The Bible Plan
You’ve heard the jokes, no doubt, with the “good news/bad news” introduction. Typically they begin, “I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is . . .” and so on. Usually the punch line appears in the “bad news” section.
Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth follows the good news/bad news format, but it is no joke. The punch lines hit hard, with sharp commands and tough consequences.
After his customary greeting (1:1-3), Paul begins by affirming the great truths of the gospel: God had given the Corinthian believers grace through Christ Jesus (1:4); God had enriched them greatly (1:5); God had given them every spiritual gift (1:7); the Lord Jesus Christ would soon return (1:7); God would give them the power to be strong and blameless (1:8); God is faithful (1:9).
That’s the good news.
But then Paul punches out the rest of the story, beginning with a discussion of the divisions among believers and a strong appeal for unity (1:10–4:21). Next he moves swiftly to condemn a specific illicit relationship in the church (5:1-2), lawsuits between Christians (6:1-8), and sexual immorality (6:9-20). Then, Paul softens a bit as he teaches about marriage and the single life (7:1-40), the relationship between conscience and freedom in Christ (8:1–10:33), order in worship services (11:1-34), spiritual gifts (12:1–14:40), and the reality and power of the Resurrection (15:1-58). Each of these teachings, however, brings the implication of a problem. Evidently marriages were in trouble; strong and weak Christians were in conflict; worship, Communion, and spiritual gifts were being abused; and wrong doctrine was being introduced. So Paul says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame” (15:33-34 NIV).
Paul closes with a reminder of the collection for the church in Jerusalem (16:1-4), his plans to visit the Corinthians (16:5-9), and miscellaneous comments and encouragements (16:10-24).
As you read this first letter from Paul to the church at Corinth, look for yourself and your church in the text, and between the lines. If God were writing a letter specifically to you, what would be your “good news” and “bad news”? Then look again; he has something poignant to say to each one of us.
Introduction
Today Corinth is a small town with little significance other than historical. But in New Testament times it was a thriving, prosperous, and strategically located city.
Greece is divided geographically into two parts. The southern part, the Peloponnesus, is attached to the northern by a very narrow four-mile-wide isthmus. On the western side was the Gulf of Corinth and the port city of Lechaeum. On the eastern side was the Saronic Gulf and the port city of Cenchreae. In the middle of the isthmus, to the south, is Corinth, situated on a commanding plateau. In ancient times all north and south overland traffic, including that to and from Athens, had to pass through Corinth.
Sea travel around the Peloponnesus was both time-consuming and dangerous. It was so treacherous that mariners had the saying “A sailor never takes a journey around Malea [the cape at the south end of the peninsula] until he first writes his will.” Most captains, therefore, chose to carry their ships overland on skids or rollers across the narrow isthmus, directly past Corinth. This procedure was quicker, more economical, and much safer than sailing 250 miles around the peninsula. In fact, the isthmus came to be known as dialcos, which means “the place of dragging across.” Corinth benefited from traffic in all directions and consequently became a major trade center.
Today a canal—envisioned by Perisander in the sixth century b.c., begun by the Roman emperor Nero in the first century a.d., but not completed until the end of the nineteenth century—connects the two gulfs across the isthmus, greatly facilitating maritime travel.
Corinth was also successful as an entertainment center. The two great athletic festivals of that day were the Olympian and the Isthmian games, and Corinth was host city for the latter—named after and played on the Isthmus of Corinth.
Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 b.c. and then rebuilt by Julius Caesar a hundred years later. At first it was a Roman colony, largely populated by Romans, and eventually became the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. Because of its location it soon became again a major trade center, with the resulting cosmopolitan population. It was made up of Greeks, Roman officials and businessmen, and Near Eastern peoples, including many Jews.
Like most Greek cities, Corinth had an acropolis (literally, “high city”), called Acrocorinth, which was used as a place of defense and for pagan worship. From its top on a clear day Athens can be seen, some forty-five miles away. Situated on a 2,000-foot high granite mound, Acrocorinth was large enough to hold all the population of Corinth and of its surrounding farmlands in time of siege. It also held a famous temple to Aphrodite, goddess of love. The temple normally housed some one thousand priestesses, ritual prostitutes, who each night would come down into Corinth and ply their trade among the many foreign travelers and the local men.
Even to the pagan world the city was known for its moral corruption, so much so that in classical Greek corinthiazesthai (“to behave like a Corinthian”) came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery. The name of the city became synonymous with moral depravity. In this letter to the church there, Paul lists some of the city’s characteristic sins—fornication (porneia, from which comes our term pornography), idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, stealing, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling (abusive speech), and swindling (6:9-10).
Some of the Corinthian believers had been guilty of practicing those sins before their conversion and had been cleansed (6:11). Others in the church, however, were still living immorally, some involved in sins worse than those—sins that Paul reminds them even pagan Gentiles did not commit, such as incest (5:1).
Founding of the Church at Corinth
Paul first came to Corinth on his second missionary journey. He had been preaching and working in Macedonian/Greek cities for some time. From Philippi (where he first ministered in Europe), he had gone to Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and then Corinth (Acts 16:11–18:1).
Upon arriving in Corinth he met Aquila and Priscilla, Jews who had been driven out of Rome, and who were, like himself, tentmakers. He stayed with them for a while and began to preach regularly in the synagogue every Sabbath. Silas and Timothy joined him from Macedonia, and, as Paul’s preaching intensified, so did resistance to his message. Soon, however, many Corinthians, including Jews, began to believe in Christ. Even Crispus, leader of the synagogue, along with his household, trusted in the Lord (Acts 18:8).
Paul continued to minister in Corinth for one and a half years (Acts 18:11). Jewish opposition became so strong that he was brought before a Roman tribunal. Since the charges were purely religious, however, the proconsul, Gallio, refused to hear the case. After staying a while longer, Paul left Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila and went to Ephesus. Leaving his friends there, he returned to Palestine (Acts 18:12-22).
The second leader of the Corinthian church was Apollos. An eloquent Jewish convert from Alexandria, Apollos had come to Ephesus and begun preaching while Aquila and Priscilla were there. Although “he was mighty in the Scriptures,” he had some doctrinal deficiencies, which Aquila and Priscilla were instrumental in correcting. When he wanted to preach in Achaia, the Ephesian church not only encouraged him but gave him a letter of commendation, and he began ministering in Corinth as its next pastor (Acts 18:24–19:1).
Some time between Paul’s leaving Corinth and his writing what we call First Corinthians, Paul had written the church another letter (1 Cor. 5:9), commonly referred to as the lost epistle. It too was corrective in nature.