1 Corinthians - Introduction (Part 1)

Introduction

While writing these notes I am working through the following commentary:

1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary (TNTC), 2015, Thomas R Schreiner

And a lot of the introductory information, in particular, comes from there.

The city of Corinth was near two important ports, Cenchreae and Lechaeum. It was a wealthy city because of its commerce. These two harbours provided access to Italy and to Asia, making it an important trading centre. The city was Roman in nature at the time of Paul, and this is significant in understanding the passages on head coverings and the Lord’s supper. The city had been destroyed in 146 BC because of its rebelliousness. Julius Caesar reestablished the city in 44 BC, but now with a distinctively Roman flavour.

It had a diverse population, including Jews. Acts 18:1-11 tells us that it had at least one synagogue. The population was somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000. They worshipped many gods, athletics played a significant role in city life. There were temples to Apollo, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Asclepius, Demeter and Kore, and a host of other gods played a role in city life. It was normal to worship several gods. So Judaism and Christianity were unusual in their devotion to the one God. Christianity stood out from Judaism in its lack of cultural practices such as circumcision, Sabbaths etc. Later on the Christians would be branded as atheists because of their refusal to worship a whole panoply of gods. Because of the nature of the city the temptation to compromise was significant. Corinth was also known for its sexual immorality.

We  read about Paul’s initial visit to Corinth in Acts 18:1-8, when Paul founded the church there. This probably happened in about AD 50. Priscilla and Aquila worked with Paul in setting up the church (Acts 18:1-3). In fact, these two make a number of appearances in the New Testament. Initially, as was his practice, Paul went to the synagogue, but after being thrown out, he went next door! It is likely that the church was predominantly Gentile, though there would undoubtedly be a number of Jews. With that came a significant amount of sexual immorality, much of which is addressed in the letter. There were a large number of slaves in Corinth, with slavery being an integral part of the economy in most nations. And it seems that a number of these were in the church. While a large part of the church came from the lower classes, there were some rich and higher class people, and issues related to this are also addressed.