Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians PAUL's FIRST EPISTLE to THE

PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS PAUL’S F IRST EP ISTLE TO THE COR INTHIAN S Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS A Church in Crisis by David Ethan Cambridge Copyright 2006 D.E. Cambridge All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be stored or reproduced in any form without the written permission from the author. IT IS ILLEGAL AND UNETHICAL TO DUPLICATE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Title Lesson Page Introduction 7 A Historical and Social Background of Corinth 9 SECTION ONE: Concerning Things Reported Greetings and Thanksgiving (1:1-9) 1 17 Factions in the Church (1:10-4:21) 2 23 Morality in the Church (5:1-6:20) 3 43 Incest (5:1-13) Litigations (6:1-11) Fornication (6:12-20) SECTION TWO: Concerning Things Asked Concerning Marriage (7:1-40) 4 59 Marital Obligations (7:1-7) Advice to Special Groups (7:8-16) One’s Calling and Station in Life (7:17-24) Regarding Virgins and Widows (7:25-40) Christian Liberties (8:1-11:1) 5 75 Meat Sacrificed to Idols (8:1-13) Paul’s use of Liberty (9:1-23) The Peril of the Strong (9:24-10:22) Final Statement of Principles (10:23-11:1) Conduct in the Assembly (11:2-14:40) 6 99 The Head Covering (11:2-16) The Lord’s Supper (11:17-34) Spiritual Distinctions (12:1-14:40) The Resurrection (15:1-58) 7 139 SECTION THREE: Final Instructions and Comments The Collection (16:1-4) 8 157 Closing Comments and Greetings (16:5-24) 9 163 ARTICLES Command or Custom by H.O. Hutto 171 Women and “Whole Church Meetings” by Jeff Smelser 187 Is Giving an Act of Worship? by Greg Litmer 203 PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS by David Ethan Cambridge Introduction About these lessons This is a series of nine lessons on Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. The level of difficulty is intermediate to difficult but the basics are within everyone’s ability to understand. In preparing these studies, I have consulted the works of Albert Barnes, Richard Lenski, Nigel Watson, David E. Garland, James Coffman, and Mike Willis. By far the best commentary on 1 Corinthians is by Mike Willis. In his interpretation, Mike carefully considers the context and the original language, and his explanations are very readable and easy to understand. In this booklet there are many quotes from Mike’s commentary and the similarity in language between Mike’s comments and my own are no coincidence. To avoid an overly large volume and in order to get through this series of lessons in a reasonable amount of time, I have excluded a large amount of contextual and linguistic argumentation. My approach, then, has been to examine the evidence and simply present what I believe to be the correct understanding of the text. There are some passages that contain concepts that are very difficult to understand and interpret but I have attempted to do so with the measure of wisdom God has given me. To aid the memory, I have included a summary at the end of each Roman Numeral. There is also a summary and application at the end of each lesson. Students are invited to consider what applications can be made and make a note of them as we go through each lesson; a discussion of these applications will commence at the conclusion of each lesson. The aim of these lessons The aim of these lessons is give the student a better understanding of 1 Corinthians. Students can help themselves by devoting some time each day in reading through the chapter we are currently studying, taking notes, and preparing questions and comments. 7 PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS by David Ethan Cambridge 8 PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS by David Ethan Cambridge Historical and Social Background of Corinth What is the history of Corinth? The city of Corinth was founded in the 10 th Century BC and had been the richest port and the largest city in ancient Greece. In 146 BC, Corinth rebelled against Rome when they demanded it dissolved the Achaean League 1. Such a rebellion was ill-fated and the Roman army, under the leadership of Lucius Mummius 2, was laid waste. The city lay in ruins for about 100 years until Julius Caesar, perceiving its strategic value, rebuilt Corinth in 46 BC. Once again, the city thrived and was established as the political and commercial capital of the province of Achaia. Where was Corinth located? The Roman Empire was comprised of several provinces and the city of Corinth was in the province of Achaia. The province of Achaia Corinth was about 48 miles west of Athens and situated on the Isthmus 3 that connects the Peloponnesus and mainland Greece. 1 A political confederation of Achaean and other Greek cities, established in the late 3rd century B.C. 2 A Roman statesman and general. 3 A narrow strip of land bordered on both sides by water that connects two larger land masses. 9 PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS by David Ethan Cambridge What were the advantages of being situated on the Isthmus? The two harbors on either side of the Isthmus were the Corinthian Gulf and the Saronic Gulf. In order to cross from one Gulf to another without sailing around the Pelponnesus, a Diolkos was constructed to connect the two harbors. The Diolkos was a stone-paving roadway that ran between the two harbors and varied between 10 and 3.5 meters in width. The starting point began at the very edge of the sea of the Corinthian Gulf. It was from here that ships were dragged onto the Diolkos. To begin with, the ships sat on wooden cylinders and were then transferred to a special wheeled vehicle. The ship was then dragged across the Isthmus to the Saronic Gulf. This ingenious feat of engineering meant that ships could avoid the treacherous sea around the Peloponnese and speed up their journeys. It also brought an increased traffic flow through the city; the east to west traffic from the Corinthian Gulf to Saronic Gulf and the north to south traffic from the Peloponnesus to mainland Greece all had to pass through Corinth. In 1882, a French firm began constructing a canal along virtually the same route, and was completed in 1893. The Corinth Canal is 6,343 meters long, 25 meters wide, and 8 meters deep. The earth cliffs flanking it reach a maximum height of 63 meters. With so much traffic passing through it, Corinth inevitably became a great trade center and brought much wealth and affluence to the city. Corinth soon became the commercial capital of Greece even as Athens was the educational capital. What was the social and ethnic makeup of Corinth? Julius Caesar rebuilt the city in 44 BC and repopulated the city with Roman freedmen 4. As Corinth began to thrive, it attracted people from all races, cultures, and social walks of life: Greeks, Europeans, Phoenicians, Roman elite, and Jews; these being statesmen, soldiers, tradesmen, philosophers, sailors, priests and priestesses, peddlers of every form of vice, freed men and slaves. As is true of many great cities, there was sharp divide between the rich and the poor. Virtually all those possessing wealth tended to live in the city while the poorer folk were found in the suburbs. 4 Freedmen formed a large social class in ancient Rome. It was the exceptional feature of ancient Rome that almost all slaves freed by Roman owners automatically received Roman citizenship (Wikipedia). 10 PAUL’S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS by David Ethan Cambridge What was the predominant religion in Corinth? Corinth had two patron deities: Poseidon, god of the sea, who was appropriately reflected in the naval power and devotion to the sea, and Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love, who was reflected in the city's reputation for immorality. The temple of Aphrodite was central to their worship and it had, allegedly, one thousand female prostitutes that were famous for their great beauty. The income of the temple prostitutes provided a major source of the city's income. This practice, coupled with the characteristic looseness of a port city of a mixed and transient population, gave Corinth a reputation far beyond the cities of its day. What factors had a direct bearing on the Corinthians’ behavior and thought? With this context in mind, we shall consider two factors that had a direct bearing on the Corinthians’ behavior and their misinterpretation of the Christian faith that Paul addresses in his epistle: social relations and religious/philosophical influences. Social Relations Roman colonies, it is said, were like miniatures of Rome; established to foster the majesty of Roman culture, religion, and values. Corinth, likewise, was imbued5 with Roman cultural values. Many of the inhabitants were so affluent that wealth and ostentatious display became the characteristic of Corinth . The central tradition of city culture was trade, business, and entrepreneurial pragmatism 6 in the pursuit of success. It was these values that gave rise to an appetite for the attainment of public status, promotion of personal honor, and power . One’s status was dependant upon occupational prestige, income or wealth, education and knowledge, religious purity, family and ethnic group position, and local community status. Corinth was a place filled with people who were obsessed and preoccupied with these things. Religious Influences Corinth, as we might expect of a cosmopolitan city, was a religious melting pot.

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