1 Corinthians 1:1-9

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

- 1Cor1:1-9

---

Today we start the book of corinthians. To give a little background as we start to dig into Corinthians, Paul is addressing a group of people in Corinth who have accepted the good news of Christ and are now trying to understand what it means to be Christians. This book provides us a bit more insight on what early Christians were like then and Paul addresses their strengths and weaknesses as we read through his letters to the Corinthians. 

 

He starts his letter with thanksgiving to our God for the faithful people in Corinth. It is clear in Paul’s greeting that the people he’s addressing have already accepted Christ and he is thanking God for the grace he has given them through Christ. In this opening statement, we can already see many fundamental truths about being a follower of Christ. Paul mentions that their faithfulness has shown that Christ is among them. He also tells us that God gives us strength in our faith and that He is faithful and calls us to be in fellowship with his son Jesus Christ. 

 

I think even from the very beginning of Paul’s letter he’s already giving us the basics of what it means to be a Christian. He makes it clear that God has already provided us everything that we need and that we don’t need to earn his love and grace because he has already freely given it to us. We just have to fully surrender ourselves to Jesus and be in fellowship with him.