epistle of ours (2:15). If any will not work, neither let him eat (3:10). Be not weary in well-doing
(3:13). The God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved
entire, without blame at the coming (ἐ–ϊν –ͅϊτῇ παρουσίᾳ) our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:23).§ 90. The Epistles to the Corinthians.
Corinth was the metropolis of Achaia, on the bridge of two seas, an emporium of trade
between the East and the West—wealthy, luxurious, art-loving, devoted to the worship of Aphrodite.
Here Paul established the most important church in Greece, and labored, first eighteen months,
then three months, with, perhaps, a short visit between (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). The church presented
all the lights and shades of the Greek nationality under the influence of the Gospel. It was rich in
"all utterance and all knowledge," "coming behind in no gift," but troubled by the spirit of sect and
party, infected with a morbid desire for worldly wisdom and brilliant eloquence, with scepticism
and moral levity—nay, to some extent polluted with gross vices, so that even the Lord’s table and
love feasts were desecrated by excesses, and that the apostle, in his absence, found himself compelled
to excommunicate a particularly offensive member who disgraced the Christian profession.^1137 It
was distracted by Judaizers and other troublers, who abused the names of Cephas, James, Apollos,
and even of Christ (as extra-Christians), for sectarian ends.^1138 A number of questions of morality
and casuistry arose in that lively, speculative, and excitable community, which the apostle had to
answer from a distance before his second (or third) and last visit.
Hence, these Epistles abound in variety of topics, and show the extraordinary versatility of
the mind of the writer, and his practical wisdom in dealing with delicate and complicated questions
and unscrupulous opponents. For every aberration he has a word of severe censure, for every danger
a word of warning, for every weakness a word of cheer and sympathy, for every returning offender
a word of pardon and encouragement. The Epistles lack the unity of design which characterizes
Galatians and Romans. They are ethical, ecclesiastical, pastoral, and personal, rather than dogmatic
and theological, although some most important doctrines, as that on the resurrection, are treated
more fully than elsewhere.
I. The First Epistle to the Corinthians was composed in Ephesus shortly before Paul’s
departure for Greece, in the spring of a.d. 57.^1139 It had been preceded by another one, now lost ( 1
Cor. 5:9). It was an answer to perplexing questions concerning various disputes and evils which
disturbed the peace and spotted the purity of the congregation. The apostle contrasts the foolish
wisdom of the gospel with the wise folly of human philosophy; rebukes sectarianism; unfolds the
spiritual unity and harmonious variety of the church of Christ, her offices and gifts of grace, chief
among which is love; warns against carnal impurity as a violation of the temple of God; gives(^1137) Such scandals would be almost incredible in a Christian church if the apostle did not tell us so. As to the case of incest, 1
Cor. 5:1 sqq., we should remember that Corinth was the most licentious city in all Greece, and that in the splendid temple of her
patron-goddess on the Acropolis there were kept more than a thousand sacred female slaves (ἱερόδουλοι) for the pleasure of
strangers. Κορινθία κόρη was the name for a courtesan. Chastity was therefore one of the most difficult virtues to practice there;
and hence the apostle’s advice of a radical cure by absolute abstinence under the peculiar circumstances of the time.
(^1138) The question of the Corinthian parties (with special reference to the Christ party) I have discussed at length in my Hist. of
the Ap. Church, pp. 285-291. Baur’s essay on this subject (1831) was the opening chapter in the development of the Tübingen
theory.
(^1139) Comp. 1 Cor. 16:5, 8; 5:7, 8; Acts 19:10, 21; 20: 31.
A.D. 1-100.