As I said in my last post on the Life of Paul, Paul received a group of visitors from Corinth while he was in Ephesus. He had already written to the church there in a letter of which we don’t have a copy. The visiting group brought a letter from the church (of which we don’t have a copy either) that included several comments that Paul needed to address and some questions that they have for him. See that previous post for a list of these comments and questions.

1 Corinthians is written by Paul and someone named Sosthenes. This may be (but not really known) the same Sosthenes we read about in Acts 18. In Acts 18 Crispus is identified as the “ruler” of the synagogue in Corinth, but he and his whole family became Christians. Later in that chapter, the Jews complained to the local Roman proconsul Gallio. Gallio refuses to hear their complaint because it dealt with differences of opinion about their religious beliefs. After he refused to hear the case, the Jews beat the synagogue ruler named Sosthenes. We aren’t told why they beat him, nor when he became ruler.

I suggest the possibility (but it’s only my opinion) that when Crispus became a Christian he either resigned as synagogue leader or was kicked out. Sosthenes then might have been his successor. As to why Sosthenes was beaten, it may have been because of a perceived failure on his part in prosecuting Paul, or he may have expressed sympathy for Paul or even openness to Christianity. Whatever the reason, his falling out of favor with the Jews in conjunction with their failure to silence Paul may have either begun or solidified a friendship with Paul. I conjectured in Life of Paul 23 that Sosthenes may have left Corinth when Paul left. Assuming this is the same person, somehow he ended up in Ephesus with Paul to help him write the letter to Corinth.

After thanking God for the Corinthian believers, Paul immediately launches into one of his biggest criticisms of the actions of the church – their disunity and divisions. He says that “Chloe’s people” (which may have been some of the visitors who came to see him) have reported divisions based on following specific leaders – namely Paul, Peter, and Apollos (or none of the above because they “follow Christ”).

He then leaves this topic for a while to discuss how the world views Christ, but he returns to the topic in chapter 3 by pointing out that all these leaders are merely tools used by God to bring about their spiritual growth. Here is Paul’s full discussion of the topic.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 and 1 Corinthians 3

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power…. But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.“

Paul addressed this problem of division in the church interspersed with a theological treatise on utilizing wisdom provided by the Holy Spirit. He also addressed two other problems interspersed with a discussion on the relationship of the apostles to the members of the church. The other two problems were big ones in Corinthian society.

One was sexual immorality. Corinth was well-known in the ancient world for its liberal sexual practices and inclusion of sexual acts in the worship of pagan gods. These liberalities spilled over into and influenced the early church there. Here’s what Paul had to say about it.

1 Corinthians 5 and 6:12-20

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

He then quotes a couple of statements that they apparently used in their letter to him and discusses the topic further using those statements as examples.

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Related to his comments about judging within the church, Paul also brought up a problem he’s become aware of regarding lawsuits against other believers. He says that this is not protraying a good picture of Christ to the onlooking world. He says, in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 he says,

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!“

1 Corinthians is a rather lengthy book and Paul deals with a lot of material in it. I’ve covered most of the first 6 chapters here. The rest of the letter relates to questions asked by the Corinthian church and we’ll look at those next time!