At this point, a letter would customarily include a prayer of thanks or for the health of the recipients. Paul’s prayer would strike ancient readers as unusual. Instead of giving thanks for the health of his recipients, he gives thanks for God’s grace to them. One could say that he focuses on their spiritual health rather than on their physical health (although he will come to this later, in 1 Corinthians 11:30).

The word always indicates the eagerness and steadfastness with which Paul gives thanks for God’s work among the Corinthians. He regularly prays about them and for them, following his own instruction to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Paul calls God my God, thereby indicating the close relationship that a believer enjoys with God. Such a relationship was unknown in the pagan world.