Church of God and those who call on the Name (1 Cor 1:2–10)

Fragments from the commentaries on the First Letter to the Corinthians. On 1 Corinthians 1:2: “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, together with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.” Origen says: if everyone were already the church, what need would there still be to add “together with all who call upon”? And if all alike were calling upon the Name, what need would there be for the letter not to be written only to all who call upon it, but beyond them also to the church of God? We have already shown that only those who deserve praise ought to be styled “church,” while those who deserve blame are not yet apostates—they are still wrestling with sin—but are still calling upon him, and are not yet the church itself. So let us hurry on from mere calling upon him to rising up into the church that is spotless and without blemish.

On 1 Corinthians 1:4–10: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him, in every word and all knowledge, just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be fitted together in the same mind and the same judgment.” Origen says: neither do these praises suit sinners, nor do those rebukes suit the righteous alone—I mean the words “I appeal to you, brothers… that you all say the same things and that there be no divisions among you,” and whatever is like them. So the church was mixed, if one may even call “church” this whole blend of just and unjust. Still, those who were gathering were mixed; therefore, when the apostle was about to convict the gathering for sins done with wickedness, he first, of necessity, offers praise for those who come together well upon the same thing.

“I thank my God always”: it is right to give thanks over the praiseworthy things he names, and not sometimes to thank and sometimes not, but always to thank. If I see someone sometimes doing well and sometimes sinning, I do not thank God concerning him always, but when he does well—and so also concerning myself. In whom, then, does the thanksgiving Paul offer find its ground? In his own hearers, of whom he has become a father according to God. Just as a father gives thanks over sons when they are healthy and when they prosper, so too, whenever a teacher sees his hearers boiling with the Spirit, rich in word and wisdom, worthy of praise, he thanks God always concerning them. Let us look, then, at the grace of those praised in Corinth, so that we may be eager for it.

“That in everything you were enriched in him.” Blessed are those who are rich in everything and lack nothing that belongs to God, but practice every virtue and enjoy his gifts freely and richly—in every word and in all knowledge—so that they are at a loss over no Scripture, but seek and find everywhere; and when a text must be explained they can use every kind of discourse, both the so called continuous exposition and question and answer, and are ready to speak against every heresy, to stand with the dogma of the truth, and to fulfill what the apostle said: “Always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you.” So also “in all knowledge”: not only according to the Scriptures, but so that one may say, “For he himself gave me unfailing knowledge of the things that are,” and what follows from that. For knowledge shows knowing alone, while word also interprets what is known. “Just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed”