Paul’s Closing Mandates; 1 Cor. 16

Paul comes to the conclusion in 1 Corinthians 16:13 ^NASB “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” In his conclusion his gives a number of imperatives. Imperatives are mandates that basically define for us the parameters of the Christian life. The mandates set the standard for how the member of the royal family of God lives his life. This is the code of conduct for royal aristocracy, and that is what we are as believers. We have been adopted into the royal family of God. So this describes the spiritual life of the believer. As long as we are operating within that pattern, those mandates, then we are also walking by the Spirit, abiding in Christ, and we are being filled with the Holy Spirit. Those dynamics are all taking place. But whenever we disobey this mandates we are out, no longer walking by the Holy Spirit, no longer walking in the light; we are walking in darkness, operating on the basis of the sin nature, and the Holy Spirit is being grieved and quenched. The only way back in is through 1 John 1:9.

Paul has gone through all these mandates in 1 Corinthians and now he summarizes. “Be on the alert” is a present active imperative. All of these are present imperatives, which means these are to characterize our life as a believer. This is a mandate to do this over and over and over again. These are the habit patterns that should characterize every believer’s life when he is walking by the Spirit. The first command is from the Greek verb gregoreo [grhgorew] and it emphasizes the ongoing action of staying awake or being vigilant. It has the idea of spiritual vigilance, watching over your spiritual life, being aware of the areas in which you easily succumb to sin and temptation and avoiding that if possible. It is being vigilant over the basic disciplines that we should be cultivating in our spiritual life, such as prayer, memorizing Scripture, reading through the Bible, listening to doctrine on a daily basis, being able to plan your day, manage your time. We are to redeem the time, but not aimlessly. This word is used about 22 times in the New Testament and almost every time it has that idea of warning the believer to be watchful in his spiritual life. Jesus used it in this sense with the apostles the night before He went to the cross when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had a specific task and that time and he told them to watch and pray. In Acts 10:30, 31 Paul tells the leaders of the church that they need to be alert to those who come in and teach false doctrine. In Matthew 24:42, 43 and 1 Thessalonians 5:6 we are told that we are to be alert for Christ’s coming because it is imminent. Colossians 4:2: we are to be alert in prayer. We need to be watchful for the assaults of Satan in spiritual warfare, 1 Peter 5:8 ^NASB “Be of sober {spirit,} be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We need to be alert and ready for the return of Christ because that is our motivation to please Him and to be ready at His coming. We are also promised that there is a blessing for being alert. Revelation 16:15 ^NASB (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) The idea there is of keeping in fellowship, walking by the Spirit, growing, advancing. To walk naked and be ashamed is the believer who is carnal and out of fellowship and exposed spiritually.

The second mandate is to stand firm in the faith. This is the Greek verb histemi [i(sthmi]. It means to stand firm. It is a verb that is used for taking up a defensive posture in spiritual warfare. We are not to attack the devil, we are to take our stand on Scripture. Again, the present imperative emphasizes that this is to be the ongoing characteristic in the believer’s life. This idea of standing firm is emphasized many times in the Scripture. Philippians 4:1 ^NASB “Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long {to see,} my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.” In other words, don’t get caught up in carnality and reversionism. 1 Thessalonians 3:8 ^NASB “for now we {really} live, if you stand firm in the Lord.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15 ^NASB “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word {of mouth} or by letter from us.” Tradition for tradition’s sake is wrong, but when you have a tradition that is based on doctrine then you hold on to it and you don’t keep changing just for the sake of change. This is what has happened in the contemporary worship movement in contemporary Christianity. They don’t realize that they are overthrowing the solid doctrinal foundations that they inherited. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:13 that we are to stand firm in the faith, and that has the idea of standing firm in doctrine. When we talk about the word “faith” with the definite article it has to do with a specific set of beliefs. It is what we believe, not the act of believing. In Jude 3 we read that this is “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” In 1 Corinthians 15:1 Paul talks about “the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand.” This is the fight that is the good fight of faith in 1 Timothy 6:12. We are to take our stand in the truth of God’s Word.

The next command in v. 13 is to be brave. Literally it is andrizesthe [a)ndrizesqe] and it has the idea of acting like a man, like a mature individual, not like some wimp.

Fourth, they are to “be strong.” This is the Greek verb krataioo [krataiow] from a root that means to be strong or to have power. The emphasis is on being strengthened in the inner man. We are strengthened in the inner man through the power of God the Holy Spirit. We get this strength by walking by the Spirit of God who fills us with the Word of God apply that in the process of spiritual growth we are strengthened in our soul. It is also known as edification, where the soul becomes edified, it becomes built up and becomes strong so that it can withstand the assaults of the sin nature, the assaults of the world and the assaults of the devil. The verb is in the passive voice which indicates that we receive the action of the verb. It is to be strengthened, literally. We do not strengthen ourselves, it is not a pull-yourself-up by your own bootstrap spirituality. You don’t become spiritual simply by adopting some external some external code of conduct, some moral code, and living up to it. Any moral unbeliever can do that, but you can’t live the spiritual life that way because the spiritual life is a supernatural way of life that has a supernatural means of accomplishment.

Then he gives the final mandate. 1 Corinthians 16:14 ^NASB “Let all that you do be done in love.” This takes us back to 1 Corinthians 13 where he interrupted his discussion of spiritual gifts in order to teach the Corinthians what the real issue was: living the spiritual life on the basis of genuine Christian love, agape [a)gaph]. This is a real problem for the Corinthians. In carnality you can’t love this way, it is a fruit of the Spirit.

From verse 15-24 Paul gives his closing comments.

1 Corinthians 16:15 ^NASB “Now I urge you, brethren (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).” He mentions this same household at the beginning of 1 Corinthians and it was one of the most important families in the church. What does it mean to be devoted to the ministry of the saints? The verb is the Greek word tasso [tassw], aorist active indicative, indicating in this case just a summary of a past action. But the word means to arrange or order something. What they had done is they had arranged their life, their priorities, what they did in life, in order to make ministry and service to other people a priority, specifically to those who were in ministry. They ministered to the saints, others in the body of Christ, but this also involved ministry to those who were in professional Christian work. [16] “that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.” Don’t be antagonistic to them, help them, cooperate with them, be a part of their work. [17] “I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part.” These three were the ones who brought the letter and the questions from the Corinthians. They also brought a gift. Their grace orientation towards Paul made up for the antagonism and the problems that the rest of the congregation brought to Paul. {18] “For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.” These were mature believers who came. They needed to have a positive attitude towards these men. Congregations need to do what they can for those who are in full professional service because they have given up certain things in their lives because of their devotion to the Lord, so we need to honour these.

1 Corinthians 16:19 ^NASB “The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. [20] All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.” The point there is not the greeting with the kiss, it is a holy kiss, not a lascivious kiss. It was a very discreet kiss on the cheek.

1 Corinthians 16:21 ^NASB “The greeting is in my own hand—Paul.” In other words, most of the letter was probably written by his amanuensis, but he writes the end by his own hand and making his own final comment. [22] “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha.” This is the same kind of thing he says over in Galatians 1:5, 6. The priority is to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he closes with the Greek word Maranatha, which means “Lord, come.” It is an anticipation of the Rapture. [23] “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. {24] My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” So in these last few verses he closes out by putting the emphasis where it belongs, on the lord Jesus Christ. We live the Christian life on the basis of grace. Grace is the basis of salvation, it is also the basis for the spiritual life. And then he reminds them again of his love for them. He is a good pastor and he loves them, and he shows that by teaching them the Word, by correcting their flaws, by pointing out their failures, and also positively by giving them instruction on how to live the Christian life.