1 Corinthians Commentary

In this fascinating letter to a multiethnic church, we see some of the everyday problems the early Christians were dealing with. In Paul’s advice on how to handle these problems, we find deep principles that shape his thinking about practical Christian living. These enduring principles—so different from the popular trends of Paul’s time or ours—provide rich guidance for us as we deal with similar problems today.

Setting

Corinth’s widespread reputation as an important city full of vice was linked to its geography. The city was strategically located on the narrow four- to five-mile-wide isthmus separating mainland Greece from the Peloponnesus (the large southern peninsula). It profited from travelers passing north and south along the main overland route and from those sailing east and west between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. To avoid the stormy hazards of the Mediterranean Sea, especially in wintertime, the owners of small commercial boats sailing between Italy and the eastern Mediterranean often had their boats dragged over the isthmus from one gulf to the other and spent a night or two in Corinth on the way. As a result, Corinth gained the notoriety of a port city and was widely known for prostitution and other vices. There was even a verb in Greek (korinthiazomai, “to act like a Corinthian”) that referred to sexual immorality. It’s not surprising that some of these problems made their way into the young church (see Paul’s strong words about sexual immorality in 5:1-13; 6:12-20).

Old Corinth was conquered and destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. It was rebuilt a century later as a Roman colony and populated in large part by former Roman slaves. By the time of Paul’s visit, it was a cosmopolitan city, with Romans, Greeks, Jews, and other ethnic groups from all over the Mediterranean, as well as international visitors passing through the city. As a result, the members of the young church were multiethnic, which was likely a factor in the tensions it experienced (see Paul’s rebuke of their cliquishness in 1:10-12; 3:1-4).

Paul first arrived in the city during his second missionary trip (around AD 50), after his work in the northern province of Macedonia and in Athens. Realizing that the city was strategic to his evangelistic efforts, he stayed in Corinth for eighteen months (AD 50–52; see Acts 18:1-17). When the Jews took him to court for breaking the law, the governor Gallio threw the case out because it was a religious dispute. Given the freedom to evangelize, Paul made a number of converts and began a church there before he left.

Over the next five years, Paul corresponded with the Corinthians several times on difficult issues and even visited them personally to sort out some of their problems. The present letter, written during the period AD 53–56, was sent from Ephesus, in the province of Asia (western Turkey), where Paul spent two to three years on his third missionary journey.

Summary

Paul deals with a wide range of problems and questions facing the young church—some of which reflect the problems of the city itself—and he gives specific advice on dealing with them. Paul’s advice reflects the fundamental principles underlying his view of the Christian life, principles rooted in the Good News itself. Paul addressed the following issues:

•Criticism of Paul’s non-intellectual approach to evangelism (1:1–4:21)

•A flagrant case of sexual immorality in the church (5:1-13)

•The practice of taking fellow believers to court before pagan judges (6:1-20)

•Problems of sexual immorality (6:1-20)

•Questions about marriage, divorce, and staying single (7:1-40)

•The question of whether believers are allowed to eat meat sacrificed to pagan idols (8:1–10:33)

•The question of appropriate dress for women who minister publicly (11:1-34)

•Irreverent and disrespectful behavior in receiving the Lord’s Supper (11:1-34)

•Distorted perspectives on spiritual gifts and their practice (12:1–14:40)

•Skepticism about a future resurrection of the dead (15:1-58)

Authorship

Paul is widely accepted as the writer of 1 Corinthians. Some, however, question the authenticity of 14:34-35 (see study note there). In line with common practice of the ancient world, Paul used an amanuensis (secretary) to do the actual writing of the letter (see 16:21).

Date and Occasion of Writing

This letter to the Corinthian church was written on Paul’s third missionary journey, during his two- to three-year stay in Ephesus (around AD 53–56; see Acts 19:1-41). Paul had written a previous letter to the church in Corinth (see 1 Cor 5:9), and the Corinthians had replied, asking his advice on a number of points (see, e.g., 7:1). He had also received reports and visitors from Corinth (see 1:11; 16:15-17), making him aware of a number of problems facing the young church. This letter, full of advice on specific issues, is his response. It may have been delivered by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (see 16:15-17) when they returned to Corinth.

Some problems apparently remained unresolved, resulting in a later personal visit to Corinth and a strongly worded letter that we do not have. Paul refers to these in the emotionally laden letter we know as 2 Corinthians, written from Macedonia shortly after he left Ephesus, in anticipation of yet another visit to the church (see 2 Cor 2:1-11; 7:8-10; 2 Corinthians Book Introduction, “Date and Occasion of Writing”).

Meaning and Message

In 1 Corinthians, we catch a fascinating glimpse of what life was like in the early church. We see some of the practical problems the early Christians faced as they lived in a pagan environment and how they dealt with them.

Motivation for Christian Behavior. Paul deals with problems in the churches from a thoroughly Christian point of view, rooted in the Good News of God’s grace. In his thinking, Christian behavior is firmly grounded in Christian theology, in the message of Christ and the cross. The advice he gives on Christian living is not simply pragmatic, but solidly based on the relationship of believers to Christ. His own practical life has been revolutionized by his experience of God’s grace in Christ.

So, for example, when Paul addresses issues of sexual morality (5:1–6:20), he reminds the church that believers have been made new by the sacrifice of Christ and that they should live accordingly. His appeal for faithfulness is not that they should keep the law of Moses, but that they should understand what it means to be united to Christ and to be the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (6:15-20).

When Paul discourages believers from taking one another to pagan law courts (6:1-8), he is in part concerned for the effect on their witness as Christians. He urges them to give up their rights out of love for others, as Christ did. The death of Christ has taught him that Christian love is sacrificial.

When Paul gives advice on marriage (7:1-40), he encourages those who are unmarried in that context to remain single so they can give themselves more fully to Christ’s service. Christians are claimed by Christ and can no longer live only for themselves.

When he addresses the freedom of believers to eat meat sacrificed to pagan idols (8:1-13; 10:1–11:1), he avoids formulating rules, asserting their liberty in Christ to eat anything. He emphasizes, however, that the effect of one’s actions on others is always more important than one’s own rights, so believers should readily abstain from actions that would be detrimental to others. Like Christ, they are to be governed by sacrificial love in all their relationships.

In Paul’s thinking, Christian behavior is a response of gratitude to the mercy and grace of God, shown in Christ and expressed in the Good News. The whole of the believer’s life is to express devotion to God and love for others (see 10:31-33). This is Paul’s equivalent to Jesus’ two great love commands (Matt 22:36-40; Luke 10:25-37). In this letter, we see more clearly than elsewhere how Paul applies these enduring principles to a wide range of practical problems.

Paul’s Understanding of Evangelism. When Paul is criticized for his rather unpolished, non-intellectual approach to evangelism (1 Cor 1:1–4:21), he emphasizes that only God can change a person’s heart. The real power does not lie in the persuasive powers of human intellect and rhetoric, but in the message of God’s grace and in the power of God’s Spirit to renew and transform. Conversion is not a matter of one person changing another person’s mind, but of God changing a person’s heart.

Unity and Love in the Church. Unity among believers is an important theme throughout this letter, as a number of the issues Paul deals with have apparently divided the church (see 1:10–4:21, cliques in the church; 6:1-12, lawsuits against fellow Christians; 8:1–11:1, different opinions on food sacrificed to idols; 11:2-16, different opinions on appropriate dress for women ministering publicly; 11:17-34, problems in taking the Lord’s Supper). Bound together as fellow members of Christ’s body by a common commitment to Christ as Lord and by the shared experience of God’s Spirit, believers are to live together in unity. This letter, which includes Paul’s classic chapter on Christian love (ch 13), highlights the importance of relating to other believers in sacrificial love, the kind of love shown by Christ himself.

Marriage, Divorce, and the Single Life. Paul has a high view of marriage and strongly opposes divorce. In light of the difficult environment for Christians in the first century and his view of the imminent return of Christ (see 7:25-31), Paul encourages those who are single to remain so, seeing singleness as an opportunity to give full devotion to Christ’s work in the world (see 7:32-35). The two ways of living (married and celibate) are not ends in themselves, but alternate ways of participating in the more important purpose of serving Christ.

The Lord’s Supper. This letter sheds significant light on early Christian understanding and practice of the Lord’s Supper, offering the only extended treatment in the New Testament (chs 10–11).

The Church As a Body. Paul understands the church as a dynamic, Spirit-led body made up of different parts, each with its own unique work to do (chs 12, 14). In these early days of the Christian movement, there is no distinction between clergy and laity, but the different roles create a complementary ministry of the Spirit’s gifts when Christians gather. Each person has a part to play in building up the body, and individuals are dependent on the Spirit to empower and guide them in their ministries.

The Resurrection. Among the New Testament writings, this letter gives us the most complete discussion of resurrection (ch 15), including the fullest account of those who saw the resurrected Jesus, the rationale for a future resurrection, and the nature of resurrection bodies.

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians

Corinth was a principal city of Greece, in that particular division of it which was called Achaia. It was situated on the isthmus (or neck of land) that joined Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece, on the southern side, and had two ports adjoining, one at the bottom of the Corinthian Gulf, called Lechaeum, not far from the city, whence they traded to Italy and the west, the other at the bottom of the Sinus Saronicus, called Cenchrea, at a more remote distance, whence they traded to Asia. From this situation, it is no wonder that Corinth should be a place of great trade and wealth; and, as affluence is apt to produce luxury of all kinds, neither is it to be wondered at if a place so famous for wealth and arts should be infamous for vice. It was in a particular manner noted for fornication, insomuch that a Corinthian woman was a proverbial phrase for a strumpet, and korinthiazein, korinthiasesthai - to play the Corinthian, is to play the whore, or indulge whorish inclinations. Yet in this lewd city did Paul, by the blessing of God on his labours, plant and raise a Christian church, chiefly among the Gentiles, as seems very probable from the history of this matter, Acts 18:1-18, compared with some passages in this epistle, particularly Co1 12:2, where the apostle tells them, You know that you wee Gentiles, carried away to those dumb idols even as you were led, though it is not improbable that many Jewish converts might be also among them, for we are told that Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his house, Act 18:8. He continued in this city nearly two years, as is plain from Act 18:11 and Act 18:18 compared, and laboured with great success, being encouraged by a divine vision assuring him God had much people in that city, Act 18:9, Act 18:10. Nor did he use to stay long in a place where his ministry met not with acceptance and success.

Some time after he left them he wrote this epistle to them, to water what he had planted and rectify some gross disorders which during his absence had been introduced, partly from the interest some false teacher or teachers had obtained amongst them, and partly from the leaven of their old maxims and manners, that had not been thoroughly purged out by the Christian principles they had entertained. And it is but too visible how much their wealth had helped to corrupt their manners, from the several faults for which the apostle reprehends them. Pride, avarice, luxury, lust (the natural offspring of a carnal and corrupt mind), are all fed and prompted by outward affluence. And with all these either the body of this people or some particular persons among them are here charged by the apostle. Their pride discovered itself in their parties and factions, and the notorious disorders they committed in the exercise of their spiritual gifts. And this vice was not wholly fed by their wealth, but by the insight they had into the Greek learning and philosophy. Some of the ancients tell us that the city abounded with rhetoricians and philosophers. And these were men naturally vain, full of self-conceit, and apt to despise the plain doctrine of the gospel, because it did not feed the curiosity of an inquisitive and disputing temper, nor please the ear with artful speeches and a flow of fine words. Their avarice was manifest in their law-suits and litigations about meum - mine, and tuum - thine, before heathen judges. Their luxury appeared in more instances than one, in their dress, in their debauching themselves even at the Lord's table, when the rich, who were most faulty on this account, were guilty also of a very proud and criminal contempt of their poor brethren. Their lust broke out in a most flagrant and infamous instance, such as had not been named among the Gentiles, not spoken of without detestation - that a man should have his father's wife, either as his wife, or so as to commit fornication with her. This indeed seems to be the fault of a particular person; but the whole church were to blame that they had his crime in no greater abhorrence, that they could endure one of such very corrupt morals and of so flagitious a behaviour among them. But their participation in his sin was yet greater, if, as some of the ancients tell us, they were puffed up on behalf of the great learning and eloquence of this incestuous person. And it is plain from other passages of the epistle that they were not so entirely free from their former lewd inclinations as not to need very strict cautions and strong arguments against fornication: see Co1 6:9-20. The pride of their learning had also carried many of them so far as to disbelieve or dispute against the doctrine of the resurrection. It is not improbable that they treated this question problematically, as they did many questions in philosophy, and tried their skill by arguing it pro and con.

It is manifest from this state of things that there was much that deserved reprehension, and needed correction, in this church. And the apostle, under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit, sets himself to do both with all wisdom and faithfulness, and with a due mixture of tenderness and authority, as became one in so elevated and important a station in the church. After a short introduction at the beginning of the epistle, he first blames them for their discord and factions, enters into the origin and source of them, shows them how much pride and vanity, and the affectation of science, and learning, and eloquence, flattered by false teachers, contributed to the scandalous schism; and prescribes humility, and submission to divine instruction, the teaching of God by his Spirit, both by external revelation and internal illumination, as a remedy for the evils that abounded amongst them. He shows them the vanity of their pretended science and eloquence on many accounts. This he does through the first four chapters. In the fifth he treats of the case of the incestuous person, and orders him to be put out from among them. Nor is what the ancients say improbable, that this incestuous person was a man in great esteem, and head of one party at least among them. The apostle seems to tax them with being puffed up on his account, Co1 5:2. In the sixth chapter he blames them for their law-suits, carried on before heathen judges, when their disputes about property should have been amicably determined amongst themselves, and in the close of the chapter warns them against the sin of fornication, and urges his caution with a variety of arguments. In the seventh chapter he gives advice upon a case of conscience, which some of that church had proposed to him in an epistle, about marriage, and shows it to be appointed of God as a remedy against fornication, that the ties of it were not dissolved, though a husband or wife continued a heathen, when the other became a Christian; and, in short, that Christianity made no change in men's civil states and relations. He gives also some directions here about virgins, in answer, as is probable, to the Corinthians' enquiries. In the eighth he directs them about meats offered to idols, and cautions them against abusing their Christian liberty. From this he also takes occasion, in the ninth chapter, to expatiate a little on his own conduct upon this head of liberty. For, though he might have insisted on a maintenance from the churches where he ministered, he waived this demand, that he might make the gospel of Christ without charge, and did in other things comply with and suit himself to the tempers and circumstances of those among whom he laboured, for their good. In the tenth chapter he dissuades them, from the example of the Jews, against having communion with idolaters, by eating of their sacrifices, inasmuch as they could not be at once partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils, though they were not bound to enquire concerning meat sold in the shambles, or set before them at a feast made by unbelievers, whether it were a part of the idol-sacrifices or no, but were at liberty to eat without asking questions. In the eleventh chapter he gives direction about their habit in public worship, blames them for their gross irregularities and scandalous disorders in receiving the Lord's supper, and solemnly warns them against the abuse of so sacred an institution. In the twelfth chapter he enters on the consideration of spiritual gifts, which were poured forth in great abundance on this church, upon which they were not a little elated. He tells them, in this chapter, that all came from the same original, and were all directed to the same end. They issued from one Spirit, and were intended for the good of the church, and must be abused when they were not made to minister to this purpose. Towards the close he informs them that they were indeed valuable gifts, but he could recommend to them something far more excellent, upon which he breaks out, in the thirteenth chapter, into the commendation and characteristics of charity. And them, in the fourteenth, he directs them how to keep up decency and order in the churches in the use of their spiritual gifts, in which they seem to have been exceedingly irregular, through pride of their gifts and a vanity of showing them. The fifteenth chapter is taken up in confirming and explaining the great doctrine of the resurrection. The last chapter consists of some particular advices and salutations; and thus the epistle closes.

The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 47], POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], and IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 4.27.3]. The city to which it was sent was famed for its wealth and commerce, which were chiefly due to its situation between the Ionian and Ægean Seas on the isthmus connecting the Peloponese with Greece. In Paul's time it was the capital of the province Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul (Act 18:12). The state of morals in it was notorious for debauchery, even in the profligate heathen world; so much so that "to Corinthianize" was a proverbial phrase for "to play the wanton"; hence arose dangers to the purity of the Christian Church at Corinth. That Church was founded by Paul on his first visit (Acts 18:1-17).

He had been the instrument of converting many Gentiles (Co1 12:2), and some Jews (Act 18:8), notwithstanding the vehement opposition of the countrymen of the latter (Act 18:5), during the year and a half in which he sojourned there. The converts were chiefly of the humbler classes (Co1 1:26, &c.). Crispus (Co1 1:14; Act 18:8), Erastus, and Gaius (Caius) were, however, men of rank (Rom 16:23). A variety of classes is also implied in Co1 11:22. The risk of contamination by contact with the surrounding corruptions, and the temptation to a craving for Greek philosophy and rhetoric (which Apollos' eloquent style rather tended to foster, Act 18:24, &c.) in contrast to Paul's simple preaching of Christ crucified (Co1 2:1, &c.), as well as the opposition of certain teachers to him, naturally caused him anxiety. Emissaries from the Judaizers of Palestine boasted of "letters of commendation" from Jerusalem, the metropolis of the faith. They did not, it is true, insist on circumcision in refined Corinth, where the attempt would have been hopeless, as they did among the simpler people of Galatia; but they attacked the apostolic authority of Paul (Co1 9:1-2; Co2 10:1, Co2 10:7-8), some of them declaring themselves followers of Cephas, the chief apostle, others boasting that they belonged to Christ Himself (Co1 1:12; Co2 10:7), while they haughtily repudiated all subordinate teaching. Those persons gave out themselves for apostles (Co2 11:5, Co2 11:13). The ground taken by them was that Paul was not one of the Twelve, and not an eye-witness of the Gospel facts, and durst not prove his apostleship by claiming sustenance from the Christian Church. Another section avowed themselves followers of Paul himself, but did so in a party spirit, exalting the minister rather than Christ. The followers of Apollos, again, unduly prized his Alexandrian learning and eloquence, to the disparagement of the apostle, who studiously avoided any deviation from Christian simplicity (Co1 2:1-5). In some of this last philosophizing party there may have arisen the Antinomian tendency which tried to defend theoretically their own practical immorality: hence their denial of the future resurrection, and their adoption of the Epicurean motto, prevalent in heathen Corinth, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die" (Co1 15:32). Hence, perhaps, arose their connivance at the incestuous intercourse kept up by one of the so-called Christian body with his stepmother during his father's life. The household of Chloe informed Paul of many other evils: such as contentions, divisions, and lawsuits brought against brethren in heathen law courts by professing Christians; the abuse of their spiritual gifts into occasions of display and fanaticism; the interruption of public worship by simultaneous and disorderly ministrations, and decorum violated by women speaking unveiled (contrary to Oriental usage), and so usurping the office of men, and even the holy communion desecrated by greediness and revelling on the part of the communicants. Other messengers, also, came from Corinth, consulting him on the subject of (1) the controversy about meats offered to idols; (2) the disputes about celibacy and marriage; (3) the due exercise of spiritual gifts in public worship; (4) the best mode of making the collection which he had requested for the saints at Jerusalem (Co1 16:1, &c.). Such were the circumstances which called forth the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the most varied in its topics of all the Epistles.

In Co1 5:9, "I wrote unto you in an Epistle not to company with fornicators," it is implied that Paul had written a previous letter to the Corinthians (now lost). Probably in it he had also enjoined them to make a contribution for the poor saints at Jerusalem, whereupon they seem to have asked directions as to the mode of doing so, to which he now replies (Co1 16:2). It also probably announced his intention of visiting them on way to Macedonia, and again on his return from Macedonia (Co2 1:15-16), which purpose he changed hearing the unfavorable report from Chloe's household (Co1 16:5-7), for which he was charged with (Co2 1:17). In the first Epistle which we have, the subject of fornication is alluded to only in a way, as if he were rather replying to an excuse set up after rebuke in the matter, than introducing for the first time [ALFORD]. Preceding this former letter, he seems to have paid a second visit to Corinth. For in Co2 12:4; Co2 13:1, he speaks of his intention of paying them a third visit, implying he had already twice visited them. See on Co2 2:1; Co2 13:2; also see on Co2 1:15; Co2 1:16. It is hardly likely that during his three years' sojourn at Ephesus he would have failed to revisit his Corinthian converts, which he could so readily do by sea, there being constant maritime intercourse between the two cities. This second visit was probably a short one (compare Co1 16:7); and attended with pain and humiliation (Co2 2:1; Co2 12:21), occasioned by the scandalous conduct of so many of his own converts. His milder censures having then failed to produce reformation, he wrote briefly directing them "not to company with fornicators." On their misapprehending this injunction, he explained it more fully in the Epistle, the first of the two extant (Co1 5:9, Co1 5:12). That the second visit is not mentioned in Acts is no objection to its having really taken place, as that book is fragmentary and omits other leading incidents in Paul's life; for example, his visit to Arabia, Syria, and Cilicia (Gal 1:17-21).

The PLACE OF WRITING is fixed to be Ephesus (Co1 16:8). The subscription in English Version, "From Philippi," has no authority whatever, and probably arose from a mistaken translation of Co1 16:5, "For I am passing through Macedonia." At the time of writing Paul implies (Co1 16:8) that he intended to leave Ephesus after Pentecost of that year. He really did leave it about Pentecost (A.D. 57). Compare Act 19:20. The allusion to Passover imagery in connection with our Christian Passover, Easter (Co1 5:7), makes it likely that the season was about Easter. Thus the date of the Epistle is fixed with tolerable accuracy, about Easter, certainly before Pentecost, in the third year of his residence at Ephesus, A.D. 57. For other arguments, see CONYBEARE and HOWSON'S Life and Epistles of St. Paul.

The Epistle is written in the name of Sosthenes "[our] brother." BIRKS supposes he is the same as the Sosthenes, Act 18:17, who, he thinks, was converted subsequently to that occurrence. He bears no part in the Epistle itself, the apostle in the very next verses (Co1 1:4, &c.) using the first person: so Timothy is introduced, Co2 1:1. The bearers of the Epistle were probably Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (see the subscription, Co1 16:24), whom he mentions (Co1 16:17-18) as with him then, but who he implies are about to return back to Corinth; and therefore he commends them to the regard of the Corinthians.

Next: 1 Corinthians Chapter 1