Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
After writing about the kings of the divided nation of Israel for the last 7 months, it’s time for something different. Starting today, and potentially for almost the next 2 years, I’ll be writing through the two letters of Paul to the Corinthians. You may be wondering, why Corinthians? To which I reply, why not?
While Romans is generally considered to be the most doctrine-filled book of the Bible, 1 and 2 Corinthians are sort of like the next step. These two letters address questions of doctrine that had arisen in the early church, instructions on worship services, and how to live a Christian life, among other things. It is important to remember that these two letters were written to a specific congregation in a specific city at a specific time in history. While many of the principles still apply today, we must always keep those specifics in mind as we interpret this letter for us in our modern setting today.
The city of Corinth, the location of the Corinthian church, was an important ancient city. Geographically, it controlled access to the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea, so it was a strategic city for commerce and a defense point for the military. It was a key point on trade routes in the area. Due to all of this, Corinth was considered a wealthy city. It is believed to have had a population of around 200,000 in the first century AD, not counting the 500,000 or so slaves.
Paul likely came to Corinth after preaching to the people of Athens around the year 50 AD. Some of Paul’s initial time in Corinth was recorded in Acts 18. The Corinthian church was made up of both Jews and Gentiles, as evidenced by the names we see in this letter being both Jewish and Latin. There was a Jewish synagogue in Corinth, so there was already some religion and belief in God there. But the city also had multiple temples and shrines to false gods, including the temple of Apollo.
Scholars believe that there is a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth prior to 1 Corinthians (referenced in 1 Corinthians 5:9), but it has been lost. Paul heard of how the church did not understand that previous letter, plus he heard reports of disorder in the church there (1 Corinthians 1:11). He likely received specific questions from the church, most likely after he visited Corinth in person and while he was in Ephesus (Acts 19). This resulted in his writing this letter, which we now know as 1 Corinthians. This letter was likely written during Paul’s third missionary journey, in roughly 55-56 AD.
As is typical for Paul’s letters, he begins by identifying who he is and stating his position as an apostle of Jesus Christ. While Paul was not one of the disciples who lived and ministered with Jesus while He walked the earth, he makes it clear that he was an apostle “by the will of God.” This references Paul’s conversion story (back when he went by the name Saul), which is found in Acts 9. He was appointed to be an apostle directly by Jesus through that incident on the road to Damascus.
In 1 Corinthians 1:1, Paul specifically mentions “our brother Sosthenes.” The name Sosthenes was common in Greek, so it’s hard to identify who this person was and why he was significant. He may have been a close friend of Paul’s, and we can presume that Sosthenes was known by the church in Corinth. He may have been a leader of the synagogue in Corinth who then helped Paul in his ministry.
In verse 2, Paul addresses this letter to “the church of God.” The Greek word used there for “church” also means an assembly of people. That same word was also used in a secular context to refer to a gathering of people to discuss matters of public interest. But it is clear that Paul uses that word here to refer to a spiritual gathering; it is the gathering of the people of God. They are called to be God’s holy people; they are set apart for God’s purposes.
The people of the Corinthian church are unified with all the other believers in Jesus Christ everywhere because of this holy calling and because of the God that they worship. We see this unity in the second half of verse 2: “Together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.” While Christians have different lifestyles, preferences, geographic locations, ages, races, etc. and have lived across the centuries, this one fact unifies all of us: we all call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That fact is how we today are linked to the early church in Corinth; we all worship Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Because of that, the content that Paul wrote in this letter applies to us today as well, though we do need to account for the differences in our context and the context of the letter as mentioned earlier.
Verse 3 is a pretty standard greeting for Paul when he begins letters to churches. It is identical to Romans 1:7b, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, and Philemon 1:3. Paul wishes “grace and peace” to the people from God. While this is a type of greeting, it also refers to the redemption that we have in Jesus. We are all saved by grace through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, which brings us peace with God since we now have a right standing with Him. This grace and peace have a divine origin; they are from God, not from this world.
While this letter from Paul is specifically written to the people of the first-century church in Corinth, we know it applies to us today as well since we share in that faith and redemption through Jesus Christ. Now that we have established some context of this letter, starting next week, we’ll dig into it one passage at a time and see how we as people living in the 21st-century church may grow in our faith today through these words.
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