Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
The church of God. He calls it so notwithstanding its many blots. Sectaries vainly anticipate the final sifting (Matthew 13:27-30). 'It is a dangerous temptation to think there is no church where there is not apparent perfect purity. It was enough for Paul, in recognizing the Corinthians as a church, that he saw among them evangelical doctrine, baptism, and the Lord's supper.' It was the Church of God, not of this or of that favourite leader.
At Corinth - a church at dissolute Corinth-a paradox of grace!
Sanctified (consecrated, set apart as holy to God) in (by union with) Christ Jesus. There is no Greek for "to them that are;" translate simply, 'men sanctified,' etc.
Called to be saints - rather, 'called saints,' saints by calling, all professing members of the church. As "sanctified in Christ" implies the fountain of holiness, the believer's original sanctification in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:14; 1 Peter 1:2) in the purposes of God's grace; so 'called saints' refers to their actual call (Romans 8:30), and the end of that call, that they should be holy (1 Peter 1:15).
With all that in every place call upon ... Christ - the true Catholic Church (a term first used by Ignatius, 'ad Smyrnaeaos,' 100: 8); not those who call themselves from Paul, Cephas, etc. (1 Corinthians 1:12), but all, wherever they be, who call on their Saviour in sincerity (cf. Ephesians 3:15; 2 Timothy 2:22). Being one in this essential, they ought not to mar the church's unity by divisions (1 Corinthians 11:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33). The life of faith is a life of prayer. To call upon Jesus is to call upon God (Acts 7:59; Acts 9:14).
Both theirs and ours - `in every place which is their home ... and our home also,'-the Christians throughout Achaia, not residing in Corinth, the capital (2 Corinthians 1:1). Paul feels the home of his converts to be also his own (Romans 16:13). "Ours" refers to Paul and Sosthenes' and the Corinthians' home (Alford). Rather, 'both their Lord and our Lord (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:5) - a virtual reproof of the divisions of the Corinthians, as if Christ were divided (1 Corinthians 1:13). 'If places divide Christians, yet their common Lord unites them' (Chrysostom).