1 Corinthians 1:6

This verse may be understood in two ways: some (Meyer, Edwards, etc.) regard it as indicating the cause of that abundance of gifts which has just been mentioned. They then apply the term ἐβεβαιώθη, was confirmed, or rather affirmed, to an internal fact: “in consequence of the depth and firmness of faith with which the gospel impressed (affirmed) itself in you.” To support this meaning, they rely on the βεβαιώσει of 1 Corinthians 1:8; but we shall see that this ground proves nothing, because there the idea of confirmation applies, not to the gospel, but to the persons of the Corinthians. This explanation is not in keeping with the natural meaning of καθώς, according as, which indicates rather a mode than a cause. The sense seems to me quite different: the apostle means, not that the wealth of their gifts is due to the depth and solidity of their faith, which would be contrary to the spirit of the whole passage, but that these gifts have been the mode of confirming the gospel specially granted to the Church of Corinth. Elsewhere, God could confirm the apostolic preaching otherwise; by miracles, for example, or by moral virtues, fruits of the Spirit; comp. Hebrews 2:3: “The salvation which, having at the first been spoken by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, God Himself bearing witness with them by signs and wonders and by distribution of the powers of the Spirit;” also, 1 and 2Th 1:3 and Galatians 3:2. The conj. καθώς agrees perfectly with this meaning: “Thus, and not otherwise, did the Divine confirmation of the testimony rendered to Christ take place among you.”

The term testimony is here used to denote preaching, because this is essentially the attestation of a historical fact (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). The gen. Χριστοῦ denotes the subject of the testimony, and not its author. It would be otherwise with the gen. θεοῦ, of God, if this reading were adopted with the Vatic.