1 Corinthians 16:5

What Paul Asks for Himself

5 After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you. I will only be passing through 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 When I arrive, I will send some people with your gift to Jerusalem. They will be people you consider to be good. And I will give them letters that explain who they are.
4 If it seems good for me to go also, they will go with me.
5 After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you. I will only be passing through Macedonia.
6 But I might stay with you for a while. I might even spend the winter. Then you can help me on my journey everywhere I go.
7 I don't want to see you now while I am just passing through. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows it.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.