Corinth may crop up in our lives. We need to remind ourselves that through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are indeed chil dren of Cod. We too are called, separated, set apart for His service. PRESSURES The church at Corinth had pres sures equal to those that we face today. But even though they at times yielded to these pressures, they were still believers. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:3-5, that they are choice servants of God. Later he will get down to the harsh truth of their shortcomings. Here he pre sents them as they are before a God who honors their faith in Christ. They are, first of all, recipients of God's grace or favor. Verse three and four speak of the grace that is theirs. The word "grace" is a word from Greek literature that speaks of the giving of favors or the giving of special blessings. In Greek folk lore there was a goddess known as Charis. She was known to give fa vors to those with whom she was pleased. Later on there developed in Greek literature the practice of speaking about a number of sep arate goddesses or individuals who gave special favors that only they could give. They were known as the Charities, one of these goddess es would give physical strength, another beauty, another intellec tual insight and so on. It is a far cry from Greek mythology to the very Word of God, but the rich history of the word grace adds im pact. Paul is thanking the Lord be cause He has given the believers at Corinth certain favors. These peo ple, despite their conduct and the fact that Paul has to call them car nal Christians and babes in Christ, Paul still says have received favors Page 8
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