The City of Corinth, its antiquity, its characteristics in New Testament times.—The work of the apostle Paul in Corinth as told in his letters', as told in Acts.—Letters and Messages between Paul and the Corinthians in his absence from Corinth.—Occasion of 1 Cor.—Analysis of 1 Cor.—Apparent references to 1 Cor. in 2 Cor.—Change of situation in the interval between 1 Cor. and 2 Cor.—Summary of events in this interval.—Occasion of 2 Cor.—Analysis of 2 Cor.

FIRST CORINTHIANS.

History has left us no record of the first settlement made on the site of what in classical and New Testament times was known as Corinth. It was in the nature of the case that a city should very early be founded on the isthmus that joined the Peloponnesus to Attica and separated the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, and on that isthmus there could hardly be a more attractive spot for a city than at the foot of that remarkable rock citadel, afterward known as the Acrocorinthus, rising 2000 feet above the surrounding region.

But the Corinth with which the reader of the New Testament has to do is not the Corinth of pre-historic or even of classical antiquity, but one which was in New Testament times a comparatively modern city. The Corinth of the Achaean League, of Thucydides and Xenophon, was destroyed by the Romans under Mummius in 146 B. C. A century, later, in 46 B. C., Julius Caesar rebuilt and repopulated it. It grew rapidly, and another century later—it was almost exactly one hundred years later when Paul first visited it—it had perhaps 100,000 inhabitants. Its population was heterogeneous, including, almost as a matter of course in that day, many Jews. It was a wealthy, and a highly cultivated city, though possibly both in wealth and cultivation inferior to the Corinth which Mummius destroyed. It was so infamous for its vice that a word meaning to practice licentiousness was coined from the name of the city. Today the only significant remnants of its former splendor are seven Doric columns, which once formed part of a temple. The modern city of Corinth is four miles distant on the Bay of Corinth.

The epistles of Paul, even apart from the book of Acts, yield us considerable information concerning Paul's first visit to Corinth. A comparison of Phil. 4:15; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2:2; 3:1,6; and 2 Cor. 11:9 enables us both to reproduce the itinerary of Paul's first journey through Macedonia and Achaia, and to recover a number of other important facts concerning it. We see that Paul visited Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth; that being left alone at Athens while Timothy (probably Silas also) returned to Macedonia he was afterwards rejoined at Corinth by these helpers of his, Timothy coming from Thessalonica, and he or some one else—it seems probable that it was Silas (1 Thess. 1:1)—bringing him a gift of money from Philippi. With what anxiety Paul awaited the return of Timothy and with what emotions he received the news from his converts in Thessalonica, we have already seen in his letter to them written at this time (1 Thess.). But must there not have been also a letter to the Philippians at this time thanking them for their gift? If so it must be counted among the many treasures now lost to us. But the two letters to Corinth which we have furnish us no little information concerning Paul's work in that city. That he was the founder of the church, he says plainly in 1 Cor. 3:6, io and 9:1, 2. That with fear and trembling he preached in Corinth the gospel of a crucified Saviour with unadorned simplicity and without attempt to commend it by giving it the appearance of a philosophy, he declares 1 Cor. 2:1-5; cf. also 3: I, 2. He baptized but few of his Corinthian converts, not regarding this as a part of his special work (1 Cor. 1:14-17). He was supported while in Corinth, not by his converts there, but in part at least by the gifts sent to him from Philippi (Phil. 4:15; 2 Cor. 11:9).

All this we learn from the existing letters of Paul. The book of Acts tells in part the same facts, and adds some others of interest. Thus we learn that Paul labored with his own hands to support himself, that he began his work in the Jewish synagogue, but was constrained at length to turn from the Jews to the Gentiles, that he remained in the city eighteen months, and that before he left he was at the instance of the Jews brought before the proconsul Gallio, who, however, dismissed the case as having nothing in it demanding his attention. See Acts 18: 1-17.

There are several indications that a considerable interval elapsed between Paul's first ministry in Corinth and the writing of the letter which we call First Corinthians. Yet this interval was by no means one of neglect of the church by the apostle or of the suspense of communication between him and them. The letter which we commonly call Second Corinthians refers to the visit which the apostle is then about to make to Corinth as the third (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). This implies that one visit had already been made since the founding of the church. Most scholars have judged it impossible to find place for this second visit between our two letters, and hence have held that it must have taken place before First Corinthians was written. First Corinthians refers also to a previous letter of the apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5: 9). This letter is now lost. It probably followed the visit referred to above, since otherwise the visit would have furnished ample opportunity to correct the misunderstanding of its meaning. Still later members of the household of Chloe brought the apostle news of the state of affairs at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11). Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus also visited him (1 Cor. 16: 17), and they or others brought a letter from the members of the church (7:1) to the apostle. The letter which we have from the apostle was written from Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:19; 16:8,) but the apostle was expecting before long to leave there. The residence in Ephesus thus referred to must certainly be that recorded in Acts chap. 19, and as that lasted between two and three years (Acts 19:8, 10; 20:31), and was preceded by journeys from Corinth to Jerusalem and Antioch, and thence across Asia Minor (Acts 18: 18-19:1), the letter must have been written about three years after Paul left Corinth.

During all this time the apostle had undoubtedly borne the Corinthian Christians upon his heart, and as we have seen had several times had communication with them, in person, or by messenger, or by letter from them or to them. Just now there were several matters which urgently called for attention from him. The members of the household of Chloe had brought him news of the existence in the church of four parties. These parties called themselves by the names of Paul, of Apollos, of Peter, and of Christ, though there is no indication that any one of the three Christian preachers whose names were thus converted into party-cries approved of this use of their names. The Apollos party seems to have been made up of those who were captivated with the preaching of Apollos. Paul had studiously abstained from catering to the Corinthian love of philosophy, and had set forth the simple, to many repulsive, doctrine of a crucified Christ. Apollos coming after Paul (1 Cor. 3:6) had preached, it would seem, substantially the same doctrine, but had adopted a different method of presentation. Perhaps quite as much because of the cast of his own mind, as from a desire to win the attention or admiration of the Corinthians, he had translated the gospel into the terms of philosophy. Such preaching always attracts a certain class of minds-those who have, or fancy they have, a natural taste for philosophical methods of statement. It attracted some of the Corinthians, and this gave rise to the Apollos—party. The Paul-party was probably composed simply of those who stood by the apostle, the founder of the church and its first pastor. Of the Peter-party we have no definite information. The Christ-party we shall have occasion to speak of in connection with Second Corinthians. The references to it in First Corinthians would scarcely enable us to determine its character at all.

But other evils existed also in the church of the Corinthians. The vices of Corinth as well as its philosophy affected the life of the Christian community. One conspicuous case of immorality, surpassing in grossness even that which prevailed among the heathen, called for prompt attention and stern rebuke (1 Cor. chap. 5). The spirit of litigiousness prevailed too among the brethren, leading them to carry their quarrels into the courts of law, where they must of course be tried before heathen tribunals, to the disgrace of the new religion (6:1-11). Nor was the sinfulness of unchastity quite clearly recognized among the new converts. The apostle's own teaching that all things are lawful had apparently been turned into an excuse for sin, and he is compelled to interpret it, and to insist upon those other complementary truths which save it from becoming a principle of immorality (6:12-20).

In the letter which the Corinthians had written to the apostle they had asked him questions concerning marriage (chap. 7). Probably also the matters discussed in chaps. 8-14, things sacrificed to idols, the customs of public worship, spiritual gifts, were suggested to him by their letter. From some source unknown to us the apostle had still further learned that some among the Corinthians were affected with the Sadducean tendency and denied the resurrection of the dead.

It is evident that these various matters furnish ample occasion for this letter of the apostle; and in the light of the situation thus depicted, it becomes intensely interesting even at this day so long after it was written. In the following analysis the ten topics which the letter discussed are grouped according to what seems to be the source of the apostle's information, but are for convenience numbered consecutively in one series: