Paul addresses this first letter to the church in Corinth to the “saints.” He writes for the people who have been set apart as God’s people by their baptism. But when Paul begins the letter with thanksgiving, it’s not for their holiness or their good deeds. In fact, it’s not about anything they’ve done. Paul is thankful for what God is doing in the people of Corinth, how God has made them rich in spiritual gifts and spiritual knowledge. They have everything they need to stand firm in their faith and be blameless in their testimony and conduct until “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God has called them, and God is faithful.

Have you ever seen a church like that? Where everyone is Spirit-gifted, filled with wisdom, and blameless? I’ve known some individuals who seem to meet such a description, but I know I fall short. Even among the folks in Corinth, despite all that God is doing in their lives, Paul complains a lot about divisions, lawsuits, sexual immorality, and spiritual one-upmanship. It’s almost as if God continues to pour out gifts on them, but some of them have put up umbrellas to keep dry. There are legends about mass baptisms where armies marched through a blessed river but held their swords out of the water because they still had to fight and kill.

We still try to ignore any spiritual gifts or fruits we find inconvenient. I once bought a banner headed “Ingredients for a Happy Home.” Below that title was the list of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, all except for the last one: self-control. Apparently whoever made the banner thought that one wasn’t really needed for domestic bliss.