1 Corinthians 16:4

And if it be meet that I go also,.... If it should be convenient for me to go, or it should be thought proper and expedient that I should go; or, as the Syriac version renders it, "if this work

And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. Meet - `worth while.' If your collections be large enough to be worth an apostle's journey (a stimulus to their liberality), I will accompany

To encourage them to the more free and liberal contribution, he promiseth them himself to go along with those that carried it, if it were thought meet. Whether Paul, according to this promise, did go to Corinth, some question, because of what we read, ,16. But others think, that he speaketh there of another journey, which he intended thither; and that he did go in a fulfilling of this promise, because we read, , that he went into Greece, and spent there a considerable time; during which it is very probable that he did not omit to visit the church of Corinth.

4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. Ver. 4. That I go also] And go he did, Romans 15:25; Acts 24:17. The very angels hold not themselves too good to serve the saints.

Verse 4. And if it be meet, c.] If it be a business that requires my attendance, and it be judged proper for me to go to Jerusalem, I will take those persons for my companions. On the delicacy with which St. Paul managed the business of a collection for the poor, Archdeacon Paley makes the following appropriate remarks:- "The following observations will satisfy us concerning the purity of our apostle's conduct in the suspicious business of a pecuniary contribution. "1st. He disclaims the having received any inspired authority for the directions which he is giving: 'I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.' (2 Corinthians 8:8.) Who, that had a sinister purpose to answer by the recommending of subscriptions, would thus distinguish, and thus lower the credit of his own recommendation? "2d. Although he asserts the general right of Christian ministers to a maintenance from their ministry, yet he protests against the making use of this right in his own person: 'Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel but I have used none of these things; neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me; for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying, i.e. my professions of disinterestedness, void.' (1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Corinthians 9:15.) "3d. He repeatedly proposes that there should be associates with himself in the management of the public bounty; not colleagues of his own appointment, but persons elected for that purpose by the contributors themselves. 'And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem; and if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.' (1 Corinthians 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:4.) And in the second epistle, what is here proposed we find actually done, and done for the very purpose of guarding his character against any imputation that might be brought upon it in the discharge of a pecuniary trust: 'And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches; and not that only, but who was also chosen of the Churches to travel with us with this grace, (gift,) which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and the declaration of your ready mind: avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us; providing for things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men:' i.e. not resting in the consciousness of our own integrity, but, in such a subject, careful also to approve our integrity to the public judgment. (2 Corinthians 8:18-21.") Horae Paulinae, page 95.

4. they shall go with me] Under no circumstances would St Paul take charge of the money himself. It was, moreover, fitting that members of the Corinthian Church should have the pleasure, as well as the credit, of presenting their bounty in person to those who were to be the recipients of it. Cf. 2 Corinthians 8:19-20.

And if it be meet ... - If it be judged desirable and best. If my presence can further the object; or will satisfy you better; or will be deemed necessary to guide and aid those who may be sent, I will be willing to go also.

4. Meet—Worth the while; of sufficient importance to require my so doing. The journey, their reception at Jerusalem, and the sad results to Paul, are narrated by Luke, Acts 20:3; Acts 21:30.