First Corinthians
Introduction
Wommack:
This first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians is actually not the first letter that Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul said that he had written a previous letter. That letter has been lost. This is the first of two letters that have been preserved. It is interesting that the book of Romans is the only letter larger than First Corinthians.
Paul made it clear at the beginning of this letter that his reason for writing this epistle was because members of Chloe's household had informed him of divisions in the church (1 Corinthians 1:11). Paul mentioned three men by name who had come to him from Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:17), but it is not certain if these were the members of Chloe's household to whom Paul referred.
Paul's main purpose in this book was to correct the carnality that had damaged the unity of the believers and to answer specific questions. 1 Corinthians 1:10 sums up his intent: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
Paul dealt with this disunity in three main areas. First, he countered the division caused over a difference of opinion as to whom the people should be following (1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21). Some of the church claimed Paul as their spiritual leader, some Apollos, and some Peter (1 Corinthians 1:12).
Second, Paul reprimanded the believers for the immoral conduct of certain individuals (incest, 1 Corinthians 5; lawsuits, 1 Corinthians 6; marriage relationships, 1 Corinthians 7; eating things sacrificed to idols, 1 Corinthians 8) and the passivity of the others in not dealing with these problems (1 Corinthians 5:1-11:16).
Third, Paul dealt with the conduct of the Corinthians in their church services (1 Corinthians 11:17-14:40). This section includes instructions for the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11) and the operation of the gifts in the church (1 Corinthians 12-14).
Paul concluded this letter with the most complete arguments found in the New Testament on the resurrection of our bodies (1 Corinthians 15). 1 Corinthians 16 gives instructions for the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem as well as miscellaneous instructions and salutations.
Background
The Corinthian church was the most carnal church that we have record of Paul dealing with. Paul had established this church during his second missionary journey (see note 1 at Acts 18:22) when he spent eighteen months ministering in Corinth. He had already written them once before to instruct them on church discipline toward an individual who had committed fornication (1 Corinthians 5:9-10).
Corinth was a Greek city that was unsurpassed in its moral wickedness (see note 1 at Acts 18:1), and this background had dulled the perception of the new believers as to what was proper conduct. Paul dealt with a number of moral and ethical issues to provide these believers with God's perspective of right and wrong.
These people's pagan background was also evident in the way they turned the Lord's Supper into a drunken feast and the way they administered the spiritual gifts in their services.
Spiritual Gifts
Three chapters of 1 Corinthians are devoted to the subject of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14). This is the most information on spiritual gifts in one place in the entire Bible. This is the only place in the Bible that guidelines are set forth for the operation of the gifts in an assembly of believers.
Some people have tried to capitalize on the fact that these believers had all the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7) and yet were carnal (1 Corinthians 3:3), to argue that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not necessary or that they are even of the devil. However, Paul never told these believers that their gifts were of the devil. Despite these flagrant abuses, Paul told them, "Covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues" (1 Corinthians 14:39). He taught them how to properly use the gifts, not to dispose of the gifts.
Authorship
Paul has never seriously been challenged as the author of this letter. The letter begins with a salutation that proclaims Paul as the author. There are numerous statements throughout the book that link the writing to the Apostle Paul, and the style and doctrinal beliefs are nearly universally thought to be those of Paul's. Clement of Rome spoke of Paul as being the author of this work as early as A.D. 96.
Date and Place of Writing
This letter to the Corinthians was written after Paul's second missionary trip (circa A.D. 51-53 - see note 1 at Acts 18:22), where he established the church in Corinth (Acts 18:1-17), and before the end of his third missionary trip (circa A.D. 54-58 - see note 2 at Acts 18:23). This can be seen by looking at Paul's statements in 1 Corinthians 16:1-9.
Paul had not yet gone to Corinth the second time (1 Corinthians 16:5), which Acts records as happening toward the end of his third missionary trip (Acts 20:1-3). Therefore, the date of writing can be placed around A.D. 57. Paul clearly stated that he was writing from the city of Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8, see note 3 at Acts 18:19) and would remain there until Pentecost. This narrows the time that this book was written even further to be around the end of A.D. 56.
About the Author
Numerous notes about the Apostle Paul are scattered throughout the book of Acts. A brief history of Paul's life can be found in note 1 at Acts 9:1.
Stedman:
The first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians is a very, very important letter for us because it so thoroughly captures the problems that we face as moderns living in this modern age. The reason is, of course, that Corinth was the most American city in the New Testament -- it was a resort city, the capital of pleasure in the Roman Empire.
If you remember your geography you know it was located on the Peloponnesian peninsula, and the conditions under which the Corinthians lived were very much like the conditions under which we live, or to put that the other way, the conditions under which we live today are Corinthian conditions. Corinth was a beautiful city, a lovely city of palms and beautiful buildings, the center of pleasure for the whole empire, and it was devoted to two things -- the pursuit of pleasure (largely passion), and of wisdom. It was a Greek city, and its inhabitants loved to philosophize, and they were given to what Paul calls, "the wisdom of words."
So the two major forces that were active in this city, creating the atmosphere in which the Corinthian church had to live, were these: intellectualism and sensualism. This was a city devoted to the worship of the goddess sex. That is why I speak of it as so like modern conditions today. In the city of Corinth there was a temple that was dedicated to the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and part of the worship of the Greek goddess was the performance of certain religious ceremonies that involved sexual relationships; therefore, the priestesses of this temple were really prostitutes, and there were some 10,000 of them attached to the temple. The city was openly given over to the practices of licentiousness; it was regarded as a normal, proper part of life and no one ever thought twice about it. If we think we are living under conditions where sensualism is rampant and worship of sex is widespread, these conditions do not yet approach those of the Christians who had to live in Corinth.
Furthermore, they were continually assaulted by the doctrines, dogmas and ideas of men following the great philosophers. This city was the heir of the great thinkers of the Golden Age of Greece -- Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all had their followers within the city of Corinth. And as in every Greek city, they loved to gather in the public plazas and debate these issues endlessly. They were people given over to the love of wisdom.
Now into this city comes the Apostle Paul. You remember the story from the book of Acts; he had come down through Thessalonica and had been driven out of that city by an uprising of the Jews against him, had gone for a brief time to the little city of Berea and then had come down into Athens. There in Athens, as he walked about the city alone, he noted the many temples and was finally taken up to preach to the Athenians on Mars Hill. When he left Athens at last, he came down across the little isthmus into Corinth. There he stayed for a period of about a year and a half to two years, preaching the gospel and making tents for a living.
He had found a couple who had come from Rome, named Aquila and Priscilla, who were also tent makers, and he stayed with them and led them to Christ. He formed a church in their home and gradually the gospel spread throughout the city and many of the Corinthians on hearing it, we are told, believed, and were baptized and became members of this church.
