First Corinthians 1:1-9
If you don't have your Bible open as your read this, you may find today's text, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, here.
The Address and Greeting (v. 1-3)
Paul dictated his letters to one of his traveling companions, who put them in writing. Like many educated and literate persons in the Greco-Roman world, Paul used amanuenses. Evidence of writing style suggests that he used different ones at different times in his travels and that toward the end of his life, when 2 Timothy was written, he used Luke. In some of his letters the name of this person is given at the end (see Romans 16:22, where the scribe Tertius greets his Christian brothers and sisters in Rome). In at least one, a note at the end says that Paul wrote the last section (Galatians 6:11-18) with his own hand. He speaks there of writing with large letters. Some think this was for emphasis in this particular letter, like our bold print. Others suppose it was to show that his physical infirmity (either eyesight or unsteady hand), for which he often asked his correspondence partners' prayers, was progressing.
Letters from Paul's day began with the sender's name, as they had done for thousands of years in the Middle East. This, of course, differs from modern practice in which we put our names at the end. Letters from kings and high officials followed the sender's name with his title(s). This was not always a matter of vanity. In some cases it was necessary for the sender, if previously unknown to his addressee, to show his credentials in order for the letter receiver to know the basis for believing him on matters of fact. It would be like my receiving an e-mail from a physician specializing in an ailment I was suffering, who had been directed by my primary care physician to contact me. He would undoubtedly not only give me his name, but his credentials and present position as well.
I like to think of Paul's "titles" with which he begins his various letters in a similar way. New members of the churches receiving these letters, people who had never met Paul, needed to know the extent of his knowledge, experience and authority, when his letters were read aloud in their worship services.
In the opening of First Corinthians the title he gives is "called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God". Now let's analyze this long title.
"Christ Jesus" is one of several ways that Paul refers to Jesus. Writing to Greek-speaking people, he uses the Greek adjective christos "anointed" for the Hebrew "Messiah" which also means "anointed". It is a linguistic equivalent, but in some ways not a cultural one. Greeks and Romans did not anoint kings, as the ancient Hebrews did. There were no royal overtones in the word, as there would be for a Greek-speaking Jew like Paul. So christos in the Pauline churches of Asia Minor and Greece very quickly became a kind of untranslatable part of Jesus' name, much as most modern people today see it. Ask someone on the street what the word "Christ" is, and they will probably say "That's just Jesus' last name"! Of course, such a view makes utterly meaningless the apostle John's statement in his gospel "These [episodes in the life of Jesus] are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in his name" (John 20:31).
Paul calls himself "a called apostle" (Greek klētos apostolos) — that is an equally possible translation instead of "called to be an apostle". Notice, however, that I didn't say "called an apostle", as if this means that some people called him that and others not. "Called" here means that Paul was appointed an apostle. "By the will of God" stresses that his apostleship was not "by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead", as he so forcefully put it in Galatians 1:1. He was not one of Jesus' disciples while the Lord was alive on earth. In fact, he vigorously opposed the gospel and persecuted unto death numerous believers in Jesus in Palestine and Syria, including the famous Stephen, at whose execution—lynch style—by stoning Saul of Tarsus stood by and held the coats of those murdering him (see Acts 7:54-60; 8:1). He only became a believer, when Jesus personally appeared to him from heaven in a blinding vision, while he was on his way to the Syrian city of Damascus (Acts 9). Paul considered this not only his turning-point ("conversion" if you like), but even more his "calling" by Jesus to be an apostle-missionary to the Gentiles.
An apostle was, however, more than simply a missionary. There were many early Christians engaged in itinerant preaching and church planting. But virtually none of them were apostles. It is clear from Paul's use of the term that he considered himself—like the other members of the original Twelve—a repository of authoritative truth about Jesus. He didn't need to quote another as an authority. Like all the early Christians, he of course quoted the Scripture, which at the time of his missionary travels included only what we call the "Old Testament". Paul's letter to the Galatians may have been the very first part of our New Testament to be composed in writing. Shortly after his "conversion" Paul visited Jerusalem and consulted with members of Jesus' original Twelve and so learned "from the horse's mouth" much about the earthly Jesus. But he also says in his letters that he received special revelations—perhaps as visions—from the Lord Jesus which allowed him to expand the body of truth about Jesus and about the nature of the Church and individual believers' spiritual endowments: truth that went beyond what was shown by the words and deeds of Jesus recorded in the four gospels.
The letter is addressed "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" (v. 2). This was not a street address. No postal service employee would use it to direct the letter to its recipient. The letter would be delivered in person by a messenger from Paul to whom directions to the home of the local leader had been given. No, this was almost like a greeting to those who sitting or standing among the worshipers would hear this letter read aloud.
How encouraging these words must have been to those who first heard them! They were "the church of God in Corinth"! There was only one God. They were not "the devotees of the god Dionysis in Corinth". They belonged to Him who had no name, but only titles.
In the Old Testament God's name was Yahweh. In our English translations this is given as "the LORD", with LORD in all caps. As time went on, Jews fearing a misuse of God's name, refused to use it, and substituted their word meaning "the lord" (Adonai). Modern Jews often substitute Ha-Shem, which means "the Name".
In Greece in Paul's day polytheism was the order of the day. It was Multi-Culturalism run wild. "My god is X. Who is your god? How can I add him to my list of divine protectors?" But Paul's friends, like Daniel of old, refused to bow to the cultural pressure and admit there was any god but God. And God, for Paul's friends, was comprised of three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Triune God—One in Three, and Three in One. They were under His protection and they worshiped and obeyed only Him.
Paul called the individual members "sanctified in Christ Jesus". When you think of that word, what comes to your mind? Someone "holier than thou"? A prude? A crank, critical of everyone? You might be surprised to learn that the Greek word hēgiasmenoi "sanctified" originally meant "set apart (or reserved)"! I like to think of a bird sanctuary, which is land set apart for the birds, and within which they can always be safe. The Corinthian "Multi-Culturalist" whom I quoted above would be surprised to find that his "one-god" Christian neighbor had the only true divine protector, the only Being capable to keeping his believers safe and secure—not just in the six-plus decades of human life on earth, but for eternity thereafter.
Paul next describes his hearers as "called holy ones". Again, this translation is more likely than "called to be saints". And the Greek word for "holy (ones)" (hagioi) is based on the same Greek word translated "sanctified" (hēgiasmenoi), which we saw means "set apart". As Paul was an apostle because Jesus gave him a calling, so also these people in Corinth were "set apart ones" or even "safe-and-secure ones" because Jesus had given them a calling. That calling came when Paul and his fellow-workers spread the good news about Jesus on his first visit to Corinth.
Finally, Paul ends his greeting with the words "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 3). "Peace" is a greeting used all over the world. Nowadays it often connotes a pacifist persuasion. In Paul's day it did not. The standard Jewish greeting, then and now, in Hebrew was shalom. This word can mean the absence of war. But its basic connotation is "well-being". It means "I wish you health and long life!" through the first of the Greek-speaking Jewish believers in Jesus, even the Greek word eirēnē—the word used here—which originally had no such meaning took on the nuances of shalom. for Paul it would also resonate with the fact that believers in Jesus enjoy "peace with God", as he put it in Romans 5:1—"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ".
"Grace" is almost a second name for Jesus in Paul's writings and speeches. It is the theme he seems to love most, perhaps because more than anything it was the "grace" of Jesus that kept Paul from continuing down the road to self-destruction as he vainly persecuted the earliest believers. "Grace" means returning kindness for hatred, healing for injury. It means confronting the man who murdered your only son and adopting him in his place. That is grace. The unexpected, undeserved, completely inconceivable love from one who owes you nothing but hatred and revenge. But for Paul "grace" encompasses more than god's initial gift of forgiveness and eternal life. It is also the whole package of spiritual resources included. Believers in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit to live within them, to teach, guide, encourage, alert them to their sins. Believers in Jesus have a special prayer line to god that unbelievers do not. Oh, god does hear all prayers. And he may occasionally do what an unbeliever asks. But believers, because their prayers are guided by the in-dwelling Spirit and are conditioned by what they know what Jesus would want, and are therefore made "in Jesus' name"—those prayers are assured to be answered. And I have barely scraped the barrel of the treasures that God gives beyond measure to those who come to him through his Son, Jesus.
You know? Paul's words might apply to you and me just as well as to those folks in Corinth so long ago. At least I hope that all of you have made your peace with God and found "justification" (forgiveness) through personally receiving Jesus into your life by an act of faith. If so, then you too can be greatly encouraged by these words from Paul.
Paul thanks God for them (v. 4-9)
Modern and sophisticated today are embarrassed and a little irritated if they hear you say "I pray for you". I always debate what to say when a good friend who is not a believer in Jesus tells me that he has suffered a great loss. For us as believers in a God who hears and answers prayer, in such situations it seems so empty to just express deep sympathy.
But Paul lived in a day when even pagans had gods and appreciated someone else praying or making offerings on their behalf. For disciples of Jesus and devout Jews who did not believe in Jesus, to pray for another person was not only the greatest gift you could give them, but it also endeared the intercessor himself to God. The Old Testament Book of Job records how Job faithfully prayed for his wayward sons, and made sacrifices to God for their sins (Job 1:1-5). This is told as a testimony to the righteousness of Job himself (v. 1).
All prayer does not consist of petition—of asking favors of God, for oneself or for others. Confession of personal sins also has its part, as does thanksgiving—once again, for God's gifts to the one praying, as well as for God's good work in the lives of others. In fact, the thanksgiving Paul describes here was both of the above types. For the others in whose lives God was doing such good things were Paul's "spiritual" children. They themselves were God's gifts to Paul, who himself had no physical children. He was their father in Christ, the one who had brought the gospel to them. And so, as you or I might thank god from the bottoms of our hearts for our children, Paul did so for the pople in his young churches. And what does he thank God for specifically? For the grace of God given to them, enabling them to come to faith (v. 4). For the wealth of spiritual gifts that he distributed among them at the time of their turning to faith in Jesus (v. 5-7). Paul (and we) will return to the matter of spiritual gifts in later chapters of this letter.
And finally, he prayed that Jesus would keep them strong in their faith until the day that he returns to Earth in glory (7-8). And he reassured them that God who had called them into fellowship with his Son Jesus would help them to finish life triumphantly, because He is faithful (v. 9).
My prayer for you all is the same! Have a great day as his disciples!
Have a great day, following Jesus!
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