One of the components of Paul’s epistles (absent in Galatians and Titus) is an opening prayer in which he gives thanks to God concerning the recipients and asks the Lord to bless them in some way (1:4-9). This is consistent with letter writing in that time and place for the sender often included a health wish and a prayer to the gods for the sendee.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul thanked God for the grace He had given to the church at Corinth (1:4). We normally think of grace in terms of the gift of salvation, but here Paul seems to be thanking God for blessing the church at Corinth with spiritual gifts which were to be used for the church’s edification (1:5-6, 12:1-11; cf. Rom 12:3-8). In God’s grace He had enriched them so that they came short in no spiritual gift. This probably means that the Holy Spirit had distributed various gifts to the members of the church so that they lacked no gift necessary for their edification and service. Perhaps, in verse 5, “utterance” and “knowledge” indicate the gifts of speaking (speaking in tongues, and prophesy) and the knowledge of the Lord communication through these gifts (12:7-10, 14:6, 26-31). What is remarkable is that Paul here thanks God for gifting the church though there was a misuse of those gifts. In chapters 12-14, Paul corrects them regarding spiritual gifts and their use (12:1).