(4) Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are (5) sanctified in (a) Christ Jesus, (b) called [to be] saints, with all that in every place (c) call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
(4) It is a church of God, even though it has great faults in it, as it obeys those who admonish them. (5) A true definition of the universal church, which is:
(a) The Father sanctifies us, that is to say, separates us from the wicked in giving us to his Son, that he may be in us, and we in him.
(b) Whom God by his gracious goodness and absolute love has separated for himself: or whom God has called to holiness: the first of these two expositions, shows from where our sanctification comes: and the second shows to what end it strives for.
(c) He is correctly said to call on God who cries to the Lord when he is in danger, and craves help from his hands, and by the figure of speech synecdoche, it is taken for all the service of God: and therefore to call upon Christ's name, is to acknowledge and take him for very God.