1 Corinthians 2

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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In chapter 1:

Paul emphasizes the need for unity in the church. He discourages divisions and urges the Corinthians to be united in mind and judgment. Rather than identifying with different leaders, Paul emphasizes that it was Christ who was crucified for them. Paul highlights that the message of the Cross may seem foolish to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to those being saved. God's wisdom confounds worldly wisdom, and His strength surpasses human strength. These gospel-centered themes will continue throughout the book.

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.

Acts 18:8–11 CSB

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 CSB

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.

1 Corinthians 2:6–8 CSB

We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

1 Corinthians 2:9 CSB

But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:10–15 CSB

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.