Historical background: Letter to Corinthians (1) World Christian Fellowship 60, High Worple, Rayners Lane, Harrow Middlesex, HA2 9SZ, United Kingdom Tel: +44 208 429 9292 www.wcflondon.com wcflondon@gmail.com Port city Commercial city Known for pleasure and sex, if someone says why you have become like Corinthians that means you are a low immoral person. Whereas about 40 miles across Athens is known for Intellect or Philosophical mind. Two contrasting cities were Athens and Corinth. Acts 17 talks about Mars Hill. 1
Morally bankrupt but very wealthy people in the city. Canal for the land, big ships were off loaded and then the cargo taken through the road to put into another ship. Canal was completed by 18 th Century which was started in during Roman Empire. 2
Temple and its prostitutes Marvellous temple of Aphrodite s filled with nearly 2000 prostitutes, who were thinking that they were doing great service to god by giving their bodies to worshippers. Author: Apostle Paul Year Written: 57 AD, written from City of Ephesus Church History: Acts 18: 1-3, After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. 3 So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. 3
Every Sabbath, Paul went to the synagogue, where he sought to evangelize Jews and Greeks (18:4). Eventually he was joined by Silas and Timothy, who had just arrived from Macedonia. They brought a gift from the Macedonians which enabled Paul to fully devote himself to the Word, so that he gave all of his efforts to preaching Christ. Acts 18: 11, And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. After this Paul sails to Ephesus and stays there for over three years during this time he writes this letter. Reason for this Letter: After Apostle Paul went to Ephesus he hears about the status of the church he had found and he immediately sends one letter which is been lost. But the response to his letter was very bad. This message was carried by Chloe household and also from Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:15-18) with set of questions to be answered by Apostle Paul. The church has lot of divisions. Morally corrupt. So many issues inside the church regarding marriage, women and ministry, sex, food, drunkenness and spiritual gifts. Some places Paul writes the question they had asked and then reply but in someplace he assumes that the readers understand the question so he directly answers the questions. 4
Brief outline of this letter: This letter has been divided into 16 chapters has containing 437 verses and 6803 words. 1. Chapter 1-4 Deals with the problems of the division in the church. Some claim I follow Paul ; others, I follow Apollos ; and others, I follow Peter. Paul had to remind them that Christ alone is the Lord of the church. The Christian leaders and teachers are only his tools and servants to bring them to the Lord. The church is united under Christ and must not divide itself over Christ s leaders. 2. Chapter 5 deals with the problem of an immoral brother living in incest. A church member was living in sin with his stepmother. Paul commands that the man should be excommunicated from the church in order to get him back into real living according to the word of God. So that he may see his sin and repent and reconcile with God and fellow believers. 3. Chapter 6 deals with the problem of Christians taking one another to court for dispute. Paul says that the dispute between believers should be sorted out by us not by the heathen judge. He even goes to the extent of saying that you better get cheated by your own brother rather than going and standing before heathen judge to 5
be judged. We have been called to judge the angels and the world. 4. Chapter 7 deals with Marriage, very important subject of handling singleness, marriage, Divorce, remarriage etc, all these have been answered by Apostle Paul. In fact if you read verse 1, Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: this is how he starts this chapter. 5. Chapter 8-10, is about the believer s freedom Paul writes that there are many things which a believer has the freedom to do. But love for a weak brother will sometimes keep him from using his Christian freedom. Everything is permissible, Paul says; but not everything is beneficial for others. The question of whether a Christian should eat meat sacrificed to idols will have to be answered through love and consideration for weak Christians. 6. Chapter 11, Problems in the church worship; this chapter has caused many difficulties to women in the Kingdom of God. The dress code what he mentioned to the women is very much debated. One important thing Paul asks the men to uncover and women to cover. God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of Men and Man is the head of Women, 6
If any time we violate then we are against God s order. Also this chapter gives us the details of the proper celebration of the Lord s Supper. 7. Chapter 12 The use of spiritual gifts. Paul discusses in details the Gifts of the Spirit and these gifts from on Spirit and it ought to bring unity as one. Though there are many gifts but everything is from one Spirit so we ought to have unity as one. He says that Christian love is the gift that should especially be cultivated. 8. Chapter 13, The great chapter on Love. As we all know in the Greek language there are six words for love here Paul choose to use the word agape Eros: sexual passion. The first kind of love was eros, named after the Greek god of fertility, and it represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. Philia: deep friendship Ludus: playful love Agape: selfless, love for everyone Pragma: longstanding love Philautia: love of the self 9. Chapter 14, Details about how to use the gifts in love, chapter 12 details about spiritual gifts and how to operate on them in chapter 14 but in between its how to use them in love. Mainly this chapter deals with 7
speaking in tongues. I personally would like to remind those who are eager to speak in tongues firstly speak in your mother tongue well. As Apostle pau says I want every one of you speak in tongues too. 10. Chapter 15 The Doctrine of the resurrection. There are some in the Corinthian church who had said that there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul writes clearly that just as Christ rose, so Christians will rise with glorified bodies. 11. Chapter 16 Paul writes instructions about gathering the special offering for Christians in Jerusalem. Paul's closing remarks in his letters usually contain his intentions and efforts to improve the community. He would first conclude with his parenthesis and wish them peace by including a prayer request, greet them with his name and his friends with a holy kiss, and offer final grace and benediction. Finally, we can see the heart of the apostle to the Corinthians that they are the temple of the living God. 3:16, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 8