Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians

1 CORINTHIANS

XIII

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS

The first group of Paul’s letters is 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and the great theme of those letters is eschatology, or the doctrine of the last things, particularly the second coming of Christ. The next group is 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans – these great letters that brought immortality for their author from any standpoint, whether in literature, logic, or pathos. In argument and in power of persuasion they have no equal ’in the world’s literature. This discussion will be a general introduction to the Corinthian literature.

Let us locate Corinth on the map of the Roman Empire, and state the advantages of its position. The reader will notice the little neck of land connecting the Peloponnesus, or lower Greece, with Macedonia and Thrace, or upper Greece, an isthmus between the two seas. The port on the east side was Cenchrea, where Phoebe was converted, and where a church was established. The city is on a rock over 200 feet above the sea level, and on a hill over 1,600 feet higher is the citadel, or Akro-Korinthos. In the study of history we find that straits and isthmuses are the world’s strategic points. More exploring of them is done, more fighting for them, and attempts to hold mastery of them than for any other parts of the world. As the Isthmus of Suez, or Panama in modern times, so in the ancient world was the famous isthmus commanded by the city of Corinth.

The advantages of the position are evident. First, it commands the passage-way from Macedonia, Achaia, and Thrace into the Peloponneus, or lower Greece. It was dangerous navigation around the lower points of the Peloponnesus, hence, merchants would take their shins to this isthmus, where there was a way to drag the ships across to the other sea – a crude ship railroad. On a very crude scale great conquerors have imitated this transportation of ships by land. Cortes, when he conquered the City of Mexico, had his ships taken to pieces and transported over the high mountain ranges and launched in Lake Tezcuco, which was on the east side of the city. So, the position of Corinth made it a place of international importance.

Old classic Greek tells about Sparta and Athens – Athens the intellectual and political head, and Sparta the military head of the Greek world. Corinth contended neither in intellect with Athens nor in martial spirit with Sparta. It devoted ’itself to commerce, so that the Lacedaemonians rebuked them for worshiping the almighty dollar. When the Spartan power fell before Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, these great cities – Athens and Sparta – decayed. Corinth came to the front, and was the chief city of Greece under Philip and Alexander, his son. It was a city of great importance until the Roman general captured and destroyed it. It lay desolate for over a hundred years. Julius Caesar, the first Roman emperor, then rebuilt it.

Rome conferred great privileges on it, by making it a free city. At the time of Christ it was one of the most important cities in the world. Here the Isthmian games constituted the glory of all the world, so that Corinth was "Vanity Fair." Corinth was Paris; Corinth was London. There was the temple of Aphrodite, or Venus, who was the chief goddess worshiped, and one thousand maidens were selected to be the debauched servants of that infamous temple. As a great writer has said, "With all of its intellectual culture, wealth, and luxury, Corinth rotted morally." No place on earth was more debauched. They worshiped their gods with the most shameful orgies of obscenity and vice. It was while Paul was there, knowing the degradation of the heathen countries, and particularly of their worship, that he wrote that terrible indictment contained in Romans I, where he describes the corruption of the heathen nations who had no knowledge of God.

The Jews, of course, came on account of its commercial advantages. About the time that Paul got there, there was an unusual number of Jews in Corinth, because the Roman emperor had just banished them from Rome. Aquila and Priscilla, that noted Christian man and wife, had just come from Rome under that decree, and were living in Corinth. The Greeks, of course, were there, and there were vast multitudes of Romans. There were more slaves than in any other place in proportion to the population. Many slaves were among Paul’s converts.

The city was seemingly covered with gold. They had an artificial finish that they gave their buildings which in the light of the sun would make the whole building seem to be of gold. The Corinthian brass was of great commercial value. The style of architecture, called the Corinthian, is the most ornate of all the styles of architecture now in the world. So, for intellectual development, architectural skill, athletic skill, athletic culture, skill of navigation, great wealth and great luxury, this city was renowned. It is not very much of a place now.

The greatest celebrity of this city was the Akro-Korinthos – the citadel. One could stand on that citadel and see Athens across the sea. Another was the Isthmian games, then the worship of Aphrodite and her temple. Cicero called Corinth "the eye of Greece." Another Roman author called it the capital and the grace of Greece. A Roman proverb was, "It becomes every man to go to Corinth," just aa we say in modern times, "See Naples and die."

We gather the history of the establishment of the church in this city from Acts 18:1-18, the letters to the Corinthians, and then the letter to the Philippians. There are some expressions of value also in the letter to the Romans.

Let us now give a summary of the history of the establishment of that church. With the Acts before us, and Goodwin’s Harmony of the Life of Paul, we will have no trouble. Briefly, Paul had visited Athens after he left Berea. That is the only time he tried to preach an eloquent sermon, and quote from heathen poets, and scatter a little star-dust over the crowd. It is the only place where he ever failed, and he never tried that any more. He was very sore over the result of his work in Athens, and so in about six hours’ sail he passed from Athens to Corinth. He took a boat to Cenchrea, and walked the other ten miles. When he got there he moved among the Jews until he found Aquila and Priscilla, that remarkable Christian family that had a great deal to do with his subsequent history. He had no money. He was by himself, sick all the time, nearly blind, and worked day and night with them to make a living while he did his preaching.

He preached first in the synagogue there. His object, as in all other synagogues, was to show that the Jewish Messiah was to be a suffering Messiah, and that Jesus of Nazareth was that Messiah. As usual there were some converts among them, and particularly among the Jewish proselytes. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, with all his house, was converted. The rest of the Jews blasphemed horribly, and opposed him, so that he drew a line of demarcation, as he did at Ephesus a little later. Hard by the synagogue was a man named Justus, a proselyte, who had been converted. Paul held his meetings at his house. Then he began to preach to the Gentiles. On every side of him were slaves with human masters and slaves of long-continued drunkenness. A vast number of Paul’s converts were drunkards) thieves, liars, and murderers. He tells them that when he writes to them. He determines not to try the Athenian method of preaching. He determined to go before them in fear and trembling, to rely only on and to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ, and to pray as he preached that their faith should stand in the power of God, and God most wonderfully accompanied with power the preaching of this man.

There were not only vast numbers converted, but great multitudes were baptized in the Spirit, receiving that Pentecostal baptism, the power to speak with tongues, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to discern spirits. That house of Justus became very famous. There were marvelous displays of divine power there. Here was a man who had been an abject slave, speaking in unknown tongues. Here a cripple made whole in a moment, and himself having the power to heal others. Here was every display of spiritual Charismata. As he says in 1 Corinthians: "What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation." There never was any church that received the miraculous gift of the Spirit more than this first church at Corinth.

The difficulties were very great. Timothy and Silas joined him, and even then one night Paul – the great Paul – got scared. He seemed to be so lonely, and there was that awful unconsecrated wealth, the fearful debauchery of their religious worship, the "Vanity Fair" of their Isthmian games – and Paul got scared. But that night his Lord came to him in a vision and said, "Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to harm thee, for I have much people in this city." All the fear left his heart and under the realization of the sense of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, he forgot everything human and earthly. His faith took hold of every divine promise. His hope soared up to heaven. His love radiated its light and heat like the sun. There seemed to him nothing impossible, and great multitudes were converted.

Oh, when we go out to preach in a corrupt city, a worldly minded city, given over to the acquisition of the almighty dollar, where the boys and girls are living lives of debauchery and shame, and we are there by ourselves, and begin to get scared, then we need only to have a meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the secret of power.

And whatever we do, when we go to a place like that, let us not try the oratorical method. But let us get low before God and hold up the cross. Then we ourselves won’t be able to take in the fulness of the blessing God will send upon us. If we take hold of a great enterprise, if we have a spark of reason left in us, let us remember that if the work is of God, and it is right to do it – if it ought to be done, and we feel impressed that we are the ones to do it, and we want to win, we can win only by the realization that the Lord Jesus Christ is with us.

About this time the new Roman proconsul arrived. All provinces under the Roman senate were governed by a proconsul. This new man is known among the preachers as Gallic.

One of the first things I ever heard in a public service was a Baptist man praying, and he said, "Lord let us not be like Gallic, caring for none of these things." I heard that until I got the idea that Gallic was indifferent to religion. But he was one of the sweetest characters in Roman history, a brother of Seneca, and devoted to justice. When the Jews arrested Paul and preferred charges against him, and Paul got up to speak, Gallic stopped him: "You need not make a speech, Paul; I will quash this indictment. This does not come before a Roman court." He told his lictors to scatter the Jews out of the house. I wonder if Gallic ever thought that he missed hearing a message of eternal life when he dismissed the case without hearing Paul’s defense. I wonder if he ever supposed that he and his brother, Seneca, and all men like him, great and mighty in the Roman world, would live in history simply because at one point their lives touched Paul’s. After the Jews were driven away, the street rabble decided that they would lynch a few Jews, since the governor held them in such contempt. They beat Sosthenes, and it was this treatment of the Jews about which Gallic cared nothing.

Paul stayed there a year and a half, preaching in all the regions round about. He established churches, not only at Corinth but in other places. When he made a visit, on his third tour, to Ephesus, he came back to Corinth for a little while, but we have no history of it except a vague allusion in one of his letters. Then, he wrote a letter to the Corinthians that is lost, for he himself says, "I wrote unto you not to keep company with fornicators." Not everything that Moses, Paul or any other Bible writer wrote did the Holy Spirit think necessary to preserve.

Paul began to hear some strange reports about Corinth. He had been at Ephesus for a year or two. At last a delegation of the people that he had baptized came to bring him a letter from the church at Corinth, inviting him to come over, paying a good deal of adulation to themselves, and asking certain questions which he answers in his first letter. There had come some Jews from Palestine and raised the old issue against Paul that he was not an apostle, that he had never seen the Lord, that he did not even claim the support of an apostle, but worked for a living, but that Peter was the man to follow. After Paul left Corinth, Apollos, a great Alexandrian rhetorician, a greater orator than Paul, came there, and they were much taken with him. They began to say, "I am for Peter, or for Apollos, or for Christ, or for Paul." They began to misuse those gifts in a way to bring confusion. Their meetings were disorderly; their women became unseemly. When they celebrated the Lord’s Supper they made a regular meal of it, and became drunk. A certain man in the Corinthian church had taken his father’s wife, and the church stood up for him. Paul’s heart was almost broken. He sent Titus with this letter.

Here is a bibliography of Paul for this period:

1. Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of Paul.

2. Farrar’s Life of Paul.

3. Stalker’s Life of Paul, particularly his chapter on the New Testament church.

4. McGregor’s Divine Authority of Paul’s Writings.

5. Monod’s Five Lectures on Paul.

6. Wilkinson’s Epic of Paul.

Here follows a complete analysis of the letter:

I. The Historical Introduction, which gives the place, its history, the establishment of the church, succeeding events, the occasion of the letter, when, where, and by whom written.

II. Salutation and Thanksgiving (1 Corinthians 1:1-9).

III. The third, and perhaps the most important division of the analysis, is the Ecclesiastical Disorders; there are seven of these, as follows:

1. Factions (1 Corinthians 1:10-4:7), and this is a matter of very great importance, especially to preachers.

2. Revolt against the apostolic authority (1 Corinthians 4:8-21; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27).

3. Consequent relaxation of morals and discipline (1 Corinthians 5).

4. Going to law against brethren (1 Corinthians 6:1-10).

5. Perversion of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 1 Corinthians 11:18-34).

6. Abuse and misuse of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14).

7. The perversion of woman’s position, conduct, and dress (1 Corinthians 11:1-7; 1 Corinthians 14:34-37).

IV. The fourth general division is Social Questions, including the following items:

1. Meat offered to idols.

2. Marriage and divorce.

3. Circumcision and slavery.

V. The fifth general division is False Doctrine concerning the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). The subdivisions of the false doctrine are:

1. Resurrection is a spiritual affair, and is past already.

2. Philosophical objections to bodily resurrection and the reply to these objections. In the reply he shows, (1) that the resurrection is a fundamental doctrine: (2) the fact of Christ’s resurrection establishes our resurrection. Our resurrection depends on him.

VI. The sixth division of the analysis: General Directions and explanation about collections, Timothy and Apollos, Stephanas and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:1-12; 1 Corinthians 16:15-18).

VII. The seventh division of the analysis: Exhortation (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

VIII. Closing salutations (1 Corinthians 16:19-21).

IX. The Anathema (1 Corinthians 16:22).

X. Benediction (1 Corinthians 16:23-24).

Paul left there and went to Ephesus in a roundabout w.. T, and while he was at Ephesus holding a great meeting, he received notification from certain persons from the church at Corinth bringing him the most doleful intelligence. The household of Chloe brought him the word; they were urging him to come back. He wouldn’t quit the meeting to come back, but he writes: "I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." He felt that two duties could not conflict, and instead of returning to Corinth he wrote this letter. He had previously written a letter that was not preserved. He now writes this letter through Sosthenes, an amanuensis, and sends Timothy as his delegate over to Corinth. He is intensely anxious to hear before he visits Corinth. That was the occasion of the letter. The letter was written at Ephesus, and written on account of the reports that came to him concerning the demoralization in that great new church that he had established at Corinth.

QUESTIONS

1. What are the first and second groups of Paul’s letters, and what the theme of each group?

2. How do the letters of the second group compare with other literature?

3. What the location of Corinth on a map of the Roman Empire, and what the advantages of its position?

4. Give briefly the ancient Greek history of Corinth.

5. Give briefly its history under Roman domination.

6. What of its moral status during this time, what of their religion, and where may we find a description of the moral degradation of these people?

7. What constituted the population of Corinth at this time, why so many Jews there, and what noted couple among them did Paul find there?

8. What of the architecture and renown of the city?

9. What were some of the celebrities of this city?

10. From what New Testament books do we gather the history of the establishment of the church in this city?

11. Give a summary of the history of the establishment of this church, answering the following questions:

(1) Whence came Paul to Corinth, and what was his method of preaching in his last effort before coming to Corinth?

(2) How was he conveyed to Corinth?

(3) What his physical condition when he arrived at Corinth?

(4) With whom did he do his first missionary work here, what his method, and what the results?

(5) From what class of people were most of Paul’s converts at Corinth, and what marvelous displays of divine power among them?

(6) What the difficulties, how was Paul nerved to meet them, and what the lesson for us?

(7) Give an account of Gallic in his relation to this work at Corinth.

(8) How long did Paul stay at Corinth?

(9) Where did he go when he left Corinth, and what of the work at Corinth after he left there?

12. Give a bibliography of Paul for this period.

13. What the main points of the analysis?

14. When and where was this letter written, and what the occasion of it?