Love for Corinthians
In the conclusion of the first letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he assures them that he hopes to make his way back to them. He cared deeply for all the believers to whom he had spread the gospel and, in many of his letters to the churches, revealed how often he prayed for them and longed to return to them all.
I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
1 Corinthians 16:5-7
Travel in that time was not as simple as it is now and it was a big undertaking to plan any longer distance trip. Especially because winter made travel very restricted, and it was common for people in that time to spend the entire season in one place.
Paul shows his commitment to the fellowship in Corinth by suggesting he may even stay the winter with them and his confidence in them that they would be able to help pass him on when the time came for him to go on his next mission.
Why Not Immediately?
However, he was not leaving immediately to come to them even though he was eager to do so and knew they would help send him on when it did come time for him to leave again. Why? Because there was still work to be done in Ephesus!
But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me
1 Corinthians 16:8-9a
He had found a unique opportunity to serve God among the people of Ephesus and was committed to making the most of it. As is normally the case when the Kingdom of God is advancing in a big way, though, opposition was fierce as well.
Adversity is Necessary
and there are many adversaries.
1 Corinthians 16:9b
Typically, the idea of a “wide door for effective work” would have, wrapped up in it, the idea that there is little adversity. If you had just opened a new business and there were mobs of people out front protesting you, I doubt you’d consider it a good sign of future success!
However, Paul understood that effective work for Christ and enemies go hand in hand. When you do many kinds of things well, others will gather around you because they hope to gain from your success. It’s different with Kingdom work, because it is a direct threat to the evil of this world.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
John 3:19-20
Christ is that light.
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
John 15:18-19
Paul took the existence of his adversaries as a sign he had to stick around and keep up the fight, even when he otherwise longed to hit the road again.
Can’t Just Get Along
Jesus repeatedly encouraged believers to strive for peace and unity. These things should not be opposed for their own sake (and should be especially sought among the fellowship of believers) but it only depends upon us so far. We should strive to wrong no one, but even so we will be opposed for revealing the truth of Christ in a world that hates him.
Many have sought to find ways to still “do the work” but somewhat covertly, either sharing a “gospel” that doesn’t call for repentance or at the very least refusing to articulate exactly what this “sin” of which people ought to repent really is.
To chase such universal peace, a message is produced which does not appeal to those whom God is saving (the only people who will truly believe and therefore the only effective target of evangelism) because it is a message which leaves people in their sins and only offers a seared conscience which makes people less ashamed of the sin for which they live.
Instead of being a reflection of the light of Christ, who’s work is to free people from sin, people hide that light under a basket so as not to offend and offer a false savior who offers comfort rather than freedom.
Worse still, those who experience little opposition to their message see it as a sign of success! They will speak of how those who expose the works of the devil and call people to repentance are hated only because they’re too abrasive or that such people even seek that hatred because they are pugnacious. They often present themselves as the “good kind of Christian” because they have found a way to be appealing to those for whom the gospel is the stench of death.
This is a warning to those Christians who enjoy peace with the world and an encouragement to those of you who, like Paul, know that the adversaries are a sign to stick around because the doors of effective work are yet open! Like Paul, we shouldn’t flee from adversity. Instead, we must seek effective work for the Kingdom of Christ knowing that it will cause opposition.
