Corinth, an ancient and a modern city of the Pel-o-pon-ne-sus, in south-central Greece
In Paul's day, Corinth was the chief city of the Roman province of Achaia.
The place was notable for its commerce, having a harbor on each side of it.
Its location was ideal, with an abundant water supply, only 1.5 miles south of the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow land bridge (only 3.9 miles or 6.3 kilometers wide), which connects the Pel-o-pon-ne-sian peninsula to the Greek mainland. Thus Corinth became prosperous from trade – both the trade moving by sea from east and west, but also north and south between Greece and the Pel-o-pon-nesus. The port of Cenchreae connected the city to the Aegean Sea to the east, while the port of Lec-h-ae-um (Lyceum) was on the I-on-an Sea.
Corinth was situated on the Isthmus of Greece (called Achaia) between the Io-ni-an Sea and the Ae-ge-an Sea, above the Mediterranean Sea. About 50 miles to the east was the city of Athens.
The Corinth of Paul's day was relatively new. The remains of the ancient city lie about 50 miles (80 km) west of Athens, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth, on a terrace some 300 feet (90 metres) above sea level.
Corinth had great strategic and commercial importance in ancient times.
The old Corinth (which was famous and powerful in the days of the Pel-o-pon-ne-sian War) was burned in 146 B.C. by the Roman proconsul, L. Mum-mi-us. Because it was a city devoted to the gods, a hundred years were required to pass before the city could be rebuilt. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar rebuilt the city, populated it with a colony of veterans and freedmen, and named it Julia Corinthus. It soon became a very important commercial center.
With a population of 400,000 and being a prominent center of commerce in the Mediterranean world, it was a place for all sorts of vice. An example of its immorality was found in the temple of Venus (Aphrodite), which hosted 1000 priestesses dedicated to prostitution in the name of religion. The city's close proximity to the city of Athens probably added the problem of intellectualism. As noticed in the epistle, such an environment had its effect upon the church in Corinth. It is amazing that a church existed at all in such a city.
The site was occupied from before 3000 bc, but its history is obscure until the early 8th century bc, when the city-state of Corinth began to develop as a commercial centre. Corinth’s political influence was increased through territorial expansion in the vicinity, and by the late 8th century it had secured control of the isthmus. The Corinthians established colonies at Cor-cy-ra and Syracuse, which would later assure them a dominant position in trade with the western Mediterranean.
After the Greco-Persian Wars (c. 546–c. 448 bc), Corinth joined Sparta against Athens during the Pel-o-pon-nes-ian War (431–404 bc), but, though that conflict brought about the military defeat of Athens, it did little to revive the power of Corinth, which joined with some of its former allies to defeat Sparta in the Corinthian War (395–387 bc).
Corinth was subsequently involved in most of the political conflicts of Greece, but chiefly as a pawn in the struggles of more powerful city-states because of the strategic value of its citadel. Corinth’s independence finally ended in 338 bc when Philip of Macedon garrisoned the Acro-corinthus and made the city the centre of the League of Corinth. The city remained the puppet of Macedonia and subsequently of the A-cha-ean League until the latter involved it in a fatal conflict with Rome, and in 146 bc Corinth was destroyed by the Roman general Lucius Mum-mi-us.
In 44 bc Julius Caesar reestablished Corinth as a Roman colony. The new Corinth flourished and became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Achaea. The city is known to readers of the New Testament for the letters addressed to its Christian community by the apostle Paul. It enjoyed some prosperity under Byzantine rule but declined in the later European Middle Ages. After the Turkish conquest in 1458, it was reduced to a country town.
The remains of the ancient city of Corinth lie just north of the Acro-corin-th-us, with which it was joined by a circuit wall about 6 miles (10 km) in circumference.
Modern Corinth, three miles northeast of the site of ancient Corinth, was founded in 1858 after an earthquake leveled the latter. It is primarily a hub of communications between northern and southern Greece and is the primary point of export for local fruit, raisins, and tobacco.
SUMMARY OF 1 CORINTHIANS
Date and place: Written about 56 to 59 A.D. at the close of the apostle's three year residence at Ephesus (Acts 20:31; 1Cor. 16:5-8). Paul's relationship to the Corinthian Church is recorded in Acts 18:1-18.
Author: Written under the inspiration of God by Paul and Sosthenes (1Cor. 1:1).
Paul signed this letter in his own hand (16:21)
It is a common thing for some men to teach that Paul was inspired and as he spoke, certain men took down his words. This makes inspiration appear identical to the so called channeling of the occultic New Age Movement.
What the Bible actually says is that all of SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God (2Timothy 3:16). The writers were not inspired - the writings are.
Some of the epistles were possibly written by more than one writer but Paul introduced them and often signed them in order to place the seal of apostolic authority upon them. This does not make them the words of Paul.
One thing we need to be careful of is saying: In this verse Paul says - It is better to say "In this verse God says" or "Here the Bible says" or "the Word of God says"
By doing this we safeguard the doctrine of divine inspiration.
Theme: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (KJV) 6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: 8
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Christian life and conduct. Even all the doctrinal sections are built around this theme.
The occasion for writing this Epistle was a letter of inquiry from Corinth about certain doctrines, concerning marriage, and the use of meats offered to idols (1Cor. 7:1; 8:1-13), and the visit of some brethren from Corinth, reporting on the condition and different problems of the church (1Cor. 1:11; 5:1; 11:18; 15:12). but the apostle was concerned by reports of the deepening divisions and increasing contentions in the church, and of a case of incest which had not been judged (1:10-12;
5: 1). Paul had many matters to deal with.
The subjects treated are various, but may all be classified under the general theme. Christian conduct.
Even the tremendous revelation of the truth concerning resurrection is made to bear upon that theme (1 Cor. 15. 58).
The factions were not due to heresies, but to the carnality of the Corinthians, and to their Greek admiration of "wisdom" and eloquence.
The abomination of human leadership in the things of God is here rebuked. Minor disorders were due to vanity, yielding to a childish delight in tongue, and the sign gifts, rather than to sober instruction (1 Cor. 14. 1 28).
Paul defends his apostleship because it involved the authority of the doctrine revealed through him.
The Epistle is not a treatise, but came from the Spirit through the apostle's grief, solicitude, and holy indignation.
Statistics:
46th book of the Bible; This is the longest New Testament epistle containing -
16 chapters; 437 verses; 9,489 words; 113 questions; 5 Old Testament prophecies; 13 new prophecies; 377 verses of history; 55 verses of unfulfilled and 5 verses of fulfilled prophecy.
BACKGROUND OF THE CHURCH AT CORINTH:
The establishment of the church occurred during Paul's second missionary journey. It is recorded by Luke in Act 18:1-18, which can be divided into three sections:
1) Abiding with Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers; reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath (Act 18:1-6).
2) In the house of Justus, abiding there and teaching for a year and six months (Act 18:7-11)
3) An incident before Gallio, proconsul of Achaia (Act 18:12-18)
It appears from reading the epistle that the church was adversely affected by the immoral environment found in the city. Pride caused division in the church and disruption in the services (1Cr 1-4; 1Cr 11). Immorality and immodesty found its way into the church, which gave it a bad reputation (1Cr 5). The brethren were taking their personal problems with each other before the heathen courts instead of working them out among themselves (1Cr 6). Other issues affecting the church included questions about marriage (1Cr 7), meats sacrificed to idols (1Cr 8-10), women praying and prophesying with heads uncovered (1Cr 11), the use of spiritual gifts (1Cr 12-14), the resurrection from the dead (1Cr 15), and the collection for the saints in Jerusalem (1Cr 16). Thus the church was one beset with problems and questions that needed to be answered.
PURPOSE OF WRITING: The bad news concerning the problems at Corinth had reached Paul in Ephesus. It seems that this news came from at least two sources: 1) the household of Chloe (1Cr 1:11); and 2) a letter sent to him (1Cr 7:1), possibly by the hands of Step-ha-nas, For-tu-natus, and A-chaicus (1Cr 16:17).
Of the seven churches to which Paul wrote, this church was the most carnal.
The "love" chapter (13) doesn't occur until twelve chapters of blasting, rooting, and stumping.
Notice that the most carnal church in the New Testament was the one that bragged the most about the "gifts of the Holy Ghost" and speaking in tongues (chapters 12 & 14).
The negative material is obvious.
First of all, Paul attacks the humanists in the church who are operating by personalities instead of Scripture.
Then he attacks the philosophers and intellectuals in Corinth who don’t know what they're talking about half the time. He writes a whole chapter to correct their abusive misuse of tongues,
half a chapter correcting their abuse of the Lord's Supper, half a chapter about haircuts, and a whole chapter and a half about immorality in the church.
Chapter fifteen is the greatest discourse on the resurrection that you can find in the entire Bible.
In the Bible, the Holy Spirit revealed the resurrection "from the dead" not just "of the dead".
The resurrection "from the dead" takes place at two raptures (a pre - Tribulation Rapture of the church and a post - Tribulation Rapture of Tribulation saints) long before the White Throne Judgment
When we get to chapter 15 - we will cover the 7 resurrections that are found in the Bible.
Almost everyone addresses these problems, and yet the problem at Corinth is laid out in the first five chapters.
The problem is that the people in that church were not repentant about those things.
They were willing to defend themselves at the expense of righteousness, and the church at Corinth was being ruined and being destroyed.
Its testimony was a wreck, because the people were sitting there waiting for the other guy to straighten up and then they would. They were waiting for the other person to straighten up and then they would.
They were waiting for the other person to do right and then they would do right.
And nobody was willing to say to God ---- If there is any trouble in this church let me be the first one to correct it - and the only trouble I can correct is mine.
INTRODUCTION (1Cr 1:1-9)
I. Problems reported by the house of Chole (1Cr 1:10 to 6:20)
A. Factions in the church (1Cr 1:1 to 4:21)
B. Sexual Immorality (1Cr 5)
C. Lawsuits among the brethren (1Cr 6:1-11)
D. Moral Defilements (1Cr 6:12-20)
II. PROBLEMS MENTIONED IN THE LETTER FROM CORINTH (1Cr 7 to 16:9)
A. Marriage & Celibacy - Single men & women weren't behaving themselves properly toward one another (1Cr 7)
B. Diets & Idolatry - Eating meats sacrificed to idols (1Cr 8)
C. A problem with people holding out their money from God (chapter 9)
D. Problems with people in the church who had money not fellowshipping with people who didn't have money (chapter 10)
E. Women praying and prophesying with heads uncovered (1Cr 11:2-16)
F. The Lord's Supper (1Cr 11:17-34)
G. Spiritual Gifts (1Cr 12, 13, 14)
H. Resurrection from the dead (1Cr 15)
I. Collection for the saints (1Cr 16:1-4)
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