About 1 Corinthians
The cross of Christ is the power and wisdom of God that exposes all human boasting - every problem in the Corinthian church traced back to forgetting the crucified Christ.
"Love never fails."
1 Corinthians 13:8
Written
circa AD 53-55
Author
Paul
Genre
Epistle
Position
7th NT book - Paul's Letters
Authorship
The Apostle Paul, written from Ephesus during his third missionary journey. He founded the Corinthian church on his second journey (Acts 18) and wrote this letter in response to troubling reports and questions from the congregation.
Historical Context
Corinth was the most cosmopolitan city in Greece - a wealthy port city known for sexual immorality, religious pluralism, and philosophical debate. The church reflected its culture: divided by personalities, tolerant of immorality, confused about spiritual gifts and the resurrection.
Purpose
To address divisions, correct immorality, clarify confusion about food offered to idols, marriage, spiritual gifts, and resurrection - and to call the church back to the gospel as the foundation of all Christian life.
Key Message
The cross of Christ is the power and wisdom of God that exposes all human boasting - every problem in the Corinthian church traced back to forgetting the crucified Christ.
Book Structure
Interesting Facts
1 Corinthians 13 - the love chapter - is the most requested passage at Christian weddings worldwide.
1 Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter - contains the earliest creedal statement about the resurrection (15:3-5), within 25 years of the event.
Paul mentions the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 in the earliest written account of the institution - predating the Gospels.
The spiritual gifts passage (chs. 12-14) has been debated and practiced in radically different ways across 2,000 years of church history.