1 Corinthians 1:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

NIV: God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

NASB: God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

CSB: God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

NLT: God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

KJV: God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

NKJV: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In this brief opening section, Paul has described the glory of God's grace to us in Christ. In short, it is this: Christ does all the work, and we receive all the benefits. Paul has described his own personal gratitude that God has done this for the Christians in Corinth, people Paul knows well from the time he spent with them.

Paul has written that God has sanctified them in Christ, has made them rich in spiritual gifts, and that God will hold them blameless on the day of the Lord. Now he closes the section with an enormous understatement: God is faithful. The rest of this letter will reveal deep and ugly problems among the church in Corinth, but none of those things will keep God from being faithful, by His grace, to any person who has come to Him through faith in Jesus.

Paul's readers, these troubled Corinthian Christians, were called by God into the fellowship of His own Son Jesus. All Christians are called into that fellowship. This tells us two things about what God intends for us. First, He does not mean to save us and then have us keep our distance until we arrive in eternity. God sees us as being in fellowship, a deep and direct relationship, with Him, with Christ. Second, Paul is emphasizing that all who are in Christ are, by definition, in relationship with each other.

These relationships themselves are a gift. Paul's letter will show, though, that the Corinthians were not valuing, in all cases, the gift of their fellowship with each other in Christ.

First Corinthians 1:4–9 is about God's grace to the Corinthians. Before beginning to address problems in the church, Paul first declares his thanks to God for the people. Specifically, he is thankful for God's grace and the good gifts God has given to them. Those gifts confirm that the Corinthians are truly in Christ. This means Christ will sustain them all the way to the end. Because they are in Christ who has paid for their sin with His blood, they will stand blameless before God on the day of the Lord.

Paul's letter to the Christians in Corinth begins with thanks for the great and powerful gifts God has given to them by His grace and through their faith in Christ. They will stand blameless before God in the end. Right now, though, they must stop dividing themselves according to which Christian teacher they follow and become unified in and around Christ. The gospel message of Christ's death on the cross is weak and foolish to the world, but God has given faith in Christ to those who believe it and find God's power and wisdom.

First Corinthians 1 begins Paul's letter to the Christians in Corinth, a big, bustling city on a major trade route. Paul knows them well, having spent a year and a half leading people to Christ and establishing the church there. He writes from Ephesus to correct some of their wrong attitudes and behaviors and to answer some of their questions. First, though, he thanks God for His grace to the Corinthians, knowing they will stand blameless before Him on the day of the Lord. Still, they must stop being divided and unite in and around Christ.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.