Friends in Christ,
A warm welcome to my blog on this Sunday evening,
1 Corinthians 1 4.
I THANK my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saint Paul expresses a thanksgiving by himself for the various blessings bestowed up the Church
in Corinth. It can be seen as a proof that he has great affection for it and this he is very concerned about its welfare. Thanks is being given to God, because He is the author of all mercies and glory for which He ought to be praised.
The Apostle styles Him as " my God" to distinguish Him from others: to express his faith of interest in Him and to observe to the Church, that all the good things they enjoyed came from Him, who was His God and their God, his Father and their Father. The persons on whose behalf he gave thanks were not at this time himself and Sosthenes, but the members of the Church at Corinth.
The continuance of his thankfulness for them, is "always", as often as he went to the throne of grace, or at any other time thought of them: what he particularly gives thanks to God for in this verse is,for the grace which is given you by Jesus Christ: and includes all sorts of grace, adopting, justifying, pardoning, regenerating, and sanctifying grace; every particular grace of the Spirit, as faith, repentance, hope, love, fear, humility, self-denial, &c. all are gifts of God, and entirely owing to his free grace, and not to man's free will and power, or to any merits of his; and all come through the hands of Christ, and are given forth by him, as the Mediator of the covenant, and in consequence of his blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and merit.
Father Ed Bakker,
Priest & Missioner,
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province,
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne,
Launceston,Tasmania, Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment