You can read the text here . For those following along at home, for this series I'll be leaning on the commentaries of Thiselton and Ciampa and Rosner . I'd love to be wrapped up by the end of June, but no promises. Paul opens the first extant letter we have between him and the Corinthians by mentioning his calling by God to his apostleship.[1] Paul has been called, just like them, for a purpose. Paul's calling is to be an authoritative representative of Jesus, theirs is holiness. The Corinthian call is the same call that goes out to all Christians everywhere: to be holy in Christ. After all they and we are God's church, not the church of any particular personality. Jesus was their Lord. These are the two foundations of unity, belonging to God and holiness. As Thiselton notes, this picture minimizes notions of autonomy of the local church. All churches are part of a whole. Paul is grateful for the work that he has seen carried out in the Corinthians. They have bee...