General Information | |
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| Name | 1 Corinthians is the first letter sent by Paul to the church in Corinth. |
| Author and Date | Paul identifies himself as the author of the letter twice within the work (1:1; 16:21), and it has long been accepted as having been written by him. Clement of Rome (A.D. 95) identified Paul as the author, as did every ancient canon. Even today most scholars attribute 1 Corinthians to Paul. Paul probably wrote 1 Corinthians during the third year of his stay at Ephesus, in the spring of A.D. 56, just before Pentecost. He said in 1 Cor 16:8 that he was going to stay at Ephesus until Pentecost. |
| Audience | The audience of the letter is identified in 1:2, “To the church of God which is at Corinth.” If A.D. 56 is the date of the letter, the church would be about four years old at the time of writing. |
| Message and Occasion | Paul’s message to the Corinthians in this first letter is God’s authority over them. He used the metaphor of slavery or servanthood 75 times in 1 Corinthians. In particular, Paul spoke of submitting to God in all aspects of life, from church life to marital relations. Paul wrote the letter in response to two letters he received from the Corinthian church. One contained a concerning report from the household of Chloe (1:11) that spoke of “contentions among you.” They were apparently jockeying for position by asserting to be followers of various leaders within the Church. The letter also apparently spoke of the Corinthians suing each other (6:1) and continuing licentiousness – despite a previous letter warning against it (5:9-11). The second letter sent to him from Corinth was a set of questions delivered to him by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. The Corinthians asked about marriage and singleness (7:1-40), Christian liberty (8:1-13; 10:1-11:1) and his authority (9:1-27). Paul also addressed several other issues, including instructions on church service (11:2-34) and teachings on the resurrection and Christians’ relation to Christ (15:1-58). |
Key Information | |
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| Key Verses | 3:1-4 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?” 6:19-20 “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 10:31-33 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just was I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” 13:4-7 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” |
| Key People | Paul The Corinthians were arguing over which leader had the most authority in the Church. Paul was forced against his will to assert his authority as an Apostle, telling the Corinthians to follow his example, as he was following Christ – who is the ultimate authority over every Christian. Chloe’s Household The first of two reports from Corinth came from the “household of Chloe.” Chloe was apparently an important figure in Corinth, since she was able to send messengers to Paul, and since Paul trusts the report from her people. Stephanas Paul says he baptized three people in Corinth: Crispus, Gaius and Stephanas. Paul calls Stephanas’ household the “firstfruits of Achaia (Greece)” who had “devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” Stephanas also came to Ephesus (along with Fortunatus and Achaicus), personally delivering questions from the Corinthian church. |
| Key Events | Paul’s receipt of the letters from Corinth The sending of two reports of trouble from Corinth served as an impetus for Paul writing the scathing rebuke to the church there, and may have led him to desire visiting them again. Paul’s intention to visit them after his stay at Ephesus until Pentecost Paul apparently believed the problems in Corinth necessitated another visit to them, even after spending a considerable time with them already. |
Important Theology in 1 Corinthians | |
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| Obedience to Christ | Because much of the strife in Corinth revolved around factions trying to assert authority over each other by appealing to various leaders in the Church, Paul focuses much attention on how all believers, even Apostles, are subject to the authority of the Lord. |
| Church Decorum | Although the two letters sent to Paul don’t ask about it, Paul gives extensive instructions on the worship gathering. He establishes that he wanted uniformity in some things in all churches (7:17; 14:33). These were living in the way God had made each member (7:17-24), spiritual gifts being used in an orderly manner (14:40), that the meeting should be organized around the Lord’s Supper (11:20) and that this supper should be done solemnly and in remembrance of the Lord’s death (11:17-34), and that women should not teach during the service (14:34-35). |
| Christ’s Resurrection | Paul gave the most extensive exposition on the resurrection, and the relation of believers to it in the entire NT in 1 Cor 15:1-58. He reminds them that the Gospel is the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection, that this event was seen by hundreds of people, and that the resurrected Jesus appeared in person to him. He tells us that Christ’s resurrection gives all believers hope for their own resurrection. He taught that our resurrected bodies will be raised in a glorified, uncorrupted state. Finally, he reminds us that we should steadfast in faith because death has been conquered. |
General Outline | |
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Greetings and Thanksgiving (1:1-9) |
Used by permission. ©2017 H. Wayne House, Charting the New Testament. All Rights Reserved.