1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians.
§ 258. To the extent that the Epistle to the Romans has authority in treating controversies of faith, so 1 Corinthians has authority in establishing church discipline. As a result, antiquity counts it in the second place among the Pauline Epistles. The occasion for its writing was this: The apostle had taught in Corinth for a year and a half (Acts 18:9-10). After the apostle’s departure, various scandals of doctrine and behavior arose, as generally happens in densely populated, rich, and powerful cities such as Corinth, which Cicero calls “the light and glory of all Greece” (Pro leg. Manil.). In the area of doctrine there were seducers who were eager to tear down Paul’s authority and who were bringing up various questions—about which the Corinthians consulted Paul by special letter. In the area of behavior, ambition, discord, luxury, greed, and many sins of this sort were holding sway. In this letter the apostle wanted to meet both evils and to reestablish church discipline.
Regarding the place where the Epistle was written, a certain discrepancy seems to occur in the final sentence of the Greek codex and in the account of the Acts of the Apostles. You see, the Greek text has that it was written at Philippi, where 2 Corinthians also was written. It is more likely, however, that it was written at Ephesus, for the apostle says, “I shall remain at Ephesus until Pentecost” (1 Cor. 16:8), and he greets the Corinthians in the name of the churches of Asia, but Philippi is a city of Macedonia. Furthermore, this Epistle was written before he passed through Macedonia (1 Cor. 16:5), and at that time the apostle was at Ephesus (Acts 19:[22]). Finally, he greets the Corinthians in the name of Priscilla and Aquila, but he left them at Ephesus when he went down to Macedonia (Acts 18:19). Some people reconcile this apparent contradiction in this way: that it was written at Ephesus but sent from Philippi. There is a more simple answer: that those postscripts did not come from the apostle Paul but were added by later writers.
It also has sixteen chapters in which, besides the introduction and epilogue, there is added in the middle a treatise partly censuring the schisms and sins that held sway in their behavior, partly teaching concerning adiaphora, matrimonial cases, the doctrine of the resurrection, etc.