1 Corinthians 1:8–9

1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1.

Salutation and Thanksgiving. 1 Cor. 1, 1—9.

The thanksgiving of the apostle: V. 4. I thank my God always on your behalf ... v. 8. who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. v. 9. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

While he waits for Christ, the believer knows that Christ the Lord will confirm, establish, us unto the end, to the end of the world, if that is thus near, or to the end of our life, if the Lord calls us home before His last great day.

But no matter when the day may come, He will establish us to be blameless, that we shall no longer be guilty and under the condemnation, Rom. 8, 33. 34. This blamelessness of the Christians does not consist in any merits on their part, but in the fact that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them by faith, Phil. 3, 9. The reason for every believer's acceptance by God is thus placed on the side of God and Christ alone, and the promise is made with such reassuring certainty that it should be the basis of a joyful hope, John 10, 27. 28.

The final, the deepest ground of Paul's hope for the salvation of the Corinthian Christians is the fidelity of God: Faithful is God, through whom you are chosen to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our hope of eternal life is based upon the promise of God, who cannot lie, Titus 1, 2.

Our election to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, the fact that we have been brought to faith by Him and have thus been united with Him in that wonderful spiritual union of members in His body, is His earnest-money to us that our salvation is secure in His hands. Christ is but the Firstborn among many brethren, and we are joint-heirs with Him of the blessings of eternal life.

Since He, however, is also our exalted Lord, our communion with Him invests us with His present grandeur and certifies the manifestation of His glory upon us. So the Christian's faith is not a vague and uncertain hope, but is based upon the fact that he has received a guarantee of the final consummation of his hopes.

''What Christ has begun in you, and what He has already given you, in that He will surely keep you to the end and into eternity, if only you do not willfully fall from it and cast it from you; for His Word and promise, given you, and His work, which He performs in you, is not changeable like men's word and work, but sure, certain, and divinely immovable truth. Since, then, you have such a divine call, take comfort in it and rely upon it firmly" (Luther, 12, 911).

"Thus, also, Holy Scripture testifies that God, who has called us, is so faithful that, when He has begun the good work in us, He also will preserve it to the end and perfect it, if we ourselves do not turn from Him, but firmly retain to the end the work begun, for which He has promised His grace" (Conc. Trigl. 1073).