N. T. Wright - 1 Corinthians

I n the first century, Corinth was a lively seaport in Greece, not far from Athens. People and cultures of every sort jostled together, just like so many places in todays world. The young church there was as lively as the place itself, with as many questions and problemsas much joy and excitementas any growing church today. Pauls pastoral sensitivity and deep insight come together to make this letter one of his crowning achievements, full of good things for us to ponder and enjoy today.

The city of Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C., and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. as a Roman colony. Since that time, about a hundred years before this letter was written, Corinth had prided itself on being a Roman city on Greek soil. It celebrated its Roman style of buildings, its Roman culture, its special links to the capital of a worldwide empire. It also prided itself on its intellectual life.

Most of the Christians in Corinth had not been Jews but ordinary pagans. They had been Gentiles, believing in various gods and goddesses, but without any idea that history, the story of the world, was going anywhere, or that their own lives might be part of that forward movement. Again and again Paul wants them to learn this lesson: that they have been caught up into a great movement of the love and power of the one true God, the God of Israel, whose work for the whole world had now been unveiled through the events concerning his Son. Thats why Jesus is at the center of the picture Paul paints.

That was the message Paul first brought to Corinth when he founded the church there in midcentury. But Paul hadnt been the only teacher theyd had in the city. Not long after hed gone, a wonderful speaker, greatly learned in Scripture and able to explain it powerfully, had arrived. His name was Apollos, and he came from Alexandria in Egypt, where there was a strong Jewish community which included a great Jewish philosopher by the name of Philo. Apollos met some of Pauls colleagues in Ephesus (see Acts 18:24-28) and later went to Corinth (see Acts 18:2719:1). Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus while Apollos was probably still in Corinth. (For more on this letter, also see my Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, on which this guide is based, published by SPCK and Westminster John Knox.)

In the time since Paul left Corinth after founding the church there (see Acts 18:18), various problems and questions had arisen. So the church sent a delegation consisting of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus with a letter, asking Paul to respond and give his counsel. This he did, and the result is the letter we have in 1 Corinthians.