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Jun 18, 2015 1298

“Always I thank my God for you, for the grace of God which has been given to you in Christ Jesus. I have good reason to do so, because in him you have been enriched in everything, in every form of speech and in every form of knowledge, inasmuch as what we promised you that Christ could do for his people has been proved true in you. The result is that there is no spiritual gift in which you lag behind, while you eagerly wait for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will keep you secure right to the end …” (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).

The apostle Paul begins his first letter the the Christians at Corinth with a great celebration of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. William Barclay tells the story of an early missionary preaching Christianity to Britain’s Picts: “If you will accept Christ, you will find wonder upon wonder – and every one of them true.” One of Christianity’s great attributes is that experience makes it better.

Paul’s great theme, the gift of God’s grace in the person and sacrifice of Jesus, is ‘put up in lights’ in this passage of confident praise. Writing in Greek, one of Paul’s favourite words is charisma, which means a gift freely given to a man, a gift which he did not deserve and which he could never achieve by himself.

Because God’s greatest gift to undeserving people is the free gift of salvation, it above all, demonstrates God’s love and generosity. But Paul doesn’t stop there. His Corinthian readers, and every person who accepts God’s greatest gift, also receives every other spiritual gift. They ‘lag behind’ in no spiritual gift.

We, with Paul, have abundant good reason to thank God for his grace in Christ Jesus.