1 Corinthians 16:19-24

1 Corinthians 16:19-24

The assemblies of Asia greet you all.  Aquila and Priscilla – with the assembly that meets in their house – great you all greatly in the Lord.  All the brothers greet you all.  Greet each other with a holy kiss.  This greeting is in my own hand of Paul.  If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.  Our Lord comes!  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.  My love is with all of you in Christ Jesus.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought

The book of 1 Corinthians ends with a list of greetings.  This ending serves a two-fold purpose.  First, it demonstrates a genuine Christian unity.  The people in one place genuinely care for the people in another place.  That’s how Christians should respond.  However, don’t forget the overarching theme of the letters to Corinth.  This was a church struggling with division.  Paul is modeling how Christians should react to one another.  We should greet one another.  We should appreciate one another.  We should work together.  That is our default mode, not what we see in Corinth.

In your experience, are churches any more or less contentious than the rest of the world?  Why are churches often no better than the rest of the world?  Why should we be better?

Second Thought:

Priscilla and Aquila are a neat couple that we see across the background of Paul’s letters.  We know that they were originally living in Rome, but the edict of Claudius in AD 49 kicked all the Jews out of Rome.  It’s awesome to hear how God can uses negative events like that, because Priscilla and Aquila move from Rome to Corinth and there they meet Paul and hear about Jesus Christ.  See Acts 18:2.  From Corinth, they head to Ephesus, where they help train Apollos as well as meet up once more with Paul and continue ministry together.  See Acts 18:24-26.  We hear in Romans 16:3 that after being in Ephesus, they eventually make their way back to Rome.  From this letter, we also know that hosted an assembly – that is, a church – in their own house while they were in Ephesus.  This shows us the dedication of this couple to the Lord.  They are willing to do anything and go anywhere for God.  Where they go, a trail of discipleship happens to the glory of the Lord.

How are Priscilla and Aquila an inspiration?  How open are you to doing ministry wherever you go in life?

Third Thought:

As Paul ends this letter, he gives us two very interesting phrases.  First, He tells the Corinthians to beware of people who do not love in the Lord.  Again, this would be a hearkening back to the fact that the Corinthians were such a divisive church.  But then Paul gives us a word from the Aramaic language.  The word is “Maranatha,” although Paul writes it in Greek letters, μαρανα θα.  However, it is clearly an Aramiac word and it means, “Our Lord comes.”  This is a warning and a reminder that Christ is coming back.  We are to live each moment as though the Lord could come back at any moment.  We are to live obedient lives displaying God’s love because He is coming.

Do you live as though Christ is coming back?  What does such a life look like to you?

Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Corinthians 1:1-2