The letter was written in AD 54 or 55 from Ephesus. It is believed that there were four Corinthian letters in all, though, of course, we only have two of them. There was a letter written previous to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians itself, a “severe letter” written after 1 Corinthians, and then 2 Corinthian. It is also believed that Paul made three visits there. There is the initial visit when the church was founded and reported in Acts 18, a painful visit, and a visit sometime after 2 Corinthians.
There are a number of sections which are introduced by “Now about ....”, so it seems that the church had asked Paul about various matters. Paul also received visits from people from Corinth who reported to him various concerns about life in the church. The fundamental problem in the church was worldliness, a habit of going along with the world, or at least significant compromise. When this happens the church loses its sharpness, but worse than that it ends up being even worse than the world! The most blatant example of this in the church was the overlooking of incest. In today’s church compromise is a serious issue, and the church has become ineffective. Moreover, the church that compromises ends up just looking stupid.
The letter is one of the longer epistles and covers many subjects. Underlying it all is, of course, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour. The doctrine of the Trinity is pervasive throughout. The other doctrinal feature that receives more detailed attention than elsewhere is the resurrection. Obviously, the resurrection is pervasive to all the New Testament preaching and teaching, but in 1 Corinthians 15 it receives focused attention and explanation. The letter is well known for chapters 12 and 14 dealing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but that is far from being the only mention of the Holy Spirit. In addition, the letter deals with a number of specific questions, including marriage, sexual immorality, the Lord’s Supper, divisions, and proprietary in worship.
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