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"Grace be with you all" Part 1 of 2 from the 2024 Spring Vision Newsletter
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Each Sunday we are blessed with these words at the end of the divine service. What do these phrases mean? And why did the Apostle Paul conclude his letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 13:14) with this benediction?
In the first century, Corinth was a bustling trade center, positioned on an isthmus that separated the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Gulf, and further the Aegean Sea. Because traveling around the southern coast of Greece was treacherous, ships or their cargo would be hoisted ashore and transported on the Diolkos, a paved track of sorts, to the other side. This concentration of goods and trade made for a prosperous city.
When Paul established the congregation in Corinth, it was most likely a group of house churches, made up of a wide stratum of people from varying social classes; from the very wealthy and educated, to freedmen and slaves. The writings we refer to as first and second Corinthians are actually embedded in a flurry of letters written back and forth between Paul and various members of the house churches in Corinth, specifically around the topic of division. Seemingly, the congregations in that city had found myriad topics to disagree over: “favorite” apostles, philosophy and rhetoric, resurrection, issues of sin, marriage, and relationships, being “special”, and even the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Throughout the letters, Paul prompts them to different actions aimed at overcoming their disagreements, mainly, to modify their individual behaviors to accommodate the other.
In the disagreement on the celebration of communion, Paul writes, “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Corinthians 11:29). When we show no concern for others, we neglect the body of Christ. In the next chapter, Paul leans in to the image of the body of Christ: while each part is distinct, all are necessary, all are connected, and further, God has given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This was completely contrary to the customs of Greco-Roman society. Wealthy, noble, honorable persons always expected deference from those of lower classes – they expected to receive better food, better treatment, better everything. The clothes they wore outwardly expressed their rank so everyone would know what was due to them. In a few words, Paul turns this world upside down.
Between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, we know from references that more letters were sent, and Paul visited Corinth and planned on visiting them again. From 2 Corinthians, we can see that the divisions have still not been fully reconciled, and some in the congregations have even turned against Paul, who we can see defending his apostleship in chapters 10-13.
Yet, in all this tension, Paul ends his letter with what would come to be known as the Apostolic Benediction… “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”