1 Corinthians 1:5

With the meaning of the word grace, which we have rejected, ὅτι would require to be translated by in that. But if we take the word grace in the most general sense, ὅτι should be translated by “ seeing that,” or “ because. ” Indeed, there is here a new fact proving the reality of the preceding. Only from the state of grace could the abundance of gifts arise which distinguishes the Church of Corinth, and which more especially gives occasion to the apostle's gratitude.

The in everything is qualified by the two following terms, knowledge and utterance. The sequel of the Epistle leaves no doubt as to the meaning of these two terms. Chaps. 12-14 will show what a wealth of gifts, both of Christian knowledge and of manifestations in utterance (tongues, prophecies, doctrine), had been bestowed on this Church. We see from 1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 8:10, 1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Corinthians 13:8-9, that the word γνῶσις, knowledge, denotes the understanding of the facts of salvation and of their manifold applications to Christian life. Here it includes the idea of σοφία, wisdom, which is sometimes distinguished from it; comp. 1 Corinthians 12:8.

The term utterance has been applied by de Wette to the rich Christian instruction which the Corinthians had received from Paul's mouth and from which they had derived their knowledge of the gospel. But the term utterance must denote a spiritual gift bestowed on the Corinthians, and in connection with the term knowledge. What the apostle has in view, therefore, is those different forms of the new tongue which the Holy Spirit had developed in the Church. The verb ἐπλουτίσθητε denotes their abundance; the word παντί, every, their variety; comp. 1 Corinthians 14:26: “When ye come together, each of you hath a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation.” Edwards sees in this aorist an allusion to the present loss of those former riches, as if it should be translated, “Ye had been enriched.” This is certainly a mistake; the riches remained still, as is shown by chaps. 12-14. The aorist simply relates to the point of time at which the spiritual endowment of the Church took place, when its faith was sealed by the communication of the Spirit. It is not by accident that the apostle only mentions here the speculative and oratorical powers, and not the moral virtues; the gifts of the Spirit and not the fruits of the Spirit, as at Thessalonica. His intention is not doubtful; for in chap. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 he himself contrasts the two principal gifts of utterance, tongues, and prophecy, and then knowledge, as things which pass away, with the three things which abide: faith, hope, and love. Here then, side by side with the riches for which the apostle gives thanks, we already discover the defect which afflicts him, but of which he does not speak, because it would be contrary to the object of the passage as one sacred to thanksgiving. This defect stood in relation to the character of the Greek mind, which was distinguished rather by intellectual and oratorical gifts than by seriousness of heart and conscience.