If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
1 Corinthians 16:22
This last article in this series on 1 Corinthians will examine Paul’s remarks to the church at Corinth as he closes his letter to them. He starts his final remarks by informing them that the churches in the Roman province of Asia (which today is the western portion of Turkey) sends them greetings (16:19a). This is the same area in which Paul spent two years evangelizing at the school of Tyrannus and where the seven churches to whom Revelation was written were located (Acts 19:9-10; Rev. 1:11; cf. Acts 20:17ff; Eph. 1:1ff; Col. 4:15-16). “Aquila and Prisca” (or Priscilla), “together with the church in their house,” also sent Corinth “hearty greetings in the Lord” (16:19b). When Paul first came to Corinth, he stayed with them and worked alongside them making tents (Acts 18:1-3). The church in Ephesus, which is where Paul was (16:8) and who were likely whom Paul had in mind when he wrote “All the brothers send you greetings” (16:20a), likely met in their house, just as many other churches met in houses at that time (cf. Rom. 16:3-5; Col. 4:15; Philemon 1-2). (It should be pointed out, however, that some congregations in the first century also met in the ancient equivalents of our “church buildings,” synagogues, as a word study of James 2:2 will show.)
The apostle’s directive to “greet one another with a holy kiss” (16:20b; cf. Rom. 16:16; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26) tends to understandably raise the eyebrows of modern American readers. In our culture, women are the ones who tend to greet each other with brief pecks on the cheek, and even then less often than the more common practice of both genders to greet each other with a handshake, or a hug with ones with whom you feel close. Yet in Paul’s culture, and even today in both the Middle East and Europe, most greeted each other primarily with brief kisses on the cheek (cf. Gen. 29:11-13; Ex. 4:27; Ruth 1:9, 14; Lk. 22:48). In the context of writing about Christians giving each other greetings, the apostle is simply directing that their greetings be “holy,” set apart from the greetings given by the sinful world in which they and we live. Peter’s similar directive to greet each other “with a kiss of love” (1 Pet. 5:14) gives us an idea of what is meant here. The greetings of many non-Christians contain vulgarities; save for their loved ones, there tends to be no love in their hearts for many whom they greet. Christians must be different!
After informing Corinth that he writes his greeting “with my own hand” (16:21) and before finishing the letter by wishing Jesus’ grace and his love in Christ to be with them (16:23-24), Paul gives one more warning which is cited above (16:22). It is interesting that the term for “love” for the Lord which Paul uses is phileo (human affection) rather than agape (ultimate, self-sacrificial love). While we all must strive to love Christ with all of our being (agape, Matt. 22:37), by using phileo Paul seems to be saying that if anyone does not even like the Lord, he is to be accursed. The Lord seems to expect people to at the very least have a positive view of himself and his followers. In large part, that depends on the behavior of you and me, Christians (Matt. 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:11-12).
“Our Lord, come!” comes from an Aramaic word, maranatha. In this context, it could mean that Christ has already come, a prophetic declaration that he will come in the future, or a prayer for him to come again soon (cf. Rev. 22:20). Are we ready for him to come back, friends?
— Jon
