but all had the hope that this would be realized in their lifetime. "We which are alive and

remain unto the coming of the Lord" was the standpoint of all believers at this time and

was the comfort and great antidote for the sorrow resulting from the loss of those who

were near and dear (I Thess. 4: 13-18). In the letter we are studying, the Corinthian

believers were "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1: 7). Here the word

"coming" translates the Greek apokalupsis, apocalypse. This, together with the word

parousia, also translated "coming", but better rendered "arrival", or "presence', are the

words which the Holy Spirit uses to describe the hope of the church during the Acts.

This arrival of the Lord Jesus on the earth had been clearly described by Him in

Matt. 24:, Mark 13: and Luke 21:  From the words used, it was to be a visible

bodily coming, not a spiritual one, and the Book of the Revelation expands it and

describes it as being a time when "every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced

Him" (Rev. 1: 7). If we note every occurrence of apokalupsis and parousia and the

contexts they are used in, it will be noted that not one of them gives any clear backing to

the idea of a secret parousia. This idea has been forced upon those who bring the later

revelation of the Mystery into the Acts and fail to see in the Acts the close connection

with God's longsuffering to Israel, and His waiting for their response to the command to

repent and turn back to Him (Acts 3: 19). This coming back to the earth is the hope of

Israel which both the O.T. (e.g. Zech. 14: 4, 5), and the early epistles of the N.T. deal

with and is the dominant hope of all believers during the period covered by Acts.

The confirmation which Paul has referred to, would last "unto the end", that is of this

earthly life, whether terminated by death or the Coming of the Lord, so that they might be

"blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 8). This period seems to look

forward to the realization of the Corinthians' hope and the Divine assessment of their

service. It is referred to again in the epistle to the Philippians in a similar setting.

"Blameless" means "unimpeachable", literally chargeless, and behind it all was the utter

faithfulness of God, the only solid rock to rest upon (9). The pattern of verses 1-9, as

100: H. Welch has shown is as follows:

A | 1: 1-3. Called. Fellowship in every place.

B | 4-7-. Confirmation. Gifts (as in chapter 12:).

C | -7. Coming. Waiting for the Coming.

B | 8. Confirmation. Graces (as in chapter 13:).

A | 1: 9. Called unto the fellowship of His Son.

A new section commences in verse 10 in which Paul reprimands the Corinthian

believers for their cliques and disunity, appealing to them to put an end to this sort of

thing, which denied in practice union that God has made between His children and makes

spiritual growth impossible. We give C. K. Barrett's translation of verses 10-13: