Corinth Introduction
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Began the year with an orientation to the Bible and a challenge to read it.
I then spent some time orienting you to some of the Biblical themes that span and give depth to the narrative of salvation history.
Over the next 5 weeks, as we head toward Easter, I want to show you how to needle into a text and do a bit of a deep dive. So, we are going to lean in on — one of the greatest chapters in the Bible on the topic of resurrection.
Over the next 5 weeks, as we head toward Easter, I want to show you how to needle into a text and do a bit of a deep dive. So, we are going to lean in on — one of the greatest chapters in the Bible on the topic of resurrection.
Of course, we could just turn to and begin reading and preaching. But instead, this week I would like spend some time orienting you to the book of 1 Corinthians and the city of Corinth, the city in which the church Paul was writing to resided.
Of course, we could just turn to and begin reading and preaching. But instead, this week I would like spend some time orienting you to the book of 1 Corinthians and the city of Corinth, the city in which the church Paul was writing to resided.
PICTURE 1 — The map of the region
MAP 1
Some setting and History stuff...
Some setting and History stuff...
Corinth sits about 55 miles to the West of Athens.
From about 725 - 300 BC Corinth flourished financially.
However, as the Roman empire spread, Corinth led the resistance in its region.
In 146 BC the Romans completely leveled Corinth, and it remained deserted for right at 100 years.
In 44 BC Julius Caesar reestablished Corinth as a Roman Colony — which was a brilliant move on Caesar’s part as his aim was to come and control the trade routes between Rome and the Mediterranean.
PICTURE 2 — Corinth on the Isthmus
Corinth sat on an Isthmus that separated the Adriatic Sea on the West and the Aegean Sea on the East.
The Isthmus is about 5 miles wide… the ships would pull in from the East… transport all of their cargo by land across the five mile stretch and reload the cargo onto another boat which would then sail West.
You can imagine the wide variety of people that came to and through Corinth on and off ships.
You can also imagine the explosion of commerce and wealth (and poverty) that defined the city that some modern day historians and theologians consider the first century world’s combination of New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. (Fee, NICNT, Intro)
You name it — culturally, economically, spiritually, ethically, and morally — anything and everything could be found in Corinth.
Paul and Corinth
By the time Paul was in Corinth from 50-52 AD, Corinth had become the third largest city in the Roman Empire — only behind Rome and Alexandria.
Estimates of the population of the city when Paul came to town on his second missionary journey — which is documented in — range from 150,000 - 300,000 people.
Corinth was also a haven to slaves — those currently slaves and those who had been freed from their enslavement. Some estimate more than 400,000 such souls populated the city.
For a variety of reasons — some relate to items delineated in the Biblical texts and some relate to archeological discoveries which seem to substantiate some key historical items Paul and Luke record — Paul being in Corinth from 50-52 AD is the most firm date we have on when and where Paul was. Most of our dating of Paul and his writings and travels move to and from him being in Corinth for about 18 months from 50-52 AD.
The Backstory it 1 Corinthians
How 1 Corinthians was written
After Paul leaves Corinth in 52 AD, he ends up in the city of Ephesus — which is East across the Aegean Sea.
While there, Paul receives word from a few sources that the church he helped establish in Corinth was struggling.
Paul’s first step, upon getting that report, was to write them a letter. He mentions this letter in .
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
We don’t have this letter that Paul wrote. It has vanished into history.
Paul then hears of more problems from the Corinthian church, so he sends his most trusted apprentice, Timothy, to them.
17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
This visit from Timothy did not have the full effects Paul was hoping for, as he continued to receive news that the church was struggling.
That news is what nudged Paul to write the letter we call 1 Corinthians… around the year 54 AD… from Ephesus.
Paul’s approach to writing churches.
His letters give indications to things needing attention in the church to which he is writing — so we learn things about what was happening in the church at Corinth based on the things Paul chooses to address.
He often illustrates his points of encouragement and/or instruction by taking things from the marketplace and connecting them with life in Christ.
For Example...
The Greeks LOVE Wisdom… so it shouldn’t surprise us to read Paul paying careful attention to wisdom...
The Greeks LOVE Wisdom… so it shouldn’t surprise us to read Paul paying careful attention to wisdom...
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
In Corinth, Vice and Religion Flourished side by side...
In Corinth, Vice and Religion Flourished side by side...
We have evidence that Corinth was a city ravaged by venereal disease… sailors and prostitutes… cults and prostitutes… and the church was a mess sexually as well...
1 Corin 5 & 6
Corinth had 26 sacred places — some were temples; some were not. They were dedicated to “gods” and “lords” of many.
5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—
Although evidence exists that a synagogue for the Hebrews may very well have existed in Corinth, Paul went to great lengths to convey that the distinction for Jesus’ followers in that city, their distinction would not be by a competing physical structure.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Asclepius and the Body of Christ
Asclepius and the Body of Christ
In the architectural ruins of Asclepius’ Temple — the god of medicine — in Corinth, numbers of individual body parts — both private and public parts — have been discovered. The body parts were offered, presumably, for healing and/or sacrifice in the cultic rituals performed in Asclepius’ Temple.
It is noteworthy, in a community where self mutilation was a way of treating the body to offer the expendable body parts to persuade or manage the gods, that Paul, in addresses the body of Christ in a way to say — all parts of the body matter.
The city of Corinth LOVED sports
The city of Corinth LOVED sports
Every other year the Isthmian Games happened on the Isthmus… a HUGE deal.
Corinth hosted the Pan Hellenic Games — like our Olympics — regularly.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
The Church at Corinth was riddled with questions and challenges… and scholars differ as to what the main issues that were at work in the Church at Corinth which prompted Paul’s letter.
The Church at Corinth was riddled with questions and challenges… and scholars differ as to what the main issues that were at work in the Church at Corinth which prompted Paul’s letter.
But all scholars agree and acknowledge that Paul’s letter applied the gospel of Jesus Christ to any and every issue they were facing… not the least of which related to the the question of the resurrection from the dead.
But all scholars agree and acknowledge that Paul’s letter applied the gospel of Jesus Christ to any and every issue they were facing… not the least of which related to the the question of the resurrection from the dead.
No one… no belief system… no religion of the first century world — Jewish, gentile, greek or roman — NONE believed in or contended for the resurrection of the dead.
And it is into this world that Paul writes this letter to the Corinthian Church by making a case for Resurrection from the dead — first Jesus, then all who place their faith in Him.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.