1:1 Paul opens as he normally does, by identifying himself as an “apostle of Christ Jesus” (his only letters in which he does not self-identify as an apostle are Philippians, 1–2 Thessalonians, and Philemon). The Greek word for apostle (apostolos) is derived from the verb meaning “to send out”; an apostle is, in its most basic meaning, “one who is sent out.” Paul is sent out by Jesus himself. He is one of those specially sanctioned by God to be a first-generation witness to the gospel. Paul gets at the same idea later in this letter when he describes himself and his fellow apostles as “ambassadors for Christ” (5:20), which he further unpacks as “God making his appeal through us” (5:20). This appeal, in context, implores sinners to be reconciled to God through Christ’s saving work. And this is what it means to be an apostle—it is to be sent by Christ to commend and defend the gospel that has erupted in world history through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, beseeching its hearers to confess their sins and yield allegiance to Christ.

Paul thus greets his readers in his typical way. And yet the alert reader will note that each Pauline greeting is framed slightly differently, in a way that often subtly anticipates major themes to come in the letter. In Galatians, for example, Paul is explicit that his apostolic call is “not from men nor through man” (Gal. 1:1), a defense clearly called for as the letter unfolds. Here in 2 Corinthians Paul calls himself an apostle of Christ and says that this is by God’s own will—and throughout this letter Paul will defend that claim and its divine sanction. Indeed, the key theme of the letter is the reality of Paul’s apostolic commission by God despite all appearances (considered from a worldly perspective) to the contrary.

Paul identifies himself “and Timothy our brother” as those sending the letter. To what degree is Timothy involved in the writing of the letter? Most likely Timothy is cited here as one known to the Corinthian church and as a young, emerging coworker with Paul who is in solidarity with Paul’s teaching and will go on to lead the church in Ephesus as Paul is fading from view (as seen in 1–2 Timothy).

Paul addresses his letter “to the church of God that is at Corinth,” which refers simply to the believers in Corinth. Just as Paul has spoken of his apostolic sanction “by the will of God,” so now he refers to the Corinthian church as the “church of God.” The descriptor “that is at Corinth” follows the more immediate and more fundamental reality that these believers belong to an assembly whose source and center is God himself.

Paul concludes 2 Corinthians 1:1 by clarifying that his letter is not narrowly to the Corinthian church but to all believers in the surrounding area of Achaia (the southernmost region of Greece). As in his opening words in 1 Corinthians 1:1–2, Paul again refers to these believers as “saints” (it is believers in the surrounding area that he explicitly calls “saints,” but he includes the Corinthians by implication). By “saint” Paul means all those who have been once and for all made clean or pure through union with Christ (1 Cor. 6:11). Saints are not the upper echelon of Christians; every true Christian is a saint, a “holy one”—the verb form of the noun used here for “saint” means “sanctify.” While saints remain sinful in their thoughts, words, and deeds and are called to grow progressively in holiness, the more fundamental truth of a Christian’s identity is that they have been decisively, once and for all, cleansed in the gospel of grace. They have been sanctified; they are saints.

1:2 This benediction discloses the very heart of Paul’s apostolic message. Here we peer into the inner recesses of what drives Paul to such circumstantial extremities (11:23–29). He is called by God to carry grace to the guilty and peace to the alienated.

What is “grace” in Pauline theology? It is divine intervention wrought in Christ that invades the lives of sinners, delivering them from death and condemnation into life and acquittal (4:15; 6:1; 8:9). In 2 Corinthians, as in other letters, Paul speaks of grace not only in this way but also as the accordant behavior of those who have received this gift. Graced, we grace others. The vertical fuels the horizontal. Thus Paul speaks of his visiting the Corinthians as an “experience of grace” (1:15) and of Christian generosity as “grace” (8:1, 6, 7). Paul also speaks of grace as a gift of God that empowers the Christian life, calling good works the result of God’s abounding “grace” (9:8) and identifying God’s sustaining power as a matter of “grace” (12:9).

Thus grace is a flexible notion in 2 Corinthians, but the common denominator in all of these uses (unearned forgiveness, interpersonal kindness, divine empowering) is that this grace does not accord with what is deserved. It cannot be bought; it is in the category of gift rather than desert. Here in 1:2 Paul uses the term in a general and comprehensive way to remind the Corinthians of the central reality of Christian existence: God’s undeserved goodness to sinners.

“Peace” is often a counterpart of grace in Pauline greetings and is a fitting partner. Picking up the OT notion of shalom—the tranquil serenity that occurs when God and his creation are in harmony (the Greek word is eirēnē, from which we get the English irenic)—peace means for Paul especially the restored relationship between God and the sinner. One sees why Paul never puts peace first when he pairs it with grace. Grace comes first logically and, having come to the sinner, creates a state of peace.