There are many interpretive problems and most of them come from 1 Corinthians...so I thought it would be good if we went over the background and historical aspects of the Church in Corinth.
Background and Setting
The city of Corinth was located in southern Greece, which was the Roman province of Achaia. Corinth was about 45 miles west from Athens. Corinth was situated on a high plateau. For many centuries, all north-south land traffic in that area had to pass through or near this ancient city. Since travel by sea around the Peloponnesus involved a 250-mile voyage that was dangerous and obviously time-consuming, most captains carried their ships on skids or rollers across the isthmus directly past Corinth. Understandably, Corinth prospered as a major trade city, not only for most of Greece but for much of the Mediterranean area, including North Africa, Italy, and Asia Minor. A canal across the isthmus was begun by the emperor Nero during the first century A.D., but was not completed until near the end of the nineteenth century.
The Ishmian games, one of the two most famous athletic events of that day, the other being the Olympic games, was hosted by Corinth, causing more people-traffic. Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity. To"corinthianize" came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, Paul lists some of the specific sins for which the city was noted and which formerly had characterized many believers in the church there. Tragically, some of the worst sins were still found among some church members. One of those sins, incest, was condemned even by most pagan Gentiles (5:1)
Like most ancient Greek cities, Corinth had an acropolis (lit. "a high city"), which rose 2,000 feet and was used both for defense and for worship. The most prominent edifice on the acropolis was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Some 1,000 priestesses, who were "religious" prostitutes, lived and worked there and came down into the city in the evening to offer their services to male citizens and foreign visitors.
The church in Corinth was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1). As usual, his ministry began in the synagogue, where he was assisted by two Jewish believers, Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he lived for a while and who were fellow tradesmen. Soon after, Silas and Timothy joined them and Paul began preaching even more intensely in the synagogue. When most of the Jews resisted the gospel, he left the synagogue, but not before Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, his family, and many other Corinthians were converted (Acts 18:5-8)
After ministering in Corinth for over a year and a half (Acts 8:11), Paul was brought before a Roman tribunal by some of the Jewish leaders. Because the charges were strictly religious and not civil, the proconsul, Gallio, dismissed the case. Shortly thereafter, Paul took Priscilla and Aquila with him to Ephesus. from there, he returned to Israel.
Unable to fully break with the culture from which it came, the church at Corinth was exceptionally factional, showing its carnality and immaturity. (I know I will be hated for saying this but it's true...this sounds a lot like CB) After the gifted Apollos had ministered in the church for some time, a group of his admirers established a clique and had little to do with the rest of the church. Another group developed that was loyal to Paul, another claimed special allegiance to Peter (Cephas), and still another to Christ alone ( see 1:10-13, 3:1-9).
The most serious problem of the Corinthian church was worldliness, an unwillingness to divorce the culture around them. Most of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways. It became necessary for Paul to write to correct this, as well as to command the faithful Christians not only to break fellowship with the disobedient and unrepentant members, but to put those members out of the church (5:9-13). (Now days, people say its unloving or judging when we rebuke those who sin without repenting) Before he wrote this inspired letter, Paul had written the church other correspondence (see 5:9), which was also corrective in nature. Because a copy of that letter has never been discovered, it has been referred to as "the lost epistle." There was another non-canonical letter after 1 Corinthians, usually called "the sever letter" (2 Cor. 2:4).
Historical and Theological Themes
Although the major thrust of this epistle is corrective of behavior rather than of doctrine, Paul gives seminal teaching on many doctrines that directly relate to the matters of sin and righteousness. In one way or another, wrong living always stems from wrong belief. Sexual sins, for example, including divorce, are inevitably related to disobeying God's plan for marriage and the family (7:1-40). Proper worship is determined by such things as recognition of God's holy character (3:17), the spiritual identity of the church (12:12-27), and pure partaking of the Lord's Supper (11:17-34). It is not possible for the church to be edified faithfully and effectively unless believer understand and exercise their spiritual gifts (12:1-14:40). The importance or the doctrine of the resurrection, of course, cannot be overestimated because if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then preaching is empty and so is faith (15:13,14).
In addition to those themes, Paul deals briefly with God's judgment of believer, the right understanding of which will produce right motives for godly living (see 3:13-15). the right understanding of idols and of false gods, in general was to help the immature Corinthians think maturely about such things as eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols (8:1-11:1). the right understanding and expression of genuine, godly love was mandatory to right use of the gits and even to right knowledge about all the thing of God (13:1-13).
So Paul deals with the Cross, divine wisdom and human wisdom, the work of the Spirit in illumination, carnality, eternal rewards, the transformation of salvation, sanctification, the nature of Christ, union with Him, the divine role for women, marriage and divorce, Spirit baptism, indwelling and gifting, the unity of the church in one body, the theology of love, and the doctrine of resurrection. all these establish foundational truth for godly behavior.
Background and Setting
The city of Corinth was located in southern Greece, which was the Roman province of Achaia. Corinth was about 45 miles west from Athens. Corinth was situated on a high plateau. For many centuries, all north-south land traffic in that area had to pass through or near this ancient city. Since travel by sea around the Peloponnesus involved a 250-mile voyage that was dangerous and obviously time-consuming, most captains carried their ships on skids or rollers across the isthmus directly past Corinth. Understandably, Corinth prospered as a major trade city, not only for most of Greece but for much of the Mediterranean area, including North Africa, Italy, and Asia Minor. A canal across the isthmus was begun by the emperor Nero during the first century A.D., but was not completed until near the end of the nineteenth century.
The Ishmian games, one of the two most famous athletic events of that day, the other being the Olympic games, was hosted by Corinth, causing more people-traffic. Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity. To"corinthianize" came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, Paul lists some of the specific sins for which the city was noted and which formerly had characterized many believers in the church there. Tragically, some of the worst sins were still found among some church members. One of those sins, incest, was condemned even by most pagan Gentiles (5:1)
Like most ancient Greek cities, Corinth had an acropolis (lit. "a high city"), which rose 2,000 feet and was used both for defense and for worship. The most prominent edifice on the acropolis was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Some 1,000 priestesses, who were "religious" prostitutes, lived and worked there and came down into the city in the evening to offer their services to male citizens and foreign visitors.
The church in Corinth was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1). As usual, his ministry began in the synagogue, where he was assisted by two Jewish believers, Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he lived for a while and who were fellow tradesmen. Soon after, Silas and Timothy joined them and Paul began preaching even more intensely in the synagogue. When most of the Jews resisted the gospel, he left the synagogue, but not before Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, his family, and many other Corinthians were converted (Acts 18:5-8)
After ministering in Corinth for over a year and a half (Acts 8:11), Paul was brought before a Roman tribunal by some of the Jewish leaders. Because the charges were strictly religious and not civil, the proconsul, Gallio, dismissed the case. Shortly thereafter, Paul took Priscilla and Aquila with him to Ephesus. from there, he returned to Israel.
Unable to fully break with the culture from which it came, the church at Corinth was exceptionally factional, showing its carnality and immaturity. (I know I will be hated for saying this but it's true...this sounds a lot like CB) After the gifted Apollos had ministered in the church for some time, a group of his admirers established a clique and had little to do with the rest of the church. Another group developed that was loyal to Paul, another claimed special allegiance to Peter (Cephas), and still another to Christ alone ( see 1:10-13, 3:1-9).
The most serious problem of the Corinthian church was worldliness, an unwillingness to divorce the culture around them. Most of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways. It became necessary for Paul to write to correct this, as well as to command the faithful Christians not only to break fellowship with the disobedient and unrepentant members, but to put those members out of the church (5:9-13). (Now days, people say its unloving or judging when we rebuke those who sin without repenting) Before he wrote this inspired letter, Paul had written the church other correspondence (see 5:9), which was also corrective in nature. Because a copy of that letter has never been discovered, it has been referred to as "the lost epistle." There was another non-canonical letter after 1 Corinthians, usually called "the sever letter" (2 Cor. 2:4).
Historical and Theological Themes
Although the major thrust of this epistle is corrective of behavior rather than of doctrine, Paul gives seminal teaching on many doctrines that directly relate to the matters of sin and righteousness. In one way or another, wrong living always stems from wrong belief. Sexual sins, for example, including divorce, are inevitably related to disobeying God's plan for marriage and the family (7:1-40). Proper worship is determined by such things as recognition of God's holy character (3:17), the spiritual identity of the church (12:12-27), and pure partaking of the Lord's Supper (11:17-34). It is not possible for the church to be edified faithfully and effectively unless believer understand and exercise their spiritual gifts (12:1-14:40). The importance or the doctrine of the resurrection, of course, cannot be overestimated because if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then preaching is empty and so is faith (15:13,14).
In addition to those themes, Paul deals briefly with God's judgment of believer, the right understanding of which will produce right motives for godly living (see 3:13-15). the right understanding of idols and of false gods, in general was to help the immature Corinthians think maturely about such things as eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols (8:1-11:1). the right understanding and expression of genuine, godly love was mandatory to right use of the gits and even to right knowledge about all the thing of God (13:1-13).
So Paul deals with the Cross, divine wisdom and human wisdom, the work of the Spirit in illumination, carnality, eternal rewards, the transformation of salvation, sanctification, the nature of Christ, union with Him, the divine role for women, marriage and divorce, Spirit baptism, indwelling and gifting, the unity of the church in one body, the theology of love, and the doctrine of resurrection. all these establish foundational truth for godly behavior.
