Faith Is Not Meant to Be Lived Alone
Paul’s closing words to Corinth reveal why faith fractures in isolation—and how spiritual friendships help us stand firm, love deeply, and remain faithful.
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Plans for Travel
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
Final Instructions
12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will[a] to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I urge you, brothers[b]—you know that the household[c] of Stephanas were the first converts[d] in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
Greetings
19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come![e] 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Develop Spiritual Friendships
When you read between the lines, you see Paul talking about his relationship with this far-off church. “I will visit you after passing 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” (1 Corinthians 16:5-7).
Corinth is on the peninsula of Greece, about due east from Ephesus across the Aegean Sea. Instead of sailing across, Paul will take the longer land route north through Macedonia and then south to Corinth. But he’s coming for an extended visit. He’s not popping in quickly. He wants to spend time with them—to continue teaching and guiding them, to grow this relationship, to be about God’s work with them, to be faithful to Christ’s Great Commission alongside them.
Our current reference may be politicians who pop in on campaign trails. They blaze across swing states on buses, lining up events from town to town for efficiency. It’s self-serving because they want the most exposure and the greatest opportunity for fundraising and votes.
That’s not what Paul’s doing. He’s not going to be a fly-by-night visitor. He’s going to stay as long as the Lord permits, whether that’s months, maybe a year, or even longer. He’s paying attention to spiritual friendship because these people are more than just spiritual children to him; They are friends. They are brothers and sisters in Christ with whom he has a genuine relationship and a vested interest.
[READ MORE: What is the Role of a Spiritual Mentor]
God’s Work Is Done Together
Throughout the rest of the chapter, Paul lists his co-workers in his ministry, those who labor alongside him to spread the gospel. We get little mini vignettes of what each has done.
Timothy: Paul tells the church, “Receive him well.” Timothy was young and maybe timid, and Paul had to talk him up. But this was also a church that liked to fight, that liked to chew people up and spit them out. Paul says, “Don’t do that. Welcome him as you would welcome me.”
Apollos: In the Corinthian church, there was division. Some followed Paul, some Apollos, some Peter (1 Corinthians 1:12). But Paul doesn’t buy into that. He’s not striving for his own personal influence. He encouraged Apollos to go. Apollos wasn’t ready—perhaps he didn’t want to participate in the infighting—but Paul encouraged him anyway.
: He brought the letter from the Corinthians to Paul. He was the first convert in that city, the one who helped found the church. He gave himself to the service of others. He didn’t say, “This is a decision for me, and I’m going to have my private faith.” He devoted himself to others’ service. He was apparently wealthy and used his resources for the church’s mission.
Fortunatus and Achaicus: These are possibly former slaves. “Fortunatus” means “lucky man.” “Achaicus” just means “man from Achaia.”
Aquila and Priscilla: They show up throughout the New Testament. They traveled from Rome to Corinth to Ephesus. They also seemed to have been wealthy with a profitable business that they used to support the church.
Taken together, we begin to get a bigger picture of what the faithful life looks like. Paul is reminding this church that they are not alone, not within their own congregation, and certainly not within the broader scope of faith. Ours is a connectional faith. Paul’s telling them: You’re meant to be part of a team.
[READ MORE: Reclaiming Unity in the Modern Church]
We Are Meant to Be Part of a Team
As believers, we are meant to be part of a team. You become a team when you share time and experiences.
Our time together is “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25). Our trust is established through our common work—through the Great Commission and our mission to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples. [READ MORE: How Can I be an Encourager]
John Wesley said there is no holiness (meaning, we cannot grow in sanctification) without social holiness. Some come from backgrounds where “holiness” means a checklist of behaviors: here’s what you do, here’s what you don’t do, and we’re keeping an eye on you to see if you ever cross that line.
But what Wesley meant is that we are meant to seek God together, to pursue our sanctification together. We share our hearts and lives, our hopes and dreams, our struggles and sins. We share how it is with our soul, how the Spirit is moving in our lives. We do that with brothers and sisters who do the same.
The church, which is your local congregation, is edified, and Christ is glorified by it and through it. Remember, His prayer was for us to be as one (John 17:21), and that should be our prayer too.
It transforms us from the inside out when we submit and yield to His work in us. It transforms our hearts, our homes, this church, this city, and the world.
Remain Grounded in Christ
Then the Apostle Paul gets explicit with the Corinthians by responding to the state of this church and reminding them of what’s expected.
At the very beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that the world was coming into their church, infecting, and beginning to sink the Corinthian church. He’s telling them how to stop that:
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Those verses are very direct with five commands in quick succession. It’s like a general pumping up his men before battle, and that’s the language Paul uses. These are militaristic verbs.
Be watchful and alert. Look for Christ’s return. Know His gospel and His commandments.
Stand firm. Be firmly committed in conviction and belief. Paul already commended them and exhorted them to persevere in chapter 15. This faith is the gospel message from that same chapter.
Act like men. This isn’t gender language or even mature language. It’s about courage and boldness. Know what matters and prioritize it. Be ready to act when the time comes.
Be strong. Be made strong by putting on Christ and the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
But at the end, there’s a different ending that sets Christianity apart from the rest of the world: “Let all that you do be done in love.”
Even today, society pushes the same narratives the Corinthians dealt with: find your strength and identity in something or someone other than Christ. That you can reject the way of the cross, avoid pain, and seek pleasure at all costs. That you can pick and choose which parts of the faith you want to embrace and which parts of the world and your secular identity you want to hang on to. Ultimately, the idea is that you put yourself first.
As society continues to push those narratives, the Apostle Paul pushes back and says: No, embrace Christ and His command, which is love. Love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). When you do that, you will be faithful to the life Christ has called you to, and not just called you to, but empowered you for.
[READ MORE: How God’s Love Transforms the Way We Love Others]
A Warning, a Prayer, and a Blessing
In the last three verses, the Apostle Paul concludes this letter with a warning, a prayer, and a blessing.
“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.” 1 Corinthians 16:22-24
Paul has legitimate concerns that some within the fellowship don’t love the Lord.
How do you know if you love the Lord? Christ Himself tells us:
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. You are my friends if you do what I command. And this is my command: Love each other.” John 15:10-12, 14, 17
The Apostle Paul says those who don’t have Christ’s love in them, those who are not obedient to His words, let them be accursed for bringing division, turmoil, and strife into the body of Christ. [READ MORE: Walking in Light: Living as the Body of Christ]
Then he looks forward to Christ’s return and gives them a benediction of grace. That prayer for grace is how he opens and closes the letter. In chapter 1, verse 3, he says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He closes with, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.”
Grace to you as you receive these words, as you receive this correction. Grace with you as we depart, and this conversation pauses, and you go on to live a faithful life.
He loves these people. As it would any pastor’s heart, it must tear him up when his people are going astray and hurting each other. He prays for God’s best for them. He wants God’s grace to permeate and saturate their lives. And he’s warning them at the same time: There is danger ahead if you keep going down the path rejecting Christ.
Church People Are Hard to Love
Church people are hard to love. Church people are hard to love because we know the way, but we struggle to walk in it. When we know the way and know that others know we know the way, it’s hard to admit we’re not in it. So we put up a mask, a veneer that isn’t true or authentic.
When that’s happening, it’s hard to both give and receive strong words, meaning to repent and believe the gospel, to come back to obedience, to love Christ.
But when you know somebody loves you, when you know somebody has your best interests at heart, someone who’s seen and heard you at your worst and promises to love you anyway, that’s a person you’ll listen to. That’s a person you will make space for to speak into your life.
Hard truths, delivered in love, will bring healing.
The Apostle Paul had that with this church. He founded it and departed for his next mission. They fought to keep the world’s influence at bay after he left. But they were slipping, so they wrote to ask him for help. He responds and gives them a word of correction.
Christ didn’t leave us orphaned either. He gave us the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul didn’t leave this church alone and say, “Figure it out. I’ve moved on.” He wrote these healing words to a broken and hurting church, to the entire group, and to individuals, about what it means to live faithful lives.
The Church Needs You
Friends, the gospel is that our Christian life is not one of solitude. We were baptized as believers into the faith, but also into the church—His holy church, Christ’s body here on earth.
This church needs you, and you need your local congregation. A local congregation, a body as a whole, and all of us individually, are better and stronger together. [READ MORE: How Do I Find Community]
The community is those gathered around something shared in common. It might be as simple as a fantasy football team, a favorite travel destination, or other hobbies.
However, the thing we have in common here is the most important thing in life: a confession that Christ is Lord, that He is God’s anointed Son, a belief in His atoning death and resurrection, and a hope for His return to establish His unending kingdom here on earth.
When you gather with your local congregation, as part of the body of Christ, you have the opportunity to be in your closest relationships on earth, and for some, even closer than your own family. But it can only happen if we let it and seek it.
Just like the Corinthians, you are being pulled by the world and by the Enemy away from Jesus Christ. But you have a team contending on your behalf, led by the Holy Spirit—brothers and sisters in your congregation who can enrich your life in ways you cannot do on your own. Friends to help you be watchful, courageous, and strong. Friends to help you stand firm, to hold you accountable to Christ’s rule of love.
This gospel is that Christ gives us this spiritual family to come to faith and grow in faith, to serve in faith, to live in faith, and to die in faith.
But it’s not automatic, and it’s not forced. You have to say yes—to trust God enough to let go of the reins of your own life, to hand them over to Him and say, “Lord, lead me.”
Our faith is not meant to be lived alone. We need each other. We are the body of Christ, and together—only together—can we be faithful to the life He’s called us to live.
TL;DR
Paul’s final instructions to the Corinthians highlight the importance of spiritual friendships and shared life in sustaining faith.
The Christian life is inherently connectional—growth, sanctification, and mission happen together, not in isolation.
Paul calls believers to be watchful, firm, courageous, strong, yet distinctively grounded in love.
The church is both a gift and a responsibility—we need one another to live, serve, persevere, and remain faithful to Christ.
