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CHAPTER I
SALUTATION
1:1-3
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:
3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1The beginning of I Corinthians has the usual form of a Greek epistle. It mentions 1) the name of the writer, 2) that of the addressees, 3) a greeting. But the apostle develops each part of the superscription, thus making it more extensive. Called to be is not a literal translation of the Greek. Paul does not speak about what will be, but about what is. Today he is a called apostle. Paul has not appointed himself an apostle, he is called by Christ Jesus, and therefore has authority and can demand obedience (cf. 9:1f., 15:8). Not all the Corinthians took the right attitude towards Paul, and therefore he reminds them in the beginning that his word comes to them as the word of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus may be a possessive genitive, but apostle is a verbal noun, and called is added. So the genitive is better explained as a subjective genitive. Christ has called and appointed him. One must not forget that the Greek language has one genitive to express several relations, and consequently the distinction between the various genitives is not an absolute one. Through the will of God strengthens the authority of the apostle (cf. Gal. 1:1). As in 3:3 Paul ascends from the Mediator to God. When Christ called Paul to the apostleship, He did so because it was God’s will. Through1 indicates that Christ not only acted according to the will of God, but that God explicitly expressed His desire to call.
We know nothing definite about Sosthenes. Some think he is one of Chloe’s household, (v. 12). We prefer the opinion that Sosthenes is the man referred to in Acts 18:17. Brother2 makes clear that Sosthenes has become a Christian since the facts related in Acts 18. However, the word brother alone cannot express the fact that Paul intends to inform the Corinthians of the conversion of Sosthenes. It is difficult to say whether Sosthenes has any part in the composition of the epistle. The precise significance of the names used in the superscriptions to Paul’s epistles remains a question. Are they more than a mere salutation from the Christians in Paul’s presence? Or is this a way to inform us that not only Paul but Sosthenes as well wrote to the first readers? In this case the first is the more probable. Paul does not mention Sosthenes as a source of his information about the church at Corinth, although he may have been the successor of Crispus as head of the synagogue (Acts 18:17). We do not hear of any work done by Sosthenes for the benefit of the congregation or of his being the apostle’s secretary.3 Paul writes in the first person singular (vs. 4 f.). We assume therefore that Sosthenes was a Corinthian who had left the city long before and that Paul was conveying his greetings to the Corinthians.
2Church is used by Paul of the local congregation as in Gal. 1:2: the churches of Galatia, but also in the sense of the universal church.4 Here the first usage is clearly intended, whereas 12:28 points to the latter. Church of God refers to through the will of God (vs. 1). The church has her origin but also her life in the work of God in this world and therefore Paul has the right and the obligation as an apostle of Christ Jesus to write to the Corinthians. Moreover, the Greek word for “church” is not used exclusively with reference to the Christian church in the N.T. (cf. Acts 19:39). The addition of God is consequently not entirely superfluous. This church is characterized by her relation to God. Since the words of God stress the unity of the church they may also involve a condemnation of the factions in the Church at Corinth. Church is a collective noun which admits sanctified, sc. men, as a construction in apposition.
The interpolation even corrupts the sense. Better is the RSV: to those consecrated. Sanctified, however, cannot be interpreted as “consecrated to God,” referring to the believers who separate themselves from the world. This is clear from the word “saints” added to “sanctified” and from Paul’s description of the objective condition5 of the Christians. God has sanctified them. He has liberated them from the unclean world and has put them in a relationship to Himself whereby they might have intercourse with Him (Jn. 17:19; I Thess. 5:23). This sanctification by God is possible only through the work of Christ Jesus in whom we are sanctified. The Corinthians are not born saints but they are sanctified by virtue of an act of God in Jesus, the consequences of which last till the present.
Paul writes called saints, i.e., the sanctification had not taken place without their knowledge. They were called to this sanctity by the preaching of the gospel (Heb. 1:3) so that they know they are sanctified. Paul the apostle and the Corinthians are what they are by the vocation of God. They heard the call and accepted it. But that vocation comes to them even now, yes again and again, so that they remain called.6 It is a remarkable fact that Paul asserts the sanctity of the church with such vigor in an epistle in which he unceasingly reproves the readers because of their sins. They are saints in Christ, in spite of all their sins. Thus the epistle is a call to conversion addressed to erring children (cf. Jer. 3:22). The Corinthians are saints, but they live in sin. God does not abandon them but calls them to walk according to their imputed holiness (cf. Eph. 1:4). We are here face to face with a problem which recurs in Scripture and in history over and over again and which we cannot solve. When we call someone holy who is unholy we are guilty of a fallacious representation for we do not use holy both times in the same sense. But there is an imputed and an acquired holiness. Scripture teaches that God justifies the unholy (Rom. 4:5), and it also summons to a holy walk. In that way God wants to convince us of our holiness (I Thess. 4:3 ff.).
The addition with all that call upon etc. cannot be an enlargement of the address, as our epistle, unlike the general epistles, is clearly sent to one congregation. To take the expression of Achaia is purely arbitrary. If Achaia were meant this could have been indicated (cf. II Cor. 1:1). Therefore we combine these words with “called to be saints.” Not only the Corinthians but all who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, i.e. who confess that He is Lord (12:3, Phil. 2:11), and call upon Him, also confessing that He is God (Acts 2:21; 7:59; 9:19; Rom. 10:12) and who by so doing declare themselves to be Christians, are called to be saints.7 The Corinthians needed to be reminded of these things for they did not take account of others (12:12f.; 14:36). There is a oneness of all who believe. This oneness may be lost sight of in our quarrels and so we need to be reminded of it.
The last words of vs. 2 are translated in the ARV “in every place, their Lord and ours,” the word “Lord” being an insertion. As the Greek has the pronouns after place it seems better to combine them with that word. Paul stresses the unity of the church. Whatever the place may be where her members live, together they form the one body of Christ.
3In vs. 3 we find the typically Pauline salutation, which differs from that of the ordinary Greek salutation. Paul’s greeting consists of two sentences, the first one in v. 2 in the third person, the second here in the second and first persons. This bespeaks a greater degree of intimacy than is expressed in the usual Greek salutation with its use of the third person only.8
The Greek word for grace is a cognate of the word for greeting.9 The Christian salutation thus adds depth to the usual Greek greeting. Paul does not just greet the Corinthians but he wishes them grace from God, i. e., the grace in Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:5f. is a good example: “according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, etc.”
This grace manifests itself in peace, which is its mature fruit, a peace of soul, a genuine peace since it descends from God (Rom. 8:6; 15:33; 16:20, etc.). Just as the Greek concept of grace is deepened in the Christian usage, so likewise is the Hebrew word for peace when used in salutations. God grants grace and peace because He is a Father to them that call upon Him in Christ. We, the believers, pray to Him as our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 6:9). Grace descends from One who is no longer wrathful, but merciful. Jesus Christ is the Mediator of that grace and peace. He is its meritorious cause. Believers may call on Him as their Lord, (Jn. 1:17; Eph. 2:14), because He is the victor over sin, the devil and the world (Matt. 28:18; Tim. 1:16; Heb. 2:14; I Jn. 3:8). The Holy Spirit’s work is not mentioned here since Paul only mentions the heavenly gifts, which, descending from God for the sake of Christ, are given to believers. He does not speak of the faith through which the individual obtains these gifts. In other words, not the subjective acquisition but the objective redemption is in the foreground here.
1-3The distinguishing feature of this salutation is its stress upon the sanctity of the church.
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THANKSGIVING
1:4-9
4I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
5that in every thing ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
6even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7so that ye come behind i...
