1 Cor. 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
1 Cor. 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor. 1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
1 Cor. 1:5 that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge—
1 Cor. 1:6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—
1 Cor. 1:7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Cor. 1:8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor. 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
I started in chapter two, so I'm going back to chapter one, then I'll go to chapter 3, (I'm just trying to confuse you).
1 Cor. 1:1 "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,"
Paul was called by the WILL of God - His determination, or His choice. He is an Apostle; he asserts his authority because of the many things he will chastise the Corinthians for, and the many things he will teach them. He wishes to make sure they know he is from God and has the authority to say what he says. Sosthenes is talked about one other time in Scripture, in Acts.
Act 18:17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
1 Cor. 1:2 "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:"
Something interesting that was once pointed out to me about this passage is that this isn't "Paul's church," or "John's Church," it's God's church. All churches are God's, if they are seeking to follow Him, which you can tell when Paul says "to those sanctified", for when we are sanctified, we are saved, and therefore we belong to the church of God. Being Saints, which means we have been sanctified, brings us together in Christ with all other people who have been sanctified in and by Christ.
1 Cor. 1:3 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Although you may see this as his common greeting, it has meaning to it.
Grace is favor from God, both in giving us salvation and in giving us provision, and in everything He has given, both to the human race and to Christians.
Paul also wishes the Corinthians peace, which means to have stillness of mind. The only true peace you can have is if you fully and totally trust in God, in which case your mind should never be in conflict with itself or have anxiety. Grace is given to all people, and peace is given to those who are willing to trust in God fully.
1 Cor. 1:4-5 "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge—"
1 Cor. 1:4-5 "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge—"
Even though the Corinthian church had problems, Paul still thanked God for what He had done for them, through Christ. Paul sets an example here that we should note. He is thankful for what God has done, he doesn't complain about what He hasn't done. Paul says that the Corinthians abound in "speech" and "knowledge". Speech may refer to them speaking in tongues, for both in this and the next letter Paul talks several times about the Corinthians' ability to speak in tongues, and possibly to prophesy. When he speaks of knowledge, he is probably referring mostly to doctrine. Christ gave the Corinthians strong doctrine through Paul; however, just because they were given strong doctrine and the body of this church, as a whole, had strong doctrine does not signify that each individual, within the body at Corinth, had strong doctrine. This can be seen as we continue through the rest of the book of Corinthians (both one and two). There are many places where Paul has to dispel some kind of false doctrine within these two books.
1 Cor. 1:6 "even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—"
Testimony means evidence. Therefore, this verse is saying "as the evidence of Christ was proven to be among you." The phrase "even as" refers back to verse 5, which says "You were enriched in all speech and knowledge," so it is saying that they were being enriched in speech and knowledge while the testimony of Christ was being confirmed among them.
1 Cor. 1:7-8 "so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"So that"..... what is the "so" referring to? It is referring to this comment in verse four: "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus." Paul gives thanks because of this grace, because they are not lacking any gift.
This is the definition of "gift" here, in this passage.
χάρισμα
charisma
char'-is-mah
From G5483; a (divine) gratuity, that is, deliverance (from danger or passion); (specifically) a (spiritual) endowment, that is, (subjectively) religious qualification, or (objectively) miraculous faculty: - (free) gift.
(Strong)
This can mean a lot of things, perhaps the free gift of salvation, or it may be referencing the previous verses talking about "speech and knowledge," or it may possibly be referring to the other spiritual gifts. You could probably accept any of the previous explanations but, looking ahead to verse 8, you will see that these gifts are going to help keep you guiltless till the day of Jesus. Because of the phrase that follows, I would say that salvation, specifically sanctification, and spiritual gifts are being spoken of in this instance. Sanctification will be continued forever after you have been saved, thereby qualifying it as the only thing that will keep you holy till the end, unless you become perfect on earth. Sanctification brings you to perfection in God's eyes.
This guiltlessness is what is being talked about in this passage. In order to be sustained to the end, you must be holy, in order to be holy, you must be either perfect by nature (which according to Paul when he wrote Romans, is not possible "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God") or you must be sanctified. To be sanctified, you must have Christ die for you, which is exactly what God has given to us. "Revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ..... in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ"
These are both referring to the second coming of Christ, which is talked about right before he goes to the cross, as well as in Hebrews: Heb 9:28 "so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him." The second coming of Christ is when we will be saved eternally from the effects of sin and death.
1 Cor. 1:9 "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
This verse is reinforcing the previous verse, "who will sustain you". This verse, is saying that God is faithful, and will follow through with His promises. He brought you into fellowship with Christ, He will never let down His side of the covenant. As it says in Romans, 8:35-39: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Once God has brought us into fellowship with Christ, we can't ever "lose" our salvation. To me, it sounds like Paul is saying "Don't worry, God will bring your salvation to completion." He says a similar thing in Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." He is saying that God doesn't start something He doesn't intend to finish. If you are saved by Him, you will continue in your salvation into eternity. We are brought into salvation by a faithful God who will sustain us till the end. We can be sure that we will reach the end, where He will complete the good work He began in us.
This verse has an interesting idea in it that a casual reading may not reveal. He says we were called by God. A call to arms, or being called to the mission field. Once He has given the call, we have to follow that call in order for our salvation to be complete. By disobeying the call, you are thereby sinning once again and more or less, spitting in the face of God. Who knows if you will receive a second call if you pass by the first? This should also dispel the notion of us initiating salvation, because if God has to call us then He is the one who initiated our chance for salvation.Without God opening our hearts and minds we have no choice to accept his salvation because we are dead in sin, a dead man can't do anything but stay dead. However, it should also dispel the idea of God completely controlling us and salvation having nothing to do with our choices. He raises us from out death in sin, and brings us to life in Him, allowing us to answer His call. However it is a call, not a command, nor does it say God forced anybody to be saved. You have to answer a call to arms, and you have to answer a call to the mission field. It is up to you to act on what God has called you to do. After saying this, I need to say that God may convince you like he did Paul, the only way out of your situation may be to follow God.
Paul gives thanks in this passage for all that God has done. He then gives some testimony to what God has done (not lacking in any spiritual gifts, they were given speech and knowledge, and that Christ was shown to be among them.) He then confirms that God will continue to bless the church, and those who are sanctified by saying that He WILL sustain them, and that God IS faithful. This is his greeting to the church before he gets to the the real "issues" at hand.
1 Cor. 1:9 "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
This verse is reinforcing the previous verse, "who will sustain you". This verse, is saying that God is faithful, and will follow through with His promises. He brought you into fellowship with Christ, He will never let down His side of the covenant. As it says in Romans, 8:35-39: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Once God has brought us into fellowship with Christ, we can't ever "lose" our salvation. To me, it sounds like Paul is saying "Don't worry, God will bring your salvation to completion." He says a similar thing in Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." He is saying that God doesn't start something He doesn't intend to finish. If you are saved by Him, you will continue in your salvation into eternity. We are brought into salvation by a faithful God who will sustain us till the end. We can be sure that we will reach the end, where He will complete the good work He began in us.
This verse has an interesting idea in it that a casual reading may not reveal. He says we were called by God. A call to arms, or being called to the mission field. Once He has given the call, we have to follow that call in order for our salvation to be complete. By disobeying the call, you are thereby sinning once again and more or less, spitting in the face of God. Who knows if you will receive a second call if you pass by the first? This should also dispel the notion of us initiating salvation, because if God has to call us then He is the one who initiated our chance for salvation.Without God opening our hearts and minds we have no choice to accept his salvation because we are dead in sin, a dead man can't do anything but stay dead. However, it should also dispel the idea of God completely controlling us and salvation having nothing to do with our choices. He raises us from out death in sin, and brings us to life in Him, allowing us to answer His call. However it is a call, not a command, nor does it say God forced anybody to be saved. You have to answer a call to arms, and you have to answer a call to the mission field. It is up to you to act on what God has called you to do. After saying this, I need to say that God may convince you like he did Paul, the only way out of your situation may be to follow God.
Paul gives thanks in this passage for all that God has done. He then gives some testimony to what God has done (not lacking in any spiritual gifts, they were given speech and knowledge, and that Christ was shown to be among them.) He then confirms that God will continue to bless the church, and those who are sanctified by saying that He WILL sustain them, and that God IS faithful. This is his greeting to the church before he gets to the the real "issues" at hand.
