The apostle Paul directed these two letters, 1 & 2 Corinthians, to a struggling church. While other local congregations wrestled with persecutions from unbelievers, this fellowship of believers was wracked with internal and personal issues, hamstringing their effectiveness as the local body of Christ. The apostle Paul covers a lot of ground that is quite relevant to today’s church. Topics like sexual morality and relationships garner the attention of young believers. The subject of spiritual gifts is another popular topic covered, as well as gender issues in general. Instructions for dealing with conflict, selfishness, doubts, skeptics, and much, much more, make these two letters very timely today. Paul starts it all off with an issue some asked him to address, namely, the many cliques that were dividing the fellowship there, pitting various leaders and apostles against each other.

Older Christians find they can never exhaust the truth found here. Repeated study finds deeper layers of truth that may not be readily evident at first. Paul’s inherent self-exposure to the Corinthians is at first startling. But when we unpack the text and flow of his letters, we see his deftness at addressing multiple issues and his adroit use of various literary devices and techniques in communicating to them—and we become increasingly amazed. He even uses faux arrogance to show the ridiculousness of those who are genuinely arrogant. If Paul were just a human without divine inspiration, we would have to conclude him to be a literary genius, a master communicator, and an expert logician. Of course, God inspired this for the benefit of not only the Corinthians but all Christians everywhere.

Background

The Roman city of Corinth lies in what today is modern Greece, about fifty miles west of Athens. In Paul’s time, it was a major Roman city with a mixed ethnic population of freedmen, indigenous Greeks, and immigrants from far and wide.^[1] About two-thirds were slaves, resulting from the widespread military conquests of Rome. Corinth was the seat of imperial administration for the (then) province of Achaia and was located on a major Roman road between Athens and Sparta. It had two ports that controlled the overland movements of shipped goods across the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow land bridge separating the Ionian and Aegean seas. Thus, the city saw a continuous flow of merchants and military people through the city.

While immorality was widespread in the ancient world just like today, Corinth stood out in this regard. In many parts of the ancient world, it was a cliché to describe a promiscuous woman as a “Corinthian girl,” such was the reputation of the city. It is said there were more than a thousand temple prostitutes at that time.

There was also a strong nucleus of Jews, attracted by the trade opportunities. While many of them had dissociated from formal Judaism, their residual understanding of the Old Testament is evident in Paul’s letters.

Paul’s Relationship to the Corinthians

The apostle wrote at least four letters, but we have only the second and fourth letters extant (which we call 1 & 2 Corinthians). The other two letters are lost to antiquity, God apparently having chosen not to preserve them as inspired Scripture. Paul visited the Corinthian believers at least three times, with the book of Acts recording only two of them. So he was quite involved with this church and knew them quite well.

His initial reason for writing 1 Corinthians was to respond to a report of discord in the church. But he goes on to discuss other issues as well, some of which they had asked him to address. In 2 Corinthians he follows up on some issues from the first letter and then goes on to talk at length about his relationship to them as an apostle, in response to those who questioned his authority.

Application

The summary above is common knowledge among the commentaries and Bible scholars. What will make this book unique to each reader is the specific blessing you will discover as you immerse yourself in studying it and applying it to your life.

Tips for Using This Book

This Day by Day series fills a gap between the typical daily devotional readings (very brief) and in-depth commentaries (very long). It is designed to provide solid exposition in bite-sized portions for the busy Christian.

These expositions correspond to a typical five-day work week. We suggest you conclude each reading with a few minutes in conversation with the Lord, using the prayer at the end of each day’s meditation as a springboard for adding your own thoughts. And don’t forget to use a bookmark so you can come back to your spot at your next reading.  

Abbreviations

This book uses the usual abbreviations of English Bible versions: NASB (which is the default Bible version used in this book), NIV, ESV, etc. Other abbreviations help with space management, for example, the Old Testament and the New Testament are normally indicated as “OT” and the “NT” respectively. The acronym BDAG stands for the standard lexicon of the New Testament: A Greek English Lexicon of the New Te­­­stament and Other Early Christian Literature, b­­­y Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich.

Acknowledgments

Without a doubt, the Lord is the cause behind this series of E-Med(itations), and He is the sustainer of this effort. Let me explain. When I began, I set out to find a way to crystallize my thinking during my daily reading time in Scripture. Limiting myself to only a few verses at a time, and further limiting myself to the space limit to a half of a standard-sized sheet of paper, I began to write. The pace was set at a few verses per day, to cover one book of the Bible in a year. These writings became postings for a blog called “E-Med(itations),” which I invited relatives and friends to read.

At the end of the first year, Emmaus Worldwide (formerly Emmaus Internationa/ECS Ministries) agreed to publish this collection of writings in book form. The encouragement I received affirmed my desire to continue writing these daily posts. However, the benefit I found for my own soul was enough for me to continue whether anyone else found value in them or not. The series you are starting here is the seventh E-Med(itations) series, which is also the content of the seventh Day by Day book.

This is nothing short of a miracle. In university (many, many years ago), I chose my major in large part because it required the least amount of writing (in case you are interested, that was mathematics). At that time, I had an aversion to reading, and an even greater distaste for writing. But several things happened to change that. Shortly after graduation, I came to faith in Jesus Christ, and that completely revolutionized my life. Interestingly, an appetite for reading began to grow, especially for the Bible and Christian literature.

The second thing that moved me into writing was the advent of the home computer. To younger readers, this may seem like ancient history; the smartphone in their pockets are more powerful than room-sized computers in bygone years. But in the 1980s, computer word processing helped me the tools to move past my impatience with writing and the accompanying tediousness and frustrations of editing and rewriting. And in time, the development of Bible software made researching Scripture much quicker and more accessible.

My desire for teaching God’s truth expanded into writing pamphlets on various Christian issues and doctrines. I shudder when I find some of these old pamphlets for what passed as writing when I was slowly and tenaciously trying to improve this area of my ministry.

All the above is to point out that these books are due to God’s enabling, not to any natural talent that I have (or don’t have). Only He could take a person who abhorred writing and hated reading to a place of writing books! I am under no illusion, for God uses the weak things of the world, and this is just such a case. There are much better writers by far, who are gifted with the innate ability to communicate eloquently. But I take great comfort that the God we serve can take someone with little natural talent and use his feeble efforts for His glory. And to this, I say, “Indeed, to Him be all the glory!”

I am also hugely indebted to my faithful editors, Ruth Rodgers and Erica Fitzgerald. If you were to see my drafts before editing, you would understand my appreciation for them. Also, a thank you goes to Jesse Fullan of Emmaus International for laying out the copy and shepherding the project through production. And to Emmaus International for their willingness to continue publishing this series, I am grateful. This truly is a team effort.

Chuck Gianotti

^[1] Garland, D. E. (2003). 1 Corinthians (p. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.