1 Corinthians 16:5

5 But I shall come to you, when I shall pass by Macedonia; for why I shall pass by Macedonia.

1 Corinthians 16:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 16:5

Now I will come unto you
Which he again assures them of, as being his real intention and design; though some had given out that he would not come to them any more, and hoped they should never see him any more; see ( 1 Corinthians 4:18 1 Corinthians 4:19 ) .

When I shall pass through Macedonia;
hereby fixing the time when he intended to visit them after he had gone through that country, and had received their collections for the saints at Jerusalem, which the churches there so generously made, and pressed him to the ministering of, of which he speaks in his next epistle.

For I do pass through Macedonia;
not that he was then passing through Macedonia, or was in it, and so at Philippi, from whence this epistle is said to be written, as the subscription at the end of it expresses, for he was now at Ephesus; see ( 1 Corinthians 16:8 ) and from thence was this epistle written; he was not in Macedonia till some time after, see ( 2 Corinthians 2:12 2 Corinthians 2:13 ) but the sense is, that he should take his tour through Macedonia; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "for I shall pass through Macedonia"; and so coming into Greece, he intended to come to Corinth, and stay some time with them.

1 Corinthians 16:5 In-Context

3 And when I shall be present, which men ye approve, I shall send them by epistles to bear your grace into Jerusalem. [Forsooth when I shall be present, whom ye shall prove by epistles, them I shall send to perfectly bear your grace into Jerusalem.]
4 That if it be worthy that also I go, they shall go with me.
5 But I shall come to you, when I shall pass by Macedonia; for why I shall pass by Macedonia.
6 But peradventure I shall dwell at you, or also dwell the winter, that ye lead me whither ever I shall go.
7 And I will not now see you in my passing [Soothly I will not now see you in passing], for I hope to dwell with you a while, if the Lord shall suffer.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.