At the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, they weren’t exactly the model community of Christ. A quick read through the letter will raise some eyebrows, no doubt. Though he spilled much ink exhorting them to Christlikeness, he does something extraordinary to open the letter: he reminds the believers WHO they are because of the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

They were a people who are:

1. God’s church; God’s “called out ones” to represent God (1:2).
2. transformed by the death of Christ so that their lives would be set apart to be used by Christ for all he is doing in the world (1:2).
3.  “holy ones” b/c of God’s doing in them through the Person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not b/c they’re better than anyone else (1:2).
4. at eternal peace with God, b/c of Christ’s death for them, though by their own doing they were his enemies (1:3).
5. received God’s crazy generosity in the form of: 1) the forgiveness of all sin and 2) have the same moral standing as Jesus Christ, though they fall short; and all this by the Person and work of Christ (1:4).
6. have a variety of abilities given by the Holy Spirit for showing the greatness of Christ and serving one-another (1:5).
7. whose standing with God is such that they were ready for Jesus to come back any day; they’re forgiven of all their sin (1:7).
8. would never be abandoned by Christ (1:8).
9.  after death, will stand totally morally blameless before God, though their lives, even after they became Christians, were often not blameless (1:8).
10. called into companionship with the Lord Jesus Christ (1:9).

Let’s learn from God’s great grace so that our obedience is rightly motivated.