Introduction to 1st Corinthians

Here's the introduction to 1st Corinthians, and its course.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was written around the year 56 A.D. from the city of Ephesus (See 1 Cor. 16:5-8). Several years prior to this time, in A.D. 51 and 52 Paul had spent nearly 18 months living in Corinth, raising up a church there through his mission efforts (See Acts 18). By A.D. 56 it had become needful to write to them and to clear up some issues and problems that had arisen within the church there. Besides Corinth (a city of nearly 700,000 inhabitants at the time) being a great international business hub (with it's two sea ports), it was also a famous city for it's sin and immorality. Corinth was home to the temple for the Greek "goddess of love," Aphrodite. With nearly 1000 temple prostitutes promoting this wicked religion from the temple grounds you can just began to imagine the kind of grotesque vice going on around there (though we need not to ponder that, but rather Christ and His holiness). The wicked vices of the city's culture had been creeping into the church and Paul had to check the evils within the church at that time. He wrote strongly and boldly to rebuke their evils and set the church on a path to true holiness and purity. The Corinthian church had the most issues to deal with of any single church that we ever read of Paul writing to, in the New Testament. May you be blessed in your study through this series and see practically how Paul's counsel for the church of Corinth back then gives for us today some extremely important words to live by.

Blessings in Christ!

Ben