_OPEN DOORS AND ADVERSARIES_ ‘A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.’ 1 Corinthians 16:9 St. Paul’s ‘great and effectual door’ was at Ephesus (see Acts 18, 19). How was the opposition met? St. Paul changed his tactics, but he never changed his message. He wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_WATCHING FOR DUTIES_ ‘Watch ye.’ 1 Corinthians 16:13 Our subject is watchfulness. I. WE MUST WATCH OUR DUTY TO GOD.—What is it? We know God only in His relation to ourselves; and to ourselves God is a Father. (_a_) ‘_ Watch_’ _ that you may never be drawn aside to think of God but as a Father... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CHURCH’S POSITION_ ‘Quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.’ 1 Corinthians 16:13 It is with these words of exhortation that St. Paul practically closes the first famous letter to the Church of Corinth. He had dealt in the course of it with many difficulties. H... [ Continue Reading ]
_STRENGTH OF SPIRIT_ ‘Be strong.’ 1 Corinthians 16:13 Over and over again in Holy Writ we find this short, stirring text. We find it in the mouth of Moses, when, handing over his leadership to Joshua, he bid him more than once ‘be strong.’ It was echoed by the people of Israel, when they vowed to... [ Continue Reading ]
_SOURCES OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH_ ‘Quit you like men, be strong.’ 1 Corinthians 16:13 We are conscious of our weakness, our need is strength, but how shall we attain to it? Elsewhere St. Paul, using the same military metaphors that we have seen here, tells his people how that strength is to be obta... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHRISTIAN UNITY_ ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran=atha.’ 1 Corinthians 16:22 It is not against men who labour under a theological mistake that St. Paul launched his threat, but ‘If any man _ love not the Lord Jesus Christ_, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.’ _... [ Continue Reading ]