1 Corinthians– “Corrupt Corinth and the Early Church”, #1
    Welcome to a Bible Study in the book of 1 Corinthians. First
Corinthians is a book in the New Testament part of the Bible. It follows the
four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the books of Acts and
Romans.

    The church in Corinth was founded by the Apostle Paul, and the
book of First Corinthians is really a letter written to the church by Paul
while he was in the city of Ephesus. Corinth was a Greek city, a pagan city
which held the great temple of Aphrodite who was said to be the goddess
of love, beauty, and fertility. The mythical story about the temple having
1,000 prostitutes may or may not be true. But the city of Corinth was
indeed known for its immorality. In fact, the phrase “to act the Corinthian”
actually meant “to practice fornication.”

    There, in the midst of the great city of Corinth, which was known for
its Olympic games in an outdoor arena which could hold 20,000 people, a
church was begun by Paul, a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul did
not stay long in one place, always moving on to another area to bring the
message of good news.

     The book we are going to study together was written by Paul to the
church in Corinth in response to some distressing news he heard about the
goings-on in the church. Imagine if you will a modern day bishop hearing
of some strange practices in one of the churches under his/her leadership.
He would want to know what in the world was going on and why. In our
denomination, in our own church, it would be the Associate Conference
Minister who would investigate the rumors. The ACM would also consult
with the Association Church and Ministry Committee, and someone might
be sent out to our church for a visit.

    Paul wanted to know what was going on too. There were moral and
spiritual problems to consider. Among them were divisions  in the church
because of a misunderstanding of the Word of God, problems relating to
marriage, the proper use of the Lord’s Supper, and even a case of incest.
Paul wanted to be sure that the Corinthians were not adding to or
subtracting from the truth  of the gospel of Christ. He wrote in 3:11; “For no
one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus
Christ.”

    This is a brief introduction to what we will be studying together. I
hope that you will feel free to comment in any way and to ask questions.
Watch for updates, which will begin weekly after June 16. On June 16, I
will be teaching the study at the church each Wednesday at 10:00 in the
Parish House. After those sessions I will be adding new postings to this
site.

Pastor Lorraine