What does 1 Corinthians 16:23 mean?

In the previous verse, Paul prayed a curse on those who have no love for the Lord. Given his other writings, this probably means false teachers who pretended to be Christians in order to lead Christians away from faith in Christ.

Now he prays a more standard blessing, a benediction, for his readers in Corinth: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you." This prayer of blessing in God's grace for the Corinthians comes at the end of a letter containing many rebukes and commands to change their attitudes and behaviors. As a group, in one way or another, the Corinthians were failing to trust God and demonstrating wild misunderstanding of the great truth of Christianity.

Still, Paul ends as he began: "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus…who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:4, 8). Despite some failings, Paul believes the Christians in Corinth to be covered by the grace of God through faith in Christ.