Monday, May 14, 2018

Pauline Epistles Background SERIES: 1 CORINTHIANS

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth,...
1 Corinthians 1:2

"....one of the most important letters that Paul wrote to the churches he had begun. The church at Corinth had been established on one of Paul's missionary journeys.
 
The city of Corinth was believed to be a city of about 600,000 people when this was written to them. One of the outskirts of Corinth was Cenchrea, which was a seaport. This was a thriving city with
much evil. They were thought of as being one of the wealthiest cities of the area. There was a mixture of nationalities here. Greeks and Romans made up most the people.
This city had many false gods and goddesses. The most prominent of the false worship was of Aphrodite. There were over 1000 prostitutes working to win converts to this very sensual religion. This was a very evil city. The democratic way of life was foremost here, and debates were allowed on all subjects. This perhaps, was the reason Paul had an easy time being heard at first.
 
The most serious problem of the Corinthian church was worldliness, an unwillingness to divorce the culture around them. Most of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways."
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