Addressing the Christians of Corinth, Paul turns from the theme of persecution and confession...
Addressing the Christians of Corinth, Paul turns from the theme of persecution and confession to questions that, at first glance, have nothing in common with either of them. He shares his plans with the Corinthian church, evidently hoping for support from his fellow believers (vv. 15-16). But, on the other hand, the apostle does not accidentally remind the addressees of his letter of the definiteness and unambiguity of all his words and actions, calling as witness everyone who could have heard him (vv. 17-20). Such definiteness and unambiguity are possible only on the condition of the spiritual wholeness of the person, without which normal spiritual life is impossible, and ordinary life too. And then the connection becomes obvious between this theme, raised by the apostle in his letter, and the theme of persecution and confession that he touched on a little earlier. Indeed, a witness can remain a witness in a critical situation only if the spiritual wholeness of which Paul speaks was characteristic of him before as well, in ordinary life, and if his entire spiritual life in general proceeded normally and was what it ought to be in a Christian.
Confession and martyrdom are not heroic acts for which a brief emotional uplift is enough, but the culminating point of a Christian's whole life. Yet the point is not only readiness for such a culmination. After all, although every Christian is a witness of Christ and the Kingdom, not everyone is given to complete his witness by martyrdom. But every Christian is called to full life in the Kingdom, and that too cannot exist without the spiritual wholeness of which the apostle speaks. It is needed not only as an instrument of witness; it is necessary as the main, vitally important condition of abiding in the Kingdom. Vitally important in the literal sense: without it, living the life of the Kingdom is impossible. At best, a Christian who does not possess it will have to survive in the Kingdom rather than live there, breathing the breath of God with full lungs; he will breathe with difficulty, as a person breathes in thin air. At worst, the life of the Kingdom will remain for him only an abstraction or an unattainable dream. And then there can be no talk of salvation or of Christianity at all.
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1:21 I say, to the glory of God - For it is God alone that is able to fulfil these promises. That establisheth us - Apostles and teachers. With you - All true believers. In the faith of Christ; and hath anointed us - With the oil of gladness, with joy in the Holy Ghost, thereby giving us strength both to do and suffer his will.
1:22 Who also hath sealed us - Stamping his image on our hearts, thus marking and sealing us as his own property. And given us the earnest of his Spirit - There is a difference between an earnest and a pledge. A pledge is to be restored when the debt is paid; but an earnest is not taken away, but completed. Such an earnest is the Spirit. The first fruits of it we have Rom 8:23; and we wait for all the fulness.