1 Corinthians 1:1-3 - Grace and Peace

Introduction

It’s been said that we (in twenty-first-century America) live in a post-Christian culture. There is no doubt that western civilization is grounded in biblical principles, and it has been influenced greatly by biblical morality and instructions. And yet, all around us we see a culture in decline. Traditional notions of marriage and family are not just passé, they are denigrated in media, academia, and politics. Traditional ethics (honesty, hard work, loyalty, responsibility) seem to be the stuff of a bygone era, and some even want to argue that these are the characteristics of an oppressive culture that has too often abused those in the minority culture.

If we’re honest, there was never a “golden age,” one that was marked by genuine virtue and real prosperity at every level. Since Genesis 3, all civilizations have exhibited their share of wickedness and sin. But there is a pessimism and escapism common in our day that seems far worse than generations past.

Even within many local churches, we can notice the loss of the biblical standards of ethics and doctrine. The Church of England appears to be headed along the same path as many other Christian denominations before it. Anglican leaders are presently considering gender-neutral pronouns for God, and they’ve recently approved of blessing same-sex “marriages.”

Closer to home, from evangelical churches in America, we hear one story after another of church leaders deconstructing or leaving the faith, being exposed as long-time sexual deviants, and/or calling into question the very doctrines upon which Christianity is grounded.

I know of one church within an hour’s drive of here that is being torn to pieces because a former Senior Pastor was exposed as an adulterer who had been sexually promiscuous for decades. Many church members want to pretend it isn’t so, and many others are suffering heartache and confusion over the church’s inability to face the sin head-on. The whole community is affected by the hypocritical and perverse actions of people who claim to follow Jesus but who act just like those who follow their impulses.

In such a context, what are Christians to do? How can any church re-center itself upon the historic Christian faith? How can a church fortify itself against such errors? How can Christians be equipped to deal with sin in their own lives and be prepared to offer non-Christians a faithful witness of Christ Jesus?

Well, it’s a good thing we have letters like 1 Corinthians in the Bible!

The Christians in first-century Corinth were living in a completely pagan world, with unbelieving political and economic leaders. And they even dealt with unrepentant sin within the church. Human nature was the same in the first century as it is today, and the truths and commands we read about in this letter are the biblical solutions for the same problems we face.

These first three verses of the letter, which we will consider today, provide a foundation for all that comes after it. This rich and practical letter begins with a profound greeting, full of doctrine with huge implications for all of life.

May God encourage our hearts as we think together, and may He grant us grace and courage to listen and to obey.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 1:1–3 (ESV)

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Main Idea:

Christians are recipients of genuine grace and peace from God, through Jesus Christ, who sanctifies undeserving sinners.

Sermon

1. From Paul (v1)

In one sense, Paul’s opening greeting in this letter is very much the same as his greetings in other New Testament letters. To the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God… To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace… and peace…” (Rom. 1:1-7). To the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus… Grace… and peace…” (Eph. 1:1-2). And Paul’s greeting in his second letter to the church in Corinth is nearly identical to the one we’re reading today.

Clearly, this greeting is not substantially unusual. But this does not mean it is less important. The fact that such a greeting is common from Paul makes it more fundamental as a starting point for the communication that follows… whether to the church of Corinth, to the church of Ephesus, or to those churches in Rome.

So, what do we learn here about Paul in this common greeting?

Well, the main thing we learn is that he was “an apostle of Christ Jesus” (v1). This is no ordinary title or office. We learn what an Apostle is in Acts, chapter 1. The word “apostle” simply means messenger or ambassador or one who is sent out. But the way the New Testament uses this word is more specific than that, and the way Paul was using it here is explicitly so. Paul was “an apostle of Christ Jesus” who was “called” to that office “by the will of God” (v1).

And also note that “Sosthenes” was a “brother” in Christ, but he was most definitely not “an apostle of Christ” (v1). Paul said that he was writing this letter with Sosthenes, but Paul alone claimed to be “called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (v1).

So, what does it mean that Paul was a New Testament “apostle,” commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ (v1)?

The first time the word shows up in the New Testament is in Matthew 10. Matthew tells us that Jesus “called” together “his twelve disciples,” and He “gave them authority” (as apostles) to do the miracles that He Himself had been doing (Matt. 10:1).[i] This delegation of authority is central to the role of an Apostle, and we have recently seen (in Acts) how the same miracles that validated Jesus as the Messiah also validated Jesus’s special witnesses as capital “A” Apostles.

The beginning of the book of Acts puts a big emphasis on the twelve Apostles, and it’s there that we learn clearly what an Apostle is and why there were twelve. Most of you will remember that the book of Acts records that period of history which immediately followed Jesus’s resurrection and ascension. After Jesus was raised from the dead, He remained with His disciples 40 days, until He was “lifted up” to His seat of highest authority in the universe (Acts 1:9).

At His departure from earth, Jesus commissioned His disciples to be His “witnesses,” and He said the Holy Spirit would empower them (Acts 1:8). Jesus had established a New Covenant between God and man, and He was sending out His followers as the New Covenant people… And like Israel of old, Jesus also had twelve “sons” (or Apostles) who formed the foundation of His new “nation.”

Unlike the old one, Jesus’s new “Israel” would be populated by repenting and believing people of all “nations” or ethnicities… and these people would be included, not by family lineage or obedience, but by turning from sin and trusting in Jesus as the Christ, the Lord and the Savior.

Friends, if you want to learn more about what the Bible teaches regarding Jesus as the Christ, or about what it means to turn from sin or to trust in Jesus, then let’s make a plan to discuss this stuff more after the service is over.

Right now, let’s get back to the issue at hand – defining what an Apostle is and why there were twelve. I’ve just alluded to the purpose of the number 12… it’s because Jesus was the fulfillment of all that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… and Jesus established a NewCovenant, with a new people, who were citizens of a new kingdom… not an earthly one located in the Middle East, but a heavenly one that stretched out across the entire globe.

The twelve Apostles were a tangible indicator that Jesus was establishing the New Covenant people of God, and not just anyone could be an Apostle.

Acts 1 is where Judas Iscariot was replaced by another disciple named Matthias, and we won’t get further into the details here, but we do see three qualifications for Apostles. In Acts 1, beginning with v21, Peter said that Judas’s replacement had to be (1) someone “who [had] accompanied [the disciples] during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up” (v21-22); (2) someone who was a “witness to [Jesus’s] resurrection” (v22); and (3) someone who was explicitly commissioned by Christ to fill the office of Apostle (v24-26).

Now the reason we’re spending this much time on Paul as an Apostle this morning is because Paul was not numbered among the twelve, and he later called himself an Apostle “untimely born” and “least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:8-9). In fact, Paul’s apostleship was regularly questioned among those who sowed division in the churches Paul himself had established (see Galatians and Philippians). And this was exactly what was happening in Corinth. Paul’s apostolic authority was one of the two major issues that provoked this letter.

It is no coincidence, then, that Paul said (at the beginning of this letter) that he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus” who was “called” to that office “by the will of God” (v1). And it’s also no accident that Paul’s authority was one of the two major issues causing problems in Corinth. Anytime a person or group wants to break free from God’s design, God’s word, or God’s commands, he or she must necessarily pick a fight with those who submit to and call others to submit to God’s authority.

Today, we don’t have capital “A” Apostles walking around, but we do have the divinely inspired record of apostolic teaching. We have the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), which is the very word of God written in verbal and grammatical form, such that anyone who reads the language can understand the major teaching and message of it. When it comes to life’s biggest questions and those areas of greatest moral confusion in our day, the Bible is actually quite clear.

Therefore, most people who disagree with the Bible don’t argue against the substance of it… we all know (or at least we can know) what the Bible says. Instead, people who don’t want to submit to God’s word attack its authority. “Is it really God’s word?” or “Is that what it means, or is that just your interpretation?”

Friends, the Bible is God’s word, and it deserves our careful consideration. Because the Bible is God’s word, we should do our best to know what it says and to submit ourselves to it in every area of life… We should believe what it teaches and do what it commands… because it is the highest authority over us.

In first-century Corinth, the church was in chaos, and one of the biggest reasons was that they weren’t listening to good authority. They were following leaders to suit their own preferences, and they were dividing up along lines of social status, economic ability, and even spiritual gifting.

2. To the Church in Corinth (v2)

Cassie and I once lived in a town called Corinth in North Texas, just south of Denton. There was a church in our neighborhood called The Church of Corinth, and I always used to wonder why in the world a church would want to name themselves after this first-century church. The two New Testament letters we have from Paul to this church are not flattering at all. In fact, they present a picture of a church that was completely out of order, a church that was acting just like the world outside, and a church that was notorious, not exemplary.

However, Paul began this letter to such a church by reminding them of who they truly are and the high and central calling of their existence in the first place. And it’s actually a pretty big encouragement for disordered or hypocritical churches today that we find a letter like this in the Bible. It reminds us that there is hope for reform… no matter how bad our church has become… so long as we remember the Savior who purifies us, the God who owns us, and the purpose or calling which motivates and guides us.

Paul said that this church was made up of “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (v2). This is fancy church and Bible language that might fly over some of our heads, so let’s take a moment to slow it down. The word “sanctify” means to make holy or to consecrate something to the service of God. Only a holy fire was to be burned in God’s house. Only a holy sacrifice was to be offered upon God’s altar. Only a holy priest could approach God’s presence. And only a holy people could enjoy God’s blessings and avoid God’s curse.

All of this Old Testament imagery was designed to show that God can and will only accept holy things and holy people. God judges and condemns and destroys those things and people who are not holy, those that are unclean or unrighteous or impure. But the reality is that every descendant of Adam (every human everywhere) comes into this world bearing the unholy marks of guilt and sin. And we continually add to our unrighteousness and uncleanness by sinning against God and others… all day, every day.

What a glorious and profound statement, then, we have here in v2! These unholy sinners in Corinth were “sanctified” or made holy“in Christ Jesus” (v2)! Friends, this is the burning heart of the gospel: Jesus was condemned as the guilty and unholy one upon the cross, so that those who truly are guilty and unholy – those who would turn to Him, those who would believe in Him, those who would trust in Him as Savior – would be counted as holy, they would be sanctified in or by Christ and welcome before God.

It was imperative that the church of Corinth remember this fundamental reality of Christianity. Their status, their value, their acceptance as the New Covenant people of God was not based on anything they had in this world. It was all based upon the person and work of Christ; they had been “sanctified” in Him.

Friends, this is just as true for us as it was for them. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can grant me a seat at the Lord’s Table? Nothing but the sanctifying work of Christ! What can unite me with a whole family of other Christians? Nothing but the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, which makes me holy and sets me apart as a purified instrument to be used in the service of the God who made me.

Like the Christians in Corinth, we too need to be regularly reminded of this fact. And to the degree that we forget it, we too will become chaotic and distracted and worldly. God help us.

Another truth Paul reminded them in v2 of this letter was that God owns them. Maybe you already saw it, but look closely at v2. What did Paul call the church in Corinth? He called them the “church of God,” the “εκκλησία του θεού” (v2). This is the grammar of ownership. It is God’s church. He owns it, and thus He owns them.

Paul said this more explicitly in Acts 20 about the church in Ephesus. He called them “the church of God, which he obtained [or “acquired” or “gained”] with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). And this is true of every local church!

Friends, Christians are doubly owned by God! First, every person everywhere is owned by God, in the sense that we are His creation. He made us, and so He owns us. He gets to tell us what to do, He gets to tell us who we are, and He gets to set us in whatever circumstances He sees fit.

But, unlike non-Christians, those who have been “sanctified” in or by “Christ” (v1) are also the possession of God by right of purchase. He “bought” or “obtained” them (Acts 20:28) when He redeemed them at the highest price possible… His own bodily sacrifice!

And this is no minor theme in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. This is a primary truth, which they seem to have forgotten, and which they desperately needed to remember. Paul said in chapter 6, “you were bought with a price” (v20), and again in chapter 7, “you were bought with a price” (v23).

Brothers and sisters (those of us who are turning from sin and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for our acceptance before God), our freedom from the legalism of false religion, our motivation to glorify God in our bodies, and the basis of our Christian unity as church members is the fact that we are not our own. We are owned by God! He has purchased us as a people for His own possession!

It has become so prevalent in our society for people to define themselves according to identity. One person identifies with this gender or that one. Another person identifies with this ethnicity or that one. Even Christians have embraced the language of identity, when we speak of finding our identity in Christ. But the Bible simply doesn’t speak this way.

Caleb Morell recently wrote a helpful article documenting the rise of identity language over the last 30 years, and he argues that it sets a load too heavy on our responsibility to discover, express, and compel others to affirm who we are. Instead, he says, Christians have historically understood that the Bible uses the language of “calling.” He says thinking about “calling” instead of “identity” will help us move away from asking, “Who do I want to be and how can I be fulfilled,” and toward asking better questions: “who is God and what do I owe him?”[ii]

I think talking like this is not only right, but I think we see it right here in our passage. Look again with me at v2, and let’s see that third reminder Paul gave the church in Corinth in the opening of this letter. He reminded them of the purpose or “calling” which motivates and guides Christian living.

Paul wrote, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…” (v2). What is the Christian “calling”? What are those who have been “sanctified” by Christ to do? What are those owned or purchased by God to “be”?

They are to “be saints” (v2). This word is the same as the one we looked at earlier (“sanctified”), only here it is a noun. This teaches us that the Christian (and a whole church of Christians) is already “sanctified,” in the sense of having been made holy before God. And so too, Christians and churches, having been “sanctified,” are to live as “saints,” sanctified ones, holy ones, righteous ones.

Paul says it clearly later, in chapter 6. The Scripture says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (v19-20).

Friends, American evangelicals have for a long time focused on “being saved” as a one-time event. For good reason, preachers and evangelists and everyday Christians have talked about the need sinners have to turn from sin and believe in Jesus… but what now? Is my Christianity only something that happened to me in the past? Does God care about how I live now? Does my life as a Christian have any new purpose than it did beforeI was a Christian?

Yes! Yes, it does! If you are a Christian, then you have a profound and life-long purpose that is completely different from those unbelievers around you. You are “called to be” what Christ has made you – “saints” (v2).

This is the goal of Christian living! This is the destination to which God is bringing, and leading, and disciplining all those He loves! This is the purpose of the local church, and this is the aim of every church member.

The Scripture says in Ephesians 4, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15). And again in Romans 8, “those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29).

Brothers and sisters, the church in Corinth was acting just like the unbelieving world around them. They were having problems with marriage, problems with idolatry, and problems with competing convictions. They were cliquish, they were selfish, and they were arrogant.

And what was the solution? It was good theology! The solution was sound doctrine! The solution was found in remembering the basics of Christianity. They needed to remember that it is the Savior who purifies them, it is God who owns them, and their purpose or calling to live as saints is what ought to motive them and guide them.

The same is true for every local church today. The same is true of Christians today. Christian seminars and conferences are great. Studying biblical sexual ethics is definitely worth our time. Knowing what we believe and why is a noble goal. But when we see that bitterness is growing in our hearts… when we notice that our posture towards fellow church members is one of distance rather than intimacy and love… when we see our own church or others acting more like the world than like Christians… then it is very likely that we’ve forgotten some fundamental truth of Christianity and/or Christian living.

May God help us remember the elementary stuff, and may He help us grow.

3. Grace and Peace (v3)

What we read in v3 springs from all that we’ve read in v1-2. Because of the gospel that was preached by the Apostle Paul to the sinners in Corinth… because many of them responded with repentance and faith… because these had been sanctified in Christ Jesus… because these had become the church of God… and because they were now among those called by God to live as saints… together with all other saints in the world, who call upon the name of Christ… Paul was able to proclaim a word of blessing over them: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v3).

This is the New Testament blessing. In every one of Paul’s New Testament letters, in both of Peter’s, and in two of John’s letters… they all begin with this blessing of “grace” and “peace” (v3). Grace is the idea of unmerited favor, and peace is the absence of hostility… and both of these are the blessing of every Christian. The blessing of God upon everyone who trusts and follows Christ is a pronouncement of grace and peace.

But the concept of blessing is not merely a New Testament one. In fact, God’s blessing often came to people throughout the Old Testament at various high points of the unfolding of God’s plan to save sinners. Before sin entered into creation, God “blessed” Adam and Eve and commissioned them as His image-bearers, to reflect His character in all the world (Gen. 1:22, 28; cf. Gen. 5:2). Of course, Adam and Eve didn’t remain under God’s blessing. They sinned and brought upon themselves (and all creation) God’s curse.

Nevertheless, God “blessed” Noah and his family with the same sort of commission after the Fall of sin and the flood by which God brought judgment upon the whole world (Gen. 9:1). Later, God “blessed” Abraham and even promised that Abraham and his descendants would “be a blessing” to others (Gen. 12:2). And God reiterated this Abrahamic blessing to “Isaac,” Abraham’s son (Gen. 26:3-4), and then again to “Jacob,” Abraham’s grandson (Gen. 28:13-15).

But the quintessential blessing of the Old Testament is the one God gave again and again to the people of Israel through their priests. After God made good on His promise to create a whole nation from one man, and after He established His covenant through Moses, God established a priesthood of men who would provide the people of Israel with a mediator, an advocate, a go-between.

These priests would represent God to the people, and they would represent the people of Israel before God. They would offer sacrifices daily, weekly, and at other times, as God had instructed them. And those priests would pronounce a blessing upon the people, just exactly as God Himself had worded it. Numbers 6:24-26 is where we read it, and it says, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

What a glorious blessing! And from no less than God Himself! But these priests could only offer such a blessing to a holy people with holy priests who kept God’s commands and lived rightly as His people in the world. And alas! Neither the people of Israel, nor their priests were faithful to keep their end of the contract. They could not continue under God’s blessing because they sinned repeatedly and profoundly. Therefore, they earned for themselves God’s curse in the place of His blessing… and this is the story of the Old Testament.

Again and again, those whom God had blessed became the object of His curse, because they would not do anything but rebel against Him. And this is why the New Testament blessing (“grace” and “peace”) is not only a summary of that quintessential Old Testament blessing, but it is also a better one.

The New Testament blessing comes to sinners who have failed to keep God’s commands, just like all those who have gone before… but it comes to them by way of a better Priest… one who did not fail!

Friends, the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ is the High Priest for all who look to Him in faith, because He was the perfectly righteous one who endured God’s curse so that He Himself could pronounce God’s blessing upon those who are unrighteous. Though we all deserve God’s judgment, because of our sin, we may have peace from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ… the absence of hostility… not because of anything good in us, and not because of anything good that we have or will do… but on the basis of His grace… His unmerited favor.

Conclusion

This letter from the Apostle Paul to the fledgling church in Corinth (and especially our passage today) provides us with a helpful reminder that all of the details of Christian believing and living center on the core reality that God offers genuine grace and peace to all those who will receive such things through Christ.

Only in Christ can undeserving sinners like us be sanctified or made holy in God’s sight… Only in Christ can those who are by nature outside of God’s covenant blessings become full inheritors of God’s blessings… Only in Christ can scattered and isolated people like us become the assembly or church or household of God… sinners who have been bought by the blood of Christ and brought into fellowship with Him and with one another.

It is for those of us who are ignorant or doubting to believe these truths… It is for those of us who are sinful and rebellious to turn from our sin and trust in this sanctifying Savior… It is for those of us who are worldly and self-indulgent to live as those purchased of God Himself… And it is for those of us who are anxious and weary to eagerly await that glorious day when Christ will complete His work of renewing His people and the entire cosmos… that glorious day when grace and peace will be ours in full.

Endnotes

[i] Matthew listed twelve Apostles in his Gospel: “Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed [Jesus]” (Matt. 10:2-4). This last disciple (Judas) not only betrayed Jesus, but he also took his own life after the grief and sorrow for his horrific sin became too much to bear (Matt. 27:3-5). Thus, it became necessary for another disciple to take Judas’s place as an Apostle (see Acts 1). [ii] See Caleb Morell’s full article at https://americanreformer.org/2022/02/stop-finding-your-identity-in-christ/.

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