Painting the background

Yesterday we discussed some facts about ancient Corinth. That may seem odd as we look at the book of 1 Corinthians, but we should read Paul's letter as it was written to that original audience.

In that case, we need to know what their world was like. They were like fish swimming in a sea of ideas and expectations. What were those?

Corinth was a large city, a busy cosmopolitan trading center which saw many merchants travel through. This brought wealth to the city as well as many different ideas and philosophies.

The people of Corinth were accustomed to hearing many ideas discussed openly and having the freedom to pick and choose from among them. They had no natural standard by which to judge which ideas might be more true than others.

In addition, they had a heritage of democracy, which had taught them that each person's opinion was equal to every one else's opinion. Again, this brought a vitality of thought but also implied that every idea was equal.

In this setting, the Christians in Corinth were inundated with philosophies and cultural ideas that were at odds with what Paul had taught them. He wrote 1 Corinthians to answer their questions and to correct some of the ideas that they were absorbing from the culture they were in.

Ancient Corinth

· Ancient Corinth, the original city of Corinth, was founded by the Greeks in the 10th Century BC and was the largest city in ancient Greece- and its richest port. The Corinth Paul knew had been re-founded by Julius Caesar as a Roman colony in 44 BC.

· The “new’ Corinth established by the Romans was populated with conscripted Italian, Greek, Syrian, Egyptian and Judean freed slaves according to Rome’s formula for managing conquered places. Like Ancient Corinth, New Corinth thrived.

· Strategically located on the Mediterranean Sea, Corinth saw many traders and travelers. And many settled there as well to make their fortunes. Soon there was enormous personal wealth among the ruling class, which was made up of self-made men and a surprising number of self-made women, as well.

· Corinth was known as an especially “wild” city and had a reputation for licentiousness. Paul was faced with a city that was used to coin one of the Greek words for “fornicate,” which was korinthiazomai.

· The ancient Greek historian Strabo reported that there were 1,000 sacred prostitutes in the temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth, which was a 1,886-foot hill that rises above the Corinth to the south.

· Under the Romans, Corinth became the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia (Acts 18:12-16). It was noted for its wealth, and for the luxurious, immoral and vicious habits of the people. It had a large mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews.

· Paul visited Corinth in the 50s AD and later wrote of 1 and 2 Corinthians to the Christian community at Corinth. When Paul first visited the city (51 or 52 AD), Gallio, the brother of Seneca, was proconsul of Corinth.

· Paul lived in Corinth for 18 months (Acts 18:1-18), working as a tentmaker and converting as many Jews and pagans as he could. Here he first became acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla, who became his fellow-workers.

· Beginning in 582 BC, in the spring of every second year the Isthmian Games were celebrated in honor of the sea god Poseidon. The Doric Temple of Apollo, one of Corinth's major landmarks, was constructed in 550 BC at the height of the city's wealth.

An answer from Paul

Paul, who wrote 1 Corinthians as a letter to a church in the city of Corinth, was a missionary who traveled into Greece and present-day Turkey to tell people about Jesus. He had planted a church in Corinth and then moved on to other areas.

However, he got information that the church in Corinth was having problems. There were arguments and divisions. The believers had many questions about how they were to handle issues within the church and they had written a letter asking Paul for advice.

This letter is his answer.

Corinth in those days was a huge city located near the coast, which meant a lot of merchants and traders traveled through. Many rich people lived in Corinth and many were very religious, worshipping many gods.

Those non-Christians had great confidence in their religious system and in their ideas. Most of the believers in the church in Corinth were new believers who had grown up in the pagan ideas and practices.

So they were tempted to return to their old ways. It probably cost them business and honor to continue to follow Jesus.

It was a problem then – just as it is today

Aren’t we tempted, too, to join the world’s ways? Others seem to be having more success than we are. We might want their acceptance, or their possessions, or their ideas.

We have to choose – just as Paul told the Corinthian believers they had to choose.

We can’t have a foot in both places. Either we follow Jesus or we don’t.