This is such a great verse.
Paul is looking where to go for the winter. He needs to find his location he wants to minister and say throughout the cold months. He is conflict on where to go. He wants to go see them in Corinth, but not as one who is merely passing through. He wants to stay there (1 Cor 16:5-9).
After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
Then Paul says something that is so great (v. 9):
But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
For many, opposition would seem like a sign to go, to leave, to get the heck out of Dodge. Wouldn’t it be easier as well? Isn’t it “not wise” to stay where there is opposition.
Paul was not rattled by opposition in the slightest. In fact, he regularly went into places knowing there would be trouble.
The best illustration of this was his missionary journey. Paul went throughout places like Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. He was driven out violently in these places. He may have even been killed in Lystra, we don’t know.
What happened after all of that? Did he check out and go home? No. He said to his disciple team, ‘we’ve got to back to these places that all tried to kill us.’
“Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust” (Acts 14:21-23).
For Christians today, the board of elders would say it is “wise” to not return. Paul did life differently. He followed the words of Jesus. It is not a ‘save your life’ Christianity, it is a ‘lose your life’ for Jesus kind of faith.
So when Paul is in Ephesus, the open doors were wide. Yes, he face opposition. Perhaps people were calling him “Artemisophobic.” Maybe even death threats.
He didn’t run. He stayed.
“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God”
This wasn’t something new. This is the normal Christian life.