Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (4) I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, (5) that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, (6) even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.  (7) so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (8) who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be made blameless 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.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul.  Corinth was a center of commerce, populated by Roman soldiers and people from all over the Mediterranean.  The city had been razed and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. and there was no one dominant culture – it was materially prosperous and morally corrupt.  Corinthians valued the reckless development of the individual – there was praise for self will, self indulgence in a carnal environment.  The Corinthians were haughty, divided and competitive.

Paul begins this first letter to the Corinthians by telling them who he is in relation to God and then telling them who they – the faithful – are,  in relation to God.  Everything has its true meaning and is defined by its relation with God.  The Corinthian letters are Paul’s best testimony for how the church should function in any age.  The message is how to be God’s people.  The church is made up of people in whom the spirit of God resides.  In Scripture the church is the body of Christ himself and is a far cry from any other human organization.  There is the church visible and invisible.  Only in the church invisible is there true unity.  It is Christ’s church made up of those called to be holy.  The faithful’s relationship to Christ has changed them and they are being sanctified and set apart.  Paul is addressing not those who attend church but those who are the church – everyone who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is part of the community of faith.

Paul tells the church in Corinth that they do not lack any spiritual gift – they have everything they need.  The promise is God is faithful.  And, it is God’s choice – before all time – to keep true believers in the faith.  God’s chosen will be brought to glory.    Paul concludes this introduction by telling his readers that they (the faithful) will be blameless in the day of Christ and the reason for that is God’s will and power.  God has a plan and we are part of it.