The First Letter of Apostle Paul’s to the Corinthians

The first letter of Apostle Paul’s to the Corinthians that we have access to is normally known as the book of love, or “the book that gets read at weddings” (Powell, 273). But when you get down to the nitty-gritty of this epistle to the Corinthians, Paul is addressing many problems that congregation had and that churches today face.

Before we get into the actual letter and the occasion and purpose of this letter, I want to review a little of what we know of Corinth and its culture and history. Corinth was the capital of Achaia (Powell, 275) and it has been estimated that in Paul’s day the population of Corinth was about 250,000 free persons, plus as many as 400,000 slaves (Barker, 1732). There are four things I want to touch on about this chief city of Greece.

Its commerce. Corinth is located on a narrow strip of land between the Adriatic Sea to the west and the Aegean Sea to the east (Powell, 276) and it was a major crossroads for travelers and traders. Corinth had two harbors: (1)Lechaeum, a mile and a half to the west on the Corinthian Gulf, and (2)Cenchrea, six miles to the east on the Saronic Gulf . The Diolkos is the road that connect these two harbors; and small ships that were fully loaded could be hauled across from one harbor to the other, and cargo from the larger ships could be transported by wagons from one to the other (Barker, 1732). Trade flowed through the city from Italy and Spain to the west and from Asia Minor, Phoenicia and Egypt to the east (Barker, 1732) Corinth was also known for a metal compound that it produced called “Corinthian bronze” that was highly valued (Powell 276).

Its culture: Being slightly more than 50 miles from Athens, Corinth was characterized by typical Greek culture. Its peopl...

... middle of paper ...

...wsuits in secular courts ((6:1-11), and wrongfully utilizing the Lord’s Supper (11:17 - 34), 2)to correct falsities concerning the resurrection (ch 15), and 3)to give directions concerning the collection of offering for the believers in Jerusalem (16:1-4).

Connections with Contemporary Audiences This letter has much relevance with the church today and both teaches and inspires Christians worldwide. Most of the issues and situations that the Corinthian church faced in Paul’s lifetime are still very much around today - problems from immaturity, divisions, envy and jealousy, court cases, difficulties in marriage, sexual immorality, and misuse of spiritual gifts. And even with the focus on these problems, 1 Corinthians contains some of the most beloved and inspirational chapters in the entire Bible, for example; ch 13 (the love chapter) and ch 15 (on resurrection).