Amid the marble splendor and moral decay of Corinth—a city where trade flourished, philosophy thrived, and Aphrodite ruled the heart—Paul planted one of the most dynamic yet troubled churches of the apostolic era. His two epistles to the Corinthians unveil not only the struggles of early Christian community life but also the vast pastoral heart and theological brilliance of the apostle who shepherded it.
The City and the Church
Corinth, the brilliant metropolis of Achaia, stood like a jeweled clasp fastening the Ionian and Aegean seas, a vital conduit of commerce between the East and the West. Enriched by trade, adorned with art, and notorious for sensuality, it was a city intoxicated with its own wealth and wit. Its celebrated temple to Aphrodite, with its thousand temple prostitutes (ἱερόδουλοι), cast a shadow of unrestrained vice over its sun-drenched streets. In this setting of grandeur and depravity, Paul founded what would become the most significant Christian church in Greece.
His labor there extended over eighteen months, followed by a shorter period of three months, with possibly an intervening visit (cf. 2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). The congregation reflected the full spectrum of Hellenistic life—intellectual vibrancy, moral ambiguity, and religious fervor. It boasted of eloquence and knowledge, and “came behind in no gift,” yet it bore deep scars: factionalism, philosophical pride, moral laxity, and liturgical abuses. Indeed, the disorder was so profound that Paul, even from afar, was compelled to excommunicate a man guilty of incestuous defilement—an act that would shock modern sensibilities if the apostle himself had not documented it so clearly (cf. 1 Cor. 5:1 sqq.).
Party spirit ran rampant, exploiting the names of Cephas, Apollos, James, and even Christ for sectarian ends—a proto-schismatic impulse that revealed a community unsettled and easily agitated (cf. footnote 1138). Add to this the allure of worldly wisdom and rhetorical splendor, and one finds a congregation both lively and perilously fragmented. Numerous questions of ethics, doctrine, and discipline emerged, demanding apostolic correction and wise pastoral intervention.
Pastoral Versatility and Theological Range
These two epistles to the Corinthians stand as monuments to Paul’s astonishing intellectual breadth and pastoral agility. They range from rebuke to consolation, from sharp theological insight to tender appeals of love. No deviation is left unaddressed; no weakness unhealed. To the erring, Paul offers reproof; to the penitent, grace. The letters do not follow a singular, dogmatic arc as Romans or Galatians do. Instead, they unfold as living dialogues—ethical, ecclesiastical, deeply personal, and profoundly pastoral. Yet even here, doctrine is never absent: the resurrection, most notably, receives its fullest exposition in these letters.
I. The First Epistle to the Corinthians
Composed in Ephesus around the spring of A.D. 57, the First Epistle responded to a flurry of crises and inquiries arising from the troubled Corinthian church (cf. 1 Cor. 16:5, 8; Acts 19:10, 21; 20:31). Paul had previously written another letter—now lost—referenced in 1 Cor. 5:9. This surviving epistle engages a kaleidoscope of issues, offering corrective teaching and urgent admonition.
Paul begins by setting divine wisdom over against the hollow brilliance of Greek philosophy. He denounces schism and celebrates the unity of the body of Christ. He exhorts believers to recognize their corporate sanctity as God’s temple and rebukes sexual immorality with severe clarity. On marriage and celibacy, he counsels freedom and conscience, speaking not by command but as one graced with apostolic wisdom (7:25).
He addresses the thorny question of meat sacrificed to idols, balancing Jewish scruples with Gentile liberty. He affirms the duty of financial support for ministers and restores dignity to Christian worship, correcting improprieties in both dress and conduct at the Lord’s Table. His treatment of spiritual gifts culminates in the hymn to love—a lyrical apex of Christian ethics (ch. 13). The resurrection, however, takes center stage in chapter 15, where Paul builds his majestic doctrine upon Christ’s own rising, and the transformative hope it guarantees to all believers.
Dean Stanley aptly observes that this epistle “gives a clearer insight than any other portion of the New Testament into the institutions, feelings and opinions of the church of the earlier period of the apostolic age.” While not the earliest chronologically, it is the fullest documentary mirror of a living apostolic church.
II. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Written later that same year, probably from Macedonia and perhaps from Philippi (cf. 2 Cor. 7:5; 8:1), the Second Epistle is an open window into the apostle’s soul. It is less a treatise than a sacred autobiography—marked by emotional turbulence, theological reflection, and pastoral earnestness. The intervening news brought by Titus had informed Paul of both repentance and residual strife within the Corinthian church. Moreover, the shadow of Judaizing emissaries once again darkened his labor.
Paul defends his ministry with passionate eloquence, not from vanity, but necessity. He extols the ministry of reconciliation, preaches Christ as the content and goal of all apostolic service, and acknowledges his own weakness as the arena for divine strength. This epistle reveals a shepherd heart burning with holy love and wounded by opposition, yet never ceasing in its devotion to Christ and his people. He renews his call for the offering to aid the poor in Jerusalem, and frames the act of giving as an expression of divine grace.
The letter pulses with spiritual truth: God’s power perfected in weakness; the Spirit’s liberty; the glory that outshines Moses; the eternal house awaiting the weary tent of this life. No New Testament document so intimately portrays the interior world of an apostle who bore in his body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifest in him.
Leading Thoughts from the First Epistle
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?” (1:13). “It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save them that believe” (1:21). “Christ…the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:24). “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (2:2). “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (2:14). “Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (3:16). “Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ” (4:1). “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (4:20). “Purge out the old leaven” (5:7). “All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient” (6:12). “Glorify God in your body” (6:20). “Ye were bought with a price” (7:23). “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (10:12). “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (12:4). “Now abideth faith, hope, love…and the greatest of these is love” (13:13). “By the grace of God I am what I am” (15:9). “Be steadfast, immovable…abounding in the work of the Lord” (15:58).
Leading Thoughts from the Second Epistle
“As the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ” (1:5). “Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy” (1:24). “Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts” (3:2). “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (3:6). “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (3:17). “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (4:7). “Our light affliction…worketh…an eternal weight of glory” (4:17). “We walk by faith, not by sight” (5:7). “The love of Christ constraineth us” (5:14). “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature” (5:17). “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (5:19). “Be ye reconciled to God” (5:20). “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9). “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (13:8). “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you all” (13:14).
