I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge — God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 1:4-9
Last week, we looked at the very beginning of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, including the context of Paul writing this letter. While the first 3 verses were Paul’s introductory greeting to the church at Corinth, in today’s section of verses, we see some more introductory remarks by Paul.
The key theme of this section is thanksgiving and encouragement. Paul often begins his letters this way, first thanking God for the people in the churches to whom he is writing (see Romans 1:8, Colossians 1:3-4, and Philippians 1:3 for example). The Greek verb used for “I always thank” is eucharisto, which implies a habit of being thankful rather than just a one-time or occasional thing. It’s also the word from which we derive the word Eucharist, also known as the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.
Paul is truly thankful – not to the people but to God! He makes a habit of being thankful for the grace of God through Jesus Christ, which is given to him and also to the believers at the church in Corinth. Paul is thankful that there are more believers who have experienced that free gift of God and now join him as brothers and sisters in Christ.
This grace of God has truly enriched all of their lives in every way. It is important to note how Paul calls out “with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge” in verse 5. Corinth was a city in Greece, and the Greeks were known for their strong emphasis on knowledge – knowing facts, knowing how things work, etc. The idea of “all” knowledge would have been very important to the Corinthians based on their surrounding culture. But the idea of “all kinds of speech” brings in a spiritual aspect, more than just intellectual knowledge. The word translated as “speech” is logos, the Greek word that also means “word.” In John 1:1, Jesus is referred to as the logos. Jesus is the word, and the Corinthians have been enriched with all of the Word!
What is the result of all this enrichment? Verse 6 tells us: “God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.” The gospel had been previously shared with the people at Corinth, and they had heard Paul’s personal testimony as well. God confirmed the believers’ work there by showing Paul that they are true believers in Jesus Christ. Paul sees the evidence of faith in Jesus Christ in the people of Corinth.
Because of their faith, Paul encourages them in their walk as believers. In verse 7, he reminds them that they “do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” This seems to be a foreshadowing of all that Paul will write to them on spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14. While each individual believer is not expected to have every spiritual gift, that’s why the body of Christ is important – together, they have all the gifts of the Spirit. They have exactly what they need in order to do God’s work as they wait for Jesus to be revealed.
This mention of Jesus being revealed is likely pointing to the second coming of Christ. The believers knew that it had only been a couple of decades since Jesus physically walked the earth and then went up into heaven, but they believed He would come again very soon, likely in their lifetimes! They were eagerly waiting for this revealing of the next coming of Christ.
Since they were waiting, Paul encourages them in that in verse 8. Their faith in Jesus will keep them strong to the end, whenever that “end” may come. In Greek, it is the same word in verse 6 for “confirming” (as in God confirming their testimony) as here for keeping them “firm.” In both occurrences, it is God doing the action to confirm or strengthen them. They need to rely on Him and only Him for this; their own human nature will fail them if they try to rely on it to stay strong until Jesus comes again. God will keep them strong and blameless because of the blood of Jesus for the day when Jesus comes again.
Paul ends this section of thanksgiving and encouragement with a reminder of God’s faithful character in verse 9. God is the one who brought them to faith in Jesus Christ, God is the one who has given them His grace, and God will continue to be faithful in all things in their lives.
There are many principles in this text that apply to us as Christians today also. We, too, have received God’s grace in our lives if we are believers in Jesus! Because of that, our lives are enriched by His Word and by the knowledge that only God can give us. It is our faith in Jesus that allows us to understand the Bible and apply it to our lives.
Each believer in Jesus has a testimony, a story about how God has worked in our lives. Those stories are powerful, just as Paul’s was in sharing the good news about Jesus to those early believers. Our testimony is confirmed as we live out our faith in our daily lives and other people see God working in and through us.
Just as the people of the Corinthian church were waiting for Jesus to come again, we are still waiting for that today, nearly 2000 years later! But we know that God is faithful. As we wait for Jesus to come again, every day we are given allows for more opportunity to share our testimony and the grace of God with more people here on this earth, so that we all may wait expectantly for the day when Christ comes again.
In our self-focused society, we easily get caught up in all that we can (or should) do or say. But note that God is the focus of all of the actions in this passage; it’s all about what God has done or what God will do. Our part is to receive His grace and live that out in our lives, taking whatever part in God’s action that He asks us to do. God uses His people to bring about His Kingdom on this earth, and we are called to simply be obedient to all that God is doing, always giving thanks to God for what He has done and what He will do.
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