From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts–
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the church of God that is in Corinth,
to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2nd reading for this Sunday, 1st Corinthians 1:1-3
Brief as it is, this little reading is packed with implications. Paul is writing to the Christians in the port city of Corinth, a major shipping, trading, and money-making connection between eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire. It was a meeting place of many various peoples with a variety of pagan religions and beliefs. For example, 1000 enslaved women “staffed” one major temple. (To call someone “a Corinthian girl” was not a compliment.)
Undoubtedly “the church of God that is in Corinth” was a mixture of people of Jewish heritage, some Latins, and easterners of various backgrounds. Yet, they are all part of that “church (assembly/people) of God”—not simply of this city, but including the Christians of Ephesus, for instance, where Paul may be writing from. As today, the Church is made up of many peoples, but in the diversity of their backgrounds, they still make up only one Church. That Church, ideally, includes “all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
All of these people are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.” To be “sanctified” or “consecrated” means to be set apart for some holy purpose. For example, the lamb to be sacrificed for the Jewish Passover was carefully checked to be sure it was unblemished and would make a pleasing offering to God. So Christians are washed clean of sin in Baptism, so that they are ready to aid in bringing others closer to God. We are “sanctified” or set apart for just that work.
At the same time, as living, growing human beings, we are “called to be holy,” that is holiness is also our own goal, something we need to grow into as we live our life. It is a call to lifelong growth in Christ, a call to allow Christ to grow in us until we become the very image of Christ we were originally created to be.
Finally, Paul writes this letter with absolute authority, for “by the will of God” he was “called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” in the earliest foundation time of the Church. There have been “apostolic leaders” and “apostolic successors” (so to speak) in the history of the Church since then, but all these later ones must stand on the shoulders of that Apostolic first generation, which includes the Twelve Apostles, Paul, the four Gospel Evangelists and other New Testament witnesses.
That is why, in saying the Creed, we commit ourselves to the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”
For further reflection:
Consider this line from the Sunday Note above: “That Church, ideally, includes “all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.””
“Ideally.” The Church, as we see it around us, appears to be a multiplicity of churches rather than the unified Church we say Paul is speaking of. How, then, can we say “one” in the Creed? Paul is speaking of God’s people as God calls them to be: holy (though 100% of them are still growing toward the fullness of holiness) catholic (though Christ’s Church is still being spread to new peoples and places where the Gospel has not been proclaimed) Apostolic (though being as founded by Apostles and in their line is something that can only be achieved over time as newly evangelized individuals and peoples are formed, perhaps over generations.) Even in the New Testament we see “one-ness” is imperfectly witnessed in the various communities as they struggle with internal divisions and external pressures. These four things are to be characteristics of the Church, ideally, but we experience them here and now as goals to be pursued by prayer, repentance, patience, and hard work.