It Starts Small

Before we close chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians, I wanted to go back to verse 3.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:3
(Bold for Emphasis)

Paul’s writing follows a set of conventions. Letters begin in ways that help readers recognize what to expect. “You may already have won!” is one way to begin a letter. So is “My dearest Son.” In the Greco-Roman world, a letter began by naming the sender(s) and the recipient(s), and then greeting the recipients.

Paul’s greeting is the same across all letters that bear his name. The exceptions are 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, where the wording changes slightly. Paul begins his letters by greeting his churches. He says, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. 

“Grace” (charis) is a standard greeting in Greek. “Peace” in the letter’s opening is a standard translation of the Hebrew greeting, shalom. Paul creates the greeting by drawing on both parts of his background. He honors an element of the diversity among his recipients. The greeting also connects God, whom he calls “our Father” with Jesus Christ, whom he calls “Lord.” Paul emphasizes the familial bond by naming God as “our Father.” This signifies the common Father of the letter’s senders and recipients. It is more than just the Father of Jesus Christ. Paul imagines that God has the same relationship with Paul’s readers and Paul himself as God has with Christ.  Jesus says as much in John 20:17.

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

John 20:17

This common familial bond between Jesus and his followers must have been among the earliest traditions in Christianity.

When Paul writes, the church is still at some distance from developing what would become Trinitarian theology. Paul’s letters help to shape that theology in a variety of ways. As for Trinitarian formulas, Paul’s clearest appears at the end of 2 Corinthians. It says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God. The communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13, NRSV). This formula has come to be the opening greeting in the liturgy of the Mass and in Protestant liturgical traditions.

As we think about the definitions of these words what are their significance to you?

How do these Words hit your heart?

Why do you think Paul uses these specific words in the greeting to the recipients?

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