¹³Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. ¹⁴Let all that you do be done in love.

Amidst personal greetings, Paul slips in a personal challenge that would certainly reflect on the example of Timothy and Apollos. To minister to the Corinthians would require alertness to their selfish, egotistical schemes. The conflict there would challenge the faith of his co-workers’ faith to the core—how could genuinely redeemed people have so many character and relationship issues?! It would take the strength of spiritual giants to withstand the criticisms that would most likely be thrown at them. Paul himself said, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling …” (1 Cor. 2:3, see also 2 Cor. 12:10). If they did not hold back from the diatribes against Paul, who led them to Christ and planted the church there, then no one would be safe from that same treatment.

Of course, not all of the Corinthian believers mistreated Paul. Later Paul writes about Titus, “His affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling” (2 Cor. 17:5). After all, the Corinthians were “sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling…” (1 Cor. 1:2). However, the congregation there as a whole struggled considerably with infighting, selfishness, and disrespect so that it was not an easy environment in which to serve.

So Paul calls upon the Corinthians with five pithy commands: “Be on the alert” (the same word Peter used in cautioning us to be alert to the devil’s influence (1 Peter 5:8), “Stand firm in the faith” (see James 1:6), “Act like men,” not like children (1 Cor. 13:11), “Be strong,” in the right way for the strong things of worldly living will be put to shame (1 Cor. 1:27). “Let all that you do be done in love,” eloquently epitomized in chapter 13.

Despite the struggles the Corinthians had, there was still hope. Paul did not write them off, even in the face of their challenges—and there was more to come, as we shall see in his second letter to them. What motivated him to continue on with them? It was not their response, but the compulsion of the Holy Spirit. Paul was driven by his compelling love for them, for how could he write the things about love that he did in this letter if it were not true of himself toward them? He was alert, stood firm in his faith, and acted like a spiritual grownup. Our application, then, should be to do as he says: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

Lord, I want to be alert, stand firm, be mature in my faith, be strong, and be motivated by love for the saints.