(according as the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you,)
Paul opens his letter to a troubled church by naming what God had done among them. This verse is the hinge of that opening. The message about Christ, preached in Corinth, showed itself real in the people who received it. So what was this testimony, and what counted as proof of it?
The word "testimony" is not vague. It stands for a definite message Paul brought to the city, and it points to a definite Person.
Paul came to Corinth preaching the gospel, and many hearts were opened to receive it. What was it they received? They received the truth about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension and His place in heaven above. This was all that was testified about Christ as Saviour. When Paul spoke to the Corinthians about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it was faith in a Man whom this world had rejected. Yet heaven had accepted Him, and He was glorified at God's right hand.
In the next chapter Paul calls the same message "the testimony of God." Why the two names?
It is called the testimony "of God" because He is the Source of it, and "of Christ" because He is the Subject of it.
Darby adds that a change of name is not a change of thing.
Christ's testimony confirmed in you is the testimony of God brought to you. You give a different name to a thing according to the different feeling you have about it.
This verse runs straight on into the next one, where Paul says they lack no gift. The gifts were the visible seal on the message.
The testimony of Christ was confirmed in them by these gifts being there. The testimony of Christ is abstract. But God gave gifts as confirmation that they had received it. Only the giving of gift brought responsibility with it.
Kelly asks what these riches actually were. They were not a compliment on their inner spiritual health.
They had been made rich in everything in Him. In spiritual discernment of His glory and a sense of His grace? In enjoyment of Christ and devotion to His name? In these respects, sad to say, they were defective, as everything that follows shows. He means, as he says, in every sort of expression of the truth, and all knowledge... God had fully confirmed the testimony of Christ which Paul, above all, with others had brought to their city. Many of the Corinthians, as Acts 18 tells us, heard, believed and were baptized. But there was more than this: the Spirit worked widely and powerfully among them... The result was that they came behind in no gift. That was clearly not in what is called the inward grace of the spiritual life. It was in passing truth on to others and in displays of power.
Gifts proved the message. They did not prove the state of the people who held them.
Sad to say, a little later he has to admit that they were "yet carnal". They had "all knowledge" and came "behind in no gift", yet he cannot speak to them "as to spiritual". The flesh can boast in knowledge and use gifts for self-exaltation. But we do well to remember this: mere knowledge, and having all gifts, will not prevent disorder or secure spirituality if the flesh is unjudged.
The gifts had a purpose, and Corinth turned it around.
The gospel brought the testimony of Christ to them, and in this way it was confirmed in them. God was glorifying Him in whom He had been glorified on earth. He did this in those gifts which, as we shall soon see, the Corinthians were twisting to the glorifying of themselves... They lacked no gift. God had kept back nothing they needed for setting forth Christ while the day of His revelation still delayed — the day they were waiting for.
- Message. The testimony is Christ Himself: His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and glory at God's right hand. God is its Source. Christ is its Subject.
- Confirmed. God set His seal on the message through the gifts among them. That was the proof they had received it.
- Enriched. The riches named here are speech, knowledge and power to pass truth on — not warmth of heart toward Christ.
- Responsibility. Gift never came free of responsibility. Knowledge and gifts alone will not stop disorder if the flesh is unjudged.
- Kept. God held back nothing they needed for setting Christ before the world while they waited for the day of His revelation.
so that ye come short in no gift, awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Paul thanks God for a church that lacked no gift. The same verse then turns their eyes forward, to the day when the Lord Jesus will be revealed.
The gifts Paul names are real, but they are of one kind. They are gifts of power and speech, not a measure of the inner life.
He means, as he says, every sort of expression of the truth, and all knowledge, in what was preached or taught, as well as in understanding. God had richly confirmed the testimony of Christ, which Paul above all, with others, had given in their city... The result was that they came behind in no gift. This was not in what is called the inward grace of the spiritual life, but in communicating to others and in the display of power.
Paul opens with everything good he can say before he touches the evil later in the letter. What they had and what they were are not the same thing.
It is striking to see how the apostle, after the greeting in verse 3, takes up all that he saw to be good, as a testimony to their reality, before he begins to deal with the evil (v. 4-9). "You come behind in no gift." There was gift, but very little grace.
That difference warns any church that measures itself by its ability.
Sadly, he has to admit a little later that they were "yet carnal", despite having "all knowledge" and coming "behind in no gift"... The flesh can boast in knowledge and use gifts for self-exaltation. But we do well to remember this: knowledge alone, and having every gift, will not prevent disorder or secure spirituality if the flesh goes unjudged.
The word Paul uses is apokalupsis. Commentators stress that this is not the usual word for His coming, though some older English versions translated it "coming" here.
In Paul's writings there are three words used for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one which perhaps appeals to us most is the word "Parousia", which means His own personal presence. But in our chapter the word is "Apokalupsis". It is the word used for the Revelation, and it means the rolling aside of the veil.
Kelly held that the older reading was wrong, and that the context settles it:
If it were the coming of the Lord Jesus, it would be a question of grace, which would not suit the context. But notice that he is speaking here about their being faithful in the use of their gifts. They were certainly far from that... It is never translated "coming" except here. It is always translated "revelation" elsewhere.
An unveiling is public. It brings to light what each servant did with what his Lord gave him. That is what a church proud of its gifts needed to hear.
This is not the side of our Lord's return which will unfold and express His grace to His own. It is the side that deals with conscience now, and that will one day display their faithful or unfaithful use of all entrusted to their charge... They needed to judge themselves as to whether they were serving the Lord with the manifestations of the Spirit given to each.
Commentators differ on how much this verse carries. Darby read it more narrowly:
They were waiting also for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is not exactly His "coming". I do not think it means more than that He is hidden as yet. There is nothing about the rapture here, nor the judgment.
Paul describes something all the believers at Corinth were doing together.
They were all there together "waiting" — it was an individual thing, it was a common hope — not all waiting to die, but "waiting for the revelation".
This hope also fixes where believers stand in the world.
They are described as "waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ". So they took the moral position, and held fast the hope. From the moment of the Lord's ascension, God had set that hope clearly before His people as the goal of their race and the end of their desire.
- Enriched — their gifts were speech, knowledge and power for others. They were no proof of a healthy soul.
- Exposed — a church can lack no gift and still be carnal. Gifts never replace judging the flesh.
- Unveiled — the word is apokalupsis, the rolling back of the veil, not the word for His personal presence.
- Examined — that unveiling will show what each one did with what his Lord gave him. So it searches the conscience now.
- Expecting — they all shared one hope. Ever since the ascension it has been the goal of God's people and the end of their desire.
who shall also confirm you to [the] end, unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul ends his opening thanks by looking past everything the Corinthians were. How can he tell a church he is about to correct chapter after chapter that they will stand "guiltless" at the end?
Paul says this before a single word of rebuke. Their state did not weaken his confidence.
Verses 8 and 9 are very important. He had the hope that they were saints in a general way. Then he casts them on God's faithfulness, so that they would be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the plainest cases of what people commonly, though not happily, call the perseverance of the saints. At that time they were going on very badly, yet here he introduces that they would be not safe but blameless. He connects this with the faithfulness of God.
Older translations render this word "blameless" or "unimpeachable." It describes a person no one can bring a charge against.
Besides Colossians 1:22 mentioned above, it occurs only in 1 Timothy 3:10 and Titus 1:6-7, where elders and deacons should be unimpeachable. It also occurs in 1 Corinthians 1:8, where the Lord Jesus will confirm the saints unimpeachable in His own day. There will be no room for any possible accusation.
The verse gives no ground in the Corinthians themselves. Their place in that day rests elsewhere.
In that day they will stand there, not on the ground of what they have done, but on the ground of what Christ has done. Thank God we are never told to strive to get to heaven. We should never get there; but we shall be there despite the trials and difficulties, "blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Some say that if these things are made known, people will claim it does not matter how we live. But if we are to be there blameless on the ground of what Christ has done, we will seek to be blameless in what we are doing in this world.
The rebukes ahead do not weaken this promise. The promise does not soften the rebukes.
A soul never needs to hold fast grace more than when the unsparing, all-detecting word of God probes and searches it. So the apostle does not hesitate to say that the Lord will also confirm them to the last, unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. How sad, then, that a Christian should be a reproach to Christ now! … "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." If He has called, will He not also perform?
The verse says "the day," not "the coming." One writer ties that choice to service and responsibility.
The apostle speaks of the saints. They are responsible to use each gift in Christ's service now, and they wait for "the revelation" of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also confirm them to the end, unimpeachable in the "day" of our Lord Jesus Christ. But here again we see how responsibility brings in the "day." Grace, in its heavenly privileges, always goes with His "coming" and "presence."
That day carries three titles, and each has its own glory.
1 Corinthians 1:8 shows us the ability of Christ. In view of His appearing in glory, He is able to confirm the saints "to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Scripture speaks of the "day of Christ" and the "day of the Lord." These point to different aspects of the same period. That period will also display the glories that belong to that Person as Lord, Jesus, Christ. God's purpose is that each one of us should be kept blameless, in moral agreement with the shining out of that glorious day.
The promise reaches wider than the individual. It touches God's whole intention for His people.
This is a very wonderful thing to lay hold of and not to forget: nothing will defeat God's purpose for the church. God has committed Himself to the blessing of His people, and He will secure it despite all the enemy's attacks and despite all our failure.
- Who — Christ confirms us; we do not confirm ourselves. The next verse gives the reason: God is faithful.
- What — not just safe, but guiltless: no room for any possible accusation.
- On what ground — believers stand in that day on the ground of what Christ has done, never on their own record.
- When — "the day," not "the coming": the day brings in responsibility, the coming brings in grace.
- So what — Paul gives this promise before a letter full of correction. Certainty at the end is the reason to hold fast grace now, and to refuse to be a reproach to Christ.