Download: Inspiration and Divine Speech in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 13:1-2; 14:2-4, 27-33

Divine Speech in 1 Corinthians

Inspiration in the Greco-Roman World

Cybele and Ecstatic Dancing

Bacchus (Dionysus) and Ecstatic Prophecies

Nymphs Inspiring the Sibyls

Oracles

Scripture Parallels Involving Music

The Oracle of Delphi

Opinions about the Oracle at Delphi

Divine Speech in 1 Corinthians

Aeschylus. Agamenmnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides. Translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Vol. 2. Loeb Classical Library, edited by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Bowden, Hugh. Mystery Cults in the Ancient World. London, England: Thames and Hudson, 2023.

Cassidy, William. “Dionysos, Ecstasy, and the Forbidden.” Historical Reflections  (Winter 1991: 23-44.

Cicero. De Senectute, De Amicitia, De Divinatione. Translated by William Armistead Falconer. Vol. 20. Loeb Classical Library, edited by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1923.

Euripides. Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus. Translated by David Kovacs. Vol. 6. Loeb Classical Library, edited by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.

Laertius, Diogenes. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Pamela Mensch. Edited by James Miller. New York, NY: Oxford, 2020.

Livy. History of Rome 38-39. Translated by Evan T. Sage. Vol. 11. Loeb Classical Library, edited by T. E. Page. London, England: William Heinemann, 1936.

Lucan. The Civil War 1-10 (Pharsalia). Translated by J. D. Duff. Loeb Classical Library, edited by T. E. Page. London, England: William Heinemann, 1962.

Pausanias. Guide to Greece. Translated by Peter Levi. Penguin Classics. London, UK: Penguin, 1979.

Plato. The Statesman, Philebus, Ion. Translated by W. R. M. Lamb Harold N. Fowler. Vol. 8. Loeb Classical Library, edited by G. P. Goold. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925.

Plato. Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles. Translated by R. G. Bury. Vol. 9. Loeb Classical Library, edited by G. P. Goold. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929.

Plutarch. Isis and Osiris; the E at Delphi; the Oracles at Delphi; the Obsolescence of Oracles. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Vol. 5. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1962.

Sicily, Diodorus of. Library of History. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 2. Loeb Classical Library, edited by E. H. Warmington. London, England: William Heinemann, 1935.

Strabo. The Geography. Translated by Duane W. Roller. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020.

Virgil. Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics. New York, NY: Penguin, 2006.

1. Plato, Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles, trans. R. G. Bury, vol. 9, Loeb Classical Library, ed. G. P. Goold (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929), 187, 89.
2. Cicero, De Senectute, De Amicitia, De Divinatione, trans. William Armistead Falconer, vol. 20, Loeb Classical Library, ed. Jeffrey Henderson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1923), 311.
3. Plato, The Statesman, Philebus, Ion, trans. W. R. M. Lamb Harold N. Fowler, vol. 8, Loeb Classical Library, ed. G. P. Goold (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925), 421-3.
4. Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History, trans. C. H. Oldfather, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library, ed. E. H. Warmington (London, England: William Heinemann, 1935), 363.
5. Strabo, The Geography, trans., Duane W. Roller (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020), 458, 60.
6. Hugh Bowden, Mystery Cults in the Ancient World (London, England: Thames and Hudson, 2023), 127-8.
7. Euripides, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus, trans. David Kovacs, vol. 6, Loeb Classical Library, ed. Jeffrey Henderson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 37.
8. Livy, History of Rome 38-39, trans. Evan T. Sage, vol. 11, Loeb Classical Library, ed. T. E. Page (London, England: William Heinemann, 1936), 255.
9. William Cassidy, “Dionysos, Ecstasy, and the Forbidden,” Historical Reflections  (Winter 1991: 26.
10. Pausanias, Guide to Greece, trans. Peter Levi, Penguin Classics (London, UK: Penguin, 1979), 435-8.
11. Virgil, Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics (New York, NY: Penguin, 2006), 184-5.
12. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, trans., Pamela Mensch (New York, NY: Oxford, 2020), 228.
13. Plutarch, Isis and Osiris; the E at Delphi; the Oracles at Delphi; the Obsolescence of Oracles, trans. Frank Cole Babbitt, vol. 5, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1962), 397.
14. Plutarch, 319.
15. Plutarch, 377.
16. Plutarch, 469-75.
17. Plutarch, 495-97.
18. Strabo,  411-2.
19. Plutarch, 499-501.
20. Aeschylus, Agamenmnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library, ed. Jeffrey Henderson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 359-61.
21. Laertius,  389.
22. Cicero, 503.
23. Lucan, The Civil War 1-10 (Pharsalia), trans. J. D. Duff, Loeb Classical Library, ed. T. E. Page (London, England: William Heinemann, 1962), 245, 51, 53.

Download: Communion in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Dining in the Ancient World

Housing Architecture

Calculating the Members of the Church

Unequal Food Distribution, Drunkenness, and Status

The Lord’s Supper as a Unifying Event

Cicero. Letters to Quintus and Brutus, Letter Fragments, Letter to Octavian, Invectives, Handbook of Electioneering. Translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Vol. 28. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.

Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Translated by Peter Green. 3rd ed. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Martial. On the Spectacles, Epigrams 1-4. Translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, edited by G. P. Goold. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.

Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. Keys to First Corinthians: Revisiting the Major Issues. Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2009.

Nemes, Steven. Eating Christ’s Flesh: A Case for Memorialism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023.

Plutarch. Moralia: Table-Talk 7-9; the Dialogue on Love. Translated by Jr. Edwin L. Minar. Vol. 9. Loeb Classical Library. London, UK: William Henemann, 1961.

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics. Translated by A. A. Long Margaret Graver. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2015.

Theissen, Gerd. The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth. Translated by John H. Schütz. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.

Walters, James C. “Paul and the Politics of Meals in Roman Corinth.” In Corinth in Context. Edited by Daniel N. Schowalter Steven J. Friesen, and James C. Walters. Leiden, NL: Brill, 2010.

Younger, Pliny the. Letters and Panegyrius. Translated by Betty Radice. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, edited by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.

1. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Letters on Ethics, trans. A. A. Long Margaret Graver (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2015), 524-5.
2. Plutarch, Moralia: Table-Talk 7-9; the Dialogue on Love, trans. Jr. Edwin L. Minar, vol. 9, Loeb Classical Library (London, UK: William Henemann, 1961), 143.
3. Cicero, Letters to Quintus and Brutus, Letter Fragments, Letter to Octavian, Invectives, Handbook of Electioneering, trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, vol. 28, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 433-5.
4. Pliny the Younger, Letters and Panegyrius, trans. Betty Radice, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, ed. Jeffrey Henderson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969), 95-7.
5. Martial, On the Spectacles, Epigrams 1-4, trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, ed. G. P. Goold (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 245.
6. Martial, 347.
7. Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires, trans. Peter Green, 3rd ed. (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 31.
8. Asuming Romans was written from Corinth (Rom 16.1).
9. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Keys to First Corinthians: Revisiting the Major Issues (Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2009), 192.
10. Gerd Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth, trans. John H. Schütz (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock), 148.
11. James C. Walters, “Paul and the Politics of Meals in Roman Corinth,” in Corinth in Context, ed. Daniel N. Schowalter Steven J. Friesen, and James C. Walters (Leiden, NL: Brill, 2010), 359.
12. Walters,  in Corinth in Context, 362-3.
13. Steven Nemes, Eating Christ’s Flesh: A Case for Memorialism (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023), 88-9.

Download: Women in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:2-6, 10, 14-15; 14:34-36

Women in the City

Standards for Christian Women in 1 Corinthians

Headship and Head Coverings for Men

Head Coverings for Women

Women with Short Hair

Because of the Angels

Hair Length for Men and Women

Women Remain Silent

Bibliography

Bailey, Kenneth E. Paul through Mediterranean Eyes. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.

Chrysostom, Dio. Discourses 61-80, Fragments, Letters. Translated by H. Lamar Crosby. Vol. 5. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1951.

Cicero. Philippics 1-6. Translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Loeb Classical Library. Cambrdige, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Fitzmyer, Joseph A. First Corinthians. Vol. 32. The Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Gill, David W. J. “The Importance of Roman Portraiture for Head-Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.” Tyndale Bulletin 41, no. 2 (1990): 245-60.

Horace. Satires and Epistles. Translated by Niall Rudd. London, England: Penguin, 2005.

Keener, Craig S. Paul, Women & Wives. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.

Martin, Dale B. The Corinthian Body. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995.

McGinn, Thomas A. J. Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Plutarch. Moralia 1a-86a. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Henemann, 1928.

Plutarch. Moralia 263d-351b. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Vol. 4. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1962.

Sebesta, Judith L. “Symbolism in the Costume of the Roman Woman.” In The World of Roman Costume. Edited by Sebesta and Bonfante. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.

Tacitus, Cornelius. The Annals. Translated by John Jackson. Vol. 3. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1951.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Vol. 13. Nigtc. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000.

Winter, Bruce. Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

Winter, Bruce W. After Paul Left Corinth. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001.

1. Plutarch, Moralia 263d-351b, trans. Frank Cole Babbitt, vol. 4, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1962), 27.
2. Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 122.
3. David W. J. Gill, “The Importance of Roman Portraiture for Head-Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16,” Tyndale Bulletin 41, no. 2 (1990): 250-1.
4. Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals, trans. John Jackson, vol. 3, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1951), 295-7.
5. Cicero, Philippics 1-6, trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Loeb Classical Library (Cambrdige, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 97.
6. Horace, Satires and Epistles, trans. Niall Rudd (London, England: Penguin, 2005), 9.
7. Thomas A. J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003), 156, 62.
8. Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, vol. 13, Nigtc (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 828-9.
9. Judith L. Sebesta, “Symbolism in the Costume of the Roman Woman,” in The World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994), 48.
10. Winter, 127.
11. Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 61-80, Fragments, Letters, trans. H. Lamar Crosby, vol. 5, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1951), 47.
12. Gill 254, 6.
13. Dale B. Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995), 234, 43.
14. Bruce Winter, Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 90.
15. Winter, 137-8.
16. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, vol. 32, The Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 418-9.
17. Fitzmyer lists 1QSa 2.3-9; 1QM 7.4-6; 4 QMa 1-3.10; CD 15.15-17; 4QDb 17 i 6-8.
18. Thiselton, 825.
19. Codex Claromontanus (D, 6th cent.) and two of its descendants from the 9th cent. move vv34-35 to after v40. The theory is that these verses were in the margin and scribes worked them into the text in different places However, older, more accurate mss like P46 (2nd cent.), Codex Sinaiticus (א, 4th cent.), Vaticanus (B, 4th cent.), Alexandrinus (A, 5th cent.) and Ephraemi Rescriptus (C, 5th cent.) and most Byzantine mss. (maybe 500 total) have it in its normal place. We have no mss that omit vv34-35.
20. Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul through Mediterranean Eyes (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 414-5.
21. Craig S. Keener, Paul, Women & Wives (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992), 81.
22. Plutarch, Moralia 1a-86a, trans. Frank Cole Babbitt, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Henemann, 1928), 213-5, 33, 57.
23. Keener, 84.

Download: Money and Benefaction in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 8:9-13; 9:1-27

Paul’s Example

Arguments to Pay Ministers

Benefaction in Cities

Patron-Client Relationship

Junia Theodora of Corinth

Phoebe of Cenchreae

Not Taking Money for Himself But…

Athletic Metaphors and the Isthmian Games

Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Translated by E. J. Kenney. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Vol. 2. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Kearsley, R. A. “Women in Public Life in the Roman East: Iunia Theodora, Claudia Metrodora and Phoebe, Benefactress of Paul.” Tyndale Bulletin 50, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1999: 189-211.

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

Zuiderhoek, Arjan. The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire: Citizens, Elites and Benefactors in Asia Minor. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

1. Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle, ed. Jonathan Barnes, trans. Benjamin Jowett, vol. 2 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 2097.
2. Arjan Zuiderhoek, The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire: Citizens, Elites and Benefactors in Asia Minor (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 116, 31.
3. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. E. J. Kenney (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 289-90.
4. R. A Kearsley, “Women in Public Life in the Roman East: Iunia Theodora, Claudia Metrodora and Phoebe, Benefactress of Paul,” Tyndale Bulletin 50, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1999: 205.
5. Kearsley 207-8.
6. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology, 3rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 83.
7. Murphy-O’Connor, 84.

Download:Christology in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3:22-23; 8:4-6; 11:3; 15:23-28

1 Corinthians has much to say about Christ

God is greater than Christ

1 Corinthians 8:4-6

Splitting the Shema in 1 Corinthians 8:6

1 Corinthians 8:6 is not the Shema.

Hear, O Israel: Lord (is) our God, Lord is one

Paul was a Jew.

1 Corinthians 8:6 translation options

What does “all things” refer to?

New creation in 1 Corinthians 8:6

Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.

Dunn, James D. G. Christology in the Making. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996.

Gardner, Paul. 1 Corinthians. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Garland, David E. 1 Corinthians. Becnt, edited by Robert Yarbrough and Robert Stein. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003.

Hays, Richard. First Corinthians. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997.

Hubbard, Moyer V. Christianity in the Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

McGrath, James F. The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009.

Meeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians. 2nd ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2003.

Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. “Corinthians 8:6: Cosmology or Soteriology?”, Revue Biblique 85 (1978): 253-67.

Perriman, Andrew. In the Form of a God. Studies in Early Christology, edited by David Capes Michael Bird, and Scott Harrower. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022.

Wierwille, Jerry. “One God, One Lord (1 Cor 8:6)–‘Christianized’ Shema or Soteriological Acclamation?” Paper presented at the Unitarian Christian Alliance, Windsor, England, July 26, 2024.

Wright, N. T. The Climax of the Covenant. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993.

1. Moyer V. Hubbard, Christianity in the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 21-2.
2. James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 180.
3. Richard Hays, First Corinthians (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 140.
4. N. T. Wright, The Climax of the Covenant (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993), 121.
5. Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 211.
6. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2003), 165.
7. James F. McGrath, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 39-40.
8. Andrew Perriman, In the Form of a God, Studies in Early Christology, ed. David Capes Michael Bird, and Scott Harrower (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022), 71.
9. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, “Corinthians 8:6: Cosmology or Soteriology?,” Revue Biblique 85 (1978): 253.
10. David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Becnt, ed. Robert Yarbrough and Robert Stein (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 375.
11. Paul Gardner, 1 Corinthians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 372.
12. Jerry Wierwille, “One God, One Lord (1 Cor 8:6)–‘Christianized’ Shema or Soteriological Acclamation?” (paper presented at the Unitarian Christian Alliance, Windsor, England, July 26, 2024), 6.
13. Murphy-O’Connor 68.
14. Murphy-O’Connor 265.
15. Perriman, 84-5.

Download: Food Sacrificed to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 10:14-11:1

Elite Christians with “Knowledge”

Gods in Corinth

On the Temple of Ceres and Kore

On the Temple of Aesculapius

Other Gods in Corinth: lares, penates, Vesta (Hestia), geniuses

Imperial Persons Receiving Divine Honors

Important Questions

1 Corinthians 8:7-13   Paul’s great concern is causing the weak to stumble by emboldening them to go against their consciences. In fact, that’s his only reason to forbid Christians from eating at temple dining rooms.

Animal Sacrifices Described

Clint Burnett: “[O]fferings would have been offered for the benefit of the entire colony and performed in public view. Sacrifices of wine and incense would have been carried out without much work and need not have occurred on the imperial altars in the aforementioned places but before images, painted or statues, of Julio-Claudian divi, Octavia, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, and the reigning emperor’s genius set up anywhere in the colony. On the other hand, blood sacrifices would have occurred at the end of sacred processions… This means that imperial flamines would have led in procession local elites, musicians, and victimarii, or special slaves who killed the sacrificial animals, winding their way through the city to the altar that was being used for the ritual in question.

Once the imperial procession arrived at the altar, the imperial flamen would have washed his hands with water, burned incense, and poured a libation of wine to the Julio-Claudian divi, Octavia, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, or the emperor’s genius. These sacred rites completed, the imperial flamen would have poured wine and some special flour atop the sacrificial animal’s head as well as run his knife down the beast’s back. These acts functioned to transfer ownership of the bull or cow from the imperial flamen and thus Corinth’s populus to the object of sacrifice… At this point, the animal was supposed to nod its head, thereby giving consent to be slaughtered. Whereupon, the victimarius would have struck the animal on its head to stun it, cut its throat, and drained its blood.

Once the beast was dead, a special cultic official known in Latin as a haruspex would have inspected its entrails (liver, lungs, gall bladder, the peritoneum, and heart) to ensure that the [divus]…had accepted the offering. If no abnormalities were found, the object was believed to have been acceptable to the divine being to whom it was offered. After such confirmation, the entrails of the animal would have been boiled in a pot. This finished, the flamen would have dumped them, along with more wine and special flour, onto the fires of the altar where they would have been consumed. Finally, the remainder of the animal would have been divided among the participants and eaten near the imperial altar by the flamen and participants in the procession. …Any meat that was not consumed at such a sacrifice was taken to the macellum or “meat market” and sold (1 Cor 10:25).”7

1 Corinthians 9 is a chapter we’ll come back to later. In it Paul uses himself as an illustration of restraint in exercising his rights for the sake of others.

Demons, Idol Altars, and Communion

Idol Food at the Meat Market (Macellum)

Burnett, D. Clint. Paul & Imperial Divine Honors. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2024.

Gardner, Paul. 1 Corinthians. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Gill, David W. J. “The Meat-Market at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:25).” Tyndale Bulletin 43, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1992): 389-93.

Kent, John Harvey. Corinth: The Inscriptions 1926-1950. Vol. 8. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966.

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

Økland, Jorunn. “Ceres, Κορη, and Cultural Complexity.” In Corinth in Context. Edited by Schowalter Friesen, and Walters. Leiden: Brill, 2010.

Plutarch. Moralia: Table-Talk 1-6. Translated by Herbert B. Hoffleit Paul A. Clement. Vol. 8. Loeb Classical Library. London, UK: William Heinemann, 1969.

Thiselton, Anthony C. 1 Corinthians: A Shorter Exegetical & Pastoral Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011.

Wickkiser, Bronwen L. “Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth.” In Corinth in Context. Edited by Schowalter Friesen, and Walters. Leiden: Brill, 2010.

1. Paul Gardner, 1 Corinthians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 369.
2. Jorunn Økland, “Ceres, Κορη, and Cultural Complexity,” in Corinth in Context, ed. Schowalter Friesen, and Walters (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 204, 07-8.
3. Bronwen L. Wickkiser, “Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth,” in Corinth in Context, ed. Schowalter Friesen, and Walters (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 37.
4. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology, 3rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 190.
5. Wickkiser,  in Corinth in Context, 56.
6. Anthony C. Thiselton, 1 Corinthians: A Shorter Exegetical & Pastoral Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 13.
7. D. Clint Burnett, Paul & Imperial Divine Honors (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2024), 330-1.
8. Gardner, 450.
9. David W. J. Gill, “The Meat-Market at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:25),” Tyndale Bulletin 43, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1992): 390-1. See also the earlier translation: John Harvey Kent, Corinth: The Inscriptions 1926-1950, vol. 8 (Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966), 127-8.
10. Plutarch, Moralia: Table-Talk 1-6, trans. Herbert B. Hoffleit Paul A. Clement, vol. 8, Loeb Classical Library (London, UK: William Heinemann, 1969), 511.
11. Murphy-O’Connor, 186.

Download: Divorce and Remarriage in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 7:1-16

1 Corinthians 7:1-2

Asceticism

The Pater Familias in the Roman World

Roman Marriage

Love in Roman Marriages

Adultery in the Roman Empire

Augustus Legislated against Adultery and Unchastity (18 bc)

The New Roman Woman

1 Corinthians 7:3-6

1 Corinthians 7:7-11

1 Corinthians 7:12-16

The Tebtunis Papyri. Edited by Arthur Hunt Bernard Grenfell, Gilbart Smyly. Vol. 1. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1902.

Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Translated by E. J. Kenney. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Dio, Cassius. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. Penguin Classics. London, England: Penguin, 1987.

Hubbard, Moyer V. Christianity in the Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

Johnson, Marguerite. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2022.

Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Translated by Peter Green. 3rd ed. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Martial. Epigrams. Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1961.

Martial. Epigrams. Translated by Gideon Nisbet. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015.

Pearcey, Nancy. The Toxic War on Masculinity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2023.

Plutarch. Moralia. Vol. 2. Loeb Classical Library, vol. 222. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1928.

Rufus, Musonius. Lectures & Sayings: Revised Edition. Edited by William B. Irvine. Translated by Cynthia King. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2011.

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. On Benefits. Translated by Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2011.

Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves. London, England: Penguin, 2007.

Winter, Bruce. Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

1. Musonius Rufus, Lectures & Sayings: Revised Edition, ed. William B. Irvine, trans. Cynthia King (Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2011), 55.
2. P. Oxy 744 in Moyer V. Hubbard, Christianity in the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 180. The original had “wife,” which I replaced with “sister,” owing to the original Greek, which reads “ἀδελφῇ.”
3. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. E. J. Kenney (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 293.
4. Plutarch, Moralia, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 222 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1928), 317.
5. The Tebtunis Papyri, ed. Arthur Hunt Bernard Grenfell, Gilbart Smyly, vol. 1 (London, England: Oxford University Press, 1902), 452.
6. Marguerite Johnson, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 126.
7. Johnson, 127.
8. Rufus, 57.
9. Plutarch, 313.
10. Plutarch, 309.
11. Plutarch, 333-5.
12. Martial, Epigrams, trans. Walter C. A. Ker, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1961), 381.
13. Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires, trans. Peter Green, 3rd ed. (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 37.
14. Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, trans. Robert Graves (London, England: Penguin, 2007), 63.
15. Cassius Dio, The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics (London, England: Penguin, 1987), 169-70.
16. Bruce Winter, Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 21, 37-8.
17. Martial, Epigrams, trans. Gideon Nisbet, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015), 113.
18. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, On Benefits, trans. Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2011), 68-9.
19. Nancy Pearcey, The Toxic War on Masculinity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2023), 52.

Download: Lawsuits in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

1 Corinthians 6:1   The Corinthian Christians were taking each other to court in the city. Although chapter 5 had dealt with sexual immorality (incest) and the second half of chapter 6 also dealt with sexual immorality (prostitutes), this section (1 Cor 6:1-8) deals with lawsuits. What ties this together?

Roman Legal System

High Status and Wealthy Individuals Had Advantages at Court

Reputation of Lawyers

1 Corinthians 6:1-3

1 Corinthians 6:4-6

1 Corinthians 6:7-8

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Faulty Application

Community Application

Chrysostom, Dio. Discourses 1-11. Translated by J. W. Cohoon. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library. London, UK: William Henemann, 1932.

Dio, Cassius. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. Penguin Classics. London, England: Penguin, 1987.

Elder, Seneca the. Controversiae, Suasoriae. Translated by M. Winterbottom. Vol. 2. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1974.

Gill, David W. J. “1 Corinthians.” In Romans to Philemon. Edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.

Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Translated by Peter Green. 3rd ed. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Martin, Dale B. The Corinthian Body. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995.

Winter, Bruce W. After Paul Left Corinth. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001.

1. Dale B. Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995), 174-5.
2. Cassius Dio, The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics (London, England: Penguin, 1987), 92-3.
3. Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, Suasoriae, trans. M. Winterbottom, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1974), 377.
4. Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires, trans. Peter Green, 3rd ed. (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 17-18.
5. Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 60.
6. Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 1-11, trans. J. W. Cohoon, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library (London, UK: William Henemann, 1932), 357.
7. Winter, 65.
8. David W. J. Gill, “1 Corinthians,” in Romans to Philemon, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 131.
9. Winter, 70-1.
10. Winter, 66.
11. Winter, 73.
12. N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 66.

Download: Homosexulaity and Singleness in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Greek and Roman Pederasty

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Two words present significant translation difficulties

Arsenokoitai (Ἀρσενοκοῖται)

Malakoi (Μαλακοί)

Effeminate Men in the Ancient World

“A man.”

“So adorn yourself as a man, not as a woman. A woman’s skin is naturally smooth and soft; if she’s hairy, she’s a freak and she’s put on display in a freak show in Rome. 28 In the case of a man, this happens if he’s without hair: if he’s naturally hairless, he’s a freak, so if we find a man trimming and tweezing his hair, what are we to make of him? Where shall we exhibit him and how shall we advertise him? ‘Come and see a man who’d rather be a woman!’ 29 What a scandalous spectacle! No one would believe the advertisement! By Zeus, I imagine that even men who tweeze do so without appreciating what it is they’re doing.

30 “Man, what reason do you have for finding fault with nature in your case? That it brought you into the world as a man? Are you saying that it should bring everyone into the world as women? In that case, what good would all your primping do you? If everyone was a woman, for whom would you be beautifying yourself? 31 You don’t like the way things are? Then why not go the whole hog and remove—what shall I call it?—remove the cause of your hairiness. Turn yourself into a woman in all respects, so that we’re not left in doubt, rather than being half man, half woman. 32 Who are you trying to please? Women? Then please them as a man.”

“Yes, but they like smooth-skinned men.”

“Go hang yourself! If they liked sexual deviants [κίναιδος = cinaedus], would you become a sexual deviant? 33 Is that your job, is that what you were born for, to please dissolute women? 34 Is the kind of person we make a citizen of Corinth, and possibly city warden, or superintendent of the cadet force, or commander of the armed forces, or president of the games?8 (On Personal Adornment 3.1.1,27-34)

Putting It All Together

Singleness

Bibliography

Bauer, Walter, Frederick William  Danker, William F. Arndt, F. Gingrich, Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland, and Viktor Reichmann. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Epictetus. The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses & Fragments. Translated by Robin Waterfield. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2022.

Horace. Satires and Epistles. Translated by Niall Rudd. London, England: Penguin, 2005.

Hubbard, Moyer V. Christianity in the Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Translated by Peter Green. 3rd ed. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

Phaedrus. The Fables of Phaedrus. Translated by P. F. Widdows. Austin, TX: Univeristy of Texas Press, 1992.

Skinner, Marilyn B. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2005.

1. Moyer V. Hubbard, Christianity in the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 188.
2. Marilyn B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2005), 195-7.
3. Horace, Satires and Epistles, trans. Niall Rudd (London, England: Penguin, 2005), 58.
4. Walter Bauer et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000).
5. Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires, trans. Peter Green, 3rd ed. (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 36.
6. Phaedrus, The Fables of Phaedrus, trans. P. F. Widdows (Austin, TX: Univeristy of Texas Press, 1992), 102.
7. Juvenal, 65.
8. Epictetus, The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses & Fragments, trans. Robin Waterfield (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2022), 212-6.
9. Skinner, 212.

Download: Sexual Immorality in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 5:1-3; 6:12-20

Venus (Aphrodite) and Prostitution

Corinth Was Known for Lewdness

Roman Sensibilities about Marrying a Stepmother

Jewish Sensibilities about Marrying a Stepmother

Chow’s Dowry Theory

Hand Him over to Satan

Prostitution in the Roman Empire

Corinthian Slogans

Temple Prostitutes, Brothels, or Banquets?

Chow, John K. Patronage and Power: A Study of Social Networks in Corinth. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1992.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Caelio, De Provinciis Consularibus, Pro Balbo. Translated by R. Gardner. Loeb Classical Library. London, England: William Heinemann, 1970.

Gaius. The Institutes of Roman Law. Translated by Edward Post. 2017, Reprint, 1904. Originally published as 1904.

Gill, David W. J. “1 Corinthians.” In Romans to Philemon. Edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.

Horace. Satires and Epistles. Translated by Niall Rudd. London, England: Penguin, 2005.

Johnson, Marguerite. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2022.

Martial. Epigrams. Translated by Gideon Nisbet. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015.

Martin, Dale B. The Corinthian Body. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995.

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

Neusner, Jacob. The Mishnah: A New Translation. New Haven, CT: Yale, 1988.

Smith, Jay E. “The Roots of a ‘Libertine’ Slogan in 1 Corinthians 6:18.” The Journal of Theological Studies 59, no. 1 (2008): 63-95.

South, James T. Disciplinary Practices in Pauline Texts. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.

Strabo. The Geography. Translated by Duane W. Roller. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Vol. 13. Nigtc. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000.

Winter, Bruce W. After Paul Left Corinth. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

1. Strabo, The Geography, trans., Duane W. Roller (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020), 375.
2. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology, 3rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 56-7.
3. Martial, Epigrams, trans. Gideon Nisbet, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015), 181.
4. Gaius, The Institutes of Roman Law, trans. Edward Post (2017: repr.,  1904), 74.
5. Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation (New Haven, CT: Yale, 1988).
6. John K. Chow, Patronage and Power: A Study of Social Networks in Corinth (Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1992), 137-8.
7. Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, vol. 13, Nigtc (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 396.
8. James T. South, Disciplinary Practices in Pauline Texts (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1992), 43.
9. Dale B. Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1995), 170.
10. Horace, Satires and Epistles, trans. Niall Rudd (London, England: Penguin, 2005), 55.
11. Marguerite Johnson, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 135-6.
12. David W. J. Gill, “1 Corinthians,” in Romans to Philemon, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 133.
13. Jay E. Smith, “The Roots of a ‘Libertine’ Slogan in 1 Corinthians 6:18,” The Journal of Theological Studies 59, no. 1 (2008): 95.
14. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Caelio, De Provinciis Consularibus, Pro Balbo, trans. R. Gardner, Loeb Classical Library (London, England: William Heinemann, 1970), 465-7.
15. Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), 88, 91-2.