Paul Reminds the Corinthians Who They Are

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 - Riley Boggs

Let me set the context of this book before we get into what the text actually says. So the book of 1 Corinthians is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, which he himself started, or planted. We know this because of a few different reasons, the main one being what is recorded in Acts 18:1-11. If you’ll turn with me there, we’ll look at the founding of this church. 

“After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

So during one of Paul’s missionary journey’s, he went to Corinth to teach the word of God and establish a church. The text says he was there for about a year and half, and then he continued on his journey. The church of Corinth was established somewhere around 50-51 AD, and Paul writes this letter to the Corinthians around 54-55AD. So about 4-5 years have passed. During that time, things have not gone well, and Paul’s hears about it and decides to write to them.

It doesn’t seem to be the first letter he’s written to them, because in chapter 5 verse 9 he refers to a previous letter to them. We don’t have this letter, so we don’t know all of what it contains, other than what he refers to in that verse. But regardless, we do have this letter.

Like I mentioned, at some point since Paul left things had taken a turn for the worse. Corinth was one of the largest cities in Rome, full of people living however they desired. And it seems the church had been taking some cues from them and living sinful lives, and they were disagreeing about how they should engage the people who were living this way. Because of all this, there were major divisions in the church. Not only that, but there were members suing one another, the marriages of the people in the church were terrible, and people in the church were bragging to one another about how God had gifted them. They even go as far as to show up early to church and eat and drink the Lord’s Supper, getting drunk on the wine and making it where others couldn’t partake because they eaten all the bread and drank all the wine. It was bad, really bad. Though it’s not in our text this morning, verse 10 really gives the reasoning for Paul writing this letter. Look at what he says.

And Paul hears about this. It seems that he’s heard about it simply by people reporting to him, but later in the letter he directly responds to some of the things the church has asked or said to him. So within this letter, he addresses both what he has heard from others about the church, but also directly addresses some questions and accusations from these people. It makes for an interesting letter, where we get a pretty clear picture as to what the church should look like, because Paul has to correct them on so much. 

This morning we’re only looking at the first 9 verses, which is the introduction to the letter. But it’s a very interesting 9 verses, not so much because of what it contains, but because of what we would expect versus what we get. 

I have a hypothetical situation for you, that I think works especially well because this is a new church plant. Let’s say the Lord calls your family to move to Utah to plant another church in a year or so, and so you do. You leave us and when you leave us, things are going well. We are a healthy church, marked by unity and love. But, after you’ve been gone 4-5 years you hear some not good stuff about Covenant.

You learn that we’ve been doing all the things the church of Corinth has been doing. We’re divided, suing one another. We have terrible marriages, and we are getting drunk on our grape juice. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the point. Things are bad. Bad enough that you feel the text to write a letter, or text, or email, or whatever you do. How would you start the letter? If this were me, honestly, I think my temptation would be to say… “What the heck are you all doing? What happened? Why are you doing this? Stop! Don’t you see that you’re acting like a bunch of unbelievers?” Personally, I would probably feel offended for the total disregard for the Word of God, which I had to tried to put before everyone. The point is, we would be unhappy, and our letter might make that very clear from the beginning.

But Paul, in this exact situation, doesn’t do that at all. But it’s not just that he doesn’t start by getting on to them and telling them how stupid they are acting. No, he does the exact opposite. He says that he gives thanks for them and reminds them of all these glorious truths about them. And it’s not just that he wasn’t upset or frustrated with what they are doing, he was. He makes that clear in the rest of the letter. But in these first 9 verses, there isn’t a hint of frustration. 

When you think about all they are doing and as we look at what he says about them, it’s so incredibly gracious. But here’s the question we need to answer. Do believers’ people who are running headlong into sin and disrupting the church need to be reminded of who they are in Christ, or do they need to be rebuked so that they can see the error of their ways? The answer is yes. They both needed to be reminded who they are and rebuked, and Paul does both here. This morning we are going to look at what Paul says to remind them of who they are, and at the end I’ll try to answer why I think he does it this way.

And so, in verse 1 Paul states who he is first. He says that he, by the will of God, is an apostle. He is stating his authority on the matters he is about to speak on, and then he mentions what seems to be one of his ministry partners Sosthenes. Then he begins reminding them of who they are. I want to look the 4 things he tells them about who they are, and I want you all to see that these things are true of you all as well. The first thing he reminds them of it this. They are…

1.) A Holy People (v.2)

The first thing Paul says about them, is that they are a sanctified people who have been called together by Christ. Specifically called to be saints, and to be a part of the universal church. The universal church that is defined by people who have placed their faith in Christ, or as Paul says, called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are gathering in His name to worship. This is who they are, and this is who you are.

There’s this reality for us as Christians that we need to grasp in order to understand what Paul is saying here when he speaks of things like sanctified in the past tense. What we need to learn is something called the “already-not yet”. This is important for us to get. If I were to ask you, are you saved? If you’ve repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ, the answer should be yes. Now if I ask you, will you one day be saved? You could still answer yes. This is the already-not yet reality. In one sense, when you repent of your sins and trust Christ for salvation, you are completely saved. Your sins are forgiven, and you have no need to fear condemnation from God. Your position is one who has been saved completely. On the other hand, one day you will be saved from your sin, sadness, and everything else that still hangs around in your life. This same principal can be applied to salvation, justification, glorification, and specifically in this text, sanctification. 

Sanctification is the process whereby we become more like Christ day-by-day. We rid ourselves of sin and pursue holiness. It is a growing process. It takes time. And on this side of heaven, no one will ever finish the sanctification process. There is always sin to address, always steps of obedience to take, and always more ways to reflect the very nature of God in being holy. 

Now what is important to note here is that Paul doesn’t say, you are a people being sanctified day-by-day, but he refers to the ultimate reality instead. He says that you are sanctified. Paul hears about all these horrible things they are doing and the first thing he says is, you are sanctified. You are holy, you are like Christ. He doesn’t say, you need to be sanctified or even that you are being sanctified, but he says that they are sanctified in Christ. Maybe this isn’t the way you or I would address the Corinthians at first, but it’s the way that Paul did. Paul wants them to be reminded that in the greatest reality of all, that stands outside of time, God has called His people holy. He has sanctified them completely, and in time, when God will bring about final judgment, and this reality will be present to us.

This holiness is not something that we will acquire though. It isn’t that we seek to be holy day-by-day, and then at the end of it all whatever we have is what we get it. No, in the end we will be made holy because God will make us like Christ Himself. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:29-30. He says, 

“29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

In other words, God saves us with the end of conforming us entirely into the image of His Son. That was the plan all along. Each one of you in this room who has trusted Christ for salvation have been saved so that you might one day be completely holy. God is going to make you like Christ, and one day you will no longer struggle with sin. You will be sanctified in Christ Jesus. These people, and you all, have been called to be saints, to be a part of God’s people, the church. We are a holy people, not because we have worked out all our sins, but because one day God will work them all out. And for now, we are tasked with simply seeking this holiness day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute.

So Paul reminds them, even though they are acting unholy, that they are a holy people. And then secondly…

2.) A People of Grace (vv.3-4)

Paul reminds them that grace has been given to them, and he hopes for even more grace to be given to them. The Corinthian church, our church, and every true church across the world exists solely because of the grace of God. There is no explanation for why groups of once wretched rebellious sinners, who were enemies of God, would gather to worship Him weekly, other than the grace of God.

As a result of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s, there were 5 truths that were heralded as sort of a summary of what Reformation was putting forth. They are called the 5 solas. The are sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone). Though I’d like to spend the rest of the time this morning talking about each of these and how important each of these truths are, I’ll simply draw your attention to sola gratia, or grace alone.

The Reformers saw the Catholic church missing this completely. They had abandoned what the Bible clearly taught about grace and instead promoted a works and grace combination. They would say yes, of course there is grace. But you must also do all of these things to take care of what grace cannot. The issue is this. If you think your salvation is 99.9% grace and 0.1% works, you have it wrong. Our salvation is completely grace. We are saved by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. In the words of Jonathan Edwards, “We contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

This is what Paul reminds them of. They are a people of grace. They have been bought by the precious blood of Christ, and God has saved them according to the riches of His grace. It is by His grace that He saved them, called them together a church, has given them His Word, and so on. It is all grace that was given to them in Christ. 

Rather than telling them how much they are abusing the grace given to them, he tells them how thankful he is for the grace of God they have been given. Rather than telling them how much grace they need for all they’ve done, he tells how he hopes they may experience more grace and peace. Then thirdly, he reminds them that they are…

3.) An Equipped People (vv.5-7)

Despite the fact that the Corinthians are abusing their gifts by boasting to another about how the gifts they have received from God, Paul reminds them that they are not lacking in any gift. What a seemingly weird thing to say to a bunch of people who surely don’t think they are lacking, but think they have it all. But nonetheless, that is what Paul says.

He gives thanks that they have been enriched in Christ in all speech and knowledge, and then says in verse 6 that all the ways they are displaying their gifts in the church is evidence that they do in fact know Christ. Later in the book Paul will address the issue of them boasting about their gifts and all their false ideas stemming from it, but for now, he simply notes that he can see the gifts at work in them, and is thankful for it.

There are a few things I could say about the greater theological point Paul is making, but I’ll keep it rather brief and only say that there is not one single believer who has not been gifted by God. God never saves someone and then doesn’t gift them. Every single person who is in Christ, is spiritually gifted. And the purpose of that gift is to build up the church, to aid one another in loving Christ and walking with Him. Each believer is gifted uniquely, and we are all brought together into the church by God to use our gifts to function as the body of Christ.  When we get there in this book, we will look at the different spiritual gifts and look at how they ought to be practiced, and I am very excited about that. 

But for now, because we aren’t in that text yet, I just want us to see that Paul knows all the ways the Corinthians were abusing these gifts, and yet he doesn’t hesitate to point the goodness of their gifts and that, even abused, they are proof that they know Christ, because those who know Christ, are gifted by Him. 

Lastly, he reminds them that they are…

4.) A Kept People (vv.8-9)

Though we may not think of it at first, this text is one of the strongest we could point to, to see that whether or not we make it to the end is not at all dependent on our obedience. I mean think about this. Paul, hearing about all these terrible things they are doing, doesn’t for a second hesitate to remind them of the fact that God will sustain them to the end. And he says, God isn’t going to keep them because their obedience warrants it, clearly, but because verse 9. God is faithful, and they were called into the fellowship of his Son. And those called into the fellowship, cannot depart.

And actually Paul makes it even more clear what this “being kept” means for them in verse 8. He says that they are going to be guiltless at the day of the Lord. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Would you one of the first things you say to believers sinning in these ways, “don’t forget, you will be guiltless on the day of the Lord”? Probably not, but that’s what Paul does. And it’s not because he isn’t concerned about obedience. The rest of this book contains instruction and rebuking on how they must obey in all the ways that they are lacking, but he doesn’t go there without first saying this.

But just consider this truth for a moment as it pertains to your own life. Our sin cannot keep us from being guiltless when the Lord returns. All our sins, past, present, and future have been completely atoned for. They were paid for on the cross. Your end is sure, and you’ve been brought into the fellowship of God. He is going to keep you and sustain you, because He is faithful. 

When the enemy tries to convince you otherwise, turn to this text and be reminded of who Paul is saying this to. Paul isn’t saying this to people who have it figured out and are living sinless lives. He's saying it to believers who have fallen into sin, and need to be corrected. He is saying it to people who know Christ and need to be reminded that what the sin they are becoming entangled in isn’t worth it. So rest in the fact that God is going to keep you, despite your failings, and allow this beautiful truth to enable you to greater obedience.

Okay, let’s address the overarching question of the text as we close. Why does Paul do all of this? Why does he start here? When he hears of their division, selfishness, drunkenness, and so on, why doesn’t he start with a “What in the world are you all doing? Stop acting like a bunch of pagans.”? But instead he says, “you are a holy, graced, equipped, and kept people. And I am so thankful for you.”.

One of my previous pastors, Lee Tankersley, answered this question like this. He said,  “I think he begins the letter by overwhelming them with what God has graciously done for them through the gospel and who they are in Christ so that the glory, and beauty, and feeling that it’s almost too good to be true (but it is most definitely true) nature of the gospel will move their hearts to hear everything that he is going to say in these following chapters and respond well.”

I love what he says at the end. Paul wants them to see, hear, and feel the Gospel as almost too good to be true, though it is true, so that they may hear everything he says in the chapters to come and respond well. In other words, he is preparing their hearts by reminding them of who they are. He wants them to see the goodness of God, specifically in Christ, and what He has done to make them who they are, so that God’s instruction to them will be well-received. 

If you’ll look at these 9 verses one more time, I want to point out something in them. You’ll notice that in every single verse, Jesus Christ is mentioned. All by name except in verse 5 where he is referred to as “he”. But nonetheless, He is mentioned in every verse.

Do you see what Paul is doing? He is saying, look to Christ Corinthians! Look at all He has done and is doing for you so that you can see all the ways you’ve started to go off course. He wants them to be reminded of who they are because of Christ. Because it is only those who know Christ, truly, who will be able to receive what Paul is about to say in a good way. Hard truths are coming, but for God’s people, when we are reminded all that we have been given in the Gospel, we can accept these hard truths. Even the ones that sting a bit.

And so here’s it is. If you know Christ. If you’ve repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ. You are holy. You have been given grace immeasurable. You have been equipped. You will be kept. Rest in that, and allow these truths to drive you to more and more faithfulness and obedience.

If you do not know Christ, we beg you to repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ. Right now, in your sins, you are unholy. You need grace. You are missing out on the gifts from God, and you are headed to a day where you will stand before God not as guiltless, but as guilty. But if you repent of your sins and trust Christ for salvation, all this can change. And so I sincerely urge you to do this.