The Called Out Corinthians

October 7th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

1 Corinthians 1:2-3 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Epistle of 1 Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul specifically “to the church of God which is at Corinth.” Paul had arrived in Corinth (Acts 18:1-18) on his second missionary trip (cf. Acts 15:40–18:21) in AD 51 when Gallio was proconsul (Acts 18:12). There Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, a husband-wife couple, who had been kicked out of Rome in AD 49 along with all Jews and Christians when Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54) issued an edict ordering their eviction from the city. They had tent-making in common and thus became friends.

Wherever he traveled, Paul’s custom was to go first to the Jews by preaching in a local synagogue (cf. Rom. 1:16), explaining to them that Jesus of Nazareth was their long-awaited Messiah, or Christ. After the Jews evicted Paul from the synagogue in Corinth, he went next door to the house of a Gentile convert to Judaism named Titius Justus who heard Paul’s gospel and believed (Acts 18:7). He was one of many in Corinth who trusted in Jesus as the Christ.

Corinth was not a city that one might anticipate many conversions to Christ. The ancient city had a reputation for vulgarity and sexual promiscuity. According to the Greek historian Strabo (64 BC-AD 24), the wealth and vice in Corinth centered around the temple of Aphrodite and its temple prostitutes which numbered at least one thousand. David Lowery says, “For a hundred years after 146 BC, no one cared to make the voyage to Corinth. The city was destroyed because of its revolt against Rome. Only a few columns in the temple of Apollo survived the razing. All its citizenry was killed or sold into slavery… But this favorable location did not go unused for long, as Julius Caesar re-founded the city as a Roman colony in 46 BC. In 27 BC it became the governmental seat for Achaia, from which seat Gallio as proconsul would allow Paul’s proclamation of the gospel. It was onto this new stage, which nonetheless preserved the vices of the old, that Paul stepped in AD 51.” In spite of Corinth’s immorality, Paul’s ministry there was successful enough to see many converts to Christ and the establishment of a Christian church.

The epistle Paul wrote is therefore to “the church” (ekklēsia), literally “the called out ones.” They are the gathering of believers who comprise part of the body of Jesus Christ (cf. Col. 1:18, 24), a local assembly in a specific city (cf. Rom. 16:1; 1 Thess. 1:1). Christians are specifically “those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling…” Being “sanctified” (hagiazō), they are “set apart from” those who are not “in Christ Jesus.” To be “in Christ Jesus” is thus to trust, or believe, in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. This in turn makes believers in Christ “saints by calling”—holy, elect ones summoned by God the Father (Eph. 1:4-6) to receive Christ the Son for redemption and forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7-12) and then sealed by the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of future redemption (Eph. 1:13-14).

Notably, the Epistle to the Corinthians is not just an ancient letter for ancient people; it is also for “all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” The letter is thus for every Christian in every era—from Paul’s day to the present.

Wishing “grace” (charis) and “peace” (eirēnē) to the saints in Corinth “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul understood that God had already granted unmerited favor to them and the peace that accompanies His grace. So, the Corinthians, as do all Christians, enjoyed God’s daily portion of grace to cover all their sins, with no exceptions. Moreover, they had God’s divine peace to go with it—mitigating the guilt of all their sins—past, present, and future.

Food For Thought
What is the Church? It’s not a building but a group of saved people, individual persons who come together having trusted in Jesus as the Christ who saves them by His grace. These people, being the universal Church of Christ, have been “called out” (Gr. ekklesia) from the world of unbelief, gathering together in local churches to worship God through Jesus Christ our Lord. All of us are, according to Scripture, are sanctified saints—holy ones, having been justified by God through faith in Christ, set apart from the dark world to be sons of the living God. This is why we gather together as the Church in a local church—to worship our God and Savior Jesus Christ.