek or if it's a hug.

I'm OK with that. I'm going to go so far, and I hope Roger doesn't ask me to never teach again by saying this, but I'm going to go so far as to say that the cultural representation of greeting that is respectful is probably adequate here. Roger nodded, so I think I'm OK.

Fist bumps welcome. Fist bumps welcome. There we go. Fist bumps are good. Hugs are good. Some people kiss each other on the cheek and they're good with that. That's not my personal preference and that's alright. When I was in high school we had a gal that was a foreign exchange student that stayed with my friend's family. For where she came from, kissing on the lips was totally okay. Hugging was very sexual so for them it was off limits to give hugs. But kissing, that was the norm.

So some of it is cultural, maybe, but in the end the focus is on the reverence and intimacy with one another, that respect. It says, hey, we're one in Christ. We have one another. Then Paul says, the greeting is in my own hand, Paul. And I would love for us to be able to find the original manuscript so we can say, that is what his signature looked like. It would be the best, right? This is Paul and he's writing these things. Now the reason why Paul is saying this greeting is in my own hand is because he had vision problems and from what we can tell based on the letter styles he was dictating these letters to either Timothy or other people who were able to write with him.

We see in Galatians 4.15 and 6.11 that Paul had eye problems. He says in 4.15, you loved me so much you wish you could have given me your eyes. And he says then in 6.11, see with what such large letters I write. His own greeting there. So Paul is saying, listen, this is from me. Here's my writing. You've seen me in my embarrassing writing state because of my eye problems, but you know it's me. Then he says in verse 22, if anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha.

Now those are two very opposite ideas, and I want to really highlight that. So anyone who's preaching the false gospel, anyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that they're not standing firm in that faith, or they don't have the faith to stand firm in, I should say, Paul is very concerned with, and he wants them to not be part of the body.

He wants them cast out, and he wants them separated. They don't belong in the church. They shouldn't be at your meetings. They shouldn't be coming around causing division. He is to be accursed. They don't belong amongst those who are blessed. They don't belong there. That shouldn't be their home.

In Galatians 3.13, Paul wrote that Christ became a curse for us. It's a different Greek word. It's a different idea to be denounced. He was denounced on the cross. Oh, you're the king of the Jews. Ha ha ha. He was denounced.

This is greater than that and it's a casting out and casting away principle. I'm not going to ask the question that's on the page, but do spend some time meditating on it this week if you get a chance. Then he says Maranatha, which is actually a Greek transliteration. Literally, it's the Greek letters converted to English. Why the transliters chose to do that, I don't know.

But it means our Lord will come, or the Lord come. Given the contents in this book about the rapture, and Roger got to teach the best part of chapter 15, right? The coolest part? Maranatha. May the Lord come. Our bodies will be glorified with his glorified body. Our sin will be done away with. We will be resurrected in newness of life for those who've fallen asleep. Maranatha. I should say that more. This should be a part of our vocabulary.

May the Lord come. And then lastly, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. The grace of the Lord be with you. So grace, as we define it here at Holly Hills, and I think there's good biblical reason to do so, is grace is the unmerited, unlimited blessings of God due to the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross. Culturally, it was common to start and end a letter with grace. You would find the Romans saying grace at the beginning and the end of the grace. Because the idea was, may you have a gift from the gods. May you have blessings. May you have a gift.

But it was not what Paul meant. Paul expounds upon grace. He says this is what grace from a biblical, godly perspective means. It's deeper and richer and rooted in what Christ has done. Paul amplified its meaning, and he added it to its value by infinity. So much better than, may you have a material blessing from the gods. It's the grace of the Lord Jesus. And then in verse 24, my love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Paul's love in Christ Jesus was rich, prayerful, caring, and reflective of who he was in Christ.

His love was not his own love. It was sacrificial, and it was something that the Holy Spirit moved in and made an apostle. You're an apostle, you get to sacrifice. And you love sacrificially, and you go out and you say, hey, you're really screwed up. Do you know the gospel? And then when you responded, why no, I don't, he would share it with you. And when you believed, he'd be like, yeah, we're brothers. We're sister, brother and sister.

That's the love of Paul. And that's a powerful love that he sends. He says, I send it all, I love you, in Christ Jesus. It's wrapped in Christ Jesus. And that's how our love for one another should be. That when we love one another, when we hug one another, when we kiss each other with a holy kiss, whatever it is that we do, that we greet and we come together. When we speak to one another, when we serve one another, when we're strong, it's in love. It's in Christ.

Any other thoughts or questions? We kind of raced through that last half because our time was adoringly. Anything else? Anyone sad we went all the way through 1st Corinthians? I think I've said this before, I really wasn't excited about 1st Corinthians because I really wanted to go through 1st and 2nd Timothy. Guess what? This has been so awesome and rewarding that I am sorry that for a second I thought we should have done 1st and 2nd Timothy because this has been so cool.

Let's close in prayer. I think we're out of time and we have two weeks off. Is that correct? Two weeks off and then we'll start Second Corinthians if you're going to be in this class. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the truth that you have revealed. We thank you that we get to study it and grow in it. Lord, we thank you for sending your Son. In Jesus' name, Amen.