Let's Eat, Grandpa!
The Theological Power in a comma or lack thereof.
I’ve always struggled with grammar. My greatest weakness? The correct use of the comma. Even in this short article, you’ll probably find a comma splice, a run-on sentence, or some other mistake I’m not even aware of. This grammatical blind spot followed me all the way through my doctoral program.
Yet with that said, I’d like to argue that something as small as a comma—or its absence—can make a world of difference in how we read.
The classic joke makes the point:
Let’s eat, Grandpa! Let’s eat Grandpa!
The comma, in this case, is a matter of life and death. Without it, we descend into cannibalism.
I was thinking about this as I prepared my first sermon from 1 Corinthians 1:1–3. There’s a key interpretive point that turns on whether or not a comma is present in the text.
In the Nestle-Aland 27th edition, which I use for most of my translation work, verse 2 reads:
τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνθῳ, ἡγιασμένοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις, σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, αὐτῶν καὶ ἡμῶν·
Compare how this verse is rendered in two English translations:
KJV: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.”
ESV: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
Notice the difference: in the KJV, there is a comma after saints and before with, suggesting a separation between the local believers and those “in every place.” In contrast, the ESV highlights the togetherness of the calling: called to be saints together with all believers everywhere.
Since our earliest Greek manuscripts contain no punctuation, translators must interpret where natural pauses occur based on grammar and context. Here, Paul opens his letter with a single, extended participial phrase that connects the believers’ calling—not just as individuals, but as members of a larger body. The grammar underscores that the call to holiness is also a call to community.
Application
Our calling is not merely individual. It is not just a private moment of faith. It is a calling into a people, a family. This theme is vital to Paul’s argument throughout the entire letter.
Your calling is threefold: it is God's invitation into saving faith, His call to personal holiness, and His appointment of each believer to a role within the body. From the very first verses, Paul pushes back against lone-wolf or sectarian Christianity. The church in Corinth needed that reminder—and so do we.