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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Corinthians 1:4 - 1:4
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As if the apostle had said, "I am very thankful to God for his grace and favour bestowed upon you through Jesus Christ, in and by the preaching of the gospel, and particularly for the gift of tongues, and other miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed to you, whereby the divinity of the gospel (called here the testimony of Christ, because it testifies of Christ) was attested and confirmed.
He farther tells them, he was firmly persuaded that God would confirm them unto the end, causing them to persevere unblameable in holiness, till the coming of Christ to deliver his faithful servants, and remarkably to destroy his crucifiers; because of the faithfulness of God, who having called them to the fellowship of his Son, and to partake of his invaluable benefits, will never leave them, but accomplish the whole pleasure of his will in them."
Observe here, 1. That the apostle in the third verse prayed affectionately for the grace of God to be bestowed upon the Corinthians; in his fourth verse he thanks God abundantly for the grace they had already received: and no man has such supplies of grace, but he stands in need of farther influences; and there is no such way to attain more grace, as to be thankful for what we have already received.
Observe, 2. To whom the apostle returns his thanks for all that grace the Corinthians had received; even to the God of all grace: I thank my God for the grace which is given you. All grace depends upon God, as to its being and production, as to its exercise and operation, as to its growth and augmentation, as to its evidence and manifestation, as to its perseverance and preservation; he is both the author and finisher of our faith. Both seed, increment, and perfection, the beginnings, increasings, and finishings of grace, are all from God the Father, but by and through our Lord Jesus Christ, who by his blood purchased grace for us, and by his spirit produceth it in us.
Observe, 3. That believers, in the first ages of the Christian church, received not only sanctifying graces, but the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly the gift of tongues and miracles.
Observe, 4. That they obtained these gifts by Jesus Christ, and through faith in him.
Observe 5. That by these gifts the testimony of Christ was confirmed, that is, the doctrine of the gospel, testifying that Jesus was the true Messias, by his being raised from the dead.
Observe, 6. That by these gifts, and by this earnest of the Spirit, they had encouragement to expect and wait for the approach and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 7. Ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.