Paul begins this epistle differently, because his subject matter is different. He writes that he is an apostle by the will of God, alluding to those false apostles who had not been sent by Christ and whose teaching was not true. There were many sects which had emerged and which preached Christ according to their own whims. They broke up churches, and some of their dried-up branches are still with us today. For this reason, Paul sets out everything which is opposed to the heresies and asserts that he is a true preacher because he has been sent by Christ, according to God’s will.

From the very beginning Paul casts down the Corinthians’ pride, in that he speaks of himself as called. For what I have learned, says Paul, I did not discover myself, but it was while I was persecuting the church that I was called. It was God who willed that you too should be saved in this way. We have done nothing good by ourselves, but by God’s will we have been saved. We were called because it seemed good to him, not because we were worthy.

By calling Sosthenes his brother, Paul is both demonstrating his own humility and pointing out that Sosthenes is a fellow worker in the gospel.

Paul is saying in effect: You Corinthians have been called by men, but I have been called by God. I think that Sosthenes was a Corinthian. He is mentioned in Acts [18:17], where Luke says that in the time of Gallio the Greeks arrested him and beat him.

Why did Paul write to those called to be saints as well as to those who are already sanctified and in the church? Surely this means that the letter is addressed not only to those who are already cleansed from their sins but also to those who still await cleansing, though they are among those whom God has called.

Paul writes to the church as a whole, because at that time leaders had not yet been appointed for individual churches. He censures them for many things, but in spite of that he still says that they have been sanctified. However, they later began to behave badly, so that although the whole church was sanctified in Christ, some members of it had been deflected from the truth by the wicked teaching of the false apostles.

The Corinthians were called to be saints, which means that they could not deviate from the narrow path of sanctification. Paul linked them, as Gentiles, with the true Jews, because salvation is of the Jews, so that wherever there are Gentiles who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and wherever there are true Jews, both are united in him. But the false apostles, who preached the name of Christ in accordance with the wisdom of this world, criticized the law and the prophets. Like Marcion and Mani, they maintained that Christ was not really crucified but that it merely appeared that he had been. Neither did they believe in the resurrection of the body.

Paul is writing to those who have preserved their sanctity, not to those who have lost it. The former he honors with his letter; the latter he admonishes with his authority.

The church ought to be united because it belongs to God. It does not exist only in Corinth, but all over the world, and it is one, for the church’s name (ekklēsia) means assembly. It is not a name of separation, but a name of unity and concord.

Everything Paul mentions here is meant to be a remedy for the disease of schism. They are meant to heal division and display the church’s unity.

Paul teaches that Christ should be invoked in prayer but all grace comes from the Father. The two are one in their divinity, but primacy belongs to the authority of the Father.

If our peace comes from God’s grace, why are you so proud, since you are saved by grace? How can anyone find grace with God, except through humility?

Paul says that Christ is their benefactor as well as the Father, demonstrating that the two are one.

Paul does not just give thanks for the Corinthians some of the time, nor only when they do good. He puts himself in the position of a father, who is thankful for his children all the time, whatever they may have done.

God has decreed that a person who believes in Christ can be saved without works. By faith alone he receives the forgiveness of his sins.

You were saved by grace, not by works. And who gave you this grace? It was not Paul, or another apostle, but Jesus Christ himself.

Paul takes care to sweeten their ears before starting to admonish them. What he says is true, however: He gives thanks to God because of the gifts which have been given to them.

Knowledge shows what there is to know. Speech goes further and explains it.

This means that the Corinthians have remained steadfast in the grace which they have received and in the preaching of the doctrine of truth, because they have acquired spiritual knowledge. Paul therefore gives thanks to God for these things.

When the Corinthians came to faith in Christ they were blessed with all grace. But now that they were no longer living according to their faith, they had made void the grace which they had received.

There is knowledge which goes beyond speech. Many have knowledge which they cannot express—for example, those who are uneducated and unable to express themselves clearly. But the Corinthians were not like them. They were able both to understand and to speak.

The testimony of Christ is confirmed in us if we can say, like the apostle Paul, I am persuaded that neither life nor death etc. can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord [Rom 8:38-39]. But if we are upset by every little thing that happens, then Christ’s testimony has not been confirmed in us at all.

The testimony of Christ has been confirmed in them because they have been strengthened by their faith. They had come to put no trust in human things. Rather, all their hope was in Christ, for they were ensnared neither by pleasure nor by the enticements of pleasure.

These praises are not uncritical, as the rest of the epistle makes clear. But they are inserted in order to prepare the Corinthians for the criticism which is to come. For whoever starts out with unpleasant words antagonizes his hearers. Paul starts by praising them in order to avoid this.

Although we lack no gift, nevertheless we await the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will then keep us secure in all things and present us unimpeachable when the day of our Lord Jesus Christ comes. The end of the world shall arrive, when no flesh may glory in his sight.

In this life the righteous person does not yet enjoy what he hopes for but rather endures suffering and danger. He is waiting for the revelation of Christ to come.

It is clear that Paul was a circumspect man who was full of concern as he awaited the day of judgment. On that day the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed both to believers and to unbelievers. Then unbelievers will realize that what they did not want to believe is in fact true. Believers will rejoice, finding that what they believed in is more wonderful than they had imagined.

Christ’s second coming is described as a revelation, because now it is hidden from us.

Who sustains us? Christ Jesus, the Word and Wisdom of God. Moreover, he sustains us not merely for a day or two, but forever.

Paul is confident that the Corinthians will persevere in righteousness until the day of judgment. People who could not be shaken in spite of so many turmoils and disagreements proved that they would remain faithful to the end. In praising them, Paul is also challenging those who had been corrupted by the errors of the false apostles, for in proclaiming the faith of the former, he is calling the latter to repentance.

This is not praise but backhanded reproof, since the Corinthians were far from guiltless, as the rest of the epistle makes clear.

By saying that he hopes that they will be guiltless in the day of Christ Jesus, Paul is indicating that right now they are guilty.

That God is faithful means that we can trust his self-revelation. His Word reveals him. He is the God who is faithful.

Paul says this so that the Corinthians will not fall into despair when he criticizes them. He reminds them that God is not the problem. We are, because of our sin and unbelief.

Believe in Christ always, because you were called for no other purpose than to be one with us in him.

Fellowship is brotherhood. Just as Paul declares God’s unfailing faithfulness toward us in this regard, so we ourselves must not be found to be faithless or dishonorable with respect to our adoption. Rather we must remain faithful in it.

The visible church is a mixed body, consisting of both righteous and unrighteous people. This is why Paul praises some of its members and criticizes others. The person who agrees with the right doctrine and the church’s teaching concerning the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as with the dispensation concerning us, with resurrection and judgment, and who follows the rules of the church is not in schism.

Paul was right to add the name of Christ here, because that is what the Corinthians were really rejecting.

Paul prays that the Corinthians will all think one thing, namely, that those who have been born again are children of God. He wants them to be perfectly united in the teaching which he had given to them. He challenges them to think this way and to defend his teaching.

It is possible to agree on a form of words but still harbor dissent, which is why Paul speaks the way he does here. It is also possible to share the same opinion with someone but not the same feelings. For example, it is possible to be united in faith without being united in love. This is why Paul says that we must be united both in mind and in judgment.

Some people think that Chloe’s people are those who remain faithful and bear fruit in the faith of Christ. Others think that Chloe is a place, as if one were to say Antioch’s people, for example. But others think that she was a woman devoted to God, in whose company there were many faithful worshipers.

Paul is careful to mention who his informers are without singling out one particular person. This gives his criticisms plausibility without allowing the Corinthians to direct their feelings toward any one person.

Perhaps there was a family at Corinth called Chloe, but Paul does not give any details so as not to reveal their identity and start more quarreling.

Inspired by God, Paul wrote to you concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because even then you were given to faction. But that factiousness involved you in less guilt, because then you were partisans of highly reputed apostles and of those commended by them.

Paul exposes their error without mentioning the names of the people responsible. The men whom he names here were all good teachers, but by alluding to them in this way he is really getting at the false apostles. For if the Corinthians were not to boast of their devotion to any of these men, how much more would this be true in the case of false teachers, whose corrupt doctrine he refers to next?

The quarreling at Corinth was not over trivial matters but over something fundamental. Even those who said they were of Christ were at fault, because they were implicitly denying this to others and making Christ the head of a faction rather than the head of the whole church.

In reality the Corinthians called themselves after other teachers, but Paul uses his own name and that of Apollos and Peter in order to make his point. By adding the name of Christ to the rest, he showed them how ridiculous the whole conflict was.

By believing different things about Christ, the people have divided him. One person thought that Christ was a mere man, another that he was only God. One says that he was foretold by the prophets, while another denies it.

Paul starts with himself, so that nobody will think that he is disparaging the status of others. If Christ died for us, how can we attribute his grace and blessing to men, thereby doing him a grave injustice?

Whenever Paul uses rhetorical questions, as he does here, he implies that the whole argument is absurd.

These Corinthians were like the Novatianists and the Donatists of today, who claim baptism for themselves and do not recognize anybody else’s. Those who are so baptized glory in the names of Novatian and Donatus, having been deprived of the name of Christ. Crispus and Gaius are called as witnesses, because although they were baptized by Paul, they never suggested that he should be given any glory because of it.

The greatness of baptism does not lie in the baptizer but in the one whose name is invoked in the baptism. Furthermore, although baptism is important and even necessary in order to obtain the kingdom, still it is much less than preaching the gospel. A person of no singular excellence can baptize, but only the truly gifted can preach the gospel.

Paul downplays his own role in order to show that he was not seeking honor or glory for himself.