Closing Comments

Transcript

GR 1376
04/27/08
Closing Comments
1 Corinthians 16:15-24
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in 1 Corinthians 16 in your Bibles, and we will be concluding our study of 1 Corinthians today.  And we needed to get done today because this is the last Sunday in April, and it was three years ago in April that we started 1 Corinthians.  So we have rushed along but we are finally at the end.

Paul's great letter to the Corinthians.  I was told when I was a young student in Bible college, that when you go to a church, preach 1 Corinthians early because you will cover all the problems that you will have to confront and you will have laid the biblical foundation for it.  Indeed Paul has had many issues to deal with.  Sad, but we often think of the Corinthian church as a problem-plagued church, but it in many ways is a normal church, a church that has great things going on, great ministry.  Paul said they didn't come behind in any spiritual gift, and they were awaiting the coming of the Lord.  But they were a church that also had its problems, personal problems, problems centered around personalities, moral issues, the real world.  Yet the grace of God is at work among these people.

As Paul comes to conclude the letter, he follows a rather normal pattern.  He's going to give some greetings, some words of commendation, and he will sign off.  And I think as we come to a conclusion of a letter like this, and it's true of most of the letters of the New Testament, we have to remind ourselves that even though it seems like just a collection of closing comments and we can read over it quickly, the Spirit of God inspired these closing words just as much as He has inspired anything else in the letter.  And He did use Paul in the setting of Paul and some of the standard practices of greetings and comments, except this is the Spirit of God inspiring Paul, so that what is recorded even in these, what you might say, more mundane normal things, it is the Word of God to His people and to His church.

We're going to be picking up with verse 15.  The first part of the chapter Paul set forth his travel plans and those of Timothy and Apollos.  Then in verses 13-14 he gave those five sharp, crisp commands.  And now he really turns to wrap up the letter.  He's going to say a word about Stephanas and his family.  Stephanas and two men with him evidently carried the Corinthian letter from the Corinthians to Paul.  Remember the Corinthians had written to Paul and in their letter they had a series of questions they wanted him to answer.  And he began answering those in chapter 7 verse 1 with the expression, “Now concerning . . .”  And several times through the rest of the letter you have that expression “now concerning,” indicating he is responding to something they have inquired about.  Well now these men, Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, they will take Paul's response, his letter to the Corinthians, back to Corinth.  So Paul will have some words about them and then a number of words of greeting.  And then he'll sign off in his own hand.
Let's pick up with verse 15, “Now I urge you, brethren . . . .”  And a word of exhortation, encouragement.  But before he continues that he wants to say a person word about the family that he's going to talk about, because he wants to use them as a model or an example, a pattern to be followed, example to be imitated, leadership to be obeyed.  So he says, “now I urge you, brethren,” and he won't pick up what he urges until verse 16, “ . . .that you be in subjection to such men.. . .”  And most of you probably have a parenthesis in your English translation, and he will expand here on this family.  “(you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints),”  This is a family that the Corinthians know very well.  They are from Corinth, in fact Paul mentioned them in the very first chapter of this letter.  We'll go back there in a moment.  He wants to use them as an example for the church at Corinth.  So he says two things about the family.  

First, “you know the household of Stephanas that they were the first fruits of Achaia.”  Now that expression, “the first fruits,” drawn from the Old Testament, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 26.  The first fruits were the first ears of grain and they were brought in and they were presented before the Lord.  And they were indicative of the fact that there was a harvest to follow, and acknowledging that God was the One who had blessed them and provided the harvest.  And He was to be honored with the first fruits of this harvest and worshiped for His goodness and grace.  The key thought that's picked up as it is used in the New Testament is the idea there is a coming harvest, there is more to follow.

Back in 1 Corinthians 15:20 Paul wrote regarding the resurrection of the dead, “[But] now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first fruits in the sense it is the indication and guarantee that more is to come.  You and I are going to be raised from the dead as believers in Jesus Christ.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1.  In this first chapter Paul is talking about the issue of baptism, baptism is not an essential part of salvation, it is a response of obedience by those who have been saved.  So it was not Paul's practice to baptize people, others who traveled with him did the baptizing.  And in verse 14 Paul says, “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.”  Verse 16, now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas, and I don't remember if there was anyone else.  These are the only times the household of Stephanas is mentioned in the Bible—in 1 Corinthians 1:16 and then in our passage in 1 Corinthians 16[:15].  But Paul says they were the first fruits of Achaia.  Achaia, remember, is the southern province of Greece, Macedonia is the northern province.  And Achaia as a Greek province included Athens and Corinth.

And you might turn back to Acts 18.  At the end of chapter 17 Paul is in Athens and at the conclusion of his ministry there we are told in verse 34, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.  After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.  And it does raise the question, if Stephanas and his family are in Corinth and were baptized by Paul in Corinth, how could you call them the first fruits of Achaia when Athens is in Achaia also, and we're told several people were saved through Paul's ministry in Athens.  You might think they were the first fruits.  But remember the first fruits are indicative of a coming harvest, more to come.  And there was no church planted at Athens.  So while there were some isolated converts, there is no indication of any follow-through in Athens.  So the real ministry in Achaia and the impact of Paul's ministry with the following overflow of converts happens at Corinth.  So Paul focuses here.  The family of Stephanas, they are the ones, if you will, through whom the Lord opened the floodgates.  And when they got saved it seemed there were more and more who followed and the church is established and Paul has an extensive ministry of a year and a half in the city of Corinth.  So when he talks about the family of Stephanas, they are crucial because they are the family through whom the Lord chose to begin a great and might work in Corinth and out of Corinth in other places in Greece as well.

Come back to 1 Corinthians.  The first thing he said about this family is they were the first fruits.  So you are reminded of the wonder of their conversion and how God worked in a special way to bring Staphanas and his household to Christ.  And what a key family they were as the Lord just followed through in saving other and others and others.

The second thing Paul says about them is “they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints.”  That word translated, “ministry,” our English version of the word is “deacon.”  It means to serve.  They have devoted themselves for service to the saints.  And it's interesting, the expression.  That word translated devoted means to appoint or to arrange, and really to translate this literally, they have appointed themselves for the service to the saints.  This is not saying they were proud or arrogant, it's a word of commendation.  What he is saying is they have taken upon themselves the task of serving other believers.  Paul wants to hold this family up, this household up as an example.  They were the first fruits in my ministry at Corinth.  Now you know what they have done?  They have taken upon themselves to do whatever is necessary to serve other believers.  They appointed themselves, Paul didn't appoint them, the church at Corinth didn't appoint them to this task.  They didn't sit around saying, I'd do it if somebody told me to.  They devoted themselves to it. They appointed themselves.  Whenever they saw an area or opportunity for service and serving other believers, they took it on.  They did it.  Paul said, here is a household, a family to be emulated.  Sometimes we're just sitting around waiting to be discovered, if someone would give me the job I'd do it.  But not the family and household of Stephanas, they looked around and saw a need and saw an opportunity to serve, do things that would benefit the body at Corinth and the believers there, and they took it upon themselves.  They didn't wait for somebody else, they didn't sit around and criticize.  They just did it, and Paul holds them up here as a family and a household to be a model for others.

A side note.  We're not going down a sidetrack, but you'll note it's the household of Stephanas.  They devoted themselves for ministry. And one writer who would be more liberal than I am made an interesting comment.  In chapter 1 we are told the household of Stephanas was baptized, but in light of chapter 16 we are told that this household appointed themselves for ministry to the saints.  We wouldn't want to say there were any infants in this household that were baptized.  Sometimes people who look for reasons to baptize infants say, look, he baptized the household and we can expect there were infants in that household.  And this writer, and I don't know what his conviction is on infant baptism, does note we ought to be careful about using household passages to think that indicates or requires that infants were baptized, because infants wouldn't be appointing themselves to serving in the body, if there is an indication for infant baptism, which I don't believe there is.  Because if there were, it wouldn't be in a household passage like this.

All right, now Paul is ready to pick up his exhortation. Remember, “Now I urge you, brethren,” verse 15, but first let me remind you about the household of Stephanas, that you know well the first fruits in Achaia, those who took upon themselves serving the saints in the body.  I urge you, brethren, fellow believers ”. . . that you [also] be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.”  Now there is a play on words here that Paul uses that we have a hard time.  Any time you go from one language to another, if I could just simplify it for us.  The word translated, ‘devoted” in verse 15 means to be appointed, is tasso.  The word “subjection” in verse 16 is the same word, hasso, with the word hupo on the front.  So as the Corinthians read this, they have tassoed themselves for ministry to the saints.  You also hupotasso to such men.  So you see they would pick up that repeating of the word.  The word hupo means to be under, and tasso to be appointed or arranged under, so be in subjection.  Now they have appointed themselves, arranged themselves for service to the saints.  Now you appoint yourselves under them.  These are the kinds of people you want to submit to.  Here is your responsibility, they took upon themselves to do whatever was necessary for the body, now you take it upon yourselves to follow the leadership of these kinds of people, to be in subjection to such men as this who have exemplified godly character, their commitment to Christ at the time God saved them and they were the beginning of a ministry here, and their service.  He doesn't pick out that Stephanas is the greatest teacher, or the most gifted evangelist, or any of these, we might say, big gifts.  But these are the kind of people in the body that are being used of the Lord to nurture and nourish and build His people and build His church.  So you be in subjection to such men, arrange yourself under them accordingly.  And not just this family, I'm using them as an example.  To everyone who helps in the work and labors.

So he's used the household of Stephanas as an example, but it's not limited to them.  And praise the Lord in our local church, we have many, many people who follow this pattern.  They have a strong testimony of their coming to Christ and they devote themselves to serving the saints.  And so much of what goes on, they just step up and do it.  And in a ministry like this, much attention goes to a person in my position, but the development of the body and ministry of the body and all going on as God's people is stepped up.  I can do that; I'll do that.  And so at Corinth.  You look for people like this.  The Corinthian church has a problem with whom they look to for leaders. It's going to become more clear in the second letter, written about a year or so after this, within a year.  Leadership becomes a problem.  They are looking to the wrong people for leadership.  I don't have to look for stars, superstars.  We're looking for people who have a strong testimony for Christ and are devoting themselves to serving others.  Those are the kinds of people I want to go to and say, can you use me?  I'm willing to do whatever you would see needs to be done, I want to be a help, I want to be of service.  How can I help?  I see a need here, is that something you could use me in?  That readiness, that willingness.  That's what enables the ministry to go on.

Two words here are important, I want you to note.  Everyone who helps in the work, that works together.  Compound word, the word, “work,” with a preposition, ”with,” on the front.  Who works together.  That's what is going on.  So we look around, everyone who is involved in working together.  That's what the body is, isn't it?  The analogy of the body with all the parts working.  So we look around and see people who are involved in working together in the ministry, and those are the ones I want to submit to, pattern my ministry and service after.

That second word, “labors,” is not just repeating, but it's carrying it to another level.  Not just working, but toiling, laboring to exhaustion.  That's the idea of that word.  Wearisome, toilsome labor.  Paul never gave anybody the indication that the service of the Lord was done just as a game.  If the Spirit is empowering you and enabling you and the Lord wants you to do it, it ought to be fun.  There is joy in serving the Lord, but it is wearisome, tiresome labor.  And many of you could line up and give testimony to that.  I mean, we saw the girls sing for us today, but there are people who have to work with them and minister to them and prepare them.  They do that because they just don't have anything else to do.  What am I going to do with my time this week?  Well maybe I'll have a ministry to the young girls.  No, that's not the way it goes.  We see an opportunity, we're willing to be used of the Lord, step forward and do it and the ministry goes on.  And we just multiply endless areas.

I was talking this week, it amazes me all that goes on in the body and the people that pour themselves into so many areas of ministry and you can't even keep track of all that's going on.  The body goes on and develops and it impacts all ages and all different kinds of settings.  Some that get recognition in one way or another, some that never do.  And the ministry goes on, and it's tiring.  Some of you get worn out, and we do it in the Lord's strength.  Sometimes we take a breather, a little break and then we plow back in.  And Paul says these are the kinds of people you look for.  So as new people come in, people get saved, people are brought to our body, these are the kinds of people they emulate.  I'm not looking to be “big shot,” the Lord moves me into a place of more prominence, the Lord does it.  If He doesn't, the Lord doesn't.  I'm looking to how can I serve and then the Lord uses my service in His way.

So these are the kinds of people you want to submit to and model your life after.  You know what?  The Corinthians are going to miss this.  By the time you get to the end of the second letter Paul is rebuking them for following false apostles.  How did they get off track?  What are they doing following false apostles?  I told you the kind of people to follow.  But we easily are turned aside.

He gave a similar exhortation to the Thessalonians.  Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5.  Remember Thessalonica was in the province of Macedonia in Greece, north of Corinth.  And the letter to the Thessalonians would have been written before the letter to the Corinthians, perhaps Paul's first letter.  Verse 12, as Paul gets ready to conclude this letter.  “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate. . .”  Remember that word, it's the word ”to know.” We're going to come to it in a moment in 1 Corinthians.  That you appreciate, know, recognize, acknowledge those who diligently labor.  There is our word, those who are working to exhaustion among you, have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.  You esteem them very highly in love because of their work.  Look for those who are working hard in their service for the Lord in the church at Thessalonica, in the church at Corinth.  And look to them for leadership, formal leadership and informal leadership, doesn't matter.  They're pouring their lives into the ministry.  They're not looking for a position, that's not their goal, they're serving.  So we'll see that emphasis further in 1 Corinthians 16.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 16:17, “I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part.”  They probably brought the Corinthian letter as I mentioned, to Paul, with their questions in it.  And they're coming with a blessing to Paul.  They rejoice.  And he was exciting to have their questions, that they would be inquiring about these things.  So he as God's spokesman, as an apostle could give them the Word of God on this subject.  And they are the kind of men that it was a blessing and a joy to Paul to have come and share with him.

Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus.  Fortunatus and Achaicus, this is the only time they are mentioned in the Bible.  We run over them and say, they probably are not that important.  D. Edmund Hiebert has written a delightful book, Personalities around Paul.  And I love the way he breaks it down—greater lights and lesser lights.  Those people who are more prominent and less prominent.  And there's not much to write about, Stephanas gets a chapter but he can't write about Fortunatus and Achaicus because this is the only time they are mentioned.  We think that's not important, but think about it, their names are permanently inscribed in the Word of God, which will never pass away.  What did Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus do?  They delivered a letter.  Well that fits Stephanas' character, doesn't it?  We have a letter that has to be taken to Paul, I'll do it.  We'll go with him, because we don't have anything else to do?  You know travel wasn't the easiest thing at that time, and who cares?  Anybody can carry a letter, they didn't have to write the letter, they didn't have to write the response to the letter.  All they had to do was carry it.  That's a nothing of a task.  Would you take this?  Well, I guess, anybody could do it.  I'll do it.  That's not the way Stephanas thinks, remember.  He appointed himself to service of the saints.  Need that letter to get there?  I'll work out my schedule, I'll see it gets done.  Paul has his reply, I'll wait and bring it back to you.  Now think about how important that is.  That letter from the Corinthians wasn't an inspired letter, but the Spirit of God was going to use that letter to direct Paul into what God wanted inscribed in His Word.  And so in answering their questions, we have our letter to the Corinthians.  And then they carry this letter back to the church at Corinth.  Little did they know that two thousand years later people in other parts of the world would be reading that letter and reading our names that we carried it.  They didn't do it because this is the most important task that somebody could be given in those days, they did it because it was service to the saints.  How is the church at Corinth going to get their information to Paul?  Then how will Paul get back?  But we realize the impact.  We don't know how God is using us and it seems like what I'm doing doesn't seem to be that important.  But it's a service that needs to be done for the body, for believers.  And that's what is important.  And God uses all those things.  Remarkable.

Fortunatus.  We can guess what his name is, it's the Latin name or Roman name.  It means, “lucky.”  Now isn't that fortunate.  Achaicus means he was from Achaia.  Fortunatus was a common name among freed slaves of the time, so it appears in writings of the time, the name for freedmen—men who had been slaves and set free.  And you can understand why, they were lucky.  So Fortunatus.  Achaicus identifies him as from Achaia, probably also a freed man.  They might be part of Stephanas' household, since Stephanas' household has been mentioned in verse 15.  And then Fortunatus and Achaicus are joined with Stephanas.  They might be part of his broader household at this time.  We just don't know.  But they are then being used of the Lord in this task.  They have supplied what was lacking or missing on your part.  This is not the idea that the Corinthians had failed in something.  The point is, what is missing is the Corinthians.  And it was a taste of home from Corinth, if you will, for Paul, who missed the Corinthians.  There was something missing in him.  That's why  [ . . . ]  they are part of his family and there is something missing when we're not together.  But these three men filled that void for a time.  And so they have supplied what was missing on your part, which was your presence.  Praise the Lord for that and their ministry.

What have they done?  Verse 18, “[For] they have refreshed my spirit and yours.”  Paul wants them to know these men came and they represented you and they were a blessing to me.  They refreshed my spirit, it lifted me up like a breath of fresh air, it was invigorating.  And I know they've had that kind of ministry with you as well, and that ministry to them is going to continue because you know what?  They're going to bring words from Paul and a letter from Paul back to Corinth.  So what a great ministry.  I mean, did they have the fame of the Apostle Paul?  Were they used to write inspired letters?  No, but they were used of God to refresh the spirit of the Apostle Paul who would be used so greatly by God.  What a ministry, there are ways things are going on that are hard to measure while they are going on because they are just part of what we're doing.  But the Spirit of God directs Paul to write and express himself here so that it is set in the inspired scripture, the importance of such activities.  They refreshed my spirit and yours.

There are people that you are with, they are just a blessing to be with.  We had an opportunity last night to have dinner with Rod and Faith Goertzen.  We talk about ministry.  We talk about things.  It is refreshing to be together.  It is uplifting.  That was good, I'm glad that worked out.  Just sort of pumps you up, as we'd say.  Not that you plan and we go through a list of things, it's just because you are with them.  And Paul said they refreshed me, they refresh you right now.  They are blessing there, and they'll be a blessing when they bring the letter.

“Therefore acknowledge  . . .”  Remember I told you in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, remember that word “appreciate?”  We have the same basic word, “to know.”  What do you mean to know them? They already know them.  To acknowledge them, to recognize them, appreciate them.  You know it’s easy when people are doing those things in serving the body.  Who's going to stand up and applaud these men because they took a letter?  I mean, that's a little thing anybody could have done.  No, not anybody, these are the men that were appointed by God to carry it out.  These kinds of people that you look for, people just doing what needs to be done in serving the body and moving the ministry along.  Recognize these men, appreciate them.  That doesn't mean you have to give them an award, but there ought to be an appreciation.  If you're looking around who do you want to pattern your life after, who do you want to mimic, who do you want to submit yourself to?  Appreciate these men.  They are God's pattern for us.

Now Paul is ready to wrap it up and we wrap it up with greetings.  And if you go through you see the word greet or greetings repeated again and again and again.  I didn't count them but you see how.  “The churches of Asia greet you, Aquila and Prisca greet you . . .”  Verse 20, all the brethren greet you, greet one another.  Verse 21, the greeting in my own hand.  Greeting, greeting, greeting like you might sign off in a letter.  You write it and at the end you say, say hi to so-and-so, tell so-and-so I think about them often, tell so-and-so I've been praying for them.  That's wrapping it up, that's what Paul does here.  And he starts by sending greetings to the church at Corinth.  Remember Paul is at Ephesus.

“The churches of Asia greet you.”  Paul is writing from Ephesus which is the capital of the Roman province of Asia, an area going up and down the coast, across from Greece.  There are multiple churches there.  He doesn't just say the church at Ephesus, but the churches in Asia greet you.  We don't know how many there were.
   
Turn back to Acts 19.  Paul is on his third missionary journey and he is at Ephesus and this is where he writes the letter to the Corinthians.  I want you to see what happens as he is ministering here.  Verse nine, he's been reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus, at the end of verse 10.  This took place for two years, now note this, “. . .So all that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” Now Paul didn't necessarily travel out to all these places, but remember he has men with him who act as his representatives, and they go out.  Timothy has already been sent to Corinth on Paul's behalf.  Others that would be with him would travel to surrounding regions, carrying the gospel out.  Ephesus is the capital of this province.  There would be people coming through, hear about this ministry and come and be exposed to it.

Look down in verse 26, Demetrius, the silversmith, is upset with the impact of Paul and he says in verse 26, “[And] you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods all.”  Demetrius says the whole province of Asia is being impacted by his ministry.  And you'll note also Paul's method of evangelism wasn't the soft sell—let's not upset the silversmiths, let's not talk about whether their gods are gods or not because we don't want to close any doors.  No sense in getting them upset and turned against us.  For Paul there is only one way to present the gospel, and that's truthfully.  And the truth is the gods you are worshiping aren't gods at all.  They are no gods.  Those idols the silversmith makes, they are not gods at all.  There is only one God, there is only one Savior, there is only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved—Jesus Christ.  Any wonder he caused not only ripples, but uproars

Verse 23 we're told there was no small disturbance concerning The Way, and the whole province of Asia is being impacted.  How many churches have been established?  We don't know.  There is a church at Ephesus, later Paul will write to the church at Colosse, the letter to the Colossians which is another church in Asia.  Paul will mention Laodicea in one of his letters.  Forty years later, Paul is writing 1 Corinthians about 55 A.D.  Forty years later, about 95 A.D., the Apostle John will be used to pen the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  And in Revelation 2-3 Jesus Christ will address letters to the seven churches of Asia.  How many of those had already been established by the time Paul is writing to the Corinthians?  We don't know, but there are churches, plural, there.  Paul's ministry is having a great impact in this area. They send their greeting to the believers at Corinth where Paul has had such a great ministry also.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 16.[16:19] Aquila and Prisca greet you.  Prisca, or as we more often refer to her as Priscilla, like John and Johnny or names like that that have a diminutive and also a more formal form.  “Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily . . .”  I mean they don't only greet you, they greet you warmly, fully.  I mean, they have a hearty greeting for you.  And Priscilla and Aquila have had a great impact and a great ministry at Corinth.  They are people we know a little more about than some others, they are mentioned as a couple six times in the New Testament.  Always as a couple, never hear about Aquila without Priscilla and vice versa.

Come back to Acts 18. Paul first met Priscilla and Aquila at Corinth and developed a bond that will continue until the end of Paul's earthly ministry.  Verse one, after these things he left Athens, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.  He came to them and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them, they were working, for by trade they were tent makers.  So here Priscilla and Aquila come on the scene and we don't know anything about their background, other than what is mentioned here.  Aquila was from Pontus.  In 49 A.D. the Roman emperor, Claudius, told all the Jews they had to leave Italy.  Why? Because there was always conflict among the Jews over Christus.  Claudius decided we're not going to have it any longer, all the Jews have to go.  In 54 A.D. died, somewhere around that time, and that decree was basically nullified.  And I mention that because when you read Paul's letter to the Romans you will find that Aquila and Priscilla are back in Rome, they have a church in their house there.  You wonder, how can they be back in Rome if the decree of the emperor was they couldn't be?  Because the emperor has died, so that's gone.

Interesting, there is discussion, Christus, most think was a reference to Christ.  And what was happening, the Jews were in constant turmoil, and when they got saved they declared that they believed in Christ as the Messiah of Israel.  That just tore the Jews apart and that kind of inter-Jewish conflict, Claudius didn't want any part.

So Aquila and Priscilla leave and come to this Roman city in Greece, Corinth.  It was established as a Roman outpost, if you will, and it was a retirement place for Roman soldiers and so on.  At any rate when Paul comes to Corinth he had a trade, a tent maker.  All Jewish boys were taught a trade, even those who were going to be trained to be rabbis were taught a trade because the Jews knew that when persecution came and suffering, they had to be ready to provide for themselves wherever they would be.  So Paul had been trained as a tent maker, even as a young boy.  Even with his leadership role, before his conversion, in Judaism, he still had a trade he could fall back on when necessary.  And so did Aquila.  So they were tent makers, often took sails of ships and constructed them into tents and stuff like that.

Paul lived with them, dwelt with them, worked with them.  You get to know people very, very well when you live with them, you work with them, you minister with them.  Down in Acts 18:18, when Paul leaves Corinth something interesting happened.  He sets out by sea, he's going back to Syria where Tarsus is, his home.  And with him were Priscilla and Aquila.  Verse 19, “They came to Ephesus and he left them there . . . .”  And he goes on and returns back to Antioch and so on.  So interesting that Priscilla and Aquila follow him to Ephesus, then they are left at Ephesus, carry on ministry there.  And when Paul comes back to Ephesus in Acts 19 they are still there because when he writes the letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila are there.  And so he send greetings from them, because the Corinthian church knew them well.  They were part of Paul's ministry in the beginning at Corinth, and stayed with him that year and a half that he was in Corinth ministering.  Then they left with Paul and went to Ephesus.  But the believers at Corinth would remember them warmly.

Turn to Romans 16:3, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; also greet the church that is in their house.”  I mean, they had church in their house here, too, now.  And you know what Paul says about them?  They put their life on the line for me.  And I give them thanks, verse four, “.  .  . Not only me, also all the churches of the Gentiles.”  Why?  Because Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.  If these two, Aquila and Priscilla, hadn't intervened, Paul might well have lost his life.  What would that have meant for the ministry to the Gentiles humanly speaking?  So Paul says all the Gentile churches owe a debt of gratitude to Priscilla and Aquila.

So these are people, not only committed to ministry, and they have a profession. They're moving about and they set up their shop, but what they're really doing is using their tent making to pay the bills.  But they pour themselves into ministry.  This is what life is for them.  And it came down to putting their life on the line to save Paul's life, they did it.  These are the kind of people that you have to appreciate.  Any wonder Paul speaks so highly of them.

Evidently this happened during the occasion Paul is in Ephesus in Acts 19.  There was a lot of turmoil, a lot of trouble there, but we are never given any details, so we don't know what happened and what the specifics were when Aquila and Priscilla had to step in and put their lives at risk so Paul could be spared.

One more passage on this couple, 2 Timothy.  And you're just given a glimpse, these passages don't say a lot about this couple, but you are reminded of the many, many, many people who are being used of the Lord.  And even though their names aren't preserved for us like Paul, in glory we'll come to appreciate even more fully their ministry and how God used them.  2 Timothy is Paul's last letter, probably being written to the church at Ephesus where Timothy is.  In 1 Timothy Paul makes clear that Timothy is at Ephesus, representing Paul.  We assume 2 Timothy written to the same place.  Look at chapter 4 verse 19, Paul is awaiting execution, you remember.  He says the process has already begun that will culminate in my execution.  Verse 19, what does he say to Timothy?  “Greet Prisca and Aquila . . .”  And more than that, we understand it was back in 49-50 A.D. when Paul established the church at Corinth, and Priscilla and Aquila were there with him.  Now we're about 67 A.D. when Paul will be executed, 17-18 years go by, Priscilla and Aquila faithfully in ministry.  They are back at Ephesus, they've moved around, they've been in Corinth, they've been in Ephesus, they've been in Rome, they're back in Ephesus.  Their location may have changed, but something doesn't change—their faithfulness to the word as Paul preached it and they continue to promote it.

This is the couple that was used so greatly in Apollos' life back in Acts 18, who straightened him out and helped him understand beyond the teachings of John the Baptist, that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, crucified and raised from the dead.  So then Apollos then became a flaming proclaimer of the resurrected Christ and had great impact.  So you just see how things multiply out as we commit ourselves to the service of the Lord.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 16.  Naturally, the churches met in homes and it seems that perhaps Aquila and Priscilla had the kind of home in a couple of places they could have the church meeting in their home.  Doesn't mean we ought to meet in homes today, just meant for the first 300 years of the church they didn't have anyplace else to meet.  And since they are tent makers, and often they would take sails from ships and cut them down for tents, obviously if you're going to make sizable items like tents, you need a sizable space to lay out your materials and so on.  So it might have been conducive by the fact their trade was in their home, to have it as a meeting place for the church, because they would have perhaps a larger space.

“All the brethren greet you. . . .” verse 20.  This is probably his traveling entourage or companions, in addition to the church of Ephesus that meets in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, and other churches of Asia, and individuals I mention specifically.  The brethren greet you.  This is probably those that are with me.  Timothy has already been sent on but there would be others.

“. . . .Greet one another with a holy kiss.”  Five times this instruction is given in the New Testament.  It was the standard procedure.  Remember when Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss.  That was standard practice, you greet with a kiss.  You can go back in the Old Testament and look at passages about greetings with a kiss.  This was to be a holy kiss.  The word, “holy,” the word, “saints,” the word, “sanctify” come from the same basic Greek word.  This was a kiss of the saints, a kiss that is holy, sanctified.  It is an expression of our bond together and our relationship, just like the kiss that was given, and you see it on TV and news programs, parts of the world today, when they meet they kiss.  The men still kiss.  Remember when Yassar Arafat was living and he would be on the news and they would have to kiss him.  But just a practice, I take it, it was part of their society, their culture, and it was to be done with an expression of Christian devotion.  And so in our relationships and greetings, whether we give a Christian hug or handshake or kiss, it should be a holy one, expressing more than just a casual greeting as anyone would have because we are believers.  It has special meaning when we greet one another.

Now Paul says the greeting in my own hand, and from here on he signs off.  Galatians 6:11 he says, I've written to you in my own hand with such large letters, causes people to think that maybe Paul had some kind of eye affliction, like a person who doesn't see well.  They tend to write with larger letters.  Paul says I've written you with large letters.  And so here he signs off and there is a uniqueness about his handwriting.  Similar to what you might have today, we have dictated letters or printed out letters that you then sign personally and you often, if you know the person, will write in your own hand a couple of comments to them.  That's what Paul does in verses 21-23.  The greeting in my own hand, Paul.  What's the next thing he says?  Here I'm writing this in my own hand, what's the first thing he has to say?  If anyone does not love the Lord he is cursed to hell.  Well, glad you decided to write something, Paul. You think, first thing you want to write in your own handwriting?  Anyone does not love the Lord, he is anathema, cursed to hell, doomed.  You know, the Apostle Paul never lost focus, didn't know compromise here.  We're not talking about being hard, unkind or unloving.  He's going to mention love in a moment.  We're talking about this is the truth.  Somehow we have the idea in our day that evangelism is facilitated if we play down any difference, if we try to do away with any kind of conflict.  The Apostle Paul: let us have it out here.   Anyone who is not devoted to Jesus Christ is on his way to hell.  You are under condemnation.

Same word, “anathema,” Galatians 1:8-9.  Even if an angel from heaven preaches another gospel than I preach, he is anathema, he's doomed to hell.  Paul's love and passion for the Jews in Romans 9:3, I could wish myself anathema from Christ, cursed from Christ, if they would get saved.  But that wouldn't do it.  So strong words  and you get Paul's idea here he  wants them to know, here it is in my own handwriting, if you don't love Jesus Christ, phileo love here, he only uses this word one other time in his epistles.  At the end of this, if you don't love Christ, you're doomed to hell.  He that has the Son has life, he that has not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36), he is anathema.  You're under the wrath of God if you don't have Christ, if you're not devoted to Him, you don't love him.

Maranatha, the Lord is coming.  I take it, a reminder here.  You are under a curse and Christ is coming.  Maranatha is an Aramaic word, was transliterated into Greek and then we just transliterate it into English.  Maranatha is not a Greek word, it's an Aramaic word, but it means the Lord has come, the Lord come, a desire, or the Lord will come.  And I think in light of that, just like Revelation 22 the close of the book, where Christ tells them, behold I come quickly, even so come, Lord Jesus.  Those emphases.  We're looking forward to the coming of Christ, but you understand if you don't love Christ, you're under condemnation.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” [1 Cor. 16:23]  His grace is what provides everything.  All of Paul's letters end on the note of grace, this letter began on a note, chapter 1 verse 3, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Here it's the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you, that grace that brought you salvation, that grace provides for you everything necessary for life and godliness in Christ, the grace of God that has gifted you to serve, the grace of God that provides for you, the grace of God [that] enables you to know and understand His truth.

“My love be with you all in Christ Jesus, Amen.” [1 Cor. 16:24]  The only letter of Paul's that ends with this note of love.  Paul has said some harsh things, some firm things, but he loves them.  He doesn't say it because he doesn't love them.  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.  You are precious to me, I love you in Christ and I want to express that love.  Amen, we're through, done.  And the letter is closed.

What a remarkable letter, what a remarkable end—a reminder of God's grace in using us common people for the accomplishing of His work and the reminder of how important the work that God has committed to us, is.

Let's pray together.  Thank You, Lord, for this great letter, not the letter of the Apostle Paul, but Your letter through the Apostle Paul to Your people, to Your church at Corinth, and to Your church in this location two thousand years later, churches across this country and around the world.  Your Word is unchanging.  Thank You that we have Your Spirit who has enlightened our hearts and minds and brought us to salvation, that it is Your Spirit that enables us to understand the truth that Your Spirit spoke through the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians and He continues to use in speaking to us today.  Bless this truth to our hearts.  We pray in Christ's name, amen.