Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
Verse 2 — "to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus." The verb here is in the perfect middle tense, and that matters. Let’s get into Greek!
Perfect tense means an already completed action with continuing results.
Middle voice means a mix of passive (someone acts upon us) and our own participation.
Eugene Peterson states the significance well:
"We neither manipulate God (active voice — a pagan concept) nor are manipulated by God (passive voice — fate). We are involved in the action and participate in its results but do not control or define it."
So sanctification is something that has already happened to us, continues to unfold, and involves our participation — but it's not something we manufacture.
Still in verse 2 — "called [to be] saints." There's actually no separate verb at play here. "Called" is functioning as an adjective. The NASB renders it well: "saints by calling." So we are not becoming saints someday. We are saints by virtue of the call. And the scope is immediately universal — together with all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord. The Living Bible, of all translations, captures this pretty well: "All Christians everywhere — whoever calls upon the name of Jesus."
Verse 5 — Paul gives thanks that the Corinthians have been enriched in speech and knowledge (gnosis). All the themes of this letter are already present in the introduction. This prayer for gnosis is worth noting because later in the letter Paul is going to confront the Corinthians for being puffed up on their knowledge. He's planting seeds here that he'll harvest later.
Verse 9 — We are called into koinonia with Jesus, often translated as "fellowship" but carrying a much stronger meaning. Think joint owners of a business, partners in a relationship. Koinonia implies intimacy and interdependence. This isn't casual association. This is the kind of partnership where what belongs to one belongs to the other.
Verses 14-16 is one of my favorite moments in the New Testament because it’s so human. Paul says he's thankful he didn't baptize anyone except Crispus and Gaius — then immediately remembers, oh wait, he also baptized the household of Stephana — and then throws in "beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else." This tells us two things.
First, Paul usually wrote via dictation, meaning there was no whiteout or eraser. He forgot, remembered someone, and just kept going and the scribe had to keep writing it as it came.
Second, it makes the doctrine of "verbal plenary inspiration" — that every single word of the Bible is directly inspired by God — a little silly. Unless the Holy Spirit also forgot and then remembered.
Questions for reflection:
What does it mean that your sanctification is in the perfect tense — already completed, with continuing results, and involving your participation? How does that change the way you think about your own spiritual life?
Speaking of unity: where do you see the Corinthian disease in today's church — "I belong to this pastor, this movement, this tradition" — and what would it look like to be knit together instead?'