Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 16:9
because a great door for effective work has opened to me, even though many oppose me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, explaining his travel plans: he will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost (v.8) and is sending Timothy on ahead (v.10). This verse is the reason clause linking those two decisions.
The words — θὺρα (thura, "door") is the concrete object of the metaphor; ἐνεργής (energēs, "productive, effective") qualifies the work the door admits. Together they frame opportunity as a physical threshold leading into active labor.
The thread — The same "door" image recurs in 2 Corinthians 2:12 (a door opened in the Lord at Troas), Acts 14:27 (God opening doors among the Gentiles), and Colossians 4:3 (praying that God open a door for the word). In each case the door is God's act, not the preacher's.
Why it lands — Paul does not present the open door and the opposition as alternatives; they coexist in the same sentence. The verse asks a reader to stop treating resistance as evidence that the work has closed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 2:12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord,
- Acts 14:27 When they arrived, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
- Colossians 4:3 as you pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
- Revelation 3:7 To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
- Acts 19:8 Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
- Philippians 3:18 For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.