Introduction
There is a general consensus among scholars that 1 Corinthianswas written by the important early Christian missionary Paul ofTarsus. In late 56 or early 57 a.d.,Paul was in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. From there, writingwith his collaborator Sosthenes, he addressed a series of lettersto the Greek city of Corinth, which he had visited between 50 and 52 a.d.,and where he had converted both Jews and Gentiles to the Christianfaith. Corinth was located on the isthmus connecting the Peloponnesianpeninsula to the Greek mainland, and its advantageous location allowedit to become a prosperous merchant city. Prosperity, however, broughtpagan hedonism. Corinth developed a reputation, widespread throughout theancient world, for sexual license. Paul’s letters to the Christians atCorinth address his concern over a pressing issue: the rampant immoralityassociated with the paganism of Corinth. This immorality had begunto infect the Corinthian church. Paul was deeply concerned for thespiritual health of the Corinthian church, which had been deprivedof his guidance for several years. As a result, Paul correspondedat greater length with the Corinthian church than with any of theother communities that he established. The New Testament preservestwo of these letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians,and makes reference to at least one other lost letter (1 Cor. 5:9).
Summary
Paul begins 1 Corinthians witha greeting to “the church of God that is in Corinth,” in whichhe offers thanks for the faith and strength of the Corinthian church(1:2). He immediatelybegins, however, to list and address the problems that plague thatchurch. The first problem, to which he devotes almost four chapters,concerns factionalism within the church. Paul has heard that theCorinthian church has divided itself according to the various preachersof the Gospel: “each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belongto Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ’” (1:12). Paulstresses that each preacher of the Gospel is merely a servant of Jesus,and that all believers should be united in Jesus. The faithful shouldput aside their differences and remember that “[a]ll things areyours. . . . You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God” (3:23).The place of the preachers is not to establish themselves as leadersamong men; instead, “[p]eople should think of us as servants ofChrist” (4:1).
Paul enumerates various immoral tendencies of the Corinthian Christians.He cautions them to condemn sexual immorality within the church.Membership in the community of the faithful, he teaches, means thatthe church faithful must adjudicate moral matters amongst themselves,chastising and expelling sinners. In response to questions put tohim about specific confusions over religious practice, Paul setsforth a principle that becomes embedded in church doctrine: “Tothe unmarried . . . I say: it is well for them to remain unmarriedas I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they shouldmarry” (7:8–9).Paul advocates freedom of conscience within the bounds of faith.He does not mandate circumcision, although many early Christians,who were practically all Jewish, assumed that circumcision was aprerequisite for conversion to Christianity. Paul declares it permissibleto eat food dedicated to false gods, provided that one does notcompromise the conscience of another Christian by doing so.
In a break from his instruction, Paul spendsChapter 9 discussing his own case. He seeshimself as a man who has sacrificed everything to preach the Gospel,forgoing material comfort and becoming all things to all people.Returning to his moral instruction, Paul invokes the example ofthe ancient Israelites, who were punished for their immorality andfaithlessness, and exhorts the Corinthians to avoid idolatrous worshipand sexual immorality. He explains to them that while it is notforbidden to eat certain foods, it is best to avoid offending peopleand to respect the consciences of others. Paul then speaks on publicworship. He says that women must cover their heads during prayer,while men must pray with heads bared. When the Lord’s Supper iscommemorated, it must be celebrated in true communal fashion, and mustbe preceded by careful self-inspection.
In Chapters 12 and 14,Paul speaks of the regulation of spiritual gifts in the church ofbelievers. There are many instances in the Corinthian church ofpeople prophesying and speaking in tongues. These spiritual giftsare important because they help to strengthen the community. Allgifts, and all believers, are indispensable to the church. Eachbeliever is a part of the incarnated body of Jesus, and each fulfillshis or her own particular function. But Paul prioritizes prophecy,with its clarity of message, over speaking in tongues, which isgenerally indecipherable and therefore cannot provide instructionto the community. Paul interrupts this discussion of spiritual giftswith Chapter 13, which has become known asthe Hymn to Love, in which he expounds upon the importance of love:“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatestof these is love” (13:13).
Paul moves toward his conclusion with an exposition onthe doctrinal question of the resurrection of the dead. He remindsthe Corinthians of the core Christian doctrine. The resurrectionof Jesus, he insists, is a cardinal point of the Christian faith.The future resurrection of all the dead stems from Jesus’s own resurrection,and it is the future resurrection—the promise of eternal life—thatmakes Christian sacrifice meaningful: “If the dead are not raised,Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (15:33).Paul explains the nature of resurrection, noting that the physicalbody will not be resurrected. Rather, it is the spiritual body thatis immortal. The immortality of the spiritual body signifies thetrue victory of faith over death, and Paul concludes, “Thanks beto God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”(15:57). Finally, 1 Corinthians endswith Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians to take up a collectionfor the benefit of the poor in Jerusalem. He expresses his hope thathe will be able to visit Corinth soon, and in the meanwhile urges theCorinthians to accept his emissary Timothy with open arms. He chargesthem to “[k]eep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous,be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13–14).
Analysis
In 1 Corinthians, through the issuesthat he chooses to address, Paul provides us with historical insightinto the early Christian Church. It was a church without any singlesupreme authority. The missionaries and preachers who spread theGospel in the decades after Jesus were by no means hom*ogenous intheir approaches to Christian doctrine and practice. Paul speaksof divisions in the church at Corinth that stem from perceived differencesin the Gospel as preached by various missionaries. It seems thatPaul, Apollos, and Cephas (the Aramaic name given to Peter) eachhad adherents in the Corinthian church. It is possible that theChristians at Corinth, recent converts who were inadequately instructedin Christianity, simply misunderstood the missionaries and believeddoctrinal differences to exist. It is also possible that there wereactual important differences between the Christianity of Peter andthat of Paul. Instances of disagreements between early Christianleaders are both implicit and explicit in The New Testament. Forinstance, in Acts 15, it is evident thatthe apostles Peter and James are more conservative than Paul withregard to adhering to Jewish law. But it is also true that in Corinthians,Paul addresses a group of people with little knowledge of Paul’sJewish culture. A certain amount of confusion was probably inevitable.
Paul’s letter is remarkable in that it exhorts the Corinthians towardunity rather than ideological division. He does not mandate resolvingwhatever differences may exist between the factions of the Corinthianchurch. Rather, he reminds them of the all-important unity thatbinds them and supersedes their differences. Throughout 1 Corinthians,the themes of unity and the importance of freedom of consciencewithin certain moral boundaries are constantly stressed. This freedomof conscience extends from doctrinal issues to questions of practice:for instance, Paul permits the Corinthians to eat food sacrificedto idols (10:26–27),in direct defiance of the principle established by the church leadersin Jerusalem (Acts 15:28–29). Inhis discussion of the various spiritual gifts granted to the faithful, Paulreturns again to the theme of unity through diversity: “Now thereare varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties ofservices, but the same Lord” (12:4–5).
Paul’s great commandment is to love. He hopes that lovewill bind the community together despite its differences, and leadpeople to achieve faith and godliness in anticipation of the imminentSecond Coming. Paul attempts to unify the church by accepting varying beliefsand practices, but his emphasis on unity does not reflect any willingnessto compromise his religious faith. Paul’s accepting attitude haslimitations, and 1 Corinthians is filledwith Paul’s righteous indignation. He does not hesitate to “saythis to your shame” to the Corinthians, nor to chastise them fortheir moral misdeeds (15:34). Inthis letter, Paul assumes the voice of a stern but loving parent.He says, “In Christ Jesus I became your father” (4:15),and he tells the Corinthians, “I fed you with milk” (3:2).The family of believers is open to all who are faithful. Unlikemany of the early Christians, Paul is willing to accept Gentileas well as Jew: “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized intoone body . . . slaves or free” (12:13).But acceptance does not mean tolerance of repeated misdeeds andthe refusal to repent: “Drive out the wicked person from among you”(5:13).
