Corinth [in the first century] was a city in the province of Achaia located at the end of a narrow isthmus that links central Greece with the Peloponnesus.
It was one of the oldest and most powerful cities of ancient Greece and was an important trading center under the Roman empire.
The Apostle Paul made his first visit to Corinth about the year 50 A.D. and remained for eighteen months. He returned at least once, five or six years later, and wrote at least four letters to the congregation he had founded there.
The Corinthians were folk like us.
The name “Lord” is very prominent in I Corinthians: 1:31; 2:8,16; 3:20; 4:4; 5:4-5; 6:13 etc.. Much confusion had crept into the church at Corinth because the believers had failed to recognize Jesus as Lord!
Corinth was the most important city of all Greece in Paul’s day. Its wealth was fabulous. Men spent their days in tournaments and speeches. Luxury, dissipation and public immorality were rampant among the great industrial and seafaring population. Corinth attracted great crowds of foreigners from the East and West. Their gods were gods of pleasure and lust. There was also much culture and art. The city abounded in studios of language and schools of philosophy.
The city’s reputation became so well known that its name became an adjective. To be proud, arrogant, luxurious, wealthy and promiscuous came to be described as ‘Corinthian’. We have a comparative adjective today in our 21st century world – it is to be ‘American’.
It may be surprising to us that Paul brought his strongest message of holiness to the church at Corinth! He rebuked them strongly, corrected their behavior and encouraged their attempts to follow Christ individually and as members of congregations.
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