Advent One 2023 — 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Sunday (December 3) is the first Sunday of advent, and as such, the beginning of a new liturgical year. For a long time now I have included translations from the Greek New Testament of significant texts from the lectionary during this season. Usually, these are pretty rigorous — coming from the Episcopal ‘Daily Reading’ calendar. There has been a lot of Olivet Discourse translations. A. Lot.
This year, it is not so rigorous as I have opted to translate the epistle reading from the Sunday use lectionary for the four weeks. It doesn’t help me much preaching wise, as I am in Jude this Sunday, but I really enjoy the flow of the lectionary and the sometimes serendipitous paths it takes me down. The lectionary is like radio – you never really know what song they are going to play next and you would have never chosen Belinda Carlisle, but here we are and we are all singing along together and having a good time.
The epistle reading for week one is 1 Corinthians 1:3-9. I have rendered it below, and then there are some notes (with helpful * to guide you) on the translation and a couple of thoughts about the text itself.
Remember, advent is not Christmas. Advent is the season of preparation.
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Messiah Jesus, our Lord.
4. I always give thanks to my God * for the grace of God that has been given to you in Messiah Jesus.
5. Because in him, you were enriched by all teaching and education**
6. just as the witnesses to the Messiah have confirmed among you.
7. Now you lack no gift as you await the revelation of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus***
8. who will confirm you as being without fault, right up to the end, to the day of our Lord Jesus [Messiah].****
9. God is faithful, and by him you have been chosen to be in communion with his son Jesus, our Messiah and Lord.
*In verse 4, there is an extra ‘for you’ in the Greek text. I say extra, because ‘to you’ is later and it is clear that Paul is giving thanks for something specific — the grace of God to the Corinthians. Therefore, I omitted the extra ‘for you.’
**What I render as teaching and education is logos and gnosis – word and knowledge. In the Bible, and especially in Paul, those are both loaded words. However, I don’t think we should take a loaded approach here. It seems to me he is referring to what they have been taught rather than logos as a revelation of divine presence in Christ or gnosis as a secret initiation into some kind of mystery.
***I have played with the word order a little here for clarity. Strictly speaking it should be ‘the revelation of the Lord our Jesus Messiah’. When rendering it, it felt a little to me like Latin where the main word is pushed to the end and I think what Paul is indicating here is that Messiah goes with revelation – he will be revealed as Messiah on his day. Following this logic, it would be just as legitimate to render it as ‘the revelation of our Lord and Messiah, Jesus.’ Compare that to the NRSV which has ‘for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ’ which treats Christ, or Messiah, as last name rather than a title.
****There is a debated inclusion of ‘Messiah’ at the end of this text. I have included here in brackets, but I don’t think it authentic. However, I understand how it got there because Paul includes Christos, or Messiah, almost every he mentions Jesus and Lord in this opening.
There is a lot of Christology in these opening lines of 1 Corinthians. A person could dwell on the taxonomy of Lord, Messiah, and Father for a long time and probably not make things any clearer. Two things stand out to me. One, Jesus is clearly on par with God the Father; Jesus is divine. Second, for Paul Messiah is the real title, and Lord is the relationship we as Christ-followers have with him. Jesus is Lord to those who follow him, but not for those who don’t. For those he is judge. Yet he is Messiah by title and by fiat, ontologically. Whether you bend your knee or your heart, he will come and fulfill his promises as savior for he is Messiah.
Verses five and six tingle my heart. The witnesses of Jesus have taught us and left us knowledge, a knowable body of instruction that enrich us. What a beautiful way to describe the gospel traditions which eventually became Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These teachings enrich our lives and impart to us spiritual nourishment so that we may draw near to God. As I said, it makes my heart tingle.
If I were preaching this text, I think I would open with the key words in it like grace and peace at the opening, them move down the text to witnesses, revelation, and finish with communion. Following that opening, I would drop down into a deep discussions about teachings and knowledge, and our responsibility to learn, and then maybe talk about the root meaning of the word disciple. I would finish the sermon with a flourish (of course I would!) emphasizing the certain return of Jesus that Paul is promising and how all of life is a grand preparation for the next big adventure God has planned for us. The key line on this would be to dwell on the statement that opens verse 9: God is faithful.
