Although the title of this letter is 1 Corinthians, many scholars believe that Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians prior to this letter since 1 Corinthians 5:9 references a previous letter. Unfortunately, that previous letter has never been found. Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians while in Ephesus (see 16:8) in 53-55 CE as a response to a letter that had been written to him (see 7:1) and as a response to an oral report that had been received from “Chloe’s people” (see 1:11 & 5:1).
The reason Paul is so interested in this faith community is that he is the one who “planted” it (3:6) and lived in it as its leader for about one-and-a-half years (Acts 18:1-11). He eventually left to continue his ministry (planting new churches). After Paul left, one of the leaders that emerged was Apollos (3:6), and after a while the Corinthians began to claim one apostle was better than another. Paul proclaimed in his letter that he and Apollos were working together (3:9), and he scolded the congregation for being divided (1:10-17).
The purpose of the letter was to help the Corinthians better understand how they should live in the very Hellenistic society in a way that was faithful to the Gospel. Paul finds it necessary to write this because he has received reports that the faith community in Corinth is quarreling amongst itself as to what is the proper way to live as a faithful follower of Christ in Corinth. Corinth was a large, ancient city in southern Greece, south of Athens, and living there meant that one lived in the shadow of Apollo’s temple. The market places where people worked and shopped were all around Apollo’s temple. The meat and the wine that were sold in the market most likely had been sacrificed in the temple before being sold, and this created a real issue for Corinthian Christians. Could they buy and eat these items or would it be blasphemous?
When Paul reads about what is happening and he hears the stories, he gets upset and writes this letter. For Paul, it seems like the faith community has allowed their daily lives to be shaped by cultural values. The Corinthians have gotten to the point that they believe it is okay to separate their spiritual life from their physical life. The key issue is that the faith community is divided on how they are to live their faith. Some in the faith community are teaching that what they do in this life is unimportant, as their future is promised in Christ.
One of the great things about 1 Corinthians is that it gives us a first-hand look at the day-to-day realities of the early church. As you read this letter, you will learn that in the 1st Century there was a huge mix of competing claims about wisdom, wealth, power, spiritual gifts, and much more. Actually, it was not so different from our world today. With all these competing claims came differences in practices within the community. There were concerns over when it was appropriate to break off a relationship (even marriage), or, as previously mentioned, eating meat that had been sacrificed to other gods (Chapter 8). In addition, other issues, such as sexual immorality, Christians taking each other to court (Chapter 6), abuses of the Lord’s Supper (Chapter 11), and speaking in tongues (Chapter 14), are all addressed by here by Paul.
Paul ends this letter by focusing on love. For Paul, Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us is critical for all Christian faith communities. If we are going to profess Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we must live in communities filled with love for each other. The love Paul talks about is not about a feeling one has for another; for Paul, love is about intentionally deciding to care for one another and respecting each other (see Chapter 13).
To emphasize their love in action, Paul ends his letter by telling the Corinthians that they should show their love for their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem by setting money aside each week until he comes, which he will then collect and take to Jerusalem when he goes to support the Christian faith community in Jerusalem (16:1-4).
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