In verse 3 we have Paul’s greeting to the Corinthians: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace is God as our enjoyment (John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10), and peace is a condition which results from grace, issuing from the enjoyment of God our Father.
In verse 4 Paul says, “I give thanks to God always concerning you based upon the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus.” The apostle’s thanksgiving to God for the Corinthian believers was based upon the grace of God given to them in Christ, not upon their condition in themselves.
In verse 5 Paul continues, “That in everything you were enriched in Him, in all expression and all knowledge.” The Greek word for expression in this verse is logos, the word that expresses the thought formed in the mind. The word of the gospel preached by the apostle conveys the thought of God to our understanding. Hence, the word is the expression of the divine thought. Knowledge is the apprehension, the realization, of what is conveyed and expressed in the word. The Corinthian believers were enriched by the grace of God in all the expression of the divine thought concerning Christ and in all apprehension and realization in knowing Christ.
In verse 6 Paul goes on to say, “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.” The testimony of Christ is the preaching of Christ by the apostle, not merely with objective doctrines, but with subjective experiences, as a witness bearing a living testimony of Christ. Such a testimony of Christ was confirmed within and among the Corinthian believers by their being enriched in Christ, as mentioned in verses 4 and 5.
For years I was troubled by verses 4 through 7, especially by the meaning of the word gift in verse 7. I wondered how Paul could give thanks for the church in Corinth when the saints were in a poor situation, divided and confused. Also, I did not have the proper understanding of grace. Forty years ago, I did not know what grace is. As a result, I could not understand verse 4. Concerning verse 5, I wondered how the believers in Corinth could have been enriched in Christ. In like manner, I did not know what it meant for the testimony of Christ to be confirmed in them and for them not to be lacking in any gift. Regarding verse 7, I even gave messages in which I said something like this: “We see from 1 Corinthians that the gifts are not effective. From verse 7 we understand that you can have all manner of gifts and still be babyish.” At that time I thought this understanding was right. But deep within I did not have peace about these verses. Eventually I began to see that in verse 7 we have what we may call the initial gifts, the gifts which came out of the grace we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus.
In verse 7 gift refers to the inward gifts issuing from grace, such as the free gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) as the heavenly gift (Heb. 6:4), not the outward, miraculous gifts, such as healing or speaking in tongues, in chapters twelve and fourteen. All the inward gifts are parts of grace. They are the initial things of the divine life received of grace. All these need to grow (3:6-7) to their full development and maturity. The Corinthian believers were not lacking in the initial gifts in life, but they were desperately short of the growth in life. Hence, however much they were initially enriched in grace, they were still infants in Christ, soulish, fleshly, and even fleshy (2:14; 3:1, 3).
After many years, I now have the boldness to say that the gift in 1:7 is different from the gifts spoken of in chapters twelve and fourteen. In these two chapters some gifts are miraculous and others are mature. (We shall consider this more fully when we come to this portion of 1 Corinthians.) As we have pointed out, the gift in verse 7 refers to the initial gifts issuing from grace, namely eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the time of our regeneration, we received eternal life as the gift of God. According to Acts 2:38, the Holy Spirit also is a gift. To speak of these gifts as initial gifts indicates that these gifts have not yet developed; they have not yet grown to maturity.
The growth of a plant from a seed to a mature plant illustrates the growth and development of the initial gifts. First, a seed is sown into the ground. This seed is the initial plant. As the seed grows, it develops until it reaches maturity. The Corinthian believers all had the initial gifts; they all had the divine life and the Holy Spirit sown into them as seeds. If we understand these verses not only by the context but also in the light of our own experience and the experience of other believers, we shall see that here Paul was telling the Corinthians this: “You believers in Corinth have received the Lord Jesus. When you believed in Him, you received the initial gifts—the divine life and the Holy Spirit. The problem is that you have not allowed these gifts to grow and develop.” For this reason, in chapter three Paul points out that the Corinthians need to grow. He says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow” (3:6). The Corinthians, still infants with respect to the initial gifts, desperately needed to grow.
An infant has life and also the functions of life, but no growth or development of life. This makes it impossible for him to do anything. The more a child grows, the more he is able to do. For example, my eleven-year-old grandson can do many things which his younger brother, aged seven, is not able to do. Even four years’ growth makes a great difference. This does not mean that the younger boy does not have life. He has life, but does not have the same amount of the development of this life. Likewise, even though the Corinthians had received the initial gifts and had been enriched in Christ in all expression and in all knowledge, they were still infants. The initial gifts had not been developed.
The Epistle of 1 Corinthians was written to philosophical people. We should not think, however, that the ancient Greeks were more philosophical than we are today. We all are philosophical. Like the Corinthians, we philosophical ones have been enriched in our understanding concerning spiritual things. We may have the knowledge of these things, yet still be babes in Christ.
Due to their education, many saints are able to understand the expressions used to convey spiritual things. They may grasp the thought without possessing the reality. This was the situation of the Corinthian believers. Because they were cultured, educated, and philosophical, they could understand the words which conveyed the thought of Paul’s ministry. But they did not have the reality of this thought. It is entirely possible for today’s college graduates to understand my ministry merely in word. They may understand the thought conveyed in words, but they may lack the reality to which the thought points. This reality is Christ Himself. Like the Corinthian believers, they are rich in expression and in knowledge, in their understanding of spiritual things, but they may not have much reality of these things.
In verse 7 Paul also speaks of “awaiting the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This unveiling refers to the Lord’s appearing, His second coming. To await the appearing of the Lord is a normal sign of true believers.
In verse 8 Paul says, “Who will also confirm you till the end, unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The relative pronoun who in this verse refers to God in verse 4. The very God who has initially given us grace will also confirm us till the end. The word confirm indicates the need for growth after the initial receiving of grace.