We are so blessed to have two letters written by Paul to the church at Corinth. It is so obvious that it is a church which he loved dearly in spite of them being a church with failings. (that sounds a bit like our churches today) The letter is so full of advice and caring that he must have wondered how to conclude it to give maximum strength to what he had been saying.
His last message can probably be summed up in two words ‘Stand firm.’ The city of Corinth at that time was pagan and sinful. The moral standards were so far from the standards that were expected from Christians. These Corinthians Christians would likely have felt they didn’t belong in that culture at all. (Does that sound familiar today?) They needed to stand firm in Christ and His word. (though they had less of His Word than we do today; how blessed we are!)
Look at Paul’s final words of exhortation. ‘Be on your guard,’ ‘stand firm in the faith,’ ‘ Be strong,’ ‘Be of courage,’ ‘ Do everything in love.’ AD 55 or AD 2023 the message and meanings are the same.