Their blessings by grace were outstanding. God had enriched them in everything in the way of utterance and knowledge. In regard to public gift they were inferior to none; the testimony of Christ was confirmed in the fact of their ability to speak out: there were evidently no long, drawn-out silences in their gatherings. God's provision was abundant as they waited for the coming of Christ, the culmination of blessing by grace.

There was no question of the certainty of the continuance of this: the Lord Himself would confirm them unto the end, blameless; that is, blameless in His sight by virtue of His own workmanship in His saints. This cannot fail, for He is faithful who has called us to the fellowship of His Son. The power of that call has established His saints in that blessed fellowship, that of the Assembly of God, the entire body of Christ, He Himself being the source and center of it. Thus the epistle begins on this wonderful, positive note of God's overflowing provision of grace toward His beloved saints, the Assembly of the living God.

After so exalted and precious an introduction, it is humbling to consider in verse 10 the necessity of the urgent appeal to these dear saints, "by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," that there should be practical unity among them. When considering the greatness of the grace that has been showered upon the Church of God unitedly, how can we dare to act in discord and division? But such is our sad tendency in an evil world, while having still within us a fleshly nature that responds to selfish and self-centered attractions.

It was true in Corinth, and how true in the Church at large through all the years! Who is there today who does not deeply need this challenging epistle?

Leslie M. Grant