Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.  (2) 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:  (3)  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to the Church of God in Corinth.  This church was founded by Paul and had its problems – of heresy, contentious behaviour and sexual immorality.  Paul responds to these continuing problems in Corinth with grateful thanksgiving.

One of the primary themes in Chapter One of this letter is discussing what it means to be called.  He, Paul, has been “called” by the divine will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ – the Corinthians are saints by “calling”.  Paul speaks of God’s “calling” to fellowship; Jews and Gentiles are “called”, and again, at the end of the chapter, Paul writes that God “calls” the Corinthians to salvation.

In verse 3 of today’s study Paul expresses his theological outlook in the words Grace to you.  Grace is God’s free gift to us in Christ.  God forgives us and empowers us to sanctification.    Peace here is not meant as the absence of strife but the presence of positive blessings toward the spiritual health and richness of the individual.  The “saints” at Corinth were saints because of their calling, not their conduct – living saints, who, through faith in Jesus Christ are called by God.  Every true believer is  a saint set aside with Christ as their foundation.  Paul reminds his readers that the church at Corinth possessed all spiritual gifts and reminds them that they have been called by God who is faithful.  God wants them to make use of their gifts.  Paul expresses his confidence, not in the Corinthians, but in God.  Everything is grounded in the fact that God is faithful based upon Paul’s certainty expressed in verse 2.  God is the one acting:  God gives and God keeps.  Thank God.