for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
At the close of a long letter, Paul turns the spotlight onto three men from Corinth who had travelled to see him. They refreshed him, and he tells the church to give such people their due. What was that refreshment, and why did a church need to be told to value its own servants?
The kind of people being commended
The three belonged to a group Paul had just described in the previous verses — people who had taken on the service of the saints without being appointed to it. One writer draws out why such people need an express command to be recognised:
Hamilton SmithThese servants did not necessarily have gifts such as preaching or teaching. Those gifts were for the whole church, and might give a man a prominent place in front of others. But they are a valuable class of servants who, in their own place, give themselves in an orderly way to serving the Lord's people. There is a real danger of overlooking them in favour of those whose work brings them more into public view. So the call is to recognise such people and to be subject to them. The words that follow in verse 18 seem to show that this was not material help but spiritual refreshment. The second letter confirms it: there Paul refuses all material help from this church (2 Cor. 11:9-10).
What the refreshment was
Commentators differ. Smith takes the refreshment as spiritual, not material. Others read it as practical supply, and hear a gentle rebuke folded into the praise:
William KellyBoth letters suggest that the help did not come from the church as a body, but from these three men, whose love the apostle makes sure to record. In what he says there is real grace. He counts on the news refreshing the Corinthian church, just as the men had refreshed him. Yet he also hints that they had lost an opportunity — one the three saw and took before the Lord.
A third writer takes in both private and public gain. Paul was refreshed by their company, and also by hearing them speak of Christ:
VariousThe coming of these brothers was welcome to his spirit, since in them he seemed to have and taste again the comfort of their shared love… He was refreshed, not only through private conversation with these brothers, but also by their public ministry of Christ. I think this a fair inference from the last clause of verse 18.
"And yours"
Paul does not keep the comfort to himself. He says the same three refreshed the Corinthians — a church that had been slow, cold, and critical toward him:
J. N. DarbyThree Corinthians had brought him supplies. It does not appear that the church sent them, or that any proof of the church's love had refreshed the apostle's heart. He wants the Corinthians to rejoice at it… It is touching to see the apostle's love suggesting what grace would produce in their hearts. He tells them what they would probably not have known otherwise — the active love of three brothers of their own church. In love he joins them to his joy, even if they had not been joined to what caused it. The flame of love spreads by rising above coldness and reaching the depths of divine life in the heart.
The force of "acknowledge"
The word Paul uses is not vague approval. Studies of the Greek term place it in a family of words carrying:
J. A. Trenchsure personal knowledge, and then the recognition that a thing is true — recognising because we know.
Paul had tested these men himself, and now hands his verdict to a church that might not have reached it alone:
VariousWhen he says, "Therefore acknowledge such," it is as if he would, after personally tasting it, commend the refreshing ministry of these beloved brothers to those who might perhaps, but for such commendation, have been slow to appreciate the blessings which the Lord had planted among them.
Service that is never lost
One writer sets these Corinthians beside the believers in the other cities Paul wrote to, and asks which you would rather be:
C. H. MackintoshWho would not rather be a believer at Philippi, meeting the apostle's need, than one at Corinth, calling his ministry into question, or one in Galatia, breaking his heart? What a vast difference! The apostle could take nothing from the church at Corinth. Their state did not allow it. Yet some people in that church did serve him. Scripture records their service, heaven remembers it, and the coming kingdom will reward it richly.
Summary
- Devotion first. No one appointed these men, and no one put them on a platform. They gave themselves to serving God's people, and that alone earned them recognition.
- Refreshment given. Their coming revived Paul — their company, and, some say, their ministry too. Commentators differ on whether material help came into it.
- Refreshment shared. He tells the Corinthians the same men refreshed them, drawing a cold church into a joy it had not earned.
- Recognition owed. To give recognition is to know these people for what they are and to say so — a verdict Paul tested himself and then handed to the church.
- Reward kept. Such service is written into Scripture, remembered by God, and repaid in the kingdom.