Introduction to First Corinthians

“After this…”

Paul is on his second missionary journey joined by Silas and Timothy. The first missionary journey was focused on the cities of Galatia in Asia Minor, what is now, modern day Turkey. The second missionary journey is focused on revisiting the churches planted in Asia Minor and on planting new churches in Macedonia and Achaia, that is, present day Greece. This second missionary journey of Paul was a difficult one. In Philippi, Paul and Silas were inflicted with many blows from an angry mob and thrown into prison. In Thessalonica, some of the recent converts of Paul were attacked by another angry mob, forcing Paul and Silas to flee overnight to Berea. When the Jews heard that Paul and Silas had come to Berea, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Subsequently, Paul goes to Athens, and his spirit is provoked within him as he sees that the city is full of idols. He begins to preach Christ crucified and the resurrection of the dead, some mock but others believed. The results are meager. Up to Athens, Paul has been traveling for a year and a half, has visited over 10 cities, traveled over 1,000 miles mostly by foot, though some by water. So “after this” Paul arrives in Corinth.

Corinth Background

Today Corinth is a small town with little significance other than historical. But in New Testament times it was a thriving, prosperous, and strategically located city.

Geography

Greece is divided geographically into two parts. The southern part, the Peloponnesus, is attached to the northern by a very narrow, four-mile wide isthmus. On the western side was the gulf of Corinth and the port city of Lechaeum. On the eastern side was the Saronic Gulf and the port city of Cenchreae. In the middle of the isthmus, to the south, is Corinth, situated on a commanding plateau. In ancient times all north and south overland traffic, including that to and from Athens, had to pass through Corinth.

Sea travel around the southern end of Greece, the Peloponnesus, was both time-consuming and dangerous. Mariners had a saying that “A sailor never takes a journey around Malea [the cape at the south end of the peninsula] until he first writes his will.” Most captains, therefore, chose to carry their ships overland on skids or rollers across the narrow, four-mile wide isthmus, directly past Corinth. This procedure was quicker, more economical, and much safer than sailing 250 miles around the peninsula. The isthmus on which Corinth is situated became known as the “dialcos,” which means “the place of dragging across.” Corinth benefited from traffic in all directions and consequently became a major trade center.

Corinth was also successful as an entertainment center. The two great athletic festivals of that day were the Olympian and the Isthmian games, and Corinth was host city for the latter – named and played on the isthmus of Corinth.  

History

Historical factors also played a significant part in forming the culture of Corinth. In 146 BC the Achaean League of Greek city-states, which had been defying Roman expansion for some time, collapsed and Corinth (which had led the opposition to Rome) was leveled; its citizens were killed or sold into slavery. For a century or so the strategic site of Corinth laid desolate until Julius Caesar refounded Corinth as a Roman colony.

From that date, 46 BC, Corinth emerged into a new prosperity and with an increasingly multinational character. It soon became a hotchpotch of races, creeds, languages and culture. Those with commercial interests, entrepreneurs and the like, began to take up residence, including many Jews.

Dominating the city was the ‘Acrocorinth,’ a hill of over 1,850 feet, on which stood a large temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. The 1,000 priestesses of the temple, who were really nothing more than today’s prostitutes, came down into the city when evening fell and plied their trade in the streets. The cult of Aphrodite was dedicated to the glorification of sex. At the foot of the Acrocorinth was the worship of Melicertes, patron deity of navigation, and the temple of Apollo, the god of music, song and poetry.

So, like most seaports, Corinth became both prosperous and immoral – so much so that the Greeks had a word for leading a life of gross immorality and drunken debauchery: Korinthiazein, i.e. to live like a Corinthian. The name of the city became synonymous with moral depravity. Paul lists some of the city’s characteristic sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Some of the Corinthian believers had been guilty of practicing those sins before their conversion and had been cleansed (6:11). Others in the church, however, were still living immorally, some involved in sins worse than those – sins that Paul reminds them even pagan Gentiles did not commit, such as incest. 1 Corinthians 5:1, “it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: a man has his father’s wife.”

            All of this suggests, Corinth was a rough, tough place in the middle of the first century. With it being such a central place for trade, religion, games, and culture it is not difficult to imagine something of its reputation and its reality. All of this evidence together suggests that Paul’s Corinth was at once the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas of the ancient world.   

Paul at Corinth

In view of all these factors, it is not at all surprising to discover that Paul talks of his arrival in Corinth as full of “weakness and fear, and with much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). We need to keep Paul in perspective. Paul sometimes gets lifted up in our thoughts as superhuman, the untouchable. Paul, however, was human, and Corinth probably being the biggest city he had yet encountered, was awesome and intimidating.

Upon arriving in Corinth he met Aquila and Priscilla, Jews who had been driven out of Rome, and who were, like himself, tentmakers. It is difficult to overestimate the encouragement this encounter would have brought Paul in his ‘weakness. And as we know, they both become close partners of the gospel with Paul. For a while he stayed with them and worked with them (Acts 18:2, 3). Also during this time he began to preach regularly in the synagogue every Sabbath (Acts 18:4).

            Eventually, Silas and Timothy catch up with Paul from Macedonia bearing good news from those churches and making a powerful team of five to penetrate this province capital with the gospel. We would do well here to pause and consider the sheer importance of shared ministry. It needs to be based on strong friendship and partnership, not merely doing Christian activities together but sharing the whole of life. We are not made to be great autonomous individuals who “do it alone.” We are made as communicative beings. We need each others strengths, gifts, talents for the furtherance of the gospel.

After Silas and Timothy arrive, Paul “devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18:5). However, when Paul’s preaching intensified, so did resistance to his message. We read the “Jews opposed Paul and became abusive” causing Paul to shake his clothes out in protest and say “your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). Paul then leaves the synagogue and lives next door with Titius Justus. Soon, many Corinthians, including Jews, began to believe in Christ. Even Cripsus, leader of the synagogue, along with his household, trusted in the Lord (Acts 18:7-8).

At this point, Paul has good reason to be encouraged and strengthened. He is no longer alone in Corinth but joined by four ministers of the gospel. There have been several converts to Christ. They have a “house-church” established at Titius Justus’s house that has great centrality in the city, yet we find that Paul is still low in spirits, uncertain and prone to depression.

            Paul continued to minister in Corinth for a year and a half (Acts 18:11). Jewish opposition, that had followed him everywhere he went, became so strong that he was brought before a Roman tribunal. Since the charges were purely religious, however, the proconsul, Gallio, refused to hear the case. After staying a while longer, Paul left Corinth with Priscilla and Aquilla and went to Ephesus. Leaving his friends there, he returned to Palestine (Acts 18:12-22).

            The second leader of the Corinthian church was Apollos. An eloquent Jewish convert from Alexandria, Apollos had come to Ephesus and begun preaching while Aquilla and Priscilla were there. Although “he was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures” he had some doctrinal deficiencies, which Aquilla and Priscilla were instrumental in correcting. When he wanted to preach in Achaia, the Ephesian church not only encouraged him but gave him a letter of commendation, and he began ministering in Corinth as its pastor (Acts 18:24-19:1).

Purpose of Letter

Reports from Chloe

Reports from three friends

Issues addressed