Monday 27 February 2023

Psalm 1

Background 

Paul writes to a Christian community which he knows well. He had preached to them, lived among them and helped shape them into a church. He knows their daily lives in the port city of Corinth, on the narrow isthmus of land joining mainland Greece to the south. He knows that a few were wealthy, perhaps enriched by trade, but most were poor and uneducated (1:26). And he knows their faults as well as their strengths, and later in the letter he points out their shortcomings very sharply.  

Despite this, he begins his letter by giving thanks for them. He writes in the usual way, identifying himself first, by name and by title as an apostle. Then he names his addressees: the Church of God in Corinth, and all Christians everywhere. He writes with delight of their new identity in Christ. They have been made holy in Christ Jesus and have the title ‘saints’, God’s holy people. They have said to God, "I am no longer my own, but yours". Their lives are marked by God’s grace, God’s orientation towards us, and peace, the certainty that we are held in God’s love through Christ.  

Paul’s thanksgiving focuses on the Church’s new life in Christ. He celebrates their wealth, which is not gold or silver but words and knowledge and the power to give testimony to the life-changing presence of Jesus Christ. This is what really matters for the Church.  

Yet there are already hints of the ethical shortcomings which Paul will criticise fiercely later in the letter (see chapters 5 and 6). The Church is waiting (v. 7) for Christ to be fully revealed. Though they possess God’s grace and peace, they are not yet able to live wholly by these gifts. They are in an in-between time. Christ’s death and resurrection have changed the world for good and broken the power of evil – and yet the aftershocks of earth-shattering sin continue to rumble on. The world has not yet attained the perfection which is God’s vision for all creation.   

The Corinthians are like every other Christian since their time: trying, most of the time, to do what is right, and sometimes accessing God’s grace to enable them to do this, and sometimes falling spectacularly short. But in all the mess of the life of this Church, Paul still gives thanks for them and celebrates the lifechanging power of their fellowship (koinonia) with Christ.  

To Ponder:

• What do you think Paul would find to celebrate in the life of a church you know? What would he want to challenge? 
• In light of the troubles of our times, how can the Church bear witness to the life-changing power of Christ? 
• Paul names God’s gifts to us as grace and peace. Do you recognise those gifts in your own life? If so, where?