1 Corinthians 1:1-9 – Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul opens the epistle by greeting the church and telling them that they are “not lacking in any spiritual gift.” I believe we should see ourselves in the same way. We are not fundamentally deficient in anything spiritual. Maturing as believers is about focus of attention, perspective on life, and experience that comes from seeing how God works in our circumstances. But to develop in these areas, it is important that we appreciate the spiritual nature that God has given us and have the confidence to live from that nature, knowing that God will work with it so that our lives evolve according to His will, as opposed to thinking that we are problematic people who need some intervention to live as God intended.

Paul then says that Christ will strengthen believers to the end, so that they may be blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ (probably referencing the day of Christ’s return when believers are resurrected or converted to immortality). This is a bit of a difficult passage, given that I do not seem to hear that believers reach the end of their lives in a state of total perfection. My interpretation of this would be that God will work with us so that, by the end of our lives, we accomplished everything He intended for us to accomplish. Despite never becoming perfect in our earthly lives, we end our earthly lives blameless in the sense that, if there is some ideal that we failed to fully attain, God justifies the life we lived. The fact that we accomplished the good works that we did, despite personal issues, is a testimony to God’s grace and transformative power which will operate throughout the universe in the coming ages after Christ’s return.

Moving on in the chapter, Paul writes, 

“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ’ (1 Corinthians 1:10-12).

We need to consider what is the ultimate cause of quarrels among believers. I do not think we are as worried about each other’s beliefs as we may think we are. The real concern has to do with character. Believers tend to worry about whether other believers are responsible or properly focused on God. Individual believers have their own ideas about what doctrines (or which teachers) promote these values, and this becomes the basis for sectarianism.

The solution to this issue ultimately lies in the preceding verses, which taught that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift, and that it is God who makes us blameless. On the basis of this teaching, we should be able to trust in each other’s character, as long as there is evidence that a believer regards morality.

When we trust that our core nature is of God’s design, and that He has a sovereign plan to accomplish all that He set out to do with us, we do not have to obsess over the details of other believers’ faith. God will work things out with them.

Now, I do realize that some well-meaning believers teach things that are hard to justify Biblically, and some of these teachings can be hurtful. Paul’s writing does not forbid us to speak against such teaching. However, even in these cases, we can still be of “one mind” with those we disagree with, in the sense of respecting each other as new creations in Christ and participants in God’s plan. And I believe that if this respect is truly held, teachings that are particularly hurtful will be dropped eventually.

The next post will address the rest of Chapter 1.