📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 1:3
What does 1 Corinthians 1:3 mean?
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
— 1 Corinthians 1:3 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
Explanation
1 Corinthians 1:3 reads, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In plain language, this is Paul offering a blessing to his readers, wishing them the unearned favor of God and the wholeness and calm that comes from being reconciled to him. It is a greeting, but far more than a casual "hello" — it is a prayer-like pronouncement that sets the tone for the entire letter that follows.
This verse comes at the opening of Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, a city known in the ancient world for its wealth, diversity, and moral chaos. Paul had founded this church, and he was writing to address serious problems within it — divisions, sexual immorality, lawsuits among believers, confusion about spiritual gifts, and disputes over the resurrection. Before addressing any of these hard topics, Paul follows the standard letter-writing convention of his day, which typically included a greeting wishing the recipient well. But Paul transforms this cultural custom into something distinctly Christian, replacing a generic greeting with a theological declaration rooted in the gospel.
The phrase "grace to you and peace" combines two significant ideas. Grace (charis) speaks of God's unmerited kindness — the favor shown to people who have not earned it and could not earn it. Peace (eirene) reflects the Hebrew concept of shalom, a deep, holistic well-being that comes not merely from the absence of conflict but from being rightly related to God. Notably, Paul says this grace and peace come jointly
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