We begin Paul's Corinthian correspondence this week. According to Luke's account in Acts [Acts 18], Paul founded the church and spent more than a year in Corinth nurturing the Christian community. Paul continued on his missionary journey, making his way to Ephesus just across the Aegean Sea. From Ephesus, Paul wrote to the Corinthians in response to news he received as to how the community was faring.
The Corinthian congregation looked like Corinth itself, indeed the Greco-Roman world. There were a few very wealthy people, a lot of poor people, and no middle class to speak of. The Gentile Christians far outnumbered the Jewish Christians.
It is not surprising that most of Paul's letter address fractiousness in the Corinthian church. Paul also addresses the Corinthians' individualization or privatization of their faith.
The letter is an excellent example of the genre of deliberative rhetoric. The author, Paul, is attempting to persuade his audience, the Corinthians, to change their behavior and their thinking. Paul longs for the Corinthians to live their faith more fully and wholesomely.
May 2: Ps 100-102; 1Cor 1
May 3: Ps 103-104; 1Cor 2
May 4: Ps 105-106; 1Cor 3
May 5: Ps 107-109; 1Cor 4
May 6: Ps 110-112; 1Cor 5
May 7: Ps 113-115; 1Cor 6
May 8: Ps 116-118; 1Cor 7:1-19
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