Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians - Essay Example

Pauls first letter to the Corinthians Affiliation Pauls first letter to the Corinthians Paul of Tarsus wrote the first letter to the Corinthians in the late 56 to 57 A.D in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. The letter was written before the Jewish feast of Pentecost during his third missionary. He collaborated with Sosthenes to write the letters, which he addressed to the Corinthians where he had converted the Gentiles and Jews to Christian faith. Corinth was a prosperous city because of its location that allowed the people to do business with other communities (Fee, 2014. P, 34). Prosperity caused pagan hedonism in Corinth; additionally, Corinth developed a reputation for sexual license. Therefore, in order to address the issue Paul wrote the letter to address to the Christians over the rampant immorality that was associated with paganism. This is because the immortality infecting the Corinthian church making Paul to become concerned about the spiritual health of the Corinthians. It was clear that Paul had a greater correspondence between him and the Corinthian Church compared to any other communities that he had established. The establishment of the church at Corinth happened during Paul’s second missionary journey. According to the reading in Corinthians, it is clear that the immoral environment that was found in the city affected the church. According to 1 Corinthians, 1-4 pride amongst the members of the church caused disruption and division in the services. Additionally immorality found its way to the church making the Corinth church to have a bad reputation. For example, instead of the brethren’s working out their personal matters with each other they took the matter before the heathen courts 1 Corinthians 6. In addition, to division and immorality in the Corinth church there were other issues that affected the church including questions of marriage, the foods that were sacrificed to the idols and women praying and prophesying with their head uncovered. Additionally, there were issues of the use of spirituals gifts, the resurrection from the dead, as well as, the collection for the saints in Jerusalem (Barrett, 2013.P.45). Therefore, the purpose of the letter was to address the different issues that had been reported to him by the House of Chloe. The issues in the church were too much and when the people of Chloe informed Paul about these problems, he knew he had to do something. Therefore, the writing of the letter was purposely meant to help the church and guide it to the way in church lord Jesus Christ had wanted his people to fellowship. Therefore, it is correct to say that Paul first letter to the Corinth helped the Corinthians became an established missional center in their locality because first, he has to understand the evils that were affecting the people. In that, he understand that prosperity went hand in hand with immorality as people had more than they needed and for that reason, they forgot that they still needed God (Cameron & Miller, 2011. P.64). Secondly, the letters were a revelation to the people because they had mixed feelings on various issues. For example, the rival factions that was between the brethren’s in that they were turned against each other because they opted to identify themselves with the teacher that the brethren held to be in the highest esteem. 1 Corinthians 1:12 states” one of you says I follow Paul, another I follow Apollos and I follow Cephas while others say I follow Christ.” He was disappointed by the reaction where he responded to these rival factions by indicating that Jesus was the supreme and all teachers taught the teachings of Jesus Christ (Dunn, 2006. P.67). He further indicated that nobody else could lay any other foundation other than that which was laid by Jesus Christ. Therefore, people should aspire to walk in the ways, which were taught by Jesus. Secondly, the Church became a missional center because Paul taught the people not to be mean to each other and to help in areas where they can. This is because people in the Corinth community had started to show lack of concern for each other which was evidenced by the way the poor were being mistreated during the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:21-22 he stated” As you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk…; do you despise the church of God and Humiliate those who have nothing?” Paul condemned this form of selfishness, as it was not Godly. Additionally, these actions by the Corinth Christians led to the fourth form of damaged relations among Christians as they failed to collect relief funds that had been promised to the needy Christians who lived in Jerusalem. Therefore, the first letter showed the people how to love each other and be there for their neighbors because love should be unconditional and should not limit people from doing well. Thirdly, Paul taught the Corinth about sexual conduct, which was a major problem in the area as it had caused division in the church because some of the brethren is believed in abstinence while others believed in sexual promiscuity. People in the Corinth church had the belief that because Jesus had come sexual issues were no longer relevant causing two divergent attitudes from the people. For instance, some people in the church adopted the perspective of sexual license, which resulted to various problems including prostitution and homosexuality. Other members believed that in sexual abstinence and ascetism even within the marriage institution (Furnish, 1999. P. 78). Paul in his letter addressed one problem where he rebuke any man cohabiting with his stepmother. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans; a man has his father’s wife.” This form of sexuality promiscuity was condemned but the confusion within the Corinthians made them take pride in tolerate ng man’s sexual relations with his stepmother. In relation to abstinence and asceticism in marriage it was rebuked by Paul as he was of the view that it violated the marriage covenant and it gave the other spouse sexual temptation(1 Corinthians 7:2:5). Fourthly, abuse in worship where issues such as the use of spiritual gifts, gender roles and meat sacrificed to idols arose. Paul raised concerns about how men and women behaved themselves in public worship. He first addressed the use of head covers during prayer he stated” every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head (1 Corinthians 11: 4-5).” In relation to spiritual worship, he indicated that according to 1 Corinthians 14-33 that believers had spectacular gifts such as prophecy and tongues that they used them so much in worship services that disorder ensued. Therefore, the only way these gifts would help the people of Corinth was if they did it an orderly manner and defer to each other to understand the benefits of the spirit. People of Corinth were confused about the meat that was being sold in the markets, as they believed most of it had been sacrificed to the idols. In that, there was conflict in the church where some of the members indicated that the meat was tainted (Porter, 2005. P. 102). However, Paul clarified this statement by indicating that although the meat was sacrificed to the pagan’s idols it did not mean that the meant was tainted, for that reason, people were allowed to ear the meat. However, Paul instructed that the Christians could only be allowed to eat the meat only if they did not do it an act of pagan worship. 1 Corinthians 8:7 “some people are still accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol and because their conscience is weak they are defiled.” Therefore, Paul allowed the Corinth to eat the meat, but also on the condition that eating the meat would not cause confusion to other believers. The teachings and guidance of Paul made the Corinth people became a missional community because besides teaching them on the way to live with their fellow brethren is he taught them the aspect of love, which was most important. 1 Corinthians 1:10 “ No I plead with you brethren, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you perfectly joined together in the dame mind and in the same Judgment.” Paul pleaded them to work together as one community because Lord Jesus Christ united them. Therefore, the aspects that helped them in becoming one missional community was that they believed that Lord Jesus Christ was the way, the truth and life. In that, they knew that the only way they could seek the kingdom of God was through Lord Jesus. Another aspect that made the Corinth a Missional community was the fact that they were taught how to share with the less fortunate in the society. This is because Paul taught the church that they should share with those who were in need (Goodrich, 2012.P. 56). He went ahead even to ask them to give food to the people of Jerusalem who did not have anything to eat during the last supper. Therefore, being that they were a prosperous town they were supposed to share their joy with others as that is what God expected from them when he blessed them with wealth. Therefore, sharing with the needy made them a missional community, as well as, loving their neighbors. Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians was a complicated one in the sense that, he first encountered them when he brought the gospel to the people. After sometime, Paul left Corinth and continued with his missionary Journey until when he received a letter from the House of Chloe indicating that the church was falling apart. He wrote a letter to the People explaining the issues that were bringing conflicts and confusion. However, the first letter did not work as people did the direct opposite of what Paul had asked of them. After the letter, Timothy went in his place to see how the situation was in Corinth only to find that the situation had deteriorated and the church was fragmenting under the weight of sin (Buch-Hansen, 2010. P. 51). After hearing, this Paul put his matters aside to visit Corinth only to be confronted with a humiliating and bitter experience. It was clear that Paul loved the Church in Corinth and their relationship was good up until he had left leaving the church without guidance. Paul had loved the church in Corinth and had done everything to ensure that people walked in the path of righteousness, but the people in Corinth did not give or accord him the respect or love that he deserved as the man of God. The relationship of Paul and the people of Corinth pin down the reality of mission in the sense that, people who preach the gospel of Christ are not widely accepted. This is because people have a fear of the truth and they reject any person who condemns their wrongdoing. For that reason, they have to be strong and continue until they reach a wider range of people (Barnett, 2011. P.83). Like Paul, he did not give up on the people of Corinth as he continued to write letters to them informing them of the ways that Christ expected them to walk. At some point, people came to their sense and repented their sins although not the whole congregation some people saw that Paul understood what Christ expected from them. For Paul to win the ears and the hearts of the Corinth he had to expose his opponents, this was caused by the worsening situation that was in Corinth that pushed him into putting his opponents to shame. The situation in Corinth made him to leave his normal aversion that was lead towards self-praise and made him proceed into doing something he has condemned earlier in his letter and that is boast in his ministerial achievements. He stated as he was not comfortable doing it “I have made a fool of myself, but you have drove me to it (12:11).” Paul opponents included Jews, libertines, pro-Gnostics and ascetics. After Paul left Corinth his missional community various issues arose that lead to the people moving far away from the face of God. There was sexual immorality, division on who to follow as well as, preservation of unity among the brethren’s. Therefore, it is clear that Paul wrote the Letter to the Corinthians in order to deal with the issues that were affecting them and the conclusion that was going on about the Christian church (Winter, 2001. P. 90). There was confusion about the resurrection of Christ where people wanted to understand whether there was life after death. It is clear that Paul invested most of his time in helping the Corinth Christian because he loved them. However, despite his efforts he faced opposition because instead of the people doing what was requested of them they did the direct opposite. Despite all this, problems Paul did not give up on his people as he continued to write them letter until they decided to walk in the righteous path. References Barnett, P. (2011). The Corinthian question?: why did the Church oppose Paul? Nottingham, England, Apollos. Barrett, C. K. (2013). The First epistle to the Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Baker Academic. Buch-Hansen, G. (2010). "It is the spirit that gives life": a Stoic understanding of pneuma in Johns Gospel. Berlin [etc.], De Gruyter. Cameron, R., & Miller, M. P. (2011). Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature. Dunn, J. D. G. (2006). The theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids, Mich, W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Fee, G. D. (2014). The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Mich, W. B. Eerdmans. Furnish, V. P. (1999). The theology of the first Letter to the Corinthians. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press. Goodrich, J. (2012). Paul as an Administrator of God in 1 Corinthians. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139088244. Porter, S. E. (2005). Paul and his opponents. Leiden ;Boston, Brill. Winter, B. W. (2001). After Paul left Corinth: the influence of secular ethics and social change. Grand Rapids, Mich, W.B. Eerdmans. Read More