Thanksgiving for God's Grace Given: 1 Cor. 1:4-9

Abstract

The thanksgiving passage of 1 Cor. 1:4-9 is the first to be examined in which petitionary prayer plays no part. The central motif of vv. 4-9 is thanksgiving and although v. 9 is a new sentence, the certainty of which it speaks is based on God's previous activity on behalf of the Corinthians, an activity which was the ultimate ground of the apostle's praise and thanksgiving. The words of v, 6, explain the reason for the richness of spiritual endowment the Corinthians possessed. At v. 6 mention was made about the 'testimony to Christ' while in vv. 7 and 8, statements about the parousia, the words 'Jesus Christ' were linked with 'our Lord'. In the passage under review the apostle made it clear that the 'blamelessness' of the Corinthians on the final day would be due to God's activity alone.Keywords: apostle; Corinthians; Jesus Christ; thanksgiving passage