1 Corinthians 1:1-2, Sanctified in Christ Jesus

1 Corinthians 1:1-2 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

The church of God at Corinth is blessed with the preaching of the gospel by the Apostle Paul. It was the will of God that he was sent to preach the gospel in Corinth. God caused souls to be saved. Their lives made holy. Jesus stilled the heart of the Apostle Paul to tarry in the city to confirm the faith of the new converts. He stayed for a year and a half. The systematic teaching of God’s Word sanctifies the hearts of the hearers to conform to the image of Christ. What a blessing to see the believers’ growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Some background of the city of Corinth. It is a celebrated city of the Peloponnesus, capital of Corinthia, which lay North of Argolis, and with the isthmus joined the peninsula to the mainland. Corinth had three good harbours (Lechaeum, on the Corinthian, and Cenchrea and Schoenus on the Saronic Gulf), and thus commanded the traffic of both the eastern and the western seas. The Phoenicians, who settled here very early, left many traces of their civilization in the industrial arts, such as dyeing and weaving, as well as in their religion and mythology. The Corinthian cult of Aphrodite, of Melikertes (Melkart) and of Athene Phoenike are of Phoenician origin. Poseidon, too, and other sea deities were held in high esteem in the commercial city. Various arts were cultivated and the Corinthians, even in the earliest times, were famous for their cleverness, inventiveness and artistic sense, and they prided themselves on surpassing the other Greeks in the embellishment of their city and in the adornment of their temples.

When Paul visited Corinth, he found it the metropolis of the Peloponnesus. Jews flocked to this center of trade (Acts 18:1-18; Romans 16:21; 1Corinthians 9:20), the natural site for a great mart, and flourishing under the lavish hand of the Caesars; and this is one reason why Paul remained there so long (Acts 18:11) . He found a strong Jewish nucleus to begin with; and it was in direct communication with Ephesus. [International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia]

It was in such a city that the gospel work began. What a blessing to see God’s hand blessing the labour of His servants’ hand. Amen.