When speaking about the day of His return and the triumph of the Kingdom, it is certainly no accident that Jesus warns against any attempt to determine its exact date. It is not that His Father knows something He does not. Most likely, the point is that...
When speaking about the day of His return and the triumph of the Kingdom, it is certainly no accident that Jesus warns against any attempt to determine its exact date. It is not that His Father knows something He does not. Most likely, the date has simply not yet been determined—and perhaps it will be determined only at the very last moment. Indeed, Christ's return in glory cannot be regarded as an isolated historical event. It must become, and will become, the completion of a particular stage in the history of the Kingdom—a stage that will probably be followed by others, but after which the world will be transformed and completely renewed.
When this stage ends, however, depends not only on God but also on human beings. We live in the age of the advancing Kingdom, and in a certain sense its advance depends on us even more than it does on Him. For His part, He has already done everything necessary for the Kingdom to be revealed in all its fullness.
Now it is up to us: what happens next will be determined to a considerable degree by our choice. Every “yes” to Christ and the Kingdom brings nearer the day of the Messiah's return in glory, while every “no” puts it farther away. Any such “yes” or “no” may become the last in the earthly history we see and within which we live. This is not because God will grow tired of waiting and decide to bring it to an end, but because the process really must be completed someday: sooner or later a moment will come when there is nothing left to wait for. For humanity, however, that moment may apparently come unexpectedly. It is no accident that Jesus compares the day of His return with the coming of the worldwide flood, which no one took seriously despite the warnings.
Of course everyone, or at least every Christian, knows in theory that the present stage of world history must end someday, and that the Savior, who promised to return in glory, will certainly fulfill His promise. Yet it is no secret that for most Christians today all this is, unfortunately, more an abstraction than a reality shaping their lives.
At times such lukewarmness gives way to brief bursts of feverish expectation of the “end of the world,” but these bring nothing into the lives of those waiting apart from emotional excitement. Jesus calls us to something else: daily readiness, so that His return will take no one by surprise, even if at that moment a Christian is occupied with everyday affairs. Evidently, there is no other way to meet Christ and enter the Kingdom.
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1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle - There is great propriety in every clause of the salutation, particularly in this, as there were some in the church of Corinth who called the authority of his mission in question. Through the will of God - Called "the commandment of God", Ti1 1:1. This was to the churches the ground of his authority; to Paul himself, ofan humble and ready mind. By the mention of God, the authority of man is excluded, Gal 1:1; by the mention of the will of God, the merit of Paul, Co1 15:8, etc And Sosthenes - A Corinthian, St. Paul's companion in travel.It was both humility and prudence in the apostle, thus to join his name with his own, in an epistle wherein he was to reprove so many irregularities. Sosthenes the brother - Probably this word is emphatical; as if he had said, Who, from a Jewish opposer of the gospel, became a faithful brother.
1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth - St. Paul, writing in a familiar manner to the Corinthians, as also to the Thessalonians and Galatians, uses this plain appellation.To the other churches he uses a more solemn address.Sanctified through Jesus Christ - And so undoubtedly they were in general, notwithstanding some exceptions. Called - Of Jesus Christ, Rom 1:6. And - As the fruit of that calling made holy.With all that in every place - Nothing could better suit that catholic love which St. Paul labours to promote in this epistle, than such a declaration of his good wishes for every true Christian upon earth. Call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - This plainly implies that all Christians pray to Christ, as well as to the Father through him.
1:4 Always - Whenever I mention you to God in prayer.
1:5 In all utterance and knowledge - Of divine things.These gifts the Corinthians particularly admired. Therefore this congratulation naturally tended to soften their spirits, and I make way for the reproofs which follow.
1:6 The testimony of Christ - The gospel. Was confirmed among you - By these gifts attending it. They knew they had received these by the hand of Paul: and this consideration was highly proper, to revive in them their former reverence and affection for their spiritual father.
1:7 Waiting - With earnest desire. For the glorious revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ - A sure mark of a true or false Christian, to long for, or dread, this revelation.
1:8 Who will also - if you faithfully apply to him.Confirm you to the end. In the day of Christ - Now it is our day, wherein we are to work out our salvation; then it will be eminently the day of Christ, and of his glory in the saints.
1:9 God is faithful - To all his promises; and therefore "to him that hath shall be given." By whom ye are called - Apledge of his willingness to save you unto the uttermost.