Hi James and Ellen,
1 Corinthians is the first canonized letter that a former Christ-follower bounty hunter penned to the emergent Christ-follower community of guys and gals that was in the city of Corinth – in the country of Greece, that he was instrumental in initiating on his second missionary journey. Your grandpaa thinks that this onetime Christ-follower persecutor – whose name had been Saul from the city of Tarsus, quite possibly had been exchanging letters with the city of Corinth congregants with this letter ending up becoming copied and redistributed among the guys and gals in the city of Corinth’s community of Christ-follower guys and gals resulting in this letter becoming a New Testament canonized book. Saul – who had his name changed to Paul by God after God sent a bright light from heaven that literally blinded Paul to get Paul’s attention, was living and ministering in the city of Ephesus when he penned this letter. Paul made an extended three year stop in the city of Ephesus while he was on his third missionary journey. Paul spent two of the years that he was in the city of Ephesus enabling guys – using Tyrannus lecture hall, through intensive teaching on how to pass on their faith in Jesus Christ through discipling, teaching, preaching, initiating small groups, evangelizing and being competent servant elders in the house churches that they were members. Paul in 55 A.D. had his first Corinthian letter taken to the Chloe family – a city of Corinth Christ-follower family. The impetus for Paul sending his first Corinthian letter to the Chloe family was after three guys – Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, showed up in the city of Ephesus as representatives of the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth with a money gift that was designated for Paul to use for his ministry and with news and possibly a personal letter from the Chloe family telling Paul about the tensions in the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth. The city of Corinth by this time was a burgeoning crossroads center with a population of about 250,000 residents who owned about 400,000 slaves. Your grandpaa thinks that possibly uninvited input had been made or was being made by guys and gals coming and going from all over the developing world along with the influence that had been made and was being made by morphing cultural mores – which were being effected by a high premium being put on wisdom and because of rampant immorality, immature, unspiritual attendees in the Christ-follower fellowship in the city of Corinth began to divide up into factions that in turn began to dumb down non-negotiable worship and life absolutes that identify Christ-follower guys and gals.
Paul begins his first documented letter to his Christ-follower friends who were living in the city of Corinth by telling them how much he appreciates them, that they can be confident that God will keep them strong to the end and that he was looking forward to seeing them again – which he would not that long after he sent this letter and a second letter to them. After Paul began his 1 Corinthians sixteen chapter letter expressing a few niceties, Paul then took on the different factional divisions that had emerged that were being driven by either a wrong conception of what the Good News message was all about or how the Good News message should be told or who should minister the Good News message or in what ways was a Christ-follower guy or gal to live out the Good News message in his or her life. Paul did not hesitate to suggest that his life should be imitated by his readers as they are living their lives. Paul went on in this first retained letter that was written by him and carried to Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth to pour cold water on the number of divisive fires that were causing turmoil within the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth. There is a sense that Paul was not a happy camper when he was told that a Christ-follower who was living in the city of Corinth was in an illicit relationship with his stepma. Paul’s written retort in this letter to his Christ-follower compatriots goes like ‘hey guys – to acquiesce to immorality taking place among you is an absolute no-no – so guys – expel him – like right now!’ Paul went on to pen short treatises on a variety of topics starting out with a Christ-follower guy using a civil court to take another Christ-follower guy to court with Paul claiming that it is something totally wrong to do. Paul then when on to say that a Christ-follower guy not being married may not be the worse thing for him to be but that it his desire for a gal who is a Christ-follower is that she finds and supports the Christ-follower guy who she marries, that Christ-follower guys and gals eating meat from an animal that had been sacrificed to an idol will not change him or her from being a Christ-follower but doing so may negatively affect his or her personal testimony with weak Christ-follower guys and gals, so . . ., that Christ-follower guys and gals when they celebrate the Lord’s Supper are not to use this time as an occasion to party as remembering the Lord’s Supper is a time to reflect on their Christ-follower walk and to renew any strained relationship and that Christ-follower guys and gals because of having been imbued with manifestation or sign gifts are not to use these gifts in pride driven, self-edifying ways as that will make mockery of these gifts.
Your grandpaa thinks that what Paul wrote in his 1 Corinthians letter about distorting the Good News message to get the Good News message to fit immoral lifestyles and/or emotionally driven beliefs is not being heard today.
1 Corinthians