Welcome to the beginning of our new expository series that was requested by you!!! We are very excited to be getting into this letter to the Corinthian church and seeing what was going on.
Notes:
Dating and Authorship
The first letter to the church of Corinth in the Bible was written by Paul the apostle. It is believed that based on current research and dating that this letter was written at approximately 55 AD during the second ministry journey of Paul (see Acts 18:1-17).
While this may be recorded as 1 Corinthians, there are some reasons to believe that this is not the first letter Paul ever wrote to the church of Corinth. In Chapter 5 verse 9 it reads, “I wrote to you in my letter…” This of course alludes to a previous letter where Paul gives instruction and a warning that is specific to this church. While there are still some things that are specific in this letter, it would seem that there were still enough general principles and teachings to not be discounted in the discovery of New Testamental Scripture.
The question then becomes, why not include the previous letter, and make this 2nd Corinthians, and the following 3rd Corinthians. Scholars like Craig Blomberg suggest that “it did not have sufficient instruction on enough topics of abiding significance to be sufficiently valuable to the broader Christian community. We must remember that the biblical writers were inspired only when they wrote what now forms Scripture and not in everything they ever spoke or wrote.” This is also not to suggest that the church decided the canon, but there does seem to be a method in understanding what was inspired for the entire church, and what was perhaps good writing but not inspired by the Spirit.
We are also very confident in the authorship of Paul due to the sign in at the beginning, and the details discussed about previous letters and journeys of Paul. There is no concrete reason to doubt that the author is Paul whether by personal writing or rote.
Historical Background/Setting
Corinth was a prominent city of Greece and used to be the capital of the ancient provinces of Achaia
The primary religion was a cult that venerated Aphrodite (goddess of love, beauty, and fertility) of which is also identified with Roman’s Venus. There was a summit of Acrocorinth that was dominated by this temple dedicated to Aphrodite for worship. Within this temple served over 1,000 sacred prostitutes of slave-priestesses.
A seaport city destroyed by Romans in 146 BC and rebuilt in 46 BC by Julius Caesar. After 27 BC it became the Roman capital of Achaia.
Purpose of Letter
Lack of unity in the church. There are divisions made based upon the teachings of others (1:10-17). There was also a lot of self-centeredness that built up pride amongst the body
Setting barriers due to the increasing influence of pagan sexual ethics invading the church
Dealing with the topic of the resurrection of the body.
Lexicons:
Lexham κλητος (klētos). adj. called. Describes those who have been called. This adjective is related to the verb καλέω (kaleō, “to call”) and is used in the NT only of those called by God (e.g., Matt 22:14). Those who respond to God’s call in faith are called (klētos; Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2, 24; Jude 1:1).
DBL: called, implying relationship and/or task. Invited
Louw Nida: Called
Biblico: called, invited, welcomed, appointed
Louw Nida: to dedicate to the service of and to loyalty to deity—‘to consecrate, consecration, to dedicate to God, dedication
DBL: dedicate, to service and loyalty to God, make holy, sanctify, to cause one to have the quality of holiness. Honor as holy, hallow, feel reverence, regard as holy.
Lexham: To consecrate, to make holy, sanctify, hallow, treat as holy. Describes the divine act of setting aside as sacred. Can also refer to a human attitude of reverence shown to divine things.
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