1 Corinthians 16:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Corinthians 16:12
As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
time
νῦνnun
G3568
"now" (as adverb of date · adverb
but
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
come
ἐλεύσεταιeleusetai
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — future middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
when
ὅτανhotan
G3752
whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertain… · conjunction
time
εὐκαιρήσῃ.¶eukairēsē
G2119
to have good time · verb — aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Corinthians 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Acts 18:24-19:1 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
1 Corinthians 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Mark 6:21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 16:10-12
In this passage,
I. He recommends Timothy to them, in several particulars. As, 1. He bids them take care that he should be among them without feat, Co1 16:10. Timothy was sent by the apostle to correct the abuses which had crept in among them; and not only to direct, but to blame, and censure, and reprove, those who were culpable. They were all in factions, and no doubt the mutual strife and hatred ran very high among them. There were some very rich, as it is probable; and many very proud, upon account both of their outward wealth and spiritual gifts. Proud spirits cannot easily bear reproof. It was reasonable therefore to think young Timothy might be roughly used; hence the apostle warns th…
Apollos, I greatly desired . . . to come unto you--He says this lest they should suspect that he from jealousy prevented Apollos' coming to them; perhaps they had expressly requested Apollos to be sent to them. Apollos was not at Ephesus when Paul wrote (compare Co1 16:19, and Co1 1:1). Probably Apollos' unwillingness to go to Corinth at this time was because, being aware of the undue admiration of his rhetorical style which led astray many at Corinth, he did not wish to sanction it (Co1 1:12; Co1 3:4). Paul's noble freedom from all selfish jealousy led him to urge Apollos to go; and, on the other hand, Apollos, having heard of the abuse of his name at Corinth to party purposes, perseveringl…
As touching our brother Apollos - It appears from this that the brethren, of whom the apostle speaks in the preceding verse, were then with him at Ephesus; I, with the brethren, greatly desired to come.
But his will was not at all to come - As there had been a faction set up in the name of Apollos at Corinth, he probably thought it not prudent to go thither at this time, lest his presence might be the means of giving it either strength or countenance.
John Gill
The Church Fathers
Paul is hinting that Apollos did not want to go to Corinth because the church there was divided, in the hope that when they heard this they would be eager to make peace. Apollos would come when the church reached agreement.
Apollos was the bishop of Corinth, but he had left the church on account of its divisions and gone to be with Paul. He would not go back with the letter, because he did not want to return until the divisions were healed.
This man appears to have been both well-educated and also older than Timothy. Lest they should say then, "For what possible reason did he not send the man grown, but the youth instead of him?" observe how he softens down this point also, both calling him a brother, and saying that he had besought him much. For lest he should seem to have held Timothy in higher honor than him and to have exalted him more, and on this account not to have sent him, and cause their envy to burst out more abundantly, he adds, "I besought him much to come." What then: did not the other yield nor consent? did he resist and show himself contentious? He saith not this, but that he might not excite prejudice against him, and also might make excuse for himself, he saith, "and it was not at all his will to come now." Then to prevent their saying that all this was an excuse and pretence, he added, "but he will come to you when he shall have opportunity." This was both an excuse for him, and a refreshment to them who desired to see him, by the hope which it gave of his coming.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Apollos — A Jew “born at Alexandria,” a man well versed in the Scriptures and eloquent (Acts 18:24; R.V., “learned”). He came to Ephesus (about A.D. 49), where he spake “boldly” in the synagogue (18:26),…
Apollos · Refuses to return to Rome — Refuses to return to Rome
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on 1 Corinthians 16:12
As touching our brother Apollos,.... Who was a senior man to Timothy, an eloquent preacher, one who had been at Corinth, and was well known to the saints there, and greatly approved by many of them; wherefore the apostle excuses it, that he should send the one, and not the other, and shows that it was no fault of his: for, says he,
I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren; who seem to be Timotheus and Erastus, see Acts 19:22. He greatly importuned him to go along with them, knowing how acceptable he would be among them, and hoping he might be of great use to them in composing their differences, and rectifying their disorders.
But his will was not at all to come at this time…
1 Corinthians 16:8-12
8. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.
8. Commorabor autem Ephesi usque ad Pentecosten.
9. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
9. Nam ostium milli aperture est magnum et efficax, et [161] adversarii multi.
10. Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do
10. Quodsi venerit Timotheus, videte, ut absque metu sit apud vos: opus enim Domini operatur, quemadmodum et ego.
11. Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren.
11. Ne quis igitur eum spernat: sed proseq…
