![]() If any of their number persist in following the low moral standards of the pagans, they should be excluded from membership. Any type of immoral conduct must not be tolerated among the believers. On the subject of immorality within the membership of the church, Paul is very explicit. What he does insist on is a unity of spirit and purpose that will allow each group to learn from the others. He does not insist that all members of the community should think alike on every subject, nor does he advocate that someone with authority should tell others what to believe. ![]() Paul's manner of dealing with the problem is noteworthy. The spirit of independent thinking emphasized so strongly by the Greeks evidently was influencing the Corinthian Christians. Reportedly, the household of Chloe informed Paul that serious quarrels had taken place among these factions. Four distinct factions correspond to the four individuals whose teachings were followed by the respective groups: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ. Containing sixteen chapters dealing with a wide variety of topics, the first topic mentioned is that of divisions within the church. The longest of the letters written to the church at Corinth is known in the New Testament as 1 Corinthians. Paul was deeply concerned that the Christian church in Corinth should make no compromise with the morality - or immorality - customary in a pagan society. The Corinthian church's membership was composed of people from many different quarters, including those whose training and environment were foreign to the Hebrew standards of morality. In other places, the Jewish element, with its legalistic tendencies, created difficulties, but in Corinth, the moral problem caused the greater anxiety. He was especially anxious to guide new Christian converts with reference to the many perplexing problems that were bound to arise. However, his work was successful from the beginning. In view of these conditions, no wonder Paul said he began his Corinthian mission with fear. Pagan religions with sexual rites and ceremonies existed, and both materialism and immorality were the accepted order of the day. Generally known as a city devoted to pleasure-seeking, it was a center for Greek culture and a busy commercial city with a cosmopolitan atmosphere that brought together people and customs from different parts of the world. The largest part of Paul's correspondence was with the church at Corinth, for the problems that he encountered in this place were more numerous than he had found in other cities, and if his message could be successful in Corinth, there was good reason to believe that it could have results that would be equally as good in any other place.Ĭorinth was an important city in Paul's day. Chapters 10–13 belong to what is often referred to as the "painful letter," in which Paul replies to the many false charges made concerning him and his work. Chapters 1–9 are written in a conciliatory tone that indicates that they were composed after Chapters 10–13 were received and accepted by the members of the church. 2 Corinthians is made up of two different letters. In what is now called 1 Corinthians, there is a reference to a former letter in which instruction was given concerning the type of conduct that should not be tolerated in a Christian church. Paul wrote at least four different letters to the church at Corinth, three of which are included in the New Testament.
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