A Wide Door, and Many Adversaries
5 I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. 6 But with you it may be that I will stay with you, or even winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. 11 Therefore let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers. 12 Now concerning Apollos the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity.
Travel plans held loosely, a reason for staying in Ephesus that would have sent most people away, and instructions about two colleagues.
5 I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. 6 But with you it may be that I will stay with you, or even winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.
A route and an intention, both provisional. For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits 1 Corinthians 16:7 — the qualification is not decoration. These plans changed, and the next letter has to defend him against the charge of being unreliable about exactly this 2 Corinthians 1:15–17.
8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
The reason for staying is two facts joined by and, and the second would ordinarily be a reason to leave. An open door and many opponents are presented as one situation rather than as a balance to be weighed — the opposition is evidence that the door is worth standing in. Ephesus bore this out: the long stay there produced a riot and an escape Acts 19:23–31 2 Corinthians 1:8.
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. 11 Therefore let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers.
A quiet glimpse of a younger colleague and of this congregation's reputation. Timothy had already been sent 1 Corinthians 4:17, and Paul is worried about how he will be received — without fear, and let no one despise him. A church that graded its teachers by eloquence 1 Corinthians 1:12 was evidently capable of making a young emissary uncomfortable, and Paul's defense of him is to put their work on the same footing: as I also do.
Now concerning Apollos the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity.
The last now concerning, and it answers the party spirit of chapter one in the plainest possible way. Paul urged Apollos to go to Corinth — the man whose name one faction had adopted against him. There was no rivalry to manage, and the person most invested in the alleged competition was neither of the two supposed competitors. Apollos declined for his own reasons, which are given without comment, and he will come when he has an opportunity. Two apostolic workers making travel decisions between themselves, while a church five hundred miles away divides over their names.
settled What this mark means