1 Corinthians 16:12-24 Goodbye and Farewell
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 9, 2020 1 Corinthians 16:12-24
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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.
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. 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— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
(Understanding the Text) Paul has just finished telling the Corinthians that he is sending Timothy as his representative and telling them to treat Timothy with respect. Now, he explains why Apollos is not coming. One of the issues Paul had been addressing in this letter was that the Corinthians had formed a faction behind Paul and another faction behind Apollos and still other factions in allegiance to others. In this section of the letter, Paul was telling the Corinthians that he and Apollos did not have factions between them. They were working as a team in the area around Ephesus to forward the gospel. Paul did not have leadership over Apollos, and Apollos did not have leadership over Paul. Paul was telling the Corinthians that he was not keeping Apollos from them. He would welcome Apollos working with them again. He was telling the Corinthians that Apollos had refused to go at this time with the excuse that Apollos would come later. I wonder if Apollos was also busy with opening new fields and saw the Corinthians as a satanic-led distraction that would take him away from important work. I think he trusted Paul to deal with the Corinthians better than himself. Also, he may have been frustrated with them or felt that his presence would make matters worse.
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” Here is a summary of Paul’s wishes for the Corinthians. They had let their guard down and allowed the devil to bring in divisions, sin, false doctrines, and pride. Paul tells them that they have to be watchful and not take their faith for granted because there was an enemy ready to pick away at their faith if they were not careful. Paul felt that they were acting like quarreling children, so he reminded them to act like adults. Paul wanted them to grow in the faith. Paul told them that they had to be strong. He didn’t mean physical strength. He was speaking of strength in relationship to Jesus. He was speaking of the strength of faith, but most of all he was speaking of the strength in love–love to Jesus and love for each other. Then Paul gave them examples of mature Christians whom they could emulate. He said to act like these people who had been growing in Christ for a while. He told the Corinthians to observe how that relationship had transformed the lives of these mature Christians.
(Revelation of God) God does not rescue us from death and then leave us to muddle around on our own. He provides examples for us in the Bible and among more mature Christians that we can emulate and learn from. God cares about us so much that He would never leave us floundering. Instead, He shepherds us through the growing pains that all Christians experience.
(Understanding the Text) Then Paul ended with the closings. Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians himself. He spent a lot of time and effort to give them the information that he presented. It may be that he wanted to make sure that they recognized his authority behind the letter. The churches around the area were connected. They sent greetings and had representatives that visited back and forth. They were not totally isolated from each other.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I should find mature Christians to emulate. The problem is that there are so few in my circle of Christian friends. So many of them are still in the baby Christian phase, not seeing Jesus in deeper and deeper understanding, not seeing the need to try to know You more. Those who are mature have blind spots that hold back their witness. Please open my eyes to the mature Christians who can give me an example. Help me to be a mature Christian to reflect Your glory to others. Most of all, let me see You in Your beauty and reflect that beauty to others.