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Paul’s letters generally follow the opening conventions of ancient epistles, and this letter is no exception. Its prescript identifies the sender and recipients, and gives a greeting to those recipients (1:1–3). His thanksgiving in 1:4 begins the letter’s proem, a rhetorical convention that includes introductory matters attempting to gain the auditors’ goodwill, attention, and receptivity (1:1–9).52 With this letter strategy intact, they might be receptive to the apostle’s corollary teachings and exhortations.

Letter Prescript (1:1–3)

Paul introduces himself as one who is called to be an apostle. He is sent out as a travelling envoy and witness of the risen savior to proclaim this good news about him to Gentile nations. His calling to this vocation is dependable because it was not given through self-appointment but through the will of God (Gal 1:15—2:10; Acts 22:3–21). Paul stresses his apostleship in order to buttress his authority before the recipients.53 He must gain their respect if he is to succeed in challenging them to abandon wrong behaviors and ideologies. At the same time his calling also displays power in weakness related to the cross (1 Cor 1:21; 4:9–13).54 His authority is thus rooted in Christ-like service, suffering, and humility rather than in arrogance or attempts to rule over the congregation. Sosthenes is the co-sender and probable coauthor.55 He may be the same synagogue leader who originally opposed Paul during his first visit to Corinth (Acts 18:17). But if so, it is strange that Acts fails to mention this synagogue leader’s conversion. Sosthenes is not necessarily a unique name for that time, and so we cannot be sure this is the same person from Acts.56 What we do know is that he is a fellow believer in Christ—he is called a brother and is one of Paul’s coworkers.

Paul identifies the Corinthian recipients as the church (ἐκκλησία), a term normally referring to political assemblies but here addressing the gathering of those who belong to God and Christ. Christ’s earliest followers probably thought themselves to be the prophetic fulfillment of the last days community mentioned in Joel 2:16 (LXX).57 They were experiencing the salvation and spiritual life anticipated in this prophetic discourse. Paul stresses this community’s holiness as sanctified and called to be saints. Again, it seems that Joel 2:16 helped formulate early Christian self-references as saints, literally “holy ones.” This verse shows that the end-time ἐκκλησία is to be holy. The apostles promoted the notion that Christ-followers are an end-time, holy assembly belonging to God.58 To be sanctified or made holy has a cultic sense of being dedicated to the service of God and set apart from secular and profane things (Lev 19:1–8).59 For Paul, ethical piety is also bound up with holiness (6:9–11; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 4:1–3). Relevant for the Corinthians is the implication that as saints their lifestyle should be consistent with their holy calling. They are an end-time assembly whom God has set apart to belong to God’s people.

As with all churches in Christ this one consists of those who receive God’s Spirit and call on the name of the Lord to be saved (Joel 2:28–32[3:1–5 LXX]; cf. Rom 10:9–13; Acts 2:17–22).60 The apostles interpreted Joel’s Lord to be Jesus Christ, and to call on his name imagines foremost an invocation at baptism in which the convert calls on Jesus for salvation, or confesses him as Lord, or both (Acts 9:14; 22:16). This identifies the person as belonging to and following Christ; it is what Acts seems to equate with being baptized in the name of Jesus (2:38; 10:48). To rely on this name, as Anthony Thiselton affirms, is “to commit oneself in trust to the one whose nature and character have been disclosed as worthy of this trust.”61 Christ’s lordship, incidentally, may be compared with Caesar’s. Those who confess Jesus as Lord become an alternative society in the world in contrast to the imperial society that dominates it.62 This confession happens in every place, which may be alluding to a prophetic realization that the Lord God’s name is worshipped by the Gentiles “in every place” (Mal 1:11).63 The Corinthians are prompted to recognize a pan-Mediterranean horizon of Christ followers extending beyond their local church to churches in every nation.64 Their recognition of this may help deflate arrogance and self-centered ideas that they are not accountable to anyone (see 14:36).65

The letter’s greeting is in the form of a benediction: grace and peace to you. This formula is uniquely Christian and possibly originates with Paul.66 He consistently uses it as an opening trademark in his letters (e.g., Rom 1:7; Gal 1:3; Phil 1:2). It goes beyond the letter conventions of typical Jewish and Hellenistic writers by invoking shalom and favor not only from the one Creator, God the Father, but also from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving Period (1:4–9)

After writing the prescript our apostle expresses gratitude by stating, I thank my God always for you. He typically includes a thanksgiving paragraph after his letter openings, though Galatians and 2 Corinthians are notable exceptions, and both these letters happen to be his most confrontational.67 Paul’s thanksgivings feature five elements—the giving of thanks, mention of the person thanked (God), an adverbial “always,” mention of the recipients, and reason for giving thanks, which is then unpacked.68 Paul is thankful that the congregation members have been made rich in Christ, in all speech and all knowledge. He possibly knew that the origin of the formulaic phrase “speech and knowledge” arose from clashes between philosophers and sophists.69 What Paul stresses here is that speech and knowledge is God given, and doubtless the content of these terms includes prophecy, tongues, teachings, discernment, and revelations experienced by the Corinthians (cf. 12:8; 13:1–2; 14:26). His recipients are thus presented with a better way of perceiving the value of their spiritual gifts—these gifts come from God, and this should prompt them to praise their Divine Benefactor instead of human agents. The use of all, any, always, and everything in these verses highlights the total and abundant way they have been enriched by God who works favorably through them.

They have also received the benefit of salvation due to God calling Paul and sending him to proclaim the gospel, the testimony concerning Christ (cf. 1:18; 15:1–4). That message was confirmed as effectual among them by their acceptance of it, conversion, and spiritual gifts in which they now operate. They receive saving grace as a result of the accomplishments of Christ’s death and resurrection, and they are being transformed through their continued fellowship in Christ. The designations of Son, Lord, Christ, Jesus, or “in him” appear in every verse of 1:1–10, which suggests for Dennis Stamps that “a christological premise is an essential part of Christian rhetoric, particularly as it is practiced by Paul.”70

Their relationship in Christ will culminate with Christ confirming them to be blameless on the day of the Lord.71 That day signifies a time in the prophetic calendar when God will deliver the faithful and judge the wicked (Isa 13:6–9; Amos 5:18; Joel 2:1, 31; Obad 15). It marks for Paul the second coming of Jesus and judgment day, when all humans must give account of their deeds (1:7b–8; 3:13; 4:4b–5; 5:5; cf. 2 Cor 5:10). The image envisioned here is one in which Jesus sits on the tribunal and declares the Corinthians innocent of anything worthy of eternal punishment. At that time the sanctification to which they had been called as saints finds its full realization.

Paul’s thanksgiving ends by stressing that God is faithful, which recalls divine fidelity in relation to the covenant people (Deut 7:9; 32:4).72 With this background in view the phrase implies praise and thanks to God who can be relied on to bless, protect, deliver, and maintain agreements with His own people. God called them into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ, which not only reflects their being set apart as a holy people but also their becoming partners with Christ, the one who died for them and now shares a dynamic relationship with them. They can be assured that God is faithful to the saints and will bring to pass the anticipated second coming of Christ and final salvation pertaining to it.

Minus Paul’s attempt to win the goodwill of his recipients in this section, I suspect the apostle would qualify more explicitly that the congregation’s blamelessness on judgment day is contingent on its members persevering in faith (see Col 1:22­­–23). It will become clear in the remainder of this letter that the opening verses provide no guarantee that every individual who once had faith will necessarily receive final salvation, let alone be declared blameless, at the second coming if he or she abandons that faith or lives an unrepentant and immoral lifestyle that desecrates one’s confession.73 Final salvation will be the inevitable outcome for those who are “in Christ” (1:2, 4; cf. v. 9), that is, those who belong to and remain in the corporate body of Christ, maintaining spiritual fellowship with him. As we will notice in this letter, among the destructive vices threatening the Corinthians’ new identity are divisions, idolatry, and fornication. They are also influenced by the ideology of Roman elitism and civic identity, which are set in opposition to the message of the cross.74 It will turn out that Paul’s commendation of God working through the Corinthians with regard to their knowledge, speech, charismatic gifts, and prospective final salvation sets him up to exhort and correct them on these very issues later on in the letter.

52. See Aristotle Rhet. 3.14.1; Kennedy 1984:23–24.

53. e.g., 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Weiss 1910:2.

54. See Thiselton 2000:66–67.

55. If Sosthenes is Paul’s amanuensis, this would be unusual because secretaries are frequently anonymous and do not appear as coauthors (see Richards 2004:105). The secretary’s mention in Rom 16:22 appears at the end (not beginning) of that letter.

56. So Schrage 1991:1.100.

57. See Oropeza 2016:53–55.

58. On saints as God’s people in apocalyptic literature, see: Dan 7:21; 1 En. 62:8; 1QM 3.5; 1QSb 1.5; further, Schrage 1991:1.103–4. For non-apocalyptic references, see Lev 11:44­–45; Exod 12:16LXX; Zeller 2010:73.

59. Cf. Fitzmyer 2008:122.

60. LXX uses κύριος (“Lord”) for the Hebrew יהוה (YHWH). On Christ’s deity in this regard, see Tilling 2012.

61. Thiselton 2000:79.

62. Cf. Horsley 1997:244–45.

63. Ciampa/Rosner 2010:57–58. Here again Paul interprets κύριος/YHWH as Jesus.

64. See further Hvalvik 2005:123–43.

65. Cf. Hays 1997:17.

66. See discussions in Doering 2012:407–15; Lieu 1985:168–69. I suggest that Paul originally adopted “greetings and peace” from the style of certain Jewish-Hellenistic letters (e.g., 2 Macc 1:1) but replaced “greetings” (χαίρειν) with “grace” (χάρις) since the latter reflected better the content of his messages.

67. Among disputed letters Titus also contains no introductory thanksgiving. In papyri letters the sender’s thanks can be situational, motivated by good news of the recipients’ welfare: cf. Arzt-Grabner 2010:149.

68. Fee 1987:36. We find similar thanksgivings to deities in other ancient letters (P. Mich. 8.473.29; 2 Macc 1:10–11), but their presence may be more the exception than rule if Van Voorst 2010:163–65 is correct.

69. See Betz 1986: 33; cf. 30–32. The combination of these words is likewise found in wisdom traditions (Prov 22:21; Sir 21:18).

70. Stamps 2002:457

71. To be blameless (ἀνέγκλητος) here means to be without liability; it “belongs to the semantic domain of accusation and declarative verdict”: Thiselton 2000:102. See similarly 1 Thess 3:13; 5:23; Col 1:22.

72. This declaration may function as a surrogate for Jewish “blessed be God” prayers (beraka), such as in the Shemoneh 'Esreh prayer. See Sanders 1962:358–59; Ciampa/Rosner 2010:67.

73. See Oropeza 2012a; 2012b:234–48.

74. On the problems of vices, see Oropeza 2007; 2012a; on ideology, Tucker 2011a; 2011b; Winter 2001.