Daily Thought

The writing of this letter from Ephesus, probably in AD 55, 56, was difficult for Paul. He had planted the church at Corinth during at least eighteen months of evangelism among Jews and Gentiles, Acts 18. 1-18. He had persisted in his ministry in the teeth of fierce opposition. When he finally left Corinth, the church was in a healthy spiritual condition, but eventually it lost ground. A careful reading of 1 Corinthians makes it clear that a formidable list of faults and sins had invaded the life of the church.

Paul dealt faithfully with these problems, but it grieved him intensely to have to do so. In a later letter he wrote, ‘For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears’, 2 Cor. 2. 4. Some scholars believe that Paul refers here to another stem letter which he had written to Corinth previously. Others are satisfied that he means what our New Testament calls his first Epistle. Either way, it is clear that those believers were very dear to Paul. He was no heartless autocrat. Anyone who represents him in such terms does him a grave injustice.

And how striking it is that our text is part of an introductory passage, vv. 4-8, in which Paul expresses his heartfelt appreciation of the Corinthian saints! He thanks God unfeignedly for the grace given them by Jesus Christ. He thanks God that they are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge, and that they come behind in no gift. Now there was no subtlety in Paul, no use of mere diplomacy to soften the blows which were coming as the letter unfolded. But he wanted the saints at Corinth to know that he still valued them highly, and that he appreciated their gifts and graces.

We sometimes hear assemblies being maligned today because of faults much less substantial than those at Corinth. Deviations from scriptural teaching are always sad, but we should be ever ready to express our appreciation of whatever is of Christ in an assembly’s life and witness. If strictures are needed, they should be addressed kindly to the elders or believers concerned, and to no one else. Gossip should never be countenanced among believers.