We’re studying 1 Corinthians and how to live and grow in the gospel; today we see what God does to encourage our growth:
“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NIV
Question 1. From 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NIV, please list everything that God had given the Corinthians.
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Paul was thankful for the Corinthians because they had received “grace in Christ Jesus.” This grace received was grace purchased. On the cross, Jesus received the just penalty of your sins so that you might receive grace abundant and free through Him. Grace that forgives you, grace that reconciles you to the Father, grace that rescues you from sin traps and teaches you to say no to ungodliness, grace that keeps you to the end!
The Corinthians had been “enriched in every way,” made rich in grace and spiritual gifts such as speech and knowledge. A beautiful illustration of this enrichment is when Joseph was reconciling with his brothers and was then sending them back to their father, Joseph said “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack” (Genesis 44:1). As you see the brothers of Joseph struggling to carry all that food, in the time of a great famine, and silver along with food, you get the picture of how Jesus enriches His people in every way.
To live and grow in the gospel is to see that we, just like the Corinthians, are made rich through Jesus purposefully impoverishing Himself on our behalf.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
Jesus left heaven, the worship of angels, His glory and riches, to come to earth, be found in appearance as a man, take on the role of a servant, and suffer and die for our sins. Such love Jesus has that enriches us at the expense of Himself!
In the book of Ruth, the “nearer kinsman” refused to redeem Ruth the Moabitess, lest he “ruin his own estate” (Ruth 4:6), but Boaz had no such qualms; as a picture of our Redeemer, Boaz “purchased” Ruth, took her to be His bride, thereby enriching her in every way. Similarly, Jesus has redeemed all believers through His death on the cross that we, the Church, might be His eternal Bride, enriched in every way.
Notice now that not only did God pour out His grace on the Corinthians and us, enriching us in every way, but 1 Corinthians 1:8 declares, He will keep the entire church “firm to the end,” that we would all be “blameless on the day of Christ Jesus.” God has pledged His faithfulness to accomplish this: “God is faithful!” (1 Corinthians 1:9)
This portion of 1 Corinthians encourages you to consider what Jesus did to make you blameless and use that as His promise to keep you to the end. In other words, see the cross as God’s pledge to keep you in Christ until the second coming of Christ, or until you die and are “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Because our perfect, sinless, spotless Jesus was viewed and treated as sinful, unholy, impure, and unclean, God treats you as blameless, faultless, guiltless, and sinless. God promises His faithfulness to keep you that way to the end!
Question 2. According to 1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV, to what are you called?
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To live and grow in the gospel is to make it your daily purpose to fellowship with Jesus Christ. To know Him in His Word and prayer, to see Him on His cross, and experience His resurrection power daily is the way to spiritual growth and maturity.
Question 3. How do the truths we examined in this section help you to live and grow in the gospel?
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