Greetings and the Apostle’s Final Word and Blessing (1 Corinthians 16:19–24)

1 Cor. 16:19. The churches of Asia greet you; Aquila and Priscilla, with the church in their house, greet you greatly in the Lord.

“The churches of Asia greet you”. “And the Apostle added this for the benefit of the Corinthians, showing the spread of the preaching” (Theodoret). This was customary for the Apostle Paul. “He always brings together and unites the members of the Church in his greetings” (Saint Chrysostom). All those converted by the Apostle understood themselves in a spiritual sense as children of one spiritual father, and thus greeted one another sincerely as kinfolk. But besides this, all Christians are of one spirit, have one Lord as their head, and are bound to one another in Him, constituting as it were one family.

“Aquila and Priscilla” send their greetings also because they were known to them personally and probably contributed much to the holy Paul in establishing faith in Corinth. To receive a greeting from them could not help but be comforting to the Corinthians, testifying that these persons remember them still and do not cease to hold them in good affection. The holy Paul marked this especially with the words: “greatly” and “in the Lord.” — “With the church in their house”—that is, either with all who were in their house, or with that portion of Christians who gathered in their house for prayer and communion. Saint Chrysostom and other of our commentators remark that the holy Paul lived with them, and consequently their gatherings were more numerous. As there were no separate churches then, houses were given over for assemblies. Scarcely could one house be found that could accommodate all believers; therefore, probably more than one house was set apart for this purpose. This was the beginning of what occurs now in cities, that there are many churches. “By their great virtue they made their house a church, having determined to do only that which is proper to the church” (Theodoret). “And this is no small achievement—to turn one’s house into a church” (Saint Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 16:20. All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Not Aquila and Priscilla alone with their household church, but all the Ephesian Christians greet you. And the unknown do not fall short of the known in good wishes. But if those far distant from you thus draw near to you, should you not all the more remain in sincere unity among yourselves? This I ask you to do now, upon reading the letter, with a mutual greeting of one another by a holy kiss, so that it may drive away from among you all discord, all dissension, so that you may be one in both mind and heart. “The Apostle cast out discord and bound them together with a holy kiss” (Theodoret). “Such an addition: ‘with a holy kiss,’ he makes only here. Why? Because among the Corinthians there was great division; they said, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and so on; some of them suffered hunger while others became drunk; among them there were quarrels, dissensions, and lawsuits; even over the very gifts of grace among them there was great envy and great pride. Having reconciled them through his exhortation, he rightly commands them to unite with a holy kiss; it could unite them and make them one body; it is ‘holy’ if it is free from deceit and hypocrisy” (Saint Chrysostom).

6. The Apostle’s final word and good wishes (1 Cor. 16:21–24)

1 Cor. 16:21. The greeting of Paul with my own hand.

A greeting of love to you and from me, who write with my own hand. By this he confirmed that the whole letter comes from him. The Apostle customarily expressed his greeting with words: “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and so on (1 Cor. 15:23). But sometimes, in accordance with those to whom he wrote, he would add something to this word. In this letter he surrounds it with words about love…

1 Cor. 16:22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.

The essence of Christianity lies in union with the Lord—essential union. But whoever is in this union, can he not love the Lord? If someone does not love the Lord, it is a direct sign that he is not in union with Him; and if he is not in union with Him, he is estranged from Christianity, estranged from the body of the Church, self-excommunicated from it, though he bears the name of Christian—he is anathema, meaning he is cut off from the body of the Church. In the original stands only ἀναθέμα, and what to add here—“is” or “let it be”—is left to the will of the reader. It seems that here “is” fits better, in the sense that whoever does not have love for the Lord is already cut off from the Church, not a member of it, or a member who has been severed. The words “maranatha” are better understood as a confirmatory word in the sense of: truly so, yea, so. In translation this means: “The Lord has come.” The Apostle expresses: whoever does not love the Lord is anathema. This is as true as it is true that the Lord has come. In the Old Testament He was the coming one, who was to come, awaited; but for us He is the one who has come. By confessing this the Apostle confirms that the failure to love the Lord makes a Christian anathema.

Saint Chrysostom says: “By this very utterance He strikes fear into all those who made their members the members of a harlot, who led brothers astray by the eating of idol offerings, named themselves after men, did not believe in the resurrection—and not only does He strike fear, but also points the way to virtue and the source of vices. Just as love for Christ, when it is strong, casts out and destroys all kinds of sins, so too it, when weak, allows them to grow. What does ‘maranatha’ mean? Our Lord has come. Why does he say this? In order to confirm the teaching about God’s economy of salvation, since the seeds of resurrection lie chiefly therein; and also in order to shame them, as if saying: the common Master of all deigned to humble Himself to such a degree, and you still remain in the same state and continue to sin? Does not His excessive love, the greatest of all goods, strike you? Remember only this one thing, and you will be able to make progress in all virtue and destroy every sin.” Blessed Theodoret adds the following further consideration: “Just as those who love carnally wish to have no one else as a rival in their love, so, on the contrary, the blessed Apostle desires that all people together with him should be lovers of the Lord, and whoever is not such, he cuts off from the Church.”

1 Cor. 16:23–24. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

“It is proper for a teacher to help not only with counsel, but also with prayers. The Apostle also prays: ‘grace… be with you. And my love be with you’. Being separated from them by distance, he as it were stretches forth his right hand and embraces them with the embraces of love: ‘my love,’ he says, ‘be with you’; as if to say: I myself am with all of you. This shows that what he wrote came not from irritation and not from anger, but from concern for their well-being, if even after such rebukes he does not turn away from them, but loves and embraces them, despite the great distance, and pours out his soul before them in writings and letters. But so that they would not think that he makes such a declaration of love out of flattery, he says: ‘in Christ Jesus’; his love has nothing human in it, nothing fleshly, but is spiritual, and therefore most sincere; his words, moreover, express great love” (Saint Chrysostom).

“And we will draw profit for ourselves from the Apostle’s last words, and will love our Master who has loved us, so that the curse may not fall upon us also, but so that we may be counted worthy of all His blessings. With Him the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and honor, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen”