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3. Factions and Status at Corinth

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1 Corinthians 1:1-3   Paul sent this letter to the Corinthians along with Sosthenes, the synagogue official (Acts 18:17). Paul calls them sanctified saints, emphasizing the idea of separation from the world. Lastly, he includes a statement that they are part of the larger family of God throughout the world.

1 Corinthians 1:10-13   Chloe was probably a business owner in Corinth or Ephesus. Her people were likely employees (or slaves) who reported to Paul about what was happening in the church at Corinth. The main issue he addresses first is divisiveness.

Julio-Claudian Influence in Corinth

  • Julius Caesar decided to found Corinth, naming it after himself.
  • Corinth had twelve voting tribes, most of which were named after family members of Julius and his adopted son, Augustus.
  • The names on coins likewise show a great emphasis on the Julio-Claudian extended family.
  • Nevertheless, the emperors and their family members were badly behaved by any standards. Their lust for power, ruthlessness in executing the opposition, willingness to commit adultery, and hubris in divinizing deceased predecessors combined to provide the Corinthian people with terrible examples.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:5-9; 4:1   Paul’s message was simple. We’re all on the same team. Paul and Apollos are both servants of Christ who are stewarding God’s mysteries. Don’t divide; instead pursue unity.

    Wealth in Corinth

    • Most of the Corinthians were not wealthy (1 Cor 1:26).
    • Corinth was known for lavish spending.
    • “For it is not to furnish gymnastic or musical contests that the Corinthians need so much money, but they buy bears and panthers for the hunting shows which they often exhibit in their theatres. And they themselves by reason of their wealth are naturally able to support these great expenses.” (Pseudo-Julian, On Behalf of the Argives 409a)1

      • Corinthian Bronze

      • “How great was the wealth which was plundered or burnt may be judged from the fact that we are told that all the Corinthian bronze work, which enjoys so high a repute throughout the world, was a survival from the conflagration. For the damage inflicted on this rich city in itself caused a higher value to be placed upon Corinthian bronze, because, by the melting together of countless statues and images by the flames, brass, gold and silver ore were fused into one common mass.”2 (Florus, Summary of Roman History32)
      • “Corinthian bronze is valued before silver and almost before gold…This is a compound that was produced by accident, when Corinth was burned at the time of its capture; and there has been a wonderful mania among many people for possessing this metal.” (Pliny the Elder, Natural History1, 6)3
      • “Nine of the ten gates were overlaid with gold and silver, their side-posts and lintels likewise, but the other gate, outside the sanctuary, was of Corinthian bronze, and far more valuable than those with silver and gold plating.”4 (Josephus, Jewish War 201)

        • Corinthian Rulers

        • aedile (aediles): two elected each year to maintain streets, public works, the forums, public revenue, and judge cases
        • duovir (duoviri): two elected each year to oversee political, religious, social, and legal systems
        • flamen (flamines): a priest who oversaw worship, festivals, and temple management for a a particular god like Jupiter or the divinized Julius Caesar
        • Augustalis (Augustales): wealthy nonaristocrats who used their wealth to promote the honor of the Julio-Claudians through monuments, buildings, and festivals.
        • agonothetes (agonothetae): president of the Isthmian games who underwrote most of the expenses (highest honor in the city)
        • quaestor (quaestores): an administrator who managed the city treasury and oversaw public contracts

          • Wealthy Individuals

          • Gnaeus Babbius Philinus: “…was not prepared to take the chance that his successor might not agree with the projected monument! The absence of his father’s name suggests that Babbius was an ex-slave, which is confirmed by his servile cognomen Philinus or “Darling.” His origins perhaps explain his sense of insecurity.”5
          • Crispus and Sosthenes: each called a ἀρχισυνάγωγος (archisynagogos), a title honoring benefactors who donated to the synagogue
          • Gaius: as the host to the whole church (Rom 16:23), he must have been wealthy enough to have a large house
          • Erastus: city treasurer, which likely means he was a quaestor though we also have an inscription labelling (a different?) Erastus aedile
          • Phoebe: benefactor of Paul and many others who lived in Cenchreae and served as a deacon (Rom 16:1-2)

            • Paul Reveled in the Corinthian Christians’ Low Status

            • 1 Cor 1:26  Not many of them were wise, powerful, or of noble birth.
            • 1 Cor 6:9-11 Some of them were sexually immoral, thieves, and drunks.
            • 1 Cor 1:27-29  God’s wisdom was to work with the foolish, weak, low, and despised in the world to shame the wise, strong, and exalted.
            • 1 Cor 4:7-13 Paul put himself and the other apostles as last of all, inverting the typical power structure
              •  Bibliography

              Elder, Pliny the. Natural History: Books 33-35. Translated by H. Rackham. Vol. 394. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1952.

              Florus, Lucius Annaeus. Epitome of Roman History. Translated by Edward Seymour Forster. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1960.

              Josephus, Flavius. The Jewish War. Translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univerity, 2017.

              Julian. The Works of the Emperor Julian. Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright. Vol. 3. Loeb Classical Library. London, UK: William Henemann, 1913.

              Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology. 3rd ed. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002.

              1. Julian, The Works of the Emperor Julian, trans. Wilmer Cave Wright, vol. 3, Loeb Classical Library (London, UK: William Henemann, 1913), 89-91.
              2. Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome of Roman History, trans. Edward Seymour Forster, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1960), 143.
              3. Pliny the Elder, Natural History: Books 33-35, trans. H. Rackham, vol. 394, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1952).
              4. Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, trans. Martin Hammond, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford, UK: Oxford Univerity, 2017), 271.
              5. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology, 3rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 27.
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