This verse is exactly the same as Rom 1.7b.
In some languages this initial clause may be translated as a prayer, as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “We pray God … to give you grace and peace.”
The appositional construction God our Father is unnatural in many languages. Translators in such languages may say “God, who is our Father,” or even “God, who is like a Father to us.”
Grace in Greek is related to the word for “greeting” that was commonly used at the beginning of Greek letters. Peace was similarly used in Jewish letters. In the language of the early Christians, to pray that someone might receive Grace was more than an ordinary greeting. Grace, depending on the context, can have any one of three meanings: (a) God’s generosity in giving his love to people who do not deserve it, (b) the total sum of God’s gifts considered as a whole, or (c) individual gifts. In this verse, meaning (b) is the most likely. It is difficult, though, to express this wide meaning in common language translations (common language translations). Such words as the English “grace” have lost much of their meaning, not only among non-Christians but also in the churches. In languages where there has not been a long history of Bible translation, one may often combine the meanings (a) and (b) by saying “May God be kind and generous toward you,” “May God show his goodness,” or “May God give you what you need.” And peace for Christians, as in the Old Testament, was more than the absence of war or a peaceful feeling that an individual might have inside himself. Christians understood these terms as related to the nature of God. Grace and peace, therefore, overlap in meaning, both with one another and also with “righteousness,” which Good News Bible often translates as “being right with God.” Peace in the New Testament refers to a total state of well-being or good spiritual health that God gives to a person.
An alternative translation model for the first three verses is:
• 1 This letter is from Paul, whom God has called to be an apostle (or, chief messenger) of Jesus Christ. Sosthenes our fellow Christian also greets you.
2 I am writing to the group of people who worship God in the city of Corinth, to all those whom God has called to be his special people, who belong to him in union with Christ Jesus, together with all people everywhere in Corinth who worship our [exclusive] Lord Jesus Christ, who is both their Lord and our Lord.
3 We ask God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to give you grace and peace.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .