Chapter One
Text and ExpositionI. Greetings
1:1-3
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother
Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called
to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Characteristically, the apostle begins by naming himself and also by identifying his
position as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Only in Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and
Philemon does Paul begin without mentioning his apostleship. Here he refers to it
because his authority has been challenged (cf. 1 Cor 1:12 and 9:1-27). Paul makes it clear
that he is an apostle by divine calling through God's sovereign will (cf. his experience
on the Damascus road, Acts 9:15). The word "apostle" (
apostolos
) means "a sent one"
and connotes a commissioned envoy.
Sosthenes (the name was a common Greek one), whom Paul links to himself as a
Christian brother, was evidently one of the apostle's special helpers and was presumably
well known to the Corinthian church. Though his identity is not certain, it is possible
that he was a leader of the Corinthian synagogue (Acts 18:17). If so, he must have been
converted subsequently and gone off to help Paul in his Ephesian ministry.
2 The believers in Corinth are designated as the "church of God," a phrase that has OT
associations as in the expression "assembly [or congregation] of the Lord" (Num 16:3;
20:4; Deut 23:1; 1 Chron 28:8) and the "assembly of Israel" (Lev 16:17; Deut 31:30).
That Paul means that this church at Corinth is considered a part of the universal "church
of God" is evident from his reference to Palestinian churches as also being a part of that
body (1 Cor 15:9; cf. 10:31, 32). The phrase is used only by Paul in 1 Corinthians, 2
Corinthians 1:1, and Acts 20:28. (In the last reference there is a textual variant-"church
of God" or "church of the Lord"; cf. UBS, in loc.) The apostle may have found it
particularly useful in Corinth to distinguish the church from the secular
ekklesiai(assemblies)
of mainland Greece and from the heathen religious organizations. The ancient
ekklesiaior assemblies of the secular world, in contrast to the Christian
ekklesiaor
church in its worship of God, were gatherings of the citizenry in a city-state to discuss
and decide on matters of public interest (cf. Acts 19:39; Herodotus 3.142), as they
certainly did in Corinth itself according to ancient inscriptions found there. For example,
in two Corinthian inscriptions shown to be near the first half of the second century
B.C., by the form of the letters, it is said, "The assembly decreed." (
Corinth: Results of
the Excavations
, Vol. VIII, Part I,
Greek Inscriptions
, 1896-1927, ed. B.D. Meritt [Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1931], numbers 2, 3.)
The Corinthian Christians are described as set apart and in a holy position before God
because of their spiritual union with Jesus Christ. In speaking of them as "called to be
holy"-i.e., set apart for God-Paul means that they are called to be God's holy people.
So they are on an equal footing with the people of God everywhere, who also call on
the name of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (cf. Acts 9:14, 21). The unity of believers
in Christ is shown by Paul's emphatic words in v.2, "their Lord and ours."
3 This verse is identical to Romans 1:7b; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2;
and Philemon 1:3. Though carrying a sense of greeting, "grace and peace" also refer to
the truth of redemption purchased by Christ. It was of God's grace that the Corinthian
believers were saved (2 Cor 8:9; Eph 2:8, 9), just as all Christians are saved, and through
this redemption Jesus Christ purchased peace with God for the sinner (Eph 2:14; cf. Rom
5:1).
Paul emphasizes that this grace and peace are of divine origin; they are from (
apo
) God
our Father who planned redemption and from Christ who purchased it on the cross for
the justification of his people and for blessing in their daily lives (cf. Rom 15:13, 33; Phil
4:6, 7).
II. Paul's Thanksgiving for God's Work in the Lives of the Saints
1:4-9
4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For
in him you have been enriched in every way-in all your speaking and in all your
knowledge-6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7 Therefore
you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ
to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless
on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
4-6 As is characteristic of Paul in other letters (cf. Rom 1:8; Phil 1:3-7; Col 1:3-8, et al.),
he begins with thanksgiving to God for those he is addressing. He realizes that God has
given them his grace through their union with Christ, enriching their lives by their
ability to speak about God and by their knowledge of him (v.5). Paul is thankful that the
testimony he gave them was confirmed or established in their lives.
The verb
eucharisteo
, in its present form here (a customary present) with the adverb
pantote
, (" I at all times give thanks"), indicates Paul's habitual prayer life in which he
regularly interceded for the believers at Corinth as well as those at every place he
preached the gospel (cf. Eph 1:16; Phil 1:3, et al.). Elsewhere Paul uses the concept of
the grace of God to express his own call into the ministry as an apostle (Rom 12:3; 1 Cor
3:10; Gal 2:9; Eph 3:2, 3). But here he uses the expression to indicate aspects of God's
work in the daily lives of the Christians at Corinth.
Greeks naturally put emphasis on knowledge and wisdom (cf. 1 Cor 1:18-25) and they
certainly were good at expressing their thoughts. However, God had so enriched the
lives of these people in spiritual perception and expression that they had been given
increased ability in speaking. The extent of their enrichment is seen in the use of the
adjective "all" with both concepts-"speaking" ("word,"
logos
) and "knowledge" (v.5).
Paul is convinced that this was a real work of God's grace because he saw his witness
about Christ established in their lives at the time of their conversion and had heard about
it since then.
The phrase "in every way" (
en panti
) is obviously limited to the qualities and experiences
that were relevant to the Corinthians as exemplified by their ability in speaking
and by their abundance of knowledge. "You have been enriched" (
eploutisthete
) certainly
does not refer here to conversion or to baptism, but rather to God's blessing in
knowing and speaking Christian things. The aorist tense of this verb here in a constative
sense (
i.e.
, emphasizing a total definitive action), sums up God's work in the lives of the
Corinthians-God did it, he made them rich! That their "speaking" and "knowledge"
were interrelated is evidenced by the use in the Greek text of a single Greek preposition
en("in") to unite these two terms. Perhaps eloquent speaking was uppermost in their
minds (cf. Apollos the orator, Acts 18:24-28). Or they may have tried to display vainly
their wisdom, which Greeks were apt to do (cf. 1 Cor 1:22).
The reference to "knowledge" (
gnosis
) in v.5 should not be construed to mean that
the Corinthians possessed some hidden mystical knowledge by which in itself and
without the cross of Christ they could somehow reach God and be saved. As the heresy
known as Gnosticism developed in later centuries, some thought they could do this. They
were called Gnostics, from the Greek word
gnosis(the word used in 1 Cor 1:5), which
in Paul's day simply meant "knowledge." Cf. "
knowingChrist Jesus my Lord" (Phil 3:8)
and "I want to
knowChrist and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Phil 3:10). Paul is speaking of concrete
knowledge based on the reality of Christ's person and his death on the cross. This is not
Gnosticism's secret, mystical, and symbolic knowledge supposedly leading through self-effort
to higher levels toward God.
7,8 Now Paul addresses himself to their needs for present and future Christian living.
He introduces the thought by "therefore" followed by a present-tense verbal form:
"Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift." The verb
hystereohas the basic meaning
of "fail" or "lack." This potential lack does not necessarily refer to the lack of special gifts
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12-14, because there Paul indicates that each Christian is
not to exercise every gift (1 Cor 12:27-31). Rather, he seems to be referring more
generally to God's grace actively counteracting the sins and faults so prevalent in the
Corinthian congregation. Paul expresses confidence that God will keep them strong and
will present his people blameless before him at Christ's return, which they are eagerly
waiting for (vv.7, 8).
The circumstantial participle
apekdechomenous
-translated "eagerly wait for" in
NIV-is one of attendant circumstance. The word
apokalupsis("an unveiling," "a disclosure")
can mean a revealing of truth, but here refers to the unveiling of Christ, his
appearance at his second coming. Cf. "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" in v.8. See also
1 Peter 1:7, 13.
It is not clear in v.8 who "he" refers to-the Father or Christ. Christ is the nearer
antecedent (v.7), but in the light of the reference to God's faithfulness in v.9, it is best
taken as referring to the Father. Through God's power and strengthening, Christians will
certainly be blameless when Christ comes again.
9 Before concluding this section of thanksgiving, Paul assures the Corinthians of God's
faithfulness. As God called them initially into fellowship with Christ, so he is faithful in
completing the work, granting them every grace and gift for daily life (cf. Phil 1:6).
Observe the apostle's fivefold repetition of the name of Jesus Christ in this brief
section. All of salvation-past, present, and future-is based on Christ's redemptive
work. And he is coming again!
Some scholars, such as Schmiedels, have claimed that Paul's opponents were Jewish
Christian Gnostics, on the theory that gnosticism was already fully developed in Paul's
day or had been developed in pre-Christian times. (Cf. W. Schmithals,
Gnosticism in
Corinth[Nashville: Abingdon, 1971] and
Paul and the Gnostics[Nashville: Abingdon,
1972].) Paul seems to have had foes with gnostic tendencies in mind when he wrote
about "hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the
basic principles of this world rather than on Christ" (Col. 2:8), calling them to depend
on Christ himself "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (2:3).
But this is far removed from a developed gnosticism of the second to the fifth centuries
A.D., which depended on knowledge and wisdom themselves for rising higher to God.
R.M. Wilson has shown that the parallels between NT terminology and thought, on the
one hand, and that of later fully developed gnosticism and later Gnostic treatises of the
second to fifth century A.D., on the other, are not sufficient to show a fully developed
first-century gnosticism. (R.M. Wilson,
Gnosis and the New Testament[Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1968], pp.51ff. See also Donald Guthrie,
New Testament Introduction[Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970], pp.422, 423.)
III. The Problem of Divisions in the Church
1:10-17
10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you
agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you
may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe's
household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean
is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I
follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
13 IS Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name
of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 18 So no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 15 (Yes, I also baptized
the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone
else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel-not with
words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(Continues.)
