Who Are the Corinthians

Paul spent a lot of time in Ancient Corinth writing letters, which became the seventh and eighth books of the of the New Testament which are also called 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.  Corinth was a lovely little town, located in the southern part of Greece on the Isthmus of Corinth, but the Corinthians were thought to be sinners, sex freaks, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, and greedy drunken revilers.  Jesus gave Paul a vision while he was in Troas (modern Turkey) where a Macedonian man asks for his help while Paul was on his way to Asia.  When Paul sees this vision, he concludes that God is telling him to go to Macedonia to preach the gospel.  Corinth was about halfway between Athens and Sparta and it was home to major seaports, so it was a good place to try to convert people to Christianity.

Corinth had a large following of the cult of Aphrodite and her temple was atop the Acrocorinth (a monolithic rock overseeing the city), and her worship involved temple prostitution.  Paul hears that a man is living with his father’s wife and another guy is living with his stepmom and it bothers him that others see this as normal behavior.  Paul has his hands full and he wants the Corinthians to examine their lives and repent for their sins.  Everyone else realizes that these people are a lost cause, but Paul never gives up, because he knows that God invented forgiveness.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a Paul writes, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”  Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that love isn’t merely a feeling, but it is a way of relating to others.  Paul instructs them on what values they need to hold close and what they need to let go of.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #177.