The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (109 page)

Corinth was infamous for its immorality. Because of the numerous vices that characterized the city, an ancient Greek proverb said, “Not for every man is the voyage to Corinth.”
³³
Aristophanes (450-385 BC) demonstrated the immorality of ancient Corinth when he coined the term “Corinthianize” to describe the act of fornication. Plato used the term “Corinthian girl” as a euphemism for a prostitute.
³⁴
Strabo, who wrote only a few decades before Paul's visit, claimed that one thousand prostitutes served as slaves for the
temple of Aphrodite in Corinth.
³⁵
The Corinthians and the numerous visitors to the city worshipped the goddess of love by engaging in immoral acts with the prostitutes. Similar sexual practices have also been associated with the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Corinth.
³⁶

Corinth was known for other vices too. A common figure in ancient Greek plays was a drunk who typically wore a Corinthian hat.
³⁷
This implies that the Corinthians were notorious for their tendency to drink too much wine. Thus, it is not surprising that Paul had to combat heinous immorality including incest, prostitution, and drunkeness among the Corinthians in his letters.

Although not as religious as Athens, Corinth's landscape was also dotted with temples and shrines. Looming over the city on the Acrocorinth was the temple of Aphrodite. Worshippers would make the two-hour climb up a long series of steps to the top of the small mountain to express their devotion to the goddess of love, lust, and beauty. Near the Forum in Corinth was a temple of Apollo or Athena, one of the oldest temples in Greece. Just inside the northern city wall stood a sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of healing. This sanctuary was one of the premier medical centers of the day to which people came from long and far in hopes of being cured of a wide range of maladies. A huge structure at the western end of the forum is believed to have been a temple dedicated to the worship of the emperor.
³⁸
Dozens of gods were worshipped, and scores of cults thrived in the city. These included Apollo, Aphrodite, Asclepius, Athena, Demeter and Kore, Dionysius, Ephesian Artemis, HeraAcraea, Hermes, Isis, Jupiter, Poseidon, Tyche, Fortuna, Zeus, and the emperors.
³⁹

These centers of pagan religion also figure prominently in the Corinthian letters. The letters discuss at length whether the Corinthian believers should continue to participate in pagan feasts in the temples of the city (1 Cor 8:1-13; 10:1-22; 2 Cor 6:14-7:1) and whether they should eat the meat left over from the feasts that was sold in Corinth's markets (1 Cor 10:25—11:1). Many of the theological problems in the church of Corinth were a product of syncretism in which the Corinthians misunderstood resurrection, spiritual gifts, gender roles, baptism, and the Lord's Supper due to the influence of their pagan background.

Although Gentile believers clearly composed the large majority of the membership, the church at Corinth was a mixed congregation with both Jewish and Gentile believers. The city of Corinth did have at least one synagogue, and the Jews that gathered there were the focus of Paul's initial ministry in the city (Acts 18:4). Although Paul abandoned his synagogue ministry due to opposition from the Jews, Paul's outreach to the Jews and God-
fearers in the synagogue was effective. Even Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, embraced the gospel and was baptized together with his entire family (Acts 18:8). After his conversion, he was replaced by Sosthenes as leader of the synagogue (Acts 18:17). Sosthenes may have eventually followed Crispus in his new faith, since this Sosthenes may be the “brother” of the same name whom Paul identified as the cosender of 1 Corinthians (1:1).

The church also had members from very different social and economic strata. Some were slaves (1 Cor 7:21—23), while many others were very prosperous (1 Cor 4:6—8). Paul's discussion of the collection for the saints implies that the church in Corinth had few economic worries compared to the financial struggles of the believers in Macedonia (2 Cor 8:1—7,13—15). Erastus, one of the members of the church at Corinth, was the treasurer for the city (Rom 16:23). This appears to be the city official who was honored in an inscription in front of the ancient Corinthian theater for paving one of the streets of the city at his own expense.
⁴⁰
Erastus was probably only one of several high-ranking, wealthy, and influential members of the church. The material prosperity of the church would eventually create problems for Paul. Some members of the church questioned Paul's spirituality because of his poverty (1 Cor 4:10—13).
⁴¹

The rampant immorality, the prominence of pagan religion, the economic, social, and racial diversity of the city of Corinth help explain many of the unique challenges that Paul faced in Corinth. These factors provide helpful insights that guide the interpretation of the Corinthian letters.

Occasion

Paul had a long and somewhat complicated relationship with the church at Corinth. He established the church at Corinth during his second missionary journey. After traveling from Athens to Corinth, Paul met Aquila and Priscilla and worked as their partner in his tent-making trade. He preached each Sabbath in the synagogue until some of the Jews blasphemed Jesus. Paul then continued his missionary work next door to the synagogue in the home of Titus Justus, a Gentile who frequented the synagogue and embraced Paul's gospel. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, together with his entire family, and many other Corinthians believed the message that Paul preached and received Christian baptism. Some of Paul's Jewish opponents accused Paul before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia. He dismissed Paul's case as irrelevant to Roman law and drove the accusers away. After spending a total of 18 months in Corinth, Paul sailed to Syria. After a very brief stay in Ephesus, he journeyed to Antioch by way of Caesarea and Jerusalem to report to the church there (see Acts 18:1-22).

Paul then traveled through Galatia and Phrygia until he finally arrived at Ephesus, where he remained for approximately two and a half years (see Acts 18:23—20:1). Perhaps
some time early in Paul's stay at Ephesus, he received news of trouble in the church at Corinth. Evidently the church was facing problems with sexual immorality within the fellowship. In response, Paul wrote a letter urging the Corinthians to avoid associating with sexually immoral people who claimed to be Christians. This letter, which is mentioned in 1 Cor 5:9, is generally referred to by scholars as “Corinthians A” since it has not been preserved either in our NT or in any presently known manuscript. According to 1 Cor 5:10—13, some of the church members misunderstood the letter and assumed that Paul was demanding that believers retreat from pagan society and isolate themselves from all interaction with immoral people.

Meanwhile, Apollos, a disciple of Aquila and Priscilla, was preaching in Corinth with great effect, and some of the Christians at Corinth began rallying around him. Soon church members began to compare Apollos to Paul. Some felt Apollos was superior to Paul, and others felt he was inferior to the apostle. Soon the church had divided into four major factions: a Paul group, an Apollos group, a Cephas (Peter) group, and a Christ group. Other problems arose. A church member began to live in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. Some members of the church developed confused ideas about marriage, sexual relationships, and gender roles. They were also practicing a form of the Lord's Supper that was more akin to celebrations in pagan temples than to the ordinance commanded by Christ. Church members were taking other church members to court to settle disputes. The church became obsessed with the more spectacular spiritual gifts and neglected Christian compassion. Moreover, the church had begun to doubt the doctrine of bodily resurrection. On top of all this, some members of the church had challenged Paul's apostolic authority.

Paul received information about the church's condition from at least two sources. First, a group of people identified as “members of Chloe's household” (1 Cor 1:11; lit. “those of Chloe”) reported to Paul about the personality cults in the church that were ripping it apart. Second, Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1 Cor 16:15—18), three official delegates from the church, delivered a letter from the church to Paul that raised a number of doctrinal and practical questions. No doubt the three delegates supplemented the letter with their own verbal reports on the condition of the church so that Paul had a very clear understanding of the church's situation. Paul wrote a second letter to the church that answered the questions raised in the Corinthian correspondence and responded to other issues Paul knew about through the verbal reports. This letter is now known as 1 Corinthians and is identified by scholars as “Corinthians B.”
⁴²

According to 1 Cor 16:5—11, when Paul wrote Corinthians B, he intended to remain in Ephesus until Pentecost and then travel through Macedonia to Corinth where he might
spend the entire winter. Paul would then send church representatives chosen by the Corinthians to Jerusalem with the relief offering. In the meantime, Paul sent Timothy to the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:10-11). When Timothy arrived in Corinth, he was unsettled by the severity of their crises. He somehow informed Paul of the situation, and Paul determined to visit the Corinthians as soon as possible. Corinthians B contained a warning that if their problems were not soon corrected, Paul might be forced to “come to you with a rod [of discipline]” (1 Cor 4:21).

When Paul learned of the church's reaction to Corinthians B, he determined that the time for such disciplinary action had clearly arrived. Paul later characterized this personal confrontation with the church as his “painful visit” (2 Cor 2:1). The visit was painful not only for the Corinthians but also for Paul. He returned to Ephesus doubting that his visit had provided any real remedy to their crises and with “an extremely troubled and anguished heart” (2 Cor 2:2—4).

Paul's abandonment of his earlier plan to spend the winter in Corinth prompted some of his opponents in the church to charge him with vacillation. Paul defended his change of plans and explained his reasons for the change in 2 Cor 1:15—24. Paul felt that he could handle the situation better by letter than by another face-to-face confrontation with his opponents in the church. His tear-stained letter (2 Cor 2:4) is now lost. It is generally identified by scholars as “Corinthians C.” In the absence of the letter, scholars can reconstruct its contents only by a few obscure references to the letter in 2 Corinthians. At the very least, the letter called for the church to prove its obedient character by disciplining one of the opponents who had personally maligned Paul (2 Cor 2:3—9; 7:8—12). Titus delivered the letter and worked to encourage the church's contribution to the relief offering that the Gentile churches were collecting for the church in Jerusalem.

In the meantime the “wide door for effective ministry” in Ephesus (1 Cor 16:9) began to close for Paul. Paul began to suffer such great affliction that he was “completely overwhelmed” and “even despaired of life.” The great affliction could refer to the Demetrius riot (Acts 19:23—20:1) or could indicate that the town clerk's dismissal of the mob in the Ephesian theater did not end the anti-Christian persecution in Ephesus but was only the prelude to even more intense persecution. Owing to this great affliction, Paul was forced to flee from Ephesus. He traveled to Troas, where he hoped to preach the gospel and to be reunited with Titus who would report on the situation at Corinth. Paul's ministry in Troas enjoyed encouraging results (2 Cor 2:12). However, Titus was nowhere to be found (2 Cor 2:13). Paul decided to leave Troas and travel throughout Macedonia. As he passed through the cities of Macedonia, he proclaimed the gospel, encouraged new believers, and organized the collection of the relief offering for the believers in Jerusalem (2 Cor 8:1—4; 9:2). These churches were suffering intense persecution, which Paul described as “a severe testing by affliction” (2 Cor 8:2). This severe persecution had an economic impact on the believers and left many of them in “deep poverty.” But the Macedonian believers gave eagerly, generously, even “beyond their ability,” to aid the believers in Jerusalem.

Paul was disturbed that Titus had still not appeared. When Titus finally met up with Paul in Macedonia, he delivered such an encouraging report about the Corinthians’ response to Corinthians C that Paul was ecstatic. Paul had feared that his letter might have been too harsh and might have ended all hopes of restoring his relationship with the Corinthians. In the end it had the desired effect: to produce a godly sorrow in the Corinthians that moved them to repentance (2 Cor 7:10). Paul hurried to write a final letter to the Corinthians that expressed his joy at their change of heart. This letter has been traditionally identified as 2 Corinthians, and scholars refer to it as “Corinthians D.”

Unfortunately, during a pause in his dictation of Corinthians D, Paul somehow received disturbing new information about the situation in Corinth. When he dictated the final three chapters of Corinthians D (or possibly took up the pen himself), his writing exhibits a noticeable shift in tone that suggests that Paul's fears for the Corinthians had returned. Paul's concerns related primarily to the influence that a group of false apostles bore over the congregation. These “superapostles” (2 Cor 12:11) boasted that their apostolic credentials exceeded Paul's and that he was unworthy to exercise leadership over the congregation. They apparently preached “another Jesus” and “a different gospel” than that proclaimed by Paul (2 Cor 11:1-4).

The letters of Paul and the history in Acts do not indicate whether the Corinthians responded to Paul's correction with repentance.
First Clement
, written by Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (c. 96), implies that the letter was effective and that the church of Corinth became a model congregation for nearly half a century. Interestingly, when problems erupted in the church again at the end of the first century, the problems that threatened the church were very similar to those that Paul had addressed: rejecting legitimate spiritual authority in order to be manipulated by a few headstrong and arrogant leaders and lacking the unity that should characterize the body of Christ.
⁴³