As touching our brother Apollos,.... Who was a senior man to Timothy, an eloquent preacher, one who had been at Corinth, and was well known to the saints there, and greatly approved by many of them; wherefore the apostle excuses it, that he should send the one, and not the other, and shows that it was no fault of his: for, says he, I greatly...
Watch ye,.... The apostle in the mean while, before he closes his epistle, thinks fit to give some proper and pertinent exhortations, which might be of general use to this church; and first exhorts them to watchfulness, not for the coming of Apollos, and a convenient season for that; but over themselves, over their hearts, thoughts, affections,...
Let all your things be done with charity. Signifying, that the whole of their obedience to Christ, their observation of, and subjection to all his ordinances and commands, should spring from, and be done in love to him; and that the whole of their conduct and behaviour towards one another ought to be with charity, which bears all things, and...
I beseech you, brethren,.... Entreat or exhort you as brethren in the Lord; this entreaty or exhortation is to submission to fellow helpers and labourers of the ministry, more particularly expressed in the following verse, after the apostle has given a character of the household of Stephanas, who are principally intended, and which contains...
That ye submit yourselves to such,.... To persons of such a character, and in such an office; if in ministering to poor saints, by assisting them, and by putting into their hands; and putting it in their power to discharge their work fully, in which they were so heartily concerned; and if in the work of the ministry of the word, by attending their...
I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus,.... Who very probably were those of the household of Chloe, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:11, who came either of their own accord, or were sent as messengers from the church at Corinth to the apostle; who was glad to see them, one of them being baptized by him, and perhaps all of...
For they have refreshed my spirit,.... By their coming and presence; the very sight of them gave him joy and pleasure, and more so their Christian discourse and conversation, and especially the account they brought of this church; for though there were many things in it which were very disagreeable, and were the occasion of this epistle, yet there...
The churches of Asia salute you,.... The Syriac version renders it, "all" the churches. This shows, that this epistle was not written from Philippi, as the subscription to it attests, for then he would rather have said; the churches of Macedonia salute you, but at Ephesus, where he now was; see 1 Corinthians 16:8; and this is the more confirmed,...
All the brethren greet you,.... Either the brethren, the members of the church at Ephesus; or the apostle's brethren in the ministry, that were along with him, as Sosthenes and others; or the brethren that were come to him from Corinth, namely Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus: greet ye one another with an holy kiss; [See comments on Romans...
The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. The apostle had an "amanuensis", that wrote the epistle for him; but to prevent counterfeits, and that the church to whom he wrote might be assured of the genuineness of the epistle, that it was truly his own, he wrote with his own hand his common salutation; see 2 Thessalonians 3:17, and which is not...
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,.... The Vulgate Latin, and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, read "our Lord". The apostle here does not so much mean profane and unregenerate sinners, who are destitute of love to Christ, from ignorance of him; nor such who, from the same principle, might persecute him in his members, for such are to be...
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. This is the apostle's salutation in all his epistles, and is a token of the truth and genuineness of them; [See comments on Romans 16:20]; and is a wish for a supply of all grace from Christ, and an increase of it in the saints; that they may have the communications of it to them, to quicken,...
My love be with you all,.... Meaning either that he desired that he might be loved by them, as they were by him, and might always have a place in their hearts and affections, as they had in his; or that his love, which extended to all of them without exception, to rich and poor, greater or lesser believers, might be always acceptable to them; and...