The Church at Corinth

Corinth--Christian Courier

Corinth--Bible.org

Ancient Corinth

We are going to begin a series of posts on the book of I & II Corinthians.  We'll be studying various topics of the book of Corinthians.  This post commences the series.  As any Bible scholar or anyone who is a student of the Word of God knows, the church at Corinth was very carnal.  It had major issues in that church.  As you read the entire book of I Corinthians, you will see the Apostle Paul addressing various issues that church was facing such as strife and contention amongst it's members, fornication with a father's wife, the issue of partaking the Lord's supper unworthily, pride, the proper conduct in the church, gifts in the church, and the issue of the resurrection were all plaguing.  Now in saying all this there were people in this church that loved God and had a desire to serve God.  But in the midst of those who were faithful and fervent in serving the Lord, there was much carnality in that church and as a result the Apostle Paul took the time to write a letter to that church to address the multiple issues that was plaguing the church.  When you read that letter, you can't help but notice it sounds similar to the many issues our churches are being plagued with today.  Numerous churches in this hour are plagued with pride, strife, contention, carnality, sensuality, sexual sins, partaking of the Lord's Supper unworthily, worldliness, and the list continues. 

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul was not only delivering a sharp rebuke concerning the sins that were in that church, but he was also instructing them how to deal with issues in that church such as fornication, the gifts in the church, strife and contention, the partaking of the Lord's supper and proper order in the church.  Paul also explained to them in I Corinthians 13 the meaning of charity.  He also dealt with the issue of eating meat offered to idols as well.

Corinth was a proud, wealthy, and wicked city of the ancient world.  It was located on the four-mile-wide strip of land which linked the Southern Peloponnesus with the mainland of Greece.  It was the greatest commercial center of Greece.  There were fertile lands there which grew olives, grapes, dates, and many other well-known fruits.  Corinth was destroyed in 146 B.C. by Mummius, the ruffian Roman leader who sent shiploads of statuary, paintings, and other art treasures to Rome.  In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar rebuilt the city, giving it wide streets, market places, temples, theaters, statues, fountains, adn the white and blue marble "Bema" or rostra where orations were made and judgments rendered.  Gods and goddesses were worshipped in the temples in Corinth.  There was a temple and statue of Aphrodite (the goddess of love and fertility) who dominated much of the social and religious life of the city. 

Paul came to Corinth around A.D. 53 and he spent and year-and-a-half supporting himself by making tents while he was teaching and preaching to the converted Jews and Greeks.  It was there he felt compelled to write those two epistles to that church.  They were very worldly.  They were allowing the world to affect their way of thinking and doing things so Paul had to rebuke them and steer them onto the right path.  Thankfully they made things right as was evidenced by reading Paul's second epistle.  I have some links at the top to provide you more information about the church at Corinth as well as the anciet history of Corinth.