Every time I begin a study of a new book of the Bible I do so with mixed feelings because, on the one hand, the book is a challenge. It is exciting because it is filled with thoughts that we need to make our own. And yet, at the same time, any book of the Bible, as the Holy Spirit speaks through it, as we trust He will and as He promises to do when we study it, is going to produce changes in us. It is going to challenge us in areas of our discipleship. It is going to address us in areas in which we need to grow.
While that is true with every book of the Bible, it is especially true with 1 Corinthians. This book deals with a very normal church, and all the problems that exist in a normal church. And it is not possible to read about these things, and think about them seriously, without coming to terms with what it means to serve the Lord in these areas. Consequently, we can approach a study of it with great expectation.
It really goes together with three others, coming from roughly the same period of Paul’s life. First there is Romans, which immediately precedes 1 Corinthians and which is the great doctrinal book of the New Testament. Second is Galatians, which goes with Romans in a sense because Galatians defends the doctrines that are developed there so well. And then the third and fourth books are these two great letters to the church at Corinth which deal with the application of these doctrines and the life of the church in general.
The city of Corinth was an interesting city. It had a long history and had an interesting location. It was located on the narrow isthmus of land that divided the northern portion of Greece, known as Attica, from the southern portion of Greece, called the Peloponnese. The northern portion had Athens as its capital, and the southern portion had Sparta as its capital. And in between on this narrow isthmus of land lay the city of Corinth.
It was like many cities that are at a transition point geographically. It had one notable feature. In ancient days it was difficult and dangerous to sail, and if a journey could be taken by land it was always safer and generally easier than traveling by sea. In the case of Corinth, something interesting had been devised. They found that because the land was not too high at that point, it was possible at times even to sail a ship into the Corinthian harbor on one side and drag the ship up over the land down to the other side in order to avoid having to sail the whole way around the southern portion of Greece. It would save about two hundred miles of sea travel. And although it seems to us like a terribly difficult thing to do, it was relatively easy compared with the sailing.
As a result of that, a great deal of trade grew up. It was a city of commerce, and thus was a great city for the mixture of races. It was also an immoral place as many port cities are. In fact, Corinth was so known for its debauchery that they even used the name Corinth in the Greek language to describe what it meant to be perfectly debauched. To behave like a Corinthian was about the worst thing you could say about somebody in moral terms. The city was destroyed by the Roman general, Mummius, in 146 B.C. Years later, Julius Caesar recognized again its strategic importance, and rebuilt the city. By the time Paul arrived, Corinth had been reestablished and was the important trade city of that portion of the world.