Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 16:15,16

1 Corinthians 16:15-16 urge particular instances of the above ἐν ἀγάπῃ γινέσθω. The ἵνα clause of 1 Corinthians 16:16 is complementary to παρακαλῶ (see note on 1 Corinthians 1:10), and is suspended to make room for the explanatory οἴδατε … ἑαυτοὺς : “you know that the household of Stephanas is the first-fruit of Achaia, and that they set themselves for ministering to the saints”. τὴν οἰκίαν κ. τ. λ., acc [2679] by attraction to οἴδατε, according to the well-known Gr [2680] usage with vbs. of this class (Wr [2681], p. 781). There were earlier individual converts in Achaia (see Acts 17:34), but with this family the Gospel took root in the province and the earnest appeared of the subsequent ingathering: cf. Romans 16:5; also 1 Corinthians 1:16 above, and note. The St. family must have been of independent means; for ἔταξαν ἑαυτοὺς (they arrayed or appointed themselves made this their business) implies a systematic laying out of themselves for service, such as is possible only to those free to dispose, as they choose, of their persons and their time; see this idiom in Plato, Rep., ii., 371C. “The saints” can hardly be the Jerus. saints of 1 Corinthians 16:1, since εἰς διακονίαν is quite general, and the last words of 1 Corinthians 16:16 imply manifold Christian labour; the present commission of St. to Eph. is an instance of “service to the saints”. P. “exhorts” his “brethren … that you also (in return for their service to you) submit yourselves to such as these (τ. τοιούτοις, referring to the interpolated οἴδατε κ. τ. λ.), and to every one that shares in the work and labours”. These persons did not constitute a body of Church officers; we find no traces as yet of an official order in the church of Cor [2682] : the Ap. enjoins spontaneous submission to the direction of those able and disposed to lead in good works. The prp [2683] in συν - εργοῦντι refers not to St. specifically, still less to P., but generally to co-operative labour in the Church, while κοπιῶντι implies labour carried to the point of toil or suffering (see note on κόπος, 1 Corinthians 3:8; also 1 Corinthians 15:58). Loyal and hard work in the cause of Christ earns willing respect and deference in the Church: cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 f.

[2679] accusative case.

[2680] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[2681] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[2682] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2683] preposition.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 16:15,16

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