“even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you…”
even as the testimony of Christ
The word “testimony” means witness. When God confirms the witness of Christ through us, He shows the grace of God through us as witnesses to Christ.
was confirmed in you
The word “confirmed” is a legal term referring to a guarantee that settles the transaction. The Greek word means to make to stand, to make stable. The testimony concerning Christ made a stand in the Corinthian church. At a point in the past, God used them to witness for Christ effectively. The papyri show a legal sense of guaranteeing a title. God gives the guarantee of validity of the message through the Corinthians.
The Corinthian church’s wealth of gifts was not due to their faith but was God’s way of confirming the gospel. The Greek indicates that “was confirmed” was an act of God (passive voice). God revealed and established Christ through their gifts. They were God’s vehicle for delivering the message.
PRINCIPLE:
God uses gifts of the church to confirm His message to those without Christ.
APPLICATION:
All true witnessing ultimately is God’s witness. He uses the individual or the church, but in the final analysis, He confirms the gospel. God will use us powerfully when we orient to grace. We will have the confidence and strength to know that God works through us. We cannot by-pass understanding of God’s provision of wealth (1:5). A true witness is aware of the power behind witnessing.
Ac 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We can lose our witness through carnality, as did the Corinthians.
