Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace come from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to believers through Jesus Christ. The greeting was spoken to the church at Corinth, to those set apart in Christ and called to be saints, but it reaches to saints in every place who call on the name of Jesus and to all of God's people to the end of time. That grace enriches believers in all speech and knowledge and spiritual gifts, confirming the testimony of Christ in them so they lack no gift. It sustains them as they wait for the coming of the Lord, and Christ will keep them firm to the end so they stand blameless in that day because God who called them into fellowship with His Son is faithful. To the child of God this assurance is precious comfort amid increasing trouble, given to reshape character after the divine pattern rather than the pattern of the world.
Greeting's Source and Recipients
Grace and peace come from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, given to believers by and through Jesus Christ. This is the church's greeting, and the privileges it conveys belong to the church.
It is spoken to the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints. Those words describe the condition of truly converted souls. Yet its address is not confined to Corinth, for it is sent to every place where companies of saints have faith in Jesus Christ and call upon the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, with all in every place who call on His name. It is addressed to all God's people to the end of time, including every soul newly come to the faith, so that every Christian may enjoy the blessing of sanctification in Christ. Those thus addressed have by baptism pledged themselves to a ministry of good works in seeking to save others who do not know the truth. Christ sends this grace and peace willingly and even anxiously to bless, because He died for the ungodly while they were still sinners.
What Grace and Peace Accomplish
The grace given by Jesus Christ enriches believers in everything, in all utterance and in all knowledge and in spiritual gifts, for which God is to be thanked always. It confirms the testimony of Christ in them so that they come behind in no gift. By that same grace believers were chosen in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before him in love. When dead in sins they were quickened together with Christ and raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, to show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness through Christ Jesus.
The greeting sustains believers as they wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ will confirm them unto the end that they may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. God who called them unto the fellowship of his Son is faithful, and thereby wonderful possibilities are placed within the reach of all who believe.
The grace from God and Christ is given for reshaping human character according to the divine model. Heavenly intelligences are waiting to cooperate with the human agent in that work. The verse thus sets before each person the choice whether to do his God-given work or to shape character after the worldly pattern, bending all his efforts toward that worldly pattern.
Comfort and Call to Living
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give the child of God assurance that becomes precious comfort and encouragement as trouble increases and suffering is faced. This greeting stands among the precious assurances in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians that comfort and encourage God's children in times of trouble. Christ sends this grace and peace willingly and even anxiously to bless, because He died for the ungodly while they were yet sinners, and He blesses believers so that they may be a blessing to others.
Standing at the head of the appeal for sanctified, united love, the greeting centers the affections on proper objects. It keeps the wife in first place in her husband's affections and rejects sentimental affection for another's husband or wife. It calls those in need to repentance and conversion and guards mind and heart from impurity. The same greeting carries an aggressive work in the principles of Protestantism, beginning with personal reformation of character and singleness of eye to God's glory. That work resists popery interwoven with faith and practice, rejects its principles opposed to religious freedom and its effort to control conscience, and requires constant personal diligence to be kept from delusive infatuations pressed in on every side.
The chapter in which the greeting stands is to be read and studied to get back into right lines of work while God is leading out a people preparing for translation. Those acting a part in the work are called to stand as sentinels for God, to labor unitedly, to be willing servants of all, and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as the great Exemplar. At a time when Satan works with all his power to discourage and defeat those laboring in God's service, workers must not fail nor be discouraged but exercise greater faith. They are to believe His promises, trust His living Word, and keep a firmer hold from above to cope with the powers of darkness. As humble learners daily in the school of Christ they receive the strength Jesus gives, for without Him nothing can be done.
Grace and peace come from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to believers through Jesus Christ. The greeting was spoken to the church at Corinth, to those set apart in Christ and called to be saints, but it reaches to saints in every place who call on the name of Jesus and to all of God's people to the end of time. That grace enriches believers in all speech and knowledge and spiritual gifts, confirming the testimony of Christ in them so they lack no gift. It sustains them as they wait for the coming of the Lord, and Christ will keep them firm to the end so they stand blameless in that day because God who called them into fellowship with His Son is faithful. To the child of God this assurance is precious comfort amid increasing trouble, given to reshape character after the divine pattern rather than the pattern of the world.
Greeting's Source and Recipients
Grace and peace come from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, given to believers by and through Jesus Christ. This is the church's greeting, and the privileges it conveys belong to the church.
It is spoken to the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints. Those words describe the condition of truly converted souls. Yet its address is not confined to Corinth, for it is sent to every place where companies of saints have faith in Jesus Christ and call upon the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, with all in every place who call on His name. It is addressed to all God's people to the end of time, including every soul newly come to the faith, so that every Christian may enjoy the blessing of sanctification in Christ. Those thus addressed have by baptism pledged themselves to a ministry of good works in seeking to save others who do not know the truth. Christ sends this grace and peace willingly and even anxiously to bless, because He died for the ungodly while they were still sinners.
What Grace and Peace Accomplish
The grace given by Jesus Christ enriches believers in everything, in all utterance and in all knowledge and in spiritual gifts, for which God is to be thanked always. It confirms the testimony of Christ in them so that they come behind in no gift. By that same grace believers were chosen in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before him in love. When dead in sins they were quickened together with Christ and raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, to show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness through Christ Jesus.
The greeting sustains believers as they wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ will confirm them unto the end that they may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. God who called them unto the fellowship of his Son is faithful, and thereby wonderful possibilities are placed within the reach of all who believe.
The grace from God and Christ is given for reshaping human character according to the divine model. Heavenly intelligences are waiting to cooperate with the human agent in that work. The verse thus sets before each person the choice whether to do his God-given work or to shape character after the worldly pattern, bending all his efforts toward that worldly pattern.
Comfort and Call to Living
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give the child of God assurance that becomes precious comfort and encouragement as trouble increases and suffering is faced. This greeting stands among the precious assurances in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians that comfort and encourage God's children in times of trouble. Christ sends this grace and peace willingly and even anxiously to bless, because He died for the ungodly while they were yet sinners, and He blesses believers so that they may be a blessing to others.
Standing at the head of the appeal for sanctified, united love, the greeting centers the affections on proper objects. It keeps the wife in first place in her husband's affections and rejects sentimental affection for another's husband or wife. It calls those in need to repentance and conversion and guards mind and heart from impurity. The same greeting carries an aggressive work in the principles of Protestantism, beginning with personal reformation of character and singleness of eye to God's glory. That work resists popery interwoven with faith and practice, rejects its principles opposed to religious freedom and its effort to control conscience, and requires constant personal diligence to be kept from delusive infatuations pressed in on every side.
The chapter in which the greeting stands is to be read and studied to get back into right lines of work while God is leading out a people preparing for translation. Those acting a part in the work are called to stand as sentinels for God, to labor unitedly, to be willing servants of all, and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as the great Exemplar. At a time when Satan works with all his power to discourage and defeat those laboring in God's service, workers must not fail nor be discouraged but exercise greater faith. They are to believe His promises, trust His living Word, and keep a firmer hold from above to cope with the powers of darkness. As humble learners daily in the school of Christ they receive the strength Jesus gives, for without Him nothing can be done.