1:4-5

Paul thanks God for the Corinthians. He loves them despite their problems and the headaches that they've no doubt caused him. He's happy they are there and that they are following Christ. They are a source of encouragement to him, a sign that God is working and that the gospel continues to display its power. Paul sees God at work, and that is something to be thankful for.

Paul writes that God's grace given to the church is in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Gift. All that God gives, He gives through Christ. God created the world through Jesus Christ (Col. 1:16). Even in the Old Testament, the blessings of God came through Jesus Christ. For example, later on in this letter (10:4), he mentions the rock from which the Israelites drank water, "and that rock was Christ." Was the rock literally the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus? No, but the rock is a symbol of God's provision for His people, God's Presence with His people.

Jesus is always God's gift to Humankind. Jesus is, among other things, God's expression of Himself, the Immanuel ("God with us"). God was with the Israelites in the desert. God is with His church.

Paul states that the church has been enriched in Christ in every way, in speaking and in knowledge, because they accepted Paul's message and believed it (the "testimony was confirmed in them," as Paul puts it). Jesus has enriched the church immeasurably, and it's all because of Him, the ultimate Gift, that the Corinthians enjoy these blessings.