Homily 2 — First Corinthians 1, verses 4 to 9

“I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God that was given you in Jesus Christ, that in everything you were enriched in him.” [a]

What he urges others to do when he says, “Let your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4, verse 6), he used to do himself. He teaches us always to begin with these words, and before everything else to give thanks to God. For nothing is so acceptable to God as that people should be thankful, both for themselves and for others. That is why he opens almost every letter this way.

But here the reason for doing it is even more pressing than in the other letters. For whoever gives thanks does so both because he is well off and because he is acknowledging a favor. And a favor is not a debt, or a repayment, or a payment. That is important to say everywhere, but much more in the case of the Corinthians, who were gaping after the men who were dividing the church.

“My God.” Out of great affection he takes hold of what belongs to everyone and makes it his own, as the prophets too say from time to time, “O God, my God” (Psalm 43, verse 4; Psalm 62, verse 1). And by way of encouragement he urges them to use the same language themselves. Such words belong to someone who is withdrawing from all worldly things and moving toward the one he calls on so earnestly. Only he can truly say this who is always climbing up from the things of this life toward God, always preferring him to everything, and giving thanks continually — not only for the grace already given, but for every blessing bestowed on him at any time since, offering him the same praise for this as well. That is why he does not say simply, “I give thanks,” but “always, concerning you,” teaching them to be thankful at all times, and to no one but God alone. [b]

“For the grace of God.” Do you see how he draws material for correcting them from every side? Where there is “grace,” there are no “works”; where there are “works,” it is no longer “grace.” So if it is “grace,” why are you proud? Why are you puffed up? [c]

“That was given you.” And by whom was it given? By me, or by another apostle? Not at all, but “by Jesus Christ.” That is what the expression “in Jesus Christ” means. Notice how in various places he uses the word “in” where he means “through”; so its meaning is no weaker.

“That in everything you were enriched.” Again, by whom? By him, is the answer. And not merely “you were enriched,” but “in everything.” First it is “riches”; then “the riches of God”; next, “in everything”; and last, “through the only Son.” Think of the treasure beyond words!

Verse 5: “In all speech and all knowledge.” Speech — not the kind the pagans have, but the speech of God. For there is knowledge without speech, and there is knowledge with speech. There are many who have knowledge but lack the power to speak, like those who are uneducated and unable to set out clearly what they have in their minds. But he tells them: “You are not like these; you are able both to understand and to speak.”

Verse 6: “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.” Under cover of praise and thanksgiving he touches them sharply. He is saying: “It was not by pagan philosophy, nor by pagan training, but by the grace of God, and by the riches, and the knowledge, and the speech he gave, that you were enabled to learn the teachings of the truth and to be made firm in the testimony of the Lord — that is, in the good news. You had the benefit of many signs, many wonders, grace beyond words, to make you receive the good news. So if you were established by signs and by grace, why do you waver?” These are the words of someone who is rebuking them and, at the same time, winning them over to himself in advance.

Verse 7: “So that you fall short in no gift.” A great question arises here. Those who had been “enriched in all speech,” so as to “fall short in no gift” — are they fleshly? For if they were so at the beginning, much more are they now. How, then, does he call them “fleshly”? “I could not speak to you,” he says, “as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly” (First Corinthians 3, verse 1).

What must we say, then? That after they had believed at the beginning and received all the gifts (for indeed they sought them eagerly), they grew slack afterward. Or, if not that, then that neither these words nor those are said to everyone: the one kind to those who deserved his rebukes, the other to those who were graced with his praise. For as to the fact that they still had gifts: “Each one,” he says, “has a psalm, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation; let all things be done for building up” (First Corinthians 14, verse 26). And, “Let the prophets speak, two or three” (First Corinthians 14, verse 29). Or we may put it somewhat differently: just as we commonly call the greater part the whole, so he has spoken here.

Besides, I think he is hinting at his own work, for he too had shown signs, as he also says in the second letter to them: “Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you with all endurance” (Second Corinthians 12, verse 12); and again, “For what is there in which you were inferior to other churches?” (Second Corinthians 12, verse 13). Or, as I was saying, he both reminds them of his own miracles and speaks this way with an eye to those who were still approved. For there were many holy men there who had “devoted themselves to serving the saints” and had become “the firstfruits of Achaia,” as he declares toward the end (First Corinthians 16, verse 15).

In any case, even though the praises are not very close to the truth, still they are put in as a precaution, fitted to the situation, preparing the way beforehand for what he has to say. For anyone who says unpleasant things at the very start shuts his words out from a hearing among the weaker listeners. If the hearers are his equals in rank, they grow angry; if they are far beneath him, they are hurt. To avoid this, he begins with what seem to be praises. I say “seem,” because not even this praise belonged to them, but to the grace of God. That they had forgiveness of sins and were counted righteous came from the gift from above. That is why he dwells on these points, which show God’s love for humankind: so that he may clean out their sickness all the more thoroughly. [g]

“Waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is saying: “Why are you making such a stir? Why are you troubled that Christ has not come? No, he has come, and the Day is already at the doors.” And consider his wisdom: how he draws them away from human considerations and fills them with fear by mentioning the fearful judgment seat, implying that not only the beginnings must be good, but the end too. For with all these gifts, and with everything else that is good, we must keep that Day in mind; and many labors are needed to be able to reach the end. [i]

“Revelation” is his word. It implies that although he is not seen, he exists, and is present even now, and will appear then. So there is need of endurance; for this is why you received the wonders — so that you may remain firm.

Verse 8: “Who will also confirm you to the end, so that you may be beyond reproach.” Here he seems to be flattering them, but the saying is free of all flattery. He knows how to press them hard too, as when he says, “Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you” (First Corinthians 4, verse 18); and again, “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?” (First Corinthians 4, verse 21); and, “Since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me” (Second Corinthians 13, verse 3). But he is also accusing them covertly. To say “he will confirm,” and the words “beyond reproach,” marks them out as still wavering and open to reproach. [j]

But you — notice how he always fastens them, as with nails, to the name of Christ. It is not any man or teacher, but always the Desired One himself whom he keeps calling to mind, as though he had set himself to rouse people who were heavy-headed after a night of drinking. For nowhere in any other letter does the name of Christ come so constantly. Here it comes many times in a few verses, and with it he weaves together, one might say, the whole of his opening.

Look at it from the beginning: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been made holy in Jesus Christ, who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God for the grace that has been given you by Jesus Christ, even as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will confirm you beyond reproach in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And I urge you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you see the constant repetition of the name of Christ? From this it is plain even to the least observant that he does this not by chance or without thinking, but so that by constantly applying that glorious name he may bathe their inflammation with warm compresses and clean out the rot of the disease.

Verse 9: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son.” Wonderful! What a great thing he says here! How vast is the gift he declares! You have been called into fellowship with the only Son, and you give yourselves over to men? What could be more wretched than this? [l]

And how were you called? By the Father. Since “through him” and “in him” were phrases he was always using of the Son, he gives the same phrases to the Father, so that no one would suppose he speaks of the Son this way because he is lesser. For he says: “Not by this one or that one, but by the Father you have been called; by him too you have been enriched.” Again, “you have been called”: you did not come of yourselves. But what does “into the fellowship of his Son” mean? Hear him declare this very thing more clearly elsewhere: “If we suffer, we will also reign with him; if we die with him, we will also live with him” (Second Timothy 2, verse 12).

Then, because what he had said was a great thing, he adds an argument that carries unanswerable conviction: “God is faithful,” he says — that is, “true.” Now if he is true, he will also do what he has promised. And he has promised to make us sharers in his only Son; that is the very reason he called us. For “the gifts and the calling of God” are without regret (Romans 11, verse 29).

He puts these things in so early, with a kind of divine skill, so that after the force of his rebukes they will not fall into despair. For God’s part will surely follow, if only we do not throw off his bridle altogether.

So it was with the Jews: when they were called, they would not receive the blessings. But this was no longer the fault of the one who called; it was their own lack of sense. He was willing to give, but by refusing to receive they threw themselves away. Even if he had called them to a painful and toilsome task, they would not have been excusable in making excuses; still, they would have been able to say that it was so. But if the call is to cleansing, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption, and grace, and a free gift, and the good things in store, “which eye has not seen, nor ear heard”; and if it is God who calls, and calls by himself — what pardon can they deserve who do not come running to him? So let no one blame God. Unbelief does not come from the one who calls, but from those who shy away from him.

But someone will say: “He ought to force people in, even against their will.” Far from it! He does not use violence or compulsion. Who invites people to honors, and crowns, and banquets, and festivals, and then drags them there unwilling and tied up? No one. That is the act of someone who means to insult. To hell he sends people against their will, but to the kingdom he calls those who are willing. To the fire he brings people bound and wailing over themselves; to the endless state of blessing, not so. Otherwise it is an insult to the blessings themselves, if they are not of such a kind that people run to them of their own accord and with many thanks. [o]

You ask: “Why is it, then, that not everyone chooses them?” Because of their own weakness. “And why does he not cut away their weakness?” And how, tell me — in what way — ought he to cut it away? Has he not made a world that teaches his love for humankind and his power? For “the heavens,” someone says, “declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19, verse 1). Has he not also sent prophets? Has he not both called us and honored us? Has he not done wonders? Has he not given a law, both written and natural? Has he not sent his Son? Has he not commissioned apostles? Has he not worked signs? Has he not threatened hell? Has he not promised the kingdom? Does he not make his sun rise every day? Are not the things he has commanded so simple and easy that many go beyond his commandments in the greatness of their self-denial? “What more was there to do for the vineyard that I have not done?” (Isaiah 5, verse 4).

You ask: “And why did he not make knowledge and virtue natural to us?” Who says this? The Greek or the Christian? Both, in fact, but not about the same things: the one raises his objection with a view to knowledge, the other with a view to conduct. First, then, we will answer the one who is on our side; for I do not care as much about those outside as about our own members. [q]

What, then, does the Christian say? “He ought to have planted in us the very knowledge of virtue.” He has planted it. If he had not, how would we have known what is to be done and what is to be left undone? Where would the laws and the courts come from? “But God should have given not only the knowledge but the very doing of it.” Then what would you be rewarded for, if the whole thing were God’s? Tell me, does God punish you and the Greek in the same way when you sin? Surely not. For up to a point you have confidence — the confidence that comes from true knowledge. What, then, if someone now said that, as far as knowledge goes, you and the Greek will be counted equally deserving? Would that not disgust you? I think it would. For you would say that the Greek had the means of his own to reach knowledge, and was not willing.

If, then, he too should say that God ought to have planted knowledge in us by nature, will you not laugh him to scorn and say to him, “But why did you not look for it? Why were you not in earnest, as I was?” And you will stand firm with great confidence and say that it was sheer folly to blame God for not planting knowledge in us by nature. You will say this because you have gained what belongs to knowledge. So too, if you had done what belongs to practice, you would not have raised these questions. But you are tired of living virtuously, and so you shelter behind these thoughtless words. Besides, how could it be right at all for anyone to be made good by necessity? Next we will have the animals without reason competing with us over virtue, since some of them are more self-controlled than we are.

But you say: “I would rather have been good by necessity and lost all rewards, than be evil by my own choice, to be punished and suffer vengeance.” But it is impossible for anyone ever to be good by necessity. So if you do not know what ought to be done, say so, and then we will tell you what it is right to say. But if you know that impurity is wicked, why do you not run from the evil thing?

You say: “I cannot.” But others who have done greater things than this will plead against you, and will more than succeed in shutting your mouth. You, perhaps, though you live with a wife, are not chaste; while another, even without a wife, keeps his chastity untouched. What excuse do you have for not keeping the rule, when another even leaps beyond the lines drawn to mark it?

But you say: “I am not made that way, in my body or in my turn of mind.” That comes from a lack not of power but of will. For this is how I prove that everyone has a certain aptitude for virtue. What a man cannot do, he will not be able to do even if necessity is laid on him; but if he is able to do it when necessity is laid on him, then the one who leaves it undone leaves it undone by choice.

Here is the kind of thing I mean. For someone with a heavy body to fly up and be carried toward heaven is simply impossible. What, then, if a king commanded someone to do this and threatened death, saying, “Those who do not fly, I decree that they lose their heads, or be burned,” or some other such punishment? Would anyone obey him? Surely not, for nature is not capable of it. But if the same thing were done in the case of chastity — if he laid down laws that the impure should be punished, burned, flogged, and suffer the utmost torture — would not many obey the law?

You will say: “No, for even now there is a law forbidding adultery, and not everyone obeys it.” That is not because the fear loses its power, but because most people expect to go unnoticed. So if, when they were on the point of committing an impure act, the lawgiver and the judge appeared before them, the fear would be strong enough to drive out the lust. Or suppose I applied another kind of force, weaker than this: suppose I took the man, removed him from the person he loves, and shut him up tight in chains. He will be able to bear it without suffering any great harm.

So let us not say that such a person is evil by nature. If a man were good by nature, he could never at any time become evil; and if he were evil by nature, he could never be good. But as it is, we see changes happen quickly, and people swiftly shift from this side to the other, and from that side back again to this. We can see these things not only in the Scriptures — tax collectors becoming apostles, and disciples becoming traitors, and prostitutes becoming chaste, and robbers becoming men of good name, and magi worshiping, and ungodly men passing over to godliness, in both the New Testament and the Old — but every day a person can see many such things happening.

Now if these things were natural, they could not change. We, for instance, being by nature subject to suffering, could never by any efforts become free of it; no one passes from a state of decay to incorruption, no one from hunger to never feeling hunger again. That is why these things are not grounds for accusation, and we do not reproach ourselves for them. Nor did anyone who meant to blame another ever say to him, “You perishable creature, subject to suffering!” But it is always adultery or sexual immorality or something of that kind that we lay to the charge of those responsible; and we bring them before judges, who blame and punish, and in the opposite cases award honors.

So it is quite clear that we too have it in our power to do well. We see it from our conduct toward one another, and from the conduct of others toward us when we are judged; from the things for which we have written laws, and from the things for which we condemn ourselves even when there is no one to accuse us; from the times we grow worse through laziness and better through fear; and from the cases where we see others doing well and reaching the height of mastery of oneself. Why, then, do most of us deceive ourselves for nothing with lazy pretexts and excuses, which bring us not only no pardon but even unbearable punishment? We ought instead to keep that fearful day before our eyes, give our attention to virtue, and after a little labor win the crowns that never perish. [t]

For these words will be no defense for us. Rather, our fellow servants, and those who have practiced the opposite virtues, will condemn all who go on in sin: the cruel man will be condemned by the merciful, the evil by the good, the fierce by the gentle, the grudging by the courteous, the one who seeks empty glory by the one who denies himself, the lazy by the earnest, the one without self-control by the self-controlled. This is how God will pass judgment on us: he will set both companies in their places, giving praise to the one and punishment to the other.

But may it never be that any of those present here should be among the punished and dishonored! May they be, rather, among those who are crowned and who win the kingdom. May God grant that we all obtain it, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory, power and honor to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to everlasting ages. Amen.