Overview
The selection 1 Cor. 1:3-9 contains the greeting (v.3) and the thanksgiving (vv.4-9). "Peace (to you)" would have been the normal Jewish greeting, but Paul has transformed it with the inclusion of "Grace" and the mention of "God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The word "grace" will be taken up once more in v. 4 as part of the thanksgiving. The selection is also programmatic in that it shows us in advance the topics that Paul will be dealing in the letter.
With the following keywords, Paul hints at a subsequent section of his letter
- "rich in discourse and knowledge" (v. 4) --> the boasting of the Corinthians and the divisions in the community because of their taking sides with their favorite preachers (chapters 1-4)
- "spiritual gifts" (v. 7) --> a discussion of the gifts to be desired (chapters 12-14)
- "the day of the Lord" --> the Resurrection of the Last Day (chapter 15)
- "ïrreproachable" ---> the admonitions and exhortations in chapters 5-11
- "fellowship" --> the manifestation of such fellowship in the "collecta" for the Mother Church in Jerusalem (chapter 16)
It should be noticed that most of this section is about the Corinthians and their relationship with Christ. The only first person verb here is eucharisto, "I give thanks". Paul gives thanks "everywhere" on account of the Corinthians for the grace that has been given to them in Christ.
Grace
The normal greeting in Greek would have been, "chaire". Paul changes it with a similar sounding word that is central in his notion of what has happened in Christ. "Grace" in Paul is the structure of the whole of salvation history and designates what Christians receive from God in the Christ-event. It connotes "gratuitousness" and has its actualization on the cross (cf. Gal. 2:21) and the proclamation of the gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10). Paul would later on declare that it is by this grace that he has become what he is (cf. 1 Cor. 15:1). God's grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9) for those who depend on it. It gives assurance and no false hope.
The grace for which Paul thanks God is manifested in the Corinthians in three ways:
- they are enriched in discourse and knowledge
- their testimony to Christ is confirmed
- they do not lack any charisms (gifts deriving from the Holy Spirit)
The rest of the letter to the Corinthians will show that the community is manifesting these three things in a still imperfect way. What will carry them to perfection in the end is the work of Christ, not theirs, so that no one may boast.
As you await ... our Lord Jesus Christ
From verses 7-9, we find the phrases "our Lord Jesus Christ" (7.
and "of Jesus Christ, our Lord" (9). This last phrase inverts the order found in verses 7.8. Structurally, therefore, verses 7-9 are to be considered together. Finally, in verse 8, the word "anegkletous" (irreproachable) echoes verse 9's "eklethete" ("you have been called"). In this way, the work of Christ in confirming the Corinthians is placed side by side with the work of God who calls the Corinthians into fellowship with Christ.
The Church and all its "localized" manifestations is still "in via". The verb that characterizes this state is found in the participle plural apekdechomenous, "as you await". The object of the verb is the "apokalypsis", the "revelation of Christ" (v.7). This phrase has an eminently eschatological meaning in 1 Corinthians, referring to the day when Christ is fully manifested as the Lord of history; it is paralleled in verse 8 by "the Day of our Lord", a synonym of "day of Judgment" ((hemera in the Abridged Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 310)). The community of faith awaits the manifestation of the Lord, but until that time, the Lord himself will be confirming the Corinthians in their present state as "blameless", an allussion to the baptism received, but at the same time a requirement of the ethical demands of the life in Christ.
Finally, the Corinthians are assured that the One who has called them to fellowship with Christ is faithful. God is "faithful" because that is His Name (Isaiah 49:7) and that is how he has been with his covenanted people (cf. Deut. 7:9). The call to fellowship in Christ, is the calling received in baptism which associates one with Christ as a co-heir (cf. Rom. 8:15-17; Gal. 4:7). Paul will remind the Corinthians of this in 1:26 when he recalls to them how they started. In Philippians 3:14, Paul characterizes such a call as an "upward calling" which requires a response from the one that is called.
A Note for the First Sunday of Advent, Year B
This selection from Paul appears with Mark 13:33-37 and selections from Isaiah 63-64. Normally, the Old Testament and the Gospel readings are related to one another, with the second reading as an alternative source for the homily. For the first Sunday of Advent (Year B), however, we find a direct correlation between the Pauline selection and the Gospel. The gospel selection from Mark sets the tone for Advent with the Lord's implicit command to be like servants who do their job and are found by their awaited Lord occupied with their assignments. In the selection from 1 Corinthians, the participle "apekdechomenous" (you-are-waiting) and its object "the manifestation of our Lord" designates the status of the community of faith as it manifests in its life the grace received from God in Christ. Together with the intense desire expressed in Isaiah 63-64 for the visitation of the Lord, both New Testament readings underline the expectant waiting of the Christian community.
