Introduction
We know the phrase, “read between the lines.” We perhaps have gotten letters in which we have tried to do that. What does he mean “I’ll see you”? He’s always written before, “can’t wait to see you soon.” What does she mean, “You have a unique taste in clothes”? Doesn’t she like my clothes?
We are going to do a little of reading between the lines in Paul’s greeting to the Corinth Church. This will not be speculation. Paul later in his letter provides the information needed. We get to see how he masterfully sets the stage for what the whole letter has to say.
Text
4 I give thanks to my God always for you…
That is a great way to start off a letter. Certainly the Corinthians should be encouraged by such an opening, especially considering that their relations with Paul are not on the best of terms.
Why is that? Paul later on will reveal the cause of friction, although he has already hinted at it in the first verse where he identifies himself: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. This is not an unusual designation for himself. Paul typically refers to himself as an apostle and then usually adds that part of by the will of God. But the reason he tends to add the emphasis of his apostleship being by God’s will is that his position in the church was questioned somewhat. Perhaps he was an apostle, perhaps; but should he be regarded on equal standing with the eleven original apostles? Who designated him an apostle? The Eleven added Matthias to replace Judas. Where are Paul’s credentials? This certainly was a question for the churches in Galatia. In his letter to them, Paul gives an extended defense of his special calling from God and validation by the apostles.
But what is really behind the questions? We know how the dynamics work. We don’t usually raise doubts about a person’s credibility until something happens to make us dissatisfied. Then we look for something to discredit him. What was it about Paul that the very people he brought to faith were questioning his credentials? Hold that thought. We will find the answer soon.
So, Paul starts off with a positive statement that we should take at face value. He is thankful for the saints in Corinth, and as a man of prayer, he does include thanksgiving to his God for them as he prays for them. And he has good reason to give thanks: because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. We considered in the previous verse the grace shown through their redemption, but also noting that God’s grace continues beyond redemption to sustaining and nurturing their walk in the faith. This is the grace of which Paul speaks now, as he explains in the remaining verses.
…5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge…7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift…
The grace of God has been given to the Corinthians in the form of spiritual gifts. They are, literally, a gifted people. Paul notes two particular gifts – speech (logos) and knowledge (gnosis). Why these two? First, they evidently were gifted in all kinds of speech and all kinds of knowledge. We will hear about the gifts of “the utterance of wisdom,” “the utterance of knowledge,” “prophecy,” “speaking in tongues,” “the interpretation of tongues,” and “the ability to distinguish between spirits.” This is an impressive array of gifts, and it seems that the Corinthians thought so, as we will find out.
Indeed, the Corinthians had become so enamored of speech and knowledge, that these things had led them an unfavorable critique of Paul. The apostle, as we know, never was abashed at admonishing his churches about sin. He had already written an earlier letter, undoubtedly drawing attention to a number of their sins. There are two common ways we respond to admonition. One is to be thankful for the correction, and the other is to retort, “Who do you think you are?” That is happening, at least to a degree, at Corinth.
Who does Paul think he is? Was he one of the original Twelve? Was he ordained by the Twelve? He is supposed to especially called by God to preach. Why, he doesn’t even do that well. Apollos (we will learn about him later) is so much better than he. All Paul does is preach the same gospel over and over, and we passed that stage a long time ago. Probably we know more than he does now.
That is the attitude Paul is contending with in his epistle. So, he doesn’t start off saying, “You don’t know nothing.” (He will make a similar remark later.) The Corinthians do possess real and good gifts that they ought to value. But, they are just that – gifts that they have received by God’s grace. That is why Paul gives thanks to God, not to the Corinthians. By God’s grace he has enriched them. They did not attain their new abilities through going to college and graduate school. They have not pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, their hard work, or their ingenuity. They who were poor were enriched by God, not by themselves.
Furthermore, they are enriched through, and because of, Jesus Christ. In every verse Christ is referred to: the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him… 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 … as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 … called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Do you think Paul has a subtle message? It’s all about Jesus! That, by the way, was the theme of our outgoing moderator of General Assembly’s message. It is all about Jesus.
The grace of God is theirs in Christ Jesus. Neither God’s saving grace, nor his sustaining grace, are outside the work of Christ and our status in Christ. Jesus’ act of redemption on the cross is the act of God’s grace. There is no saving grace apart from Jesus. As Peter said before his jurors, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The spiritual gifts that they now possess are a confirmation that Christ has indeed given them new life, as Paul notes in verse 6: even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you. Is there power in the name of Christ? Is that power among the saints of the Corinth Church? We know that the answer is “yes,” because of these gifts displayed in them.
Verses 7 and 8 put the gifts in their proper context: so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Corinth Christians, probably because of their marvelous gifts, thought that they had “arrived.” It doesn’t get any better than this. Paul reminds them that it does, and that their spectacular gifts are only intended to equip them for God’s service in this life until Christ returns. It is the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ – his day – that is the ultimate experience that Christians are awaiting.
Furthermore, he (or the Greek pronoun may refer back to God) will sustain them and present them guiltless on that final day. It is Jesus Christ/God who makes them righteous and keeps them righteous, not they. Certainly not they. The Corinth saints are an unsaintly bunch, a pastor’s nightmare; but Paul can be confident that they will stand before Christ the Judge on the final day, because Christ will also appear as their Redeemer.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is confident because God is faithful. And the God who calls his people into the fellowship of his Son will complete his work.
Application
Let’s now turn to ourselves. I said that we need to insert the name of Faith Presbyterian Church in place of the Corinth Church to best learn the lessons of this epistle. It might seem in this passage that we have little in common with the First Church of Corinth. Far from boasting of spiritual gifts, the common refrain heard among us is, I wish I knew my gift. I can’t do anything. In Paul’s greeting to us he might write that he wished we knew how enriched we were in Christ. Speaking in tongues, prophesying, utterances of wisdom and knowledge, healing – we are not even sure what these gifts are much less be prideful about them.
Having said that, we can take an inappropriate pride in what we do possess. Why we are the “teaching church.” We’ve got our doctrine down, and nobody can outdo us in Bible study. We’ve got the most learned Sunday School teachers, and…well, do you know how much work I put into my sermons? Do you know how much preparation and the grasp of theology is necessary for my messages? And do you know how boring it is to God to have to listen to such boasting? It is God who gives the tongue, God who gives not only the ability, but the effectiveness. No one benefits from any of the teaching that goes on, except that the Holy Spirit illumines his heart. What we have all comes from God, and what we are able to accomplish is the result of God’s work.
It is not wrong to recognize what we possess. The Corinth Church was not wrong to value its gifts, but it had gone too far when it had become arrogant, even to the point where the young church was beginning to look down on its spiritual father, Paul.
Also we must remember that “it is all about Jesus.” That seems an obvious idea to remember, but in practice we often forget. It is very easy, for example, to be more motivated by the church budget to keep up our membership, than the desire to bring people into God’s kingdom and nurture them in their faith in Jesus. I catch myself doing that all the time. “Ooh, I bet they would make good contributors.” “I’d hate to lose them. They are good givers.”
We do it in other ways. Most of what we do individually in the church, we do it to benefit ourselves. Three years ago, I recall exhorting you to occasionally visit the other worship service. I didn’t observe much action. Why? Because you don’t like the other people? Of course not. But you are like me. Do I have to? I like where I am now. No, you don’t have to, but if a church is called to build one another up in Christ Jesus, to manifest the body of Christ, our unity in him, wouldn’t a periodic visit go a long way in building that unity? If it is all about Jesus, wouldn’t that be a good idea?
If we believe that “it is all about Jesus,” wouldn’t that belief hang over how we think about church? How would our thinking change and our practices, if we thought what would Christ have us to do? What would we take on and what would we give up? Consider starting new churches. Who among us wants to leave the fellowship of this congregation and start a new church? Few of us I would like to think, because you like this church so much. But what would happen if as a church we focused on what would best serve Christ’s kingdom in Gainesville? I don’t know the answer, but are we even willing to think in such terms. Understanding that it is all about Jesus is an unsettling belief.
Another application. Do we live as a people waiting for the “revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ”? How many of us really do want Jesus to appear this moment? How many of us, if we were honest, would say that we want him to come, not just now. I’d like to see my child grow up; I’d like to get married first; I’d to see the Gators win the title. As much as we may speak of longing for the final day to come, we really are more comfortable with this present life, particularly when things are going well. Part of the reason is that as mortal creatures, we find it difficult to imagine what immortality is like. But also part of the reason is we really have not caught the vision that the final return of Jesus Christ is the glorious consummation of the gospel, indeed of all history.
“The world is too much with us” Christians. We think that salvation is merely about making things better for us now, plus give us an insurance policy to get into heaven where we can finally rest from our troubles. Now, our earthly lives are important, and, yes, we do want to get into heaven; but Revelation tells us that there will be a “new heaven and a new earth,” that the kingdom of God will be consummated and fully revealed in all its glory on the day of Christ’s return. Yes, God’s kingdom exists now; yes, it is exciting to be a part of that kingdom now, but the Grand Party is still to come. Our worship services are but rehearsals for the great wedding celebration of Christ and his bride, the Church.
I really do want you to understand what I am saying. It is the same thing I tried to convey when we studied the opening of 1 Peter. Let me read the great passage again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
For Peter and for Paul the glorious joy of the gospel does not stop with this life getting better now that we know Jesus. Being born again is not the end-all experience, but the entry into a hope still to be fulfilled. And it is not even fulfilled at death. Dying and going to heaven is not the ultimate experience. Our hope goes even beyond that. It goes to the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, i.e. the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then, not only will our spirits, but our bodies will be resurrected. We will be a kingdom that outnumbers the sands on the shores, a people made up of all peoples of the earth, and the angels that form rank upon rank. That is the hope of the gospel and is what should move us to serve the kingdom.
The Corinth church got caught up with the gifts they possessed, thinking how cool it was to have what they got. They forgot that a war was still going on for the kingdom, that now was the time to serve and use their gifts for the battle at hand. Let’s us not forget.
And let us not forget whom we depend on and for what. Paul encouraged the Corinthians that God will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I don’t know if they were too worried about their guilt, nor needing God to sustain them. Surely the gifts they possessed indicated their maturity in the faith and God’s favor.
Paul reminds them, as he reminds us, our only security is the fellowship we have in Jesus Christ, that we belong to him, and he resides in us. It is his union with us that will sustain us to the end. Actually the Greek word is the same used earlier for confirm. We will be confirmed guiltless, not because we manifest gifts, but because Jesus Christ covers us with his righteousness. As wealthy as we may be with spiritual gifts and outward success, our hope is truly built on “nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Keeping that truth before us will keep us humble and keep us confident. It seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Don’t we need to be confident in ourselves to be secure? It is only when we give up on ourselves and put all of our trust in Jesus Christ that true security comes. We cannot have it without Jesus. We can have nothing without him. With him? Well then, we have nothing less than eternal glory.
