1 Corinthians

Paul spends 18 months in Corinth, A.D. 50-52. In Paul's day, Corinth was a double seaport town on the isthmus linking the Peloponnesian Peninsula to the mainland of Greece. It was a wealthy city and home of the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love. In classical Greek drama, a play's whore is often known as "the Corinthian girl". Such is the notorious immorality of Corinth.

For Paul, Corinth was nothing but trouble. In the winter of A.D. 54, a delegation from Corinth arrives in Ephesus to meet with Paul. They inform Paul that the church in Corinth has (1) developed factions and divisions among the believers, and that (2) believers are suing one another in the secular courts, and that (3) rampant sexual immorality is spreading throughout the church. In 1 Corinthians Paul addresses each of these issues, and then in chapter seven, he goes on to address a series of questions presented to him in a letter delivered by the delegation. Paul's responses are blunt and not particularly kind: he tells the people of Corinth to stop being such big babies and to "grow up"! Listen to Logos Bible Study's Dr. Bill Creasy as he explores Paul's response to a church rife with rebellion, division, immorality, and gross misuses of God's gifts to his people.