I beseech you, brethren, (you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
Read Chapter 16
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
I beseech you, brethren, &c. Theophylact arranges this verse and the next in this way: I beseech you, brethren, that ye submit yourselves to Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and to every one that works with them and labours; for ye know their house (i.e, houses or families), that they are the firstfruits of Achaia (viz, that they were the first in Achaia to believe on Christ), and that they have devoted themselves and all that they have to the ministering to the saints (i.e, in showing hospitality to needy Christians and to strangers, and especially those who labour in the Gospel). The submission enjoined here would consist in showing honour, and in following their exhortations and good example. The fellow-labourers are those who helped the men mentioned above in their Christian work.
Paul calls these people the “first fruits” of Achaia, either because they were the first to be converted or because their piety was greater than that of others or because they refused to be ordained on account of their great humility and instead dedicated themselves to the service of others. .
Stephanas and his family were not only the first to be converted, they were also a shining example to everyone else. Those who are first ought to set an example to those who come afterward and be servants of others, as these people evidently were.
3. Now I beseech you, brethren;— ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to minister unto the saints.
In the beginning too he mentions this man, saying, I baptized also the home of Stephanas: and now he speaks of him as the first-fruits not of Corinth only, but also of all Greece. And this too is no small encomium that he was the first to come to Christ. Wherefore also in the Epistle to the Romans, praising certain persons on this account, he said, Who also were in Christ before me. Romans 16:7 And he said not, that they were the first who believed, but were the first-fruits; implying that together with their faith they showed forth also a most excellent life, in every way proving themselves worthy, as in the case of fruits. For so the first-fruits ought to be better than the rest of those things whereof they are the first-fruits: a kind of praise which Paul has attributed to these also by this expression: namely, that...
