1 Corinthians 16:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here again he disposes them to generosity. If, he says, so much is collected that I too must go, I will not refuse.

But he did not promise this directly and did not say, “When I come, I myself will carry it.” If he had said this at the very beginning, he would not have disposed them so much to increase the offering.

But afterward such an addition was good and timely. Therefore he neither promised it directly nor kept complete silence about it. First he said, “I will send,” and then he mentioned himself.

And in these words, “But if it is fitting that I go also,” he again leaves the matter to their will. That is, it depends on them to collect much, and enough that he too would not be ashamed to undertake the journey.

If, he says, the collection is such that my service also is needed, then I too will go. By this he also disposes them toward generosity. He also wishes to have witnesses that he will take nothing for himself. Therefore he says, “they will go with me.”

Paul says this so that they may know that, if the offering collected is great, it will also be worthy for him to go with it himself. For it will bring much consolation to the saints. This is what he means when he says to the Romans: “If the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in material things” (Rom 15:27). For those of whom the Lord says, “Salvation is from the Jews” (Jn 4:22), were from the Jews. In Jerusalem they aroused great hatred among the unbelieving Jews.

It is not fitting for the monetary collection to take place in my presence. I must send what has been gathered to the saints with those “whom you approve.” But if I see that the offering has been made generously, then I myself will take part in this service. He did not say, “I myself will carry it,” but says, “they will go with me.” For what he advises others to do, he himself does first. He is “without offense to Jews, to Greeks, and to the Church of God” (1 Cor 10:32). He also appoints for the Corinthians the time of his arrival.

In the concluding sixteenth chapter, the holy Apostle Paul gives instruction concerning the manner of collecting alms for the Palestinian Christians. This manner consists in each person setting aside, on the first day of the week, a portion of monetary help according to his means, and keeping it with himself until the Apostle’s arrival.

In the concluding chapter, the Apostle Paul gives final instructions, arrangements, greetings, and good wishes. The first of these is an arrangement for preparing alms for the Christians of Jerusalem, who suffered every kind of oppression from the Jews, even the plundering of their possessions.

This instruction is deeply significant. The Apostle commands that it be done on the first day after each Sabbath, that is, on the Lord’s Day. In this way they were to express boundless gratitude to God.

For God raised Christ and in Him gave the pledge of our common resurrection. Thus the convictions, thoughts, and feelings that the Apostle had so earnestly planted in the Corinthians just before this, in chapter 15, he now advises them to stir up and warm within themselves.

“If it is fitting,” that is, if it is necessary, if it so happens that I too must go, they will go with me. I will be their escort and will serve them in place of letters of guidance.

The amount of the collection had no influence on such a decision. However great it might be, the appointed trustees would carry it. The Apostle said this in place of letters. If they go with me, letters will not be needed.

This meaning seems more direct. But perhaps there is also this thought here: if so much is collected that I too must go, then I will go. This, however, is how all understand it, both ancient and modern.

Saint Chrysostom says, “Here again he disposes them to generosity. If, he says, so much is collected that I too must go, I will not refuse.