1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1.
Salutation and Thanksgiving. 1 Cor. 1, 1—9.
The salutation of the letter: V. 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, v. 2. unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours: v. 3. Grace be unto you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
On account of the special conditions obtaining in Corinth at the time of his writing, Paul finds it necessary to emphasize his office and the manner of his entering upon his ministry. He is called, chosen, as an apostle of Christ Jesus; he has not presumptuously taken the office or intruded upon its holy administration, but is an apostle by virtue of a special call of the Lord Himself. And this call has come to him also through the will of God. The call of Christ and the will of God have worked together in conferring upon him this distinction. As a fellow-worker, as a witness and approver of the contents of the epistle, Paul mentions Sosthenes. Whether this man was the same as the one named Acts 18, 17, cannot be ascertained; at any rate, he must have been known and esteemed in the congregation at Corinth as a brother in the Lord.
The letter is addressed to the Church of God which was in Corinth. This title is a Biblical term for a divinely gathered people, of a people called, or chosen, by God to be His peculiar nation, and, as Chrysostom says, it is a designation, not of disharmony, but of unity and harmony. At Corinth there was a part of the great congregation of God, of those whom He had chosen for His own.
Note: Although Paul was fully aware that the Church, in the real sense of the word, is invisible, he, in addressing the Corinthians, charitably assumes that they all are members of the true congregation of the Lord, of the communion of saints. This is shown by the explanation: To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, to the chosen saints. Paul is addressing such as have been sanctified, separated from the evil and corruptions of their age and city through the power of the Gospel, by which they had redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins. Thus they were consecrated in Christ Jesus, thus they were chosen as saints. All believers have union with Christ as well as salvation through Christ; they share in the righteousness and holiness of Christ, through the call of the Lord in the Gospel, to which they have given obedience through faith.
Incidentally, the Christians at Corinth should always be conscious of the fact that they are united as members of the body of Christ, in this most intimate union, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, Christ being the Lord and Head of the Church everywhere and standing in this relation to all those that accept Him as their Redeemer. To call upon the name of the Lord is an act of divine worship which flows out of faith in Him, is an expression of the faith worked by the Holy Ghost.
The true believer knows Christ to be true God, and accordingly puts his trust in Him and confidently expects help from Him as the almighty God, chap. 12, 3; Rom. 10, 12. 13; 15, 6. The universality, the true catholicity, of the Christian Church is here emphasized.
The apostle opens his letter with his customary greeting: Grace unto you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus is the greatest gift of the believers; they are assured of the favor of God through the redemption of Jesus. And therefore they have also peace with God, the peace of forgiveness and reconciliation, which includes spiritual welfare in all conditions of life, the calm assurance, the sweet consciousness of being reconciled to God, the certainty that we have God for our friend and hence may expect only goodness and blessings from Him. Nothing else can come to us since God is our Father and wants only our greatest and highest good, and since Jesus Christ, He that assumed our human nature and became our Substitute, is now exalted to be Lord over all; He is the Head of His Church, and intends finally to lead all believers to everlasting glory.
Note that Jesus is here again, as elsewhere throughout the writings of Paul, coordinated with the Father.