1 Corinthians 1:4-6

“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you in Jesus Christ; 5. That in everything ye were enriched in Him, in every kind of utterance, and in every kind of knowledge; 6. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.”

On account of the severity of the rebukes to be found in this letter, some commentators have detected in this thanksgiving a touch of flattery or even of irony. But the whole Epistle shows that the apostle is no flatterer, and irony is excluded by the expression, “I thank my God.” Though many things were wanting in the Church of Corinth, the gratitude which the apostle expresses to his God for what He has done in its behalf is nevertheless sincere and earnest; as appears besides from the very measuredness of his commendations shown in the terms he uses.

He addresses his thanks to his God: thereby he describes God as the Being in close communion with whom he lives and labours; who, in particular, stood by him in his work at Corinth, and there gave him the most personal proofs of His help and love (Acts 18:9-10); if he uses the word my instead of our (Sosthenes and I), it is because the matter involves his personal relation to God, in which he can associate none of those who labour with him. It is undoubtedly by mistake that the Sinaït. and the Vatic. have omitted this pronoun μου. The first corrector of the Sinaït., who is almost contemporary with the copyist, has supplied it (Edwards).

The word always might seem exaggerated; but the apostle's constant concern was the Church in general, and that of Corinth was one of its most important members.

The general term: on your behalf, is defined by the more precise phrase, for the grace of God which..., intended to express the more special subject of the thanksgiving. This grace comprehends the whole state of salvation, with the new life which has been displayed in the Church. It is a mistake, as it seems to me, in many interpreters to limit the application of the word grace to the spiritual gifts about to be spoken of: the term is more general.