Paul visited Corinth on his second missionary journey. He had been in the northern portion of Greece, in Philippi. He had made his way down the coast from Macedonia, spending some time in the city of Berea. He then went further south into Attica and came to Athens, where he spent some time. After he left Athens, he went down to Corinth, leaving for the time his companions behind.
As was his custom, he began to work to support himself. He was a tentmaker, and he found a Jewish couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who had since been expelled from Rome. They had the same trade as Paul did, so he teamed up with them. When he was not earning his living as a tentmaker, he would go into the synagogue and, as he said, reason with the Jews out of the Scriptures concerning the prophecies that dealt with Jesus Christ.
There was a crisis in the synagogue at that time. There was resistance to what he was teaching, and so he turned his attention to the Gentiles. He was welcomed into the home of a man named Justus, presumably a Roman. And he moved his group of Christians into that home, and it became a house church. This house was next door to the synagogue, and the ruler of the synagogue, whose name was Crispus, was converted through that ministry and joined the group of new Christians that were beginning to be formed there in Corinth.
The Lord appeared to Paul on one occasion during those early months in Corinth when the Jews were expressing hostility and were stirring up trouble against him. And the Lord told Paul not to be afraid. Although he had been mistreated in other places, the Lord said to Paul that nothing was going to happen to him in Corinth because, as the Lord said, “I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:10b). Paul took courage from that, and he carried on his ministry there in Corinth for a year and six months.
In time, Paul left and he went to Ephesus. While he was in Ephesus, he heard of problems that had arisen in the church of Corinth. Apparently, he made one trip back there that is not recorded for us in Acts, but he alludes to it in 2 Corinthians. It would seem also that he wrote a letter to them about those problems, which we do not have in our New Testament—an extra letter that we no longer have. And then, as we know, he wrote 2 Corinthians, following up on the kind of problems that had developed and with which he was trying to deal. What we have in 1 Corinthians is Paul’s first attempt, after having left that city, to encourage the church and to set them on the path that they should go.
Now, when we read this opening section of the book we find two different things described. On the one hand, we find the church in terms that we ardently wish were true of churches everywhere. It seems to be a model church. But then at the same time, we find examples of a church that is riddled with problems and which in some respects was a great disgrace. When we read about the church of the saints, our hearts are lifted up. When we read about the church of the sinners, our hearts are cast down and we ask, “What hope is there for anyone?”
Paul begins by mentioning himself and Sosthenes, who on this occasion is with him. He mentions the group of people to whom he is writing. He says something about them, and then he gives a traditional greeting, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the verses immediately following, he describes what we would call the “bright spots” in the life of this congregation. I want to show you four of them in tomorrow’s study.
