1 Corinthians 1:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Together with praises and thanksgivings, he strongly reproves them. You were taught the dogmas of truth, he says, not by outward philosophy and not by outward instruction, but by the grace of God. This was according to the riches of understanding and word granted by Him, and you were confirmed in the Lord’s testimony, that is, in the preaching. You were counted worthy of many signs, many miracles, and ineffable grace when you received the preaching. Therefore, if you were confirmed by signs and grace, why are you wavering? While rebuking them, he also disposes them favorably toward himself by what he has said.

The word “for” stands in place of “through which” (di’ on). Through the word, he says, and through the understanding by which you were enriched, the testimony was confirmed in you, that is, the preaching concerning Christ. You received this preaching not through outward wisdom, but through signs and gifts of which you were counted worthy.

The Apostle praises the Corinthians because they showed perfect progress and fruits in the knowledge of the Gospel faith. They bore witness to such fruits by their firm and unshaken abiding in the confession of Jesus Christ.

The testimony of Christ was confirmed in them, because they grew strong in their faith and did not place their hope in what is human. All their faith was in Christ, since they did not yield to temptations and enticements.

Here are particular forms of spiritual gifts, for it is said: "To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit" (1 Cor 12:8).

The Apostle often leaves the name of Christ, the Son, the Lord, in order to teach by this that one must not be named from anyone else, but from Him Who granted salvation.

He calls the preaching of Christ a "testimony," because those who preach bear witness, as he also writes to Timothy: "I charge you before God, Who gives life to the dead" (2 Tim 4:1 and 1 Tim 6:13).

So also the Lord said in the Holy Gospel: "This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world to all nations, as a testimony to them" (Mt 24:14).

By the "confirmation" of the Gospel he means the working of miraculous signs, because by them the truth of the preaching was proved.

“The testimony of Christ” means the Gospel. Jesus Christ Himself calls the preaching of the Gospel a testimony (Mt 24:14).

In the opening words of his epistle, speaking both in his own person and in that of Sosthenes the brother, St. Paul gives to "the Church of God which is in Corinth" the usual "grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

First, he bears witness to his continual thanksgiving to God "for the grace of God given to the members of the Corinthian Church in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor 1:4), so that they "are not lacking in any gift."

Then he expresses the hope that the Lord will so "confirm them to the end, that they may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1:8). For "God is faithful, by Whom they were called into the fellowship of His Son" (1 Cor 1:9).

In giving thanks to God for granting grace to the Corinthians, the Apostle on the one hand praises them as those counted worthy of this greatest divine gift. On the other hand, in this very thing he lays the foundation for his further judgment concerning their condition.

From the great multitude of gracious gifts, the Apostle Paul first points to their enrichment with verbal and intellectual knowledge concerning all the subjects of Christ's teaching.

From this he then concludes that the Lord, having so enriched them, will not leave them without His gracious help in the future. Thus they may calmly await even the dread day of the Lord's judgment. But to deserve this, they must correct themselves.

"Just as," kathos, means "since," judging from the fact that the testimony of Christ, the testimony concerning Christ, has been firmly confirmed. This testimony concerns His Godhead, Incarnation, Passion and death, Resurrection and Ascension. It concerns the forgiveness of sins for His sake, the gift of grace, and the future hopes founded on Him.

In general, it is the preaching of Christ, or the evangelical preaching, as Photius in Oecumenius and Theodoret say. "Was confirmed" is ebebaiothe, meaning firmly assured.

Two thoughts are possible. First, it was established in your mind. You found its foundations firm and were convinced of its truth. Second, it was confirmed and proved by irrefutable arguments to be true, to come from above, and to oblige acceptance.