church in the city of Corinth is unique
among all of Paul's letters. This church
challenged his apostolic authority more
than any other church. They criticized
him, pointing out his weaknesses. They
preferred other preachers over him.
And Paul, for his part felt more pain
towards them, than any other church.
As one reads through this book, one
can sense Paul's anguish. One feels his
hurt, his frustration. He is aware some
feel he is foolish. Others, because he has
suffered as he has, have come to the
conclusion that God must not favor him.
Indeed, many in Corinth felt they
themselves were more spiritually
advanced than Paul.
This may surprise us, especially if we
are aware of Paul's first letter to the
Corinthians. There one reads about
their divisions, the open immorality in
the church, the prevalence of divorce,
the way in which the Lord's Supper had
degenerated into a drunken feast, the
theological problems - especially around
the doctrine of the resurrection, and so
forth. This church was a mess! How
could they think themselves in any way
surperior? And yet, (although not
surprisingly) they despised Paul.
It is this context that gives rise to this
letter.
Before looking at the details of the
letter, it is important to get a sense of
the of the city itself. The city of
Corinth was located in what is now the
nation of Greece. At the time of the
writing of this letter, the city was
significantly Roman in character. The
architecture on all the buildings looked
Roman, the laws and the structure of
City politics was Roman – and in fact – a
good portion of the population was
Roman. But the population also was
multi cultural – in fact Corinth drew
people from all over the world. It was
in its time – the biggest city in Greece –
larger – and more influential even than
Athens.
If you have a map, find out where
it is located. It was right at beginning of
a narrow isthmus, or a narrow neck of
land, that led to a passage way by sea
from one side of Greece to the other.
Sea travel around the tip of Greece was
so dangerous in the ancient world, that
the mariners had a saying. “A sailor
never takes a journey around Malea until
he first writes his will.” Because it was so
dangerous, most captains chose to sail
up to Corinth – at the beginning of that
narrow isthmus. Small ships could make
it through by having ropes attached to
them – and then being pulled along the
land – on both sides through that
narrow stretch of ocean that began in
Corinth. But bigger ships couldn’t make
it. But there was a solution. They would
literally drag these ships out of water
onto skids or huge massive rollers – and
drag them from land – starting at
Corinth – to the other side of Greece –
and put them back into the water. That
may sound tiresome to us – but that was
the safest way to travel. Today – there is
a canal there – that took almost 1800
years to dig – that in itself is an amazing
story.
But – because sailors and ship
captains – and traders – and everyone
else had to get out at Corinth – Corinth
became a boom town – kind of like the
gold rush days in San Francisco. Money
was flowing everywhere – and people
were flocking to the city. Out of this –
Corinth became a manufacturing city.
For instance – world famous “Corinthian
bronze” – which looked just like gold –
was manufactured there. Lots of other
products as well.
But that’s not all. Corinth was
filled with entertainment. They had a
very large theatre for plays and public
lectures – and musical concerts. Corinth
was the first city in Greece to have
Roman gladiators fighting there in their
own arena. They also hosted the
Isthmian Games – held every two years –
and were second in the ancient world –
only to the Olympic Games. And in
Corinth – it was not only the men who
ran in races like in the Olympic Games –
but the women did as well. In fact
women also participated in war chariot
races and sometimes even beat the men
– and so Corinth became a place of
liberated women – operating on the
same social status as men.
I suppose – if you had gone to
Corinth – you probably would have
noticed the temples first. You would
have seen temples to at least 19 different
gods and goddesses – and that is not
including all the buildings that held
services for mystery religions. But most
impressive of all of them was the temple
of Aphrodite. It housed over 1000
sacred temple prostitutes – and every
single day – they would come out of the
temple – with quite a spectacle – circle
through the city – and then return back
to the temple. On the bottom of their
sandals – as they walked were written
these words: “follow me”. And of
course – many men and women did. It
was considered to be a spiritual
experience to have sex with a temple
prostitute in the temple of Aphrodite.
In fact – the whole city celebrated
its various gods and goddesses – they
were in fact extremely proud of their
religious diversity. In fact – all the meat
markets sold meat which had been
sacrificed to the various gods and
goddesses – the idea being that every
meal could be a sacred – spiritual
experience.
But – because of all this – Corinth
had a reputation of being the most
permissive sexual society in the ancient
world – it was as Amsterdam is today.
In fact – Corinth became a slang word.
To Corinthianize someone was to make
them a prostitute – and if you called
someone a Corinthian girl – you meant
she was easy.
The city was also filled with a class
of people called “freedmen”. These
were former slaves who had gained their
freedom – and they came to Corinth in
droves – because the economy of Corinth
allowed rapid wealth – and a rapid rise
in social status. This meant that there
was a feeling in the city that anyone
could make it. Furthermore, no one's
status was to be ultimately respected.
No doubt Paul felt this when his
apostolic authority was questioned.
All of this to say that culture deeply
impacts the gospel. All come to Christ
within a culture through which they
interpret the gospel. That is not to say
that the gospel is not greater than the
culture, and if one listens long enough,
the gospel itself transforms not only the
individuals in the culture, but it can
transform the culture itself.
More to follow - regarding Paul's
message to the Corinthians.
Posted 12th September 2014 by Pastor John
Neufeld
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