Butler's Comments
FIRST CORINTHIANS
BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK SERIES
STUDIES IN
FIRST CORINTHIANS
by
Paul T. Butler
College Press Publishing Company, Joplin, Missouri
Copyright © 1985
College Press Publishing Company
Printed and bound in the
United States of America
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-072-347
International Standard Book Number: 0-89900-063-0
This volume is dedicated
to
Lakin Paul Lankford
and
Deker Kyle Lankford
my cherished grandsons
in the hope that they will follow in the
steps of the great apostle to the Gentiles
and
preach the gospel of Christ
wherever they go.
INTRODUCTION
Historical Background:
Corinth: in Greek language, Korinthos, meaning, ornament.
In Paul's day, Corinth was the capital of the Roman province called by them, Achaia, and the most important city in Greece (even more important from the Roman viewpoint than Athens).
Athens was the intellectual center of Greece; Corinth was the commercial center.
Corinth occupied a strategic geographical position. It was the southern gate on the isthmus into Greece.
It was built on the side or at the foot of the 2000 ft. Mount Acrocorinthus.
The acropolis of Corinth was atop this mountain. On a clear day you could see from this acropolis 40 miles northeast to the city of Athens. Corinth had three harbors.
Ancient seafaring men so dreaded having to make the 200 mile voyage around the southern capes of the Peloponnesus, they would tie ropes to their ships, put logs under them and drag them across the isthmus. Large ships were unloaded, dragged across, the cargo carried across, put back on board and then they would sail on across the Mediterranean Sea.
Many attempts were made to build a canal across the isthmus in ancient times; the most notable attempt being that of Nero (about 15 years after Paul established the Christian church there), in 66 A.D.
The Romans declared Greece and Corinth free in 196 B.C. But a Greek rebellion in 146 B.C. caused the Romans to destroy Corinth totally; its famous art treasures were taken to Rome as booty.
Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth as a Roman colony and made it the capital of Achaia in 46 B.C.
At the height of its power, Corinth probably had a population of 200,000 free born Greek citizens and 500,000 slaves.. about the population density of St. Louis, Missouri.
Its population consisted of descendants of the Roman colonists who came in 46 B.C. (100 years before Paul)many Romans who came for business from Italya large Greek populationmany strangers from different nationalitiesand the inevitable Jewish community with its synagogues.
A broken lintel (part of a door) discovered by archaeologists bears a Greek inscription, synagogue of Hebrews.
The canal at Corinth, connecting the Ionian Sea with the Agean was begun in 66 A.D. by Nero. The present canal, begun in 1881, shortens the distance from the Aegean Sea to Athens by 202 miles for ships able to navigate its 69-foot width and 26-foot depth.
Paul undoubtedly chose Corinth for a missionary base because of its itinerant and cosmopolitan population. Anyone who could make his voice heard in Corinth was addressing a spectrum of people from all over the known civilized world, many of whom would be sure to go all over the world and possibly carry with them what they had heard.
This is probably what Corinth looked like in Paul's day (up-town). The acropolis had the pantheon upon it where their gods were housed. Poseidon, god of the sea, was their chief god. The Isthmian Games were held there every two years, second only to the Olympic Games in Athens. The agora (market place and public buildings) is in the foreground. What the remainder of the city looked like is not pictured.
In Paul's time Corinth was a city of wealth, luxury and immorality! To live like a Corinthian meant to live a life of profligacy and debauchery. All over the Roman empire, women who were promiscuous or of loose morals were often called Corinthian girls.
The reason for this is that at the temple of Aphrodite on the Acropolis there were 1000 Corinthian girls employed as hierodouloi (lit. temple maiden servants), actually prostitutes. Aphrodite was the goddess of love (eros). Worship at the temple involved sexual intercourse with one of these priestesses. Young male homosexuals were also used by the Corinthians. This worship formed a great temptation, even to the new Christians at Corinth, as evidenced from Paul's exhortations against it (1 Corinthians 5:1 ff; 1 Corinthians 6:9-19). This attracted worshipers from all over the Roman world. To become corinthianized meant a person was living the most licentious, debauched life possible. It was customary in a stage play in the theater for a Corinthian actor to come on the scene drunk. Much drunkenness, homosexuality, fornication, robbery, thievery, idolatry and immorality of all kinds went on here. Strabo quoted the proverb, All the people of Corinth gorge themselves. Corinth had many important industries, its pottery and brass and marble for building columns were famous all over the world.
Sex crazy, sports crazy, affluent and cynical, citizens and visitors of Corinth liked to tell of the notorious priestesses of Aphrodite, whose studded sandals spelled out in the dust of the street, Follow me! Every shop in the city had a deep, spring-fed well in which to cool containers of wine.
Alciphro wrote: I did not enter Corinth after all; for I learned in a short time the sordidness of the rich there and the misery of the poor. Aristophanes coined the word corinthianize to denote debauchery.
Date of the Epistle:
Paul visited Corinth for the first time on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-28) about 50-51 A.D. Claudius was emperor of Rome at that time. He had just been to Athens where he was not well received so he came to Corinth hesitantly (in much weakness, fear and trembling, 1 Corinthians 2:3). The Lord told Paul He had much people in the city. He became acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla, tent-makers like he was. During his stay of 1-1 /2 years he resided in their home. Soon after his arrival, Silas and Timothy joined him with news from Thessalonica. Every sabbath Paul preached in the synagogue of the Jews; he met with strong opposition and gave the rest of his stay in Corinth to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Titus Justus, Crispus, Gaius and Stephanas were some of Paul's first converts. During Paul's stay, Gallio, the elder brother of the Roman philosopher Seneca came to his rescue when the Jews tried to have him imprisoned.
Paul seems to have visited Corinth again, during his third missionary journey when he was headquartered at Ephesus (2 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1). While at Ephesus, Paul wrote an earlier letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:9) which has been lost. Paul wrote our present First Corinthians from the city of Ephesus about 56 or 57 A.D. in answer to a letter from Corinth (probably brought to him from there by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:17) relating some of the problems in the church there. Paul had also heard of factions in the church from the servants of Chloe (1 Corinthians 1:11), probably one of the women members of the church. Paul wrote this letter to deal with these problems, which plagued the saints.
Of course the church at Corinth was probably composed of many small groups of Christians meeting in different homes. There were no church buildings as such until about 200 A.D.
The Purpose of This Epistle:
Problems, problems, problems; every church has them. Even the first century churches were beset with problems. The Holy Spirit guided Paul in the composition of this letter that divine wisdom might be delineated for dealing with these enigmas and aberrations. There are nine or ten distinct problems dealt with: factionalism and schism; spiritual maturation; immorality; Christian integrity; marriage and divorce; liberties in Christ; order and decorum in worship; communion in Christ; abuse and misuse of miraculous gifts; probability of life after death (the resurrection from the dead); collections made for the saints. This book reads like a modern, twentieth century, Report on the State of the Church of Christ. The church today faces, essentially, the same problems. The problems do not change because human nature is the same in every generation. Human beings are either in the process of regeneration through the power of the word of God growing in them, or they are in the process of degeneration through the power of the word of the devil developing in them. The Holy Spirit's purpose through the pen of the apostle Paul was to produce a holy growth in the saints at Corinth. It will be evident as one studies this epistle that these Christians had much growing to do. But so do we all if we are to reach mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). God wished the Christians at Corinth to know that he loved them with an eternal love as they were growing into the persons for which he had created them. There could never, after the Cross, be any question about the faithfulness of God's love. The question was, then, whether the Corinthians would choose the growth he desired for them. That is still the question for the church today.
Applebury's Comments
BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK
STUDIES IN
FIRST CORINTHIANS
T. R. Applebury
Professor of New Testament
Pacific Christian College
Long Beach, California
College Press, Joplin, Missouri
Copyright © College Press 1963, A88342
Reprinted 1966
Reprinted 1971
Reprinted 1973
Reprinted 1977
All rights reserved, including rights of reproduction and use in any form or by any means, including the making of copies by any photo process, or by electronic or mechanical device, printed or written or oral, or recording for sound or visual reproduction or for use in any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permission in writing is obtained from the copyright proprietors.
Manufactured in the United State of America
PREFACE
TO THE READER
These studies are the result of years of research and teaching in the Bible college and in church classes. My object in presenting them is to encourage the program of Bible study and to help meet the needs of the general Bible reader.
The analysis of each chapter is both an outline and, in many cases, a paraphrase of the Bible text. It is intended to be of help to the general reader and also to the teacher who may be leading a study group. The analyses and the charts will enable the reader to have a comprehensive view of First Corinthians at a glance.
The printed text is the American Standard Version of the New Testament. I urge you, however, to use your own Bible in these studies. The commentary should be of help regardless of the version you may use. Under no circumstances should comments be placed above the Bible text in importance. In some instances there are recognized differences of opinion; for example: (1) the question of re-marrying in chapter seven; (2) the matter of authority in chapter eleven; (3) the problems involved in the discussion of tongues in chapter fourteen. In all such cases, I ask that you do not accept my opinions. I urge you to study your own Bible and to do your own thinking that your conclusion may be your own. Every student should seek to learn what the Bible actually says and what it means.
The summary of each chapter will help the student to review the material covered in the commentary. The questions at the end of each chapter are designed to point out the significant issues of the chapter. For best results, the student should write out the answers to each question. Groups may find it profitable to use the questions for discussion, Discussion, however, need not be limited to these suggestions.
These studies have been tested in church study groups. While I was the minister of the First Church of Christ at San Fernando, California, I prepared a brief mimeographed series of studies on First Corinthians for our Bible study class. That material, completely rewritten and enlarged is presented in this book. I am indebted to the good people of that congregation for allowing me time in a busy ministry to study. I could wish that all churches might do the same for their ministers and occasionally make it possible for them to return to college for refresher courses.
I am indebted to Don DeWelt, editor of the BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK series, with whom I served on the faculty of the San Jose Bible College, for his encouragement and assistance in preparing this work for publication.
It is my prayer that you may search the Scriptutes as the Beroeans did and meditate on the meaning of God's Word day and night that you may translate it into life and share it with others.
Department of New Testament
Pacific Christian College July, 1963