Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

The Big Idea

Corinth was famous for drunkenness and sexual immorality, and the church there was a mess. Yet Paul opens his letter by calling them “saints,” sanctified in Christ Jesus. He isn’t ignoring their sin; he’ll address it honestly. But his strategy is to establish their identity in Christ first. Every believer has been set apart and made new in spirit; our minds are still catching up. God has given us grace in Jesus, enriched us in everything, left us lacking no gift, and promises to confirm us blameless to the end. We are saints who sometimes sin, and freedom comes from believing what Jesus says about us.

Corinth

Corinth was famous throughout the Roman world for partying, drunkenness and loose morals. There was even a word, korinthiazomai, “to live like a Corinthian,” that everyone understood to mean living a sexually out-of-control life. William Barclay notes that when a Corinthian appeared as a character in a Greek play, he was usually shown drunk.

What city does that remind you of?

If it were up to us, we might picket outside Corinth, run ads about how sinful its people are and talk about how much better we are than them.

It’s a good thing I’m not God.

God said, “Let’s plant a church there! Let Me live through some of the worst of them, so they can see My love and what life is really about.” Because He loves them, and they’re lost and deceived.

Paul, an Apostle (1:1)

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother (1 Corinthians 1:1).

Paul planted this church and spent a year and a half there (Acts 18:11).
Later they wrote to him about problems they were having, and this letter is his response.
An apostle is a special ambassador or messenger.
We tend to picture apostles at the top of a pyramid of authority.
But for Paul it was a badge of suffering. Flip the pyramid upside down!
Tradition says nearly all the apostles were killed for following Jesus, and John was persecuted and exiled.
Paul freely gave himself to suffer and die for Jesus, so living for Him was no problem. He had no idols in his heart.
Paul had one goal: to serve, grow and love the church, and teach the gospel of grace.
Paul didn’t live for his own will, but the will of God.

Does that mean we don’t have a will of our own? No. We have a free will. But we also have a new spirit that wants to do God’s will! So our will can actually move in the same direction as God’s.

But not always, right?

When we use our free will to choose our selfish way, we’re walking in the flesh, not by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Then we get all messed up inside. We’re sad and frustrated, because we’re not walking in God’s will, which is now our deepest will. We’re walking in the flesh, self-serving instead of loving.
This is how God changes everything through the gospel: by making our spirit new, He aligns us with His will by changing what we want, from the inside out.

Sosthenes our brother was likely the synagogue leader in Corinth who was beaten in front of the Roman proconsul when the case against Paul was thrown out (Acts 18:17). Apparently he later came to faith himself.

Speaking of God’s will, is it ever God’s will that we lose a job or go through pain? Sometimes, yes.

Peter says that since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mindset (1 Peter 4:1).
Suffering is necessary and good for us, but not fun.
It reshapes our minds, which need it. It lines us up with real joy and peace, which is always found in doing our Father’s will.
And our Father loves us unconditionally, even when we don’t do His will. That makes us long to do His will even more.
He doesn’t love us so that we’ll do what He wants. He simply loves us, because He is love. And He changes us by living through us by grace.

The Church in Corinth (1:2)

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2).

The church of God is the people of God. God no longer fills buildings as He did in the Old Testament. He fills people. We’re the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). Wherever we meet, He never leaves us.
And this church was a mess!
We know more about it than almost any other church, because Paul had to write two long letters to help them.
They struggled with division, pride, immorality, lawsuits, drunkenness at the Lord’s Supper and more.
You can imagine other churches talking about them behind their backs.

Or was that the whole story?

Did you notice how easy it was for me to judge them without mercy or love? I just used human eyes to assess what was “true” about them.

Some of those things were real. This church really was falling into sin, and it needed to be corrected. But what’s Paul’s strategy?

Ignore their sin? No. He’ll be brutally honest.
Call them “sinners” and try to shame them into changing? No.

Saints

Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

Paul calls them saints. Is he lying? No. In Christ they are holy ones. How? By the blood of Jesus. That’s their true identity.
That’s the gospel.
The sin is a lie about who they are. It’s not their true identity, or ours.
Paul is already establishing their identity in Christ and His finished work, getting their eyes off themselves and onto Jesus. That’s what good pastors do. That’s what the Bible does.

Sanctified in Christ Jesus means they’ve been set apart and changed.

Every believer has been changed, no matter how new to the faith.
Our old inner life, which only served itself, was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6), and His risen life now lives in us by the Holy Spirit.
This is true for every single believer!

So why do we still sin and struggle?

Because our minds still need renewing (Romans 12:2).
That’s the growth process we all go through, bringing our beliefs and thoughts into line with His, so we can live out what’s already true about us.
We have been sanctified in spirit, and our whole lives are being sanctified as we learn to walk in the Spirit.

Calling on His name

With all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

How did we receive the Holy Spirit and find such amazing grace? The same way as every true believer:

We believed in the name of Jesus: that He is who He says He is and did what He said He did.
Then we called on Him to save us and live through us.

When I’m counseling someone who doubts their salvation, I ask two questions:

“Do you believe Jesus is God, died for you and rose from the dead?” “Yes.”
“Did you ask Him to forgive you and give you His Spirit?” “Yes.”
“Then He did. It’s done.” It doesn’t depend on how you feel, think or perform. It’s God’s promise, and it’s true no matter what, or God would be a liar, and He can’t be (Romans 10:13).

That’s why we can offer salvation to anyone in the world with urgency and sincerity. He’s asked us to offer this grace to everyone!

Enriched by Grace (1:4-7)

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him, in all speech and all knowledge, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you lack no gift as you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:4-7).

The grace of God given to you by Christ Jesus.

What is grace? We’ll spend a lifetime unpacking it, but notice what this text says:

Grace is given. It’s always a free gift, never earned, the opposite of wages. God gives freely, for His own reasons.
Grace comes from Jesus. He’s the only source of grace, the only One offering it.

You were enriched in everything by Him, in all speech and all knowledge.

His grace changes every part of our lives.
We’re saved and forgiven by grace, and transformed by grace.
He changes what we say and what we understand.
I used to proclaim myself. Life was all about me: what I could do and what I wanted. All I knew was my own life.
Then Jesus came and changed everything. My old life is dead. Now He lives in me and through me, and I’m learning to let Him speak and live through me.

The testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you lack no gift.

What’s the testimony of Christ? It’s what Jesus says about you.
He declares you holy, righteous, forgiven, accepted, beloved and pure!
All free gifts we do nothing to obtain. We can’t. They’re gifts.
In fact, we lack no gift!
We have everything we’ll ever need in our union with Jesus. He is our very life. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through knowing Him (2 Peter 1:3).

But as we’ll see, the Corinthians weren’t always using their gifts for God; they were using them for their own purposes. That’s why this letter is so long. We need to see our lives through the lens of His grace: “grace goggles.”

Spurgeon asked whether this shouldn’t show us “that gifts are nothing, unless they are laid on the altar of God,” that eloquence, learning and influence are nothing “unless they all be dedicated to God, and consecrated to his service.”

Blameless to the End (1:8-9)

He will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God, who called you into fellowship with His Son, is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:8-9).

Some people worry about their salvation. Is that you?

Here’s how not to find peace: look at yourself. Your performance, your heart, your mind, your struggle with sin. Staring at your sin is never the answer.

Here’s how to have confidence: look to Him. He will confirm you to the end. He has made you blameless. It’s a free gift. It’s done. When you call on His name, He keeps you. That’s His promise.

“How can I be blameless when I’m clearly to blame for so much?”

That’s the question: are we sinners or saints?

The true answer: we are saints. Saints who sometimes sin.

You don’t have to wallow in shame. Run back to Jesus and say, “I fell for the lie. That’s not who I am.”
Paul says of his struggle, “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Romans 7:17).
Sin is no longer our identity. It’s not who we are or what we most deeply want, because the Holy Spirit lives in us. We’re no longer sinners by nature, yet we do still sin. Why? Because we believe the enemy’s lies. He’s skilled at it.
His favorite lie: “You’re just a sinner. You’ll never be free from this. You’re a slave.” And he whispers it as if it were your own thought: “I’m just a sinner. I’ll never be free.”

D.L. Moody told of a woman freed from slavery after the Civil War who wasn’t sure whether she was really free. Her former master told her she wasn’t. Others told her she was. She’d heard about the Emancipation Proclamation, but didn’t know whether to believe it. Many believers live the same way: truly freed, but unsure whether to believe it.

Freedom is found in simple faith in Jesus, not in anything we produce.
Will we believe His words and trust the work He finished on the cross?

Grace Takeaway

If you’re a believer, Jesus has changed everything about you. You’re forgiven forever, accepted and adopted, loved and even liked. A true child of God. You’re a saint who sometimes sins, not a sinner trying to become a saint. And if you long for forgiveness, acceptance, a family or love, His call goes out to you today. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He lived the perfect life, died to pay for our sins and rose to share His life with all who believe. Believe and receive His grace today.

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Are We Saints or Sinners?