After proclaiming the resurrection of the dead, Paul turns to a collection, travel plans, and the people the Corinthians need to welcome. These ordinary concerns show what the Gospel means for a congregation learning to live together. Hungry Christians need help, faithful workers need support, and an open door for preaching comes with determined opposition. How will this divided church respond? Paul closes with words that hold firmness and tenderness together: stand firm in the faith, let everything be done in love, and await the Lord who is coming.
The Rev. Ryan Kleimola, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 16:1–24.
To learn more about Trinity in Toledo, visit trinitylutheran.org.
What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it all, he keeps bringing them back to Christ crucified and risen.
In 2 Corinthians, the strained relationship between Paul and the people he loves brings its own painful questions about forgiveness, faithful ministry, suffering, and weakness. These letters give us the treasure in jars of clay, the promise of resurrection, and the assurance that Christ’s grace is sufficient. Join Thy Strong Word as we study 1 and 2 Corinthians verse by verse and hear what God speaks to a troubled church He has called His own.
Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.
Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.
1 Corinthians 16:1-24
The Collection for the Saints
[1] Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. [2] On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. [3] And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. [4] If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Plans for Travel
[5] I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, [6] and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. [7] For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. [8] But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, [9] for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
[10] When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. [11] So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
Final Instructions
[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.
Greetings
[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.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
