1 Corinthians 1:4, 5

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 ~ 1 Corinthians 1:4, 5


The Corinthian Church had a series of issues, yet Paul opens with thanksgiving for them and for blessings upon them as a church. No church is perfect, right? But the welfare of the church is what lay at the heart of Paul as he thought and prayed for them. So it is that Paul begins with the virtues of the people who make up this church. The causes for praise and hope are placed in the foreground so as to encourage them and appeal to their trust in him, and to bolster them and not discourage them by the reproof that will follow. Paul wants them to know they have already reached goals in divine knowledge. His following reproof will not be done so as to knock them down so to speak, but to let them know that where commendation is due, he will share it, just as he will share how they can and should grow as Christ followers. He wants them to know the enrichment they have been graced with by Jesus Christ’s Spirit: they have been justified, pardoned, regenerated; they have grown in faith, repentance, hope, love, humility and self-denial. All these are the gifts of grace we all receive from Christ when we turn to Him in acknowledgement that He is the Son of God, and Lord of lords. Paul, we know has a pastor’s heart, and each one of his planted churches becomes in a sense, a child of his. Paul prays for them all, for their growth as followers, not of himself, but as followers of Jesus Christ. The Corinthian Church had received divine favour and knowledge of the truth in the divinity of Jesus. His comments would tend to appease their minds, and ensure they would listen attentively, even to the words of discipline which would later come. The Corinthian church would grow and mature in Christ, much in part to the words of Paul which helped them to see truth in a much wider spectrum.

Pastor Julia

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