1 Corinthians Intro

About Corinth

Despite being at the center of Greece, Corinth was destroyed in 146 BC by the Romans, who killed all the men, sold all the women and children into slavery, and burned the city to the ground. Because of it’s geographical importance, Julius Caesar ordered Corinth re-founded in 44 BC, not long before his assassination. The colony appears to have been well-funded, as an amphitheater was built that same year. The Corinth that Paul went to in AD 49 (Acts 18) was new, modern, and very pro-Roman.

In Corinth, there were multiple temples for Aphrodite (goddess of love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and fertility). Aphrodite was the “guardian” of Corinth, and the patron goddess of prostitutes. After New Testament times, the Acrocorinth Temple rose to be the most important Aphrodite cult in the Greek-speaking world.

The second most popular cult in Corinth was for Demeter (goddess of grain, birth, and marriage). The third most popular cult in Corinth was for Persephone (goddess of the underworld, Spring, grain, marriage, and childbirth).

Corinth was on both sea and land trade routes, and a canal across the isthmus was finally built in AD 67. It should not surprise us that a “Corinthian woman” was Greek slang for “whore”. Although, often that was said with a positive spin. In the Roman world, in few places were women more sexually liberated than in Corinth. Scholars disagree on the amount of prostitution that took place in Aphrodite’s temples, but it was certainly no place for prudes.

We should keep this background in mind when we read Paul’s letter to them. Paul has some words about relationships, sex, and gender that needed to land on new Christians in this city.

About the Corinthian Church

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1 Corinthians 1:1–3 CSB

Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother: To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:4–9 CSB

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:10–17 CSB

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is rivalry among you. What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 CSB

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

1 Corinthians 1:26–31 CSB

Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption —in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.