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Which is a higher form of motivation, fear or gratitude? Parents, would you rather have your children obey you out of fear or gratitude? Fear is a proper motivation for the immature, but maturity is motivated by gratitude. Gratitude is a much stronger motivation than fear. Jesus illustrates the power of gratitude in Luke 7:40-47:
And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it." "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged." Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. "You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." (NKJV)
Everyone needs much forgiveness, but some people do not appreciate how much they have been forgiven. When a believer understands his sin and God's deliverance, his response will be gratitude. The woman who anointed Jesus' feet was deep in sin and understood the depth of forgiveness extended to her. Are believers today grateful for their salvation and the forgiveness extended to them? If believers are grateful then why aren't all believers walking in obedience? Why do so many Christians struggle with unfaithfulness to God?
Our gratitude to God for our salvation won't motivate us to live in obedience unless it is rooted in our position in Christ. If a believer doesn't understand his union with Christ his gratitude may waver. Identification with Christ is the basic foundation of the Spirit-controlled life. Because we are one with Christ, we should act like Christ. Because He is holy, we should be holy.
Paul uses his introduction to 1 Corinthians (verses 1-9) to remind believers of their identity--saints by calling, sanctified ones, enriched ones, objects of God's grace. The rest of the letter is built upon this foundation: Be what you are! You are holy ones, so live like it. Paul's practical call to obedient living is based upon the doctrine of union with Christ.
Paul's introduction is divided into two parts: verses 1-3 are Paul's salutation to the Corinthian church, and verses 4-9 are Paul's thanksgiving to God on behalf of the Corinthian church. Verses 1-3 constitute a typical salutation with verse one identifying the writers, verse two identifying the readers, and verse three including a simple word of greeting. These three elements are typical of salutations in the ancient near east.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother (1 Cor. 1:1, NKJV).
The ancient Greeks put their names at the beginning of a letter which allowed the readers to know immediately who the letter was from. Paul begins by identifying himself as an apostle. He does this to remind them that he was writing first of all as a representative of the Lord. His apostleship established his authority. (They had questioned his apostleship, 1 Cor. 9:1-5.)
What is an apostle? The apostles were the immediate messengers of Jesus Christ, sent to lay down a doctrinal foundation for the churches. As teachers, they were infallible according to Ephesians 2:20: "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" (KJV). The infant church in Jerusalem devoted itself to "the apostles' teaching." (Acts 2:42) The apostles performed miracles which authenticated both them and their message according to 2Corinthians 12:12: "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." (KJV) (Today we compare a person's teaching to Scripture to authenticate his message.)
Paul's apostleship was not chosen by him, as our text makes clear. "Called to be" is not a literal translation of the Greek. It would be better rendered "an apostle by calling." Calling is the Greek word kletos which means appointed. God appointed Paul to be an apostle; Paul's apostleship was due entirely to "the will of God" not to the will of Paul. Paul begins by establishing that his words were said with God's own authority.
Paul adds another person to his address: "Sosthenes our brother". We can't sure who this was because this was a common name; whoever he was, he was familiar to the Corinthians. The literal text says "the brother." He may have been the Sosthenes of Acts 18, or he may have been Paul's amanuensis, or secretary, at the time this letter was written.
After identifying himself in 1 Corinthians 1:1, Paul identifies the readers in verse two:
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (NKJV)
The church is a body of called out people who belong not to themselves or to any other leader or group but to God. The church would act differently if its members remembered that it belongs to God. Acts 20:28 bears this out:
Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (NKJV)
Please note that Paul speaks to the church collectively. In our day of so many "lone-ranger" Christians, we must recall that neither here nor elsewhere does Scripture envisage Christians apart from a local church.
Paul continues his address "to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus." This identifies the church which consists of the sanctified. The word "sanctify" is from the Greek word hagiazo which means to make holy, to purify or consecrate, to set apart for God. Believer, you have been set apart for God; you belong to Him. The Scripture speaks of four aspects of sanctification. What aspect is Paul referring to here?
1. Primary Sanctification is commonly called election. It occurs when God sets apart a person for salvation. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 illustrates primary sanctification:
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, (NKJV)
Sanctification precedes "belief of the truth" and it represents the means whereby God saved us. Sanctification is the Holy Spirit's work. Belief of the truth is the human response. Notice this sanctification took place "from the beginning". This phrase is used in John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word." When was the beginning? In eternity past when God chose us and set us apart for salvation. This is the doctrine of election.
2. Positional Sanctification is the same as justification; it is the act whereby God sets us apart for himself in time. He declares us holy based upon the work of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 2:11 (KJV) For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one:
for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren.
Hebrews 10:10 (KJV) By the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
3. Practical or progressive sanctification is growing in grace, spiritual maturity. The majority of Scripture speaks of practical sanctification. This is becoming in practice what you are in position; this is holy living.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 (KJV) For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
Do you want to know God's will for your life? Be sanctified; be practically holy.
4. Perfect Sanctification is the glorified state of the believer when he dies or the Lord returns. This is glorification when the believer will be perfectly set apart from sin and to God forever.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With these four aspects of sanctification in mind, which one is Paul referring to in 1 Corinthians 1:2? They were still alive, so it couldn't be perfect sanctification, and they weren't practicing holiness, so it couldn't be practical sanctification. Paul is referring here to their positional sanctification: they were declared righteousness in the sight of God. The phrase "to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus" could be translated "to them that are justified in Christ Jesus". Paul starts his letter by reminding the Corinthians that they have been purchased from the penalty of sin by the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He amplifies the idea of their sanctification by saying that they are "saints by calling." The Corinthians are saints? They were being very divisive, living in immorality, suing one another, and getting drunk at the Lord's supper, just to name a few of their sins. Paul calls them saints! Was he crazy? No, they were saints!
The word saints is translated from the Greek word hagios which is the adjective form of the verb hagiazo which means sanctified. A saint (Greek: hagiios) is one set apart in the purpose and plan of God. It is never associated with the quality of daily life, although we use it this way when we call someone a saint because of his good conduct. But the Bible uses saint to speak of every believer: all believers are saints because positionally all believers are holy.
The Spirit of God gives believers the title of saints more than any other designation except brethren. We are called saints 62 times in Scripture. If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ you are a saint. In the Biblical sense, the most obscure believer today is just as much a saint as the apostle Paul. You can call me Saint David. Perhaps we should use that designation to exhort each other. Wouldn't it keep you from sinning if someone called you 'Saint Sue' or 'Saint Joe'?
In practice the Corinthians were gross sinners but in position they were saints. They were saints not because of their lifestyle, but because they were called of God to be saints. The word called is the Greek word kletos which means appointed to. This is very significant. We could translate this "called to belong to Jesus Christ." We come to Christ only because we have been called by His sovereign electing grace. Paul strongly emphasizes election in this passage. In the first two verses Paul refers to the doctrine of election four times: (1) Paul is called, (2) by the will of God, (3) he addresses the church (church is translated from the Greek word ekklesia and it means called out) (4) who are themselves called. This theme carries on to verse nine of 1 Corinthians 1 where again Paul says that the Corinthians were called, chosen, or elected by God.
Believers, a Christian is one of the called ones. Peter said this while preaching to the Jews on the promise of the Holy Spirit:
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:39, NKJV) And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48, KJV)
If you are a Christian it's because God has ordained you to eternal life and called you. All the gratitude for your salvation goes to God because salvation is of the Lord. Too many believers pride themselves on being Christians instead of showing humble gratitude for their calling.
Paul is addressing the Corinthian elect "with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" (1Cor. 1:2b). There are basically two opinions on what this means. It could be speaking of the wider sense in which this epistle is addressed or applies to all believers. Or it could be stressing the unity that all believers have in Jesus Christ. The second option seems to be more correct based upon the whole of Scripture. The phrase "call upon the name of the Lord" is a characteristic Old Testament way of expressing the worship of prayer. This designation is used to describe the Christians in Acts:
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. (Acts 9:13-14, KJV) But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? (Acts 9:21, KJV)
Paul uses the phrase "call upon the name of the Lord" to stress the unity of the church. He emphasizes the unity of the entire body of Christ, wherever its members live.
Verse three of 1 Corinthians 1 is a typical greeting: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Were it not for God's grace there would be no peace. This is a wish for God's best in the Corinthians' lives. Paul links grace and peace to their ultimate source: "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
In this salutation Paul stresses two things, his position as an apostle and their position as saints. By divine calling he is an apostle and throughout the rest of the epistle he shall speak with the authority of an apostle to set right their disorders, to answer their questions, and to teach some doctrine that they were denying.
Their position is as saints by divine calling, set apart by God. They are positionally holy which is the first basis for a godly life. The Corinthians were saints but they were not walking worthy of their calling. They were holy ones but they were not practicing holiness in their daily lives. Paul begins his letter by affirming the Corinthians: he tells them, "You are saints; you are positionally holy through your relationship with Jesus Christ." The realization of sainthood brings responsibility to live as saints. The realization of our position should motivate us to practice holiness. Throughout the rest of this epistle he calls them to bring their practice up to the level of their position and to live like saints of God. A believer's understanding of his position is the first basis for living a godly life.
After the salutation, in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 Paul gives his thanksgiving to God on behalf of these Corinthians. Paul's thanksgiving breaks down into two parts. In verses four through seven, he gives thanks to God for enriching the Christians at Corinth:
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus.
Paul thanks God for bestowing His grace upon the Corinthians. All that the Corinthians were and all they had came from Him. Grace is from the Greek word charis. The basic meaning of charis is favor, but in relation to God's saving grace it always has the special and distinct sense of undeserved and unrepayable kindness or mercy given to sinners.
Romans 4:4 says "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt." In other words, grace cannot be earned. Is your paycheck grace? No, it is payment of a debt. If we could some how earn God's favor it wouldn't be grace but debt because He would owe us. Salvation is a gift, not a wage.
Paul uses grace (charis) in verses three and four, but derivatives of this expression also appear in the word thank (v.4) and in the word gift (v.7). Paul not only stresses the idea of election, but he stresses grace as well. Our election is of grace, and grace alone.
He goes on to thank God "that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge." Enriched is from the Greek word ploutizo from which we derive our word plutocrat. A plutocrat is an extremely wealthy person. Paul calls the Corinthians plutocrats! They were made wealthy when grace came from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, they had everything that Christ has to give, and He gave them everything they needed.
The Corinthians were made rich in two ways: "in all utterance and all knowledge." There are a lot of different opinions as to what this means here, but here is the best interpretation. Utterance is from the Greek word logos, which refers to doctrine, or the gospel message. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 1:18:
For the preaching [logos] of the cross is the them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (KJV)
We could say they were enriched in the doctrine of the cross. The word knowledge (gnosis) indicates the acceptance of the doctrines that had been communicated to them, and a comprehensive insight into the truth. They were plutocrats in the doctrine and comprehension of the gospel message.
1 Corinthians 1:6 tells the church at Corinth they were enriched "even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." How did God confirm the truth of Christ's gospel in the hearts of the Corinthians? Other Scriptures refer to signs that confirmed the message.
Mark 16:20 (NKJV) And they went out and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the
word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Corinthians 12:12 (NKJV) Truly the signs of an apostle were
accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and
mighty deeds.
Possibly God confirmed the message to the Corinthians through the sign gifts. (Paul talks more about the sign gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14.)
1 Corinthians 1:7 continues the theme of spiritual wealth by saying, "so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." They were not lacking in any gifts because God had given them all they needed to live the Christian life. They were plutocrats. They did not need to look for additional special blessings or gifts.
We are born spiritually just as we were born physically with everything complete and intact. We are not like polliwogs that need to grow legs and lose a tail. We have everything we need to grow and be victorious. We do develop what we already have as we mature, but we don't need any additional parts or gifts. Many Christians go from revival to revival trying to find something else; they need to mature, but God has already given them everything they need for victorious living.
The second half of verse seven says "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Waiting is translated from the Greek word apekdechomai which means to expect fully. In other words, while the believers at Corinth were waiting for the coming of the Lord, they did not cease to minister their gifts.
The second basis for godly living is our blessing in Jesus Christ. Believers, we are wealthy beyond measure! Do you understand what you have in Jesus Christ? We are plutocrats; not only has God called us to salvation but He has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ. In view of all God has given us, shouldn't we live for him?
In 1 Corinthians 1:4-7 Paul is thankful for what God has done; in verses eight and nine, he is thankful for what God is going to do on behalf of these believers. First of all, God guarantees their security according to verse eight:
Who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV)
Paul looks to the future and voices his certainty that God will present the Corinthians without blame at the time of the final judgement. They are not blameless in practice, but they are in their position. Paul refers to their judicial acquittal on the basis of Christ's imputed merit. Positionally the Corinthians were blameless because they were in Christ! Positionally, we are also blameless if we are in Christ.
Why can we have this security? 1 Corinthians 1:9 tells us:
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (NKJV) To emphasize the concept of God's faithfulness, Paul places this word first in the Greek sentence: literally translated it reads "faithful is God." Faithful means trustworthy therefore God is trustworthy, and we can depend upon Him. The faithful God has called us into a union or partnership with his Son; He is trustworthy when He promises that this union is permanent. We will be blameless because God is faithful. Eternity lays not in my actions, but in God's faithfulness.
God gives us this guarantee in Romans 8:29-30:
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
It is an unbroken chain: God has called us and He will also glorify us because He is faithful.
The third basis for a godly life is our future prospect in Christ. Someday we will stand absolutely blameless before God. How unthinkable it is to live in a sinful manner now!
Paul's introduction to 1 Corinthians is remarkable in many ways. A careful study of it will reveal that there are at least eleven occasions when Paul gives a word or thought that is going to be picked and developed at length throughout the rest of this book. He mentions our Lord nine times in these first nine verses of 1 Corinthians. This is one of the few places in the Bible where the full title of Jesus Christ is given to us. It appears in the end of verse nine: His son Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul wanted the Corinthians to focus upon God because only in doing that can they live a godly life.
In this introduction Paul lays the basis for the exhortation to live a godly life that characterizes the rest of this book. Because of our position as saints, we are to live a holy life. If we understand who we are in Christ we will live our lives in holiness out of gratitude for all that the Lord has done for us.
We are saints, shouldn't we live like it?
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