Part 71 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series 

David Pawson shows from 1 & 2 Corinthians that the early church, as in every other era, was not perfect. But seeing how their problems were handled is a help for us. Corinth was a port city with its attendant sins which had to be dealt with in the church. Without these letters from Paul we would not have the song of love in chapter 13 or the record of Jesus’ earliest resurrected appearances in 15. David says the biggest two battles in any church are how to keep the church in the world and how to keep the world out of the church. The world was sadly entrenched in the church in Corinth and Paul sent 1 Corinthians in answer to practical issues such as division among the members, immorality, members suing each other, idolatry creeping in, relationships and roles for men and women, remarriage after divorce and getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper - whereas 2 Corinthians deals with personal insults which Paul had suffered at their hands. David untangles some of the misunderstandings about 1 Corinthians. He teaches that we are not so much to slavishly copy the practice, as to find the principle that Paul is employing.