Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 16:1-24, The collection and final greetings
Paul arranges a weekly setting aside of money for the believers in Jerusalem, plans his travels, commends Timothy, Apollos and the household of Stephanas, and closes with greetings, a line in his own hand and the Aramaic prayer Marana tha.
1 Corinthians 16:1-24, in every translation this tool compares.
On the first day of each week each should set something aside, as he has prospered, for the collection for the saints, and when Paul comes, people the Corinthians approve will carry their gift to Jerusalem with letters. He will come after passing through Macedonia and may spend the winter with them, but will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a wide door has opened. He commends Timothy, says Apollos will come later, and urges them to submit to the household of Stephanas, whose visit with Fortunatus and Achaicus refreshed him. Aquila and Prisca greet them with the church in their house; Paul writes the greeting in his own hand, adds Marana tha, Our Lord, come, and sends his love.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-of-recommendation\/","n":"Letters of recommendation","s":"A traveler often carried a letter from someone his hosts trusted, vouching for him and asking them to receive him. Such letters opened homes, synagogues and churches.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-and-letter-carriers\/","n":"Letters, scribes and carriers","s":"Letters were usually dictated to scribes, carried by trusted travelers because there was no public post, and read aloud to the people they were sent to.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/house-churches\/","n":"House churches","s":"For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sea-travel\/","n":"Travel by sea","s":"Outside winter, ships were the quickest and cheapest way to travel, but they were built for cargo, not passengers, and from mid-September the sea grew dangerous. The great grain ships of Alexandria fed Rome.","r":""}
Diaspora Jews chose respected members to carry the annual temple tax to Jerusalem (Keener and his notes); without banks, Wright notes, money had to be carried in person. Carson, Moo and Morris say the gift was for believers in Jerusalem suffering famine and persecution, and that Paul meant to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, probably in AD 55, before changing his plans (2 Corinthians 1:15-16). Other associations usually charged dues, but believers' gifts were voluntary (the cultural backgrounds notes). The first day may show believers meeting on Sunday, as the ESV Study Bible says, while the cultural backgrounds notes say explicit evidence for Sunday meetings comes from the second century. Supplied what was lacking is read two ways: a gift the delegates brought (Carson, Moo and Morris) or, as most interpreters take it according to the Zondervan dictionary, their company making up for the absent church. Stephanas's party probably carried this letter home (Keener and his notes). Maranatha may mean our Lord has come or our Lord, come; most prefer the second, and either way the Aramaic shows Jesus confessed as Lord in the land of Israel (the dictionary; Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 16:15-18, 16:21 and 16:22
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 16:2, 16:17, 16:21 and 16:22
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Corinthians 16:2
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, comment on 1 Corinthians 16:1-9
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Occasion, Historical Reconstruction
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries Stephanas and maranatha
