Although the Romans destroyed the city in 146 B.C., Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth as a Roman colony in 44 B.C., and the city quickly regained its commercial importance. In 27 B.C. Augustus made Corinth the provincial capital of Achaia, adding political prominence to the city’s unquestioned commercial importance. Corinth attracted pilgrims every two years to the Isthmian Games, one of the four major Panhellenic Games. The Isthmian Games honored Poseidon, god of the sea, and were held at nearby Isthmia. These pilgrims added to the rich cosmopolitan population—Romans, Greeks, and a sizeable Jewish community—of the great seaport city. Like most ports, Corinth had a well-known reputation for immorality. The colloquial expression “to Corinthianize” meant to engage in immoral behavior and loose living. Paul warned his Corinthian converts against returning to the immorality and licentiousness out of which they came (1 Cor. 6:9–11; 2 Cor. 12:21).

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose.