Three Reasons to Study 1 Corinthians

By Robb Brunansky

Published October 12, 2024

One of the most comprehensive letters in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians. This book of the New Testament was penned by the Apostle Paul, who wrote thirteen letters – from Romans through Philemon. 1 Corinthians is a substantial letter – the second-longest in the New Testament, behind only Romans. It is substantial, not only because of its length, but because of its breadth of content and depth.

As we begin our study of this letter, there are three reasons why, I believe, 21^st Century Christians and churches should spend significant time in this book of the Bible.

First, this letter is, perhaps, the most relevant to the situation of the church in America today.

The reason for the relevancy of 1 Corinthians is because of the nature of the city of Corinth and the experience of believers who lived there.

Corinth was a Roman city, located in the southern part of modern Greece. The city was founded by Julius Caesar in the year 44 BC with the official name, “The Colony of Corinth in Honor of Julius Caesar.” A diverse populace called Corinth home, including Greeks, Romans, Jews, and other immigrants. Perhaps as many as one-third of the residents of Corinth were slaves, while many of the rest were former slaves – called ‘freedmen,’ veterans, and individuals looking for upward social mobility. During Paul’s day, scholars estimate that Corinth had a population somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 residents, making it a major metropolitan area.

The city of Corinth was bustling with commerce, theater, sports, shopping, and worship of a multitude of gods. The Isthmian Games took place in Corinth every other year, and several temples were in the city. As a Roman city dedicated to the honor of Caesar, the Imperial Cult was central to life for the Corinthian populace, with holidays to celebrate emperor worship, and a general mindset that viewed political power as divine. Between the reign of Augustus (the emperor when Jesus was born), and Nero (the emperor who executed Paul), a major building boom occurred in Corinth, resulting in its residents becoming incredibly wealthy.

Corinth was also located in a strategic trade route in the region so that traffic going in every direction was routed through the city, increasing the opportunities for wealth. One scholar has argued that Corinth was “arguably the most dazzling and modern of Greek cities,” and that “wealth and ostentatious display became the hallmark of Corinth.” The rest of the area around Corinth was generally poor, making the lavish lifestyles of the Corinthians seem that much more grandiose and pompous.

When it came to the religious beliefs of the Corinthian populace, people were generally pluralists, believing in many gods and seeing no contradiction or difficulty in worshipping more than one god. The Corinthians did not believe that worshipping several gods detracted from the honor of any one of them. The general mindset of the first century Corinthian was ‘the more gods the better.’

What stands out about Corinth and the church in this city is the experience of believers in this strategic location. The church in Corinth appears to have existed apart from any kind of suffering or persecution, at least anything overt, giving a stark contrast to other churches Paul founded and to which he wrote. The Thessalonians, for example, are commended for their joining in suffering with Paul as they were greatly persecuted. Timothy and Titus both suffered in their ministries in Ephesus and Crete. Paul told the Philippians that their suffering was a gift of God. Many of the other New Testament documents highlight the persecution of the early church.

The Corinthians, however, did not seem to encounter the same adversity as other Christian churches. Far from suffering for the gospel, these believers appeared to be getting along quite well, with plenty of food, money, and social acceptance. Their experience was, in many cases, quite the opposite of Paul and the apostles, as well as other churches throughout the Roman Empire.

Why was it the Corinthians may have escaped much persecution while other churches of the time faced such suffering? The answer, at least in part as we go through the letter, is that the Corinthians were a compromising church. The Corinthian believers wanted to follow Christ, but they also wished to have a foot (or at least some toes) in the world. As John MacArthur said, “They wanted to have the blessings of the new life but hang on to the pleasures of the old.”

To worship only one God – an invisible God, manifest in a crucified Messiah – without a temple, without sacrifices, and without a priesthood; and to reject emperor worship and the worship of the other Corinthian gods, would have made the Corinthian believers stand out, risking their social standing and economic opportunities.

As we go through the letter, we see, time and again, the Corinthians try to accommodate the culture on the one hand, while on the other hand they seek to worship Christ. We also observe that sometimes their compromise is not intentional because they have simply absorbed more of the culture around them than the truth of the cross. They act in ways contrary to biblical teaching, not because they intentionally aim to do so, but because their minds have been shaped more by Corinth than Calvary.

We can see the relevance from 1 Corinthians to the church today, as we live in a place and time where perhaps the greatest threat we face is to compromise with the world around us – sometimes intentionally to be accepted or approved, and other times unintentionally because our minds have not been renewed by God’s Word. This study, then, is timely because it will help us see the dangers of compromise and how to overcome these challenges.

Second, 1 Corinthians is appropriate to study because of the number of questions about issues covered by this letter – perhaps more than any other book of the Bible.

Believers are genuinely curious what this book means by what it says in many difficult passages throughout this letter. Whether it is about marriage, divorce, singleness, remarriage, head coverings, the Lord’s Supper, or spiritual gifts, many questions arise that often leave Christians uncertain of what the text actually means.

Third, 1 Corinthians is foundational for a growing congregation to understand itself and what it truly means to be the church.

In addition to the aforementioned issues, Paul’s letter here covers other critical principles as well, including church unity, a biblical philosophy of ministry, eschatology, financial giving, love, lawsuits, sexual ethics, and more. This letter is full of necessary, helpful, and foundational teaching on a wide range of issues pertaining to being the church corporately and living as individual Christians for the glory of God.

I look forward to the study of this fascinating and instructive letter from Paul as we seek, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to understand how our lives and churches might be made more like Jesus Christ through the application of God’s Word.