The thanksgiving Paul offers to God for the Corinthians seems odd, considering the many problems the church was experiencing. When we focus on people’s faults, hope soon wanes and discouragement follows. But when we concentrate on the Lord, even the darkest hours can be filled with praise. Because God is faithful to His word, Paul was confident that even the sin-plagued Corinthians would stand blameless before Him. This blamelessness does not refer to the Corinthians’ works, but to their standing in Christ, their justification.
Corinth
The Corinth which Paul knew had been founded as a Roman colony during the century before Christ. It was strategically located in the Roman province of Achaia on a narrow strip of land between the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea, with two adjoining ports. Corinth’s location made it a center for trade routes passing from east to west, and the resulting prosperity brought both luxury and immorality. “To live like a Corinthian” meant to live in gross immorality, and many pagan temples located in Corinth encouraged this licentious way of life through temple prostitution. The letters Paul wrote to the believers in this city reveal the problems, pressures, and struggles of a church called out of a pagan society. Paul had founded the church in Corinth during an 18-month stay in the city.
1 Corinthians 1:4-94 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 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.
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