1 Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, become stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

This ὥστε, so that, therefore, is like all those which in the preceding parts served to introduce the practical conclusions to which the doctrines led up; comp. 1 Corinthians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 7:38, 1 Corinthians 11:33, 1 Corinthians 14:39.

By the address, so full of tenderness: my beloved brethren, Paul seeks to get near those hearts which he may have repelled by his great severity.

He does not say: Be stedfast, but: become so; they are not so yet either in faith or in conduct. They must become rooted in Christ to be confirmed.

The following word immoveable, reminds them of the perils which their faith runs, such as that which he has sought to set aside throughout this whole chapter. If ye hold fast, he had said to them in 1 Corinthians 15:2, and in 1 Corinthians 15:33: Be not deceived.

Once confirmed, their spiritual activity will unfold: Abounding in the work of the Lord. The verb περισσεύειν, to abound, strictly signifies: to flow over the edges all round. By the work of the Lord, the apostle understands labour for the spread of salvation and for the development of spiritual life. The word always is added to remind them of the indefatigable perseverance which should characterize such work.

The apostle closes by indicating the motive which should always stimulate believers anew in the fulfilment of this task. They know that their labour in this domain is not in vain in the Lord. As the apostle uses the term κενός, empty, and not μάταιος (see on 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17), we must conclude that he is thinking less of the fruits of the labour than of its nature: this is not an activity of external demonstration, wrought in vacuity, as earthly labour so often is, but serious toil wrought in the sphere of eternal reality. This is why Paul also uses the present is, and not the future will be. These last words sum up the whole chapter, and at the same time form the transition to the following verses, which directly remind the Corinthians of one of the works to be done for the Lord. This connection with what follows is evident; but yet it is not a sufficient reason for joining this verse, as some commentators have done, to the following chapter.