Paul’s Severe Letter to Corinth | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org (2024)

FAQs

Why did Paul write a severe letter to the Corinthians? ›

They were full of pride and were excusing sexual immorality. Spiritual gifts were being used improperly, and there was rampant misunderstanding of key Christian doctrines. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians in an attempt to restore the Corinthian church to its foundation—Jesus the Christ.

Paul's letters to the Christians at Corinth address his concern over a pressing issue: the rampant immorality associated with the paganism of Corinth. This immorality had begun to infect the Corinthian church.

(5) After writing 1 Corinthians, Paul made a brief second visit to Corinth from Ephesus on his way to Macedonia. This visit is not mentioned in Acts and is known as Paul's “painful or sorrowful” visit because of the division that emerged between Paul and the Corinthian church (2 Corinthians 2:1).

The letter, which may have been written after an actual visit by Paul to Corinth, refers to an upheaval among the Christians there, during the course of which Paul had been insulted and his apostolic authority challenged. Because of this incident, Paul resolved not to go to Corinth again in person.

The Severe Letter or Letter of Tears was a letter written to the Corinthians by the Apostle Paul.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is written to a specific group of people with unique challenges in their community. But the primary message of 1 Corinthians is evergreen—followers of Jesus are held to a standard of integrity and morality as we seek to represent his new way of life to our communities.

Paul's letters to the church in Corinth show that the problems of the city also affected the Christian community. Among the myriad problems in the Corinthian church were: claims of spiritual superiority over one another, suing one another in public courts, abusing the communal meal, and sexual misbehavior.

Once in Ephesus, and still distraught over the plight of his spiritual children, Paul sent Titus back to Corinth with a tearful and severe letter—the third letter he wrote to the church in Corinth—in which he warned the Corinthians of God's judgment and called them to repent (2:3–4; 7:8–16).

Outline. 1 Corinthians 1–11 Paul warns against divisions within the Church and emphasizes the importance of unity among Church members. He warns members against sexual immorality, teaches that the body is a temple for the Holy Spirit, and encourages self-discipline.

Who wrote the book? Paul wrote 2 Corinthians at a vulnerable time in his life. He had learned that the church at Corinth was struggling, and he sought to take action to preserve the unity of that local body of believers.

Were the Corinthians mostly Gentiles? ›

The church at Corinth included some Jews ( 1Cor 7:18-19 ), but it was largely composed of Gentile converts ( 1Cor 6:9-11 , 1Cor 8:7 , 1Cor 12:2 ). Paul's statement in 1Cor 1:26 makes clear that the majority of church members were socially humble (some were slaves: see 1Cor 7:21-23 ).

In 2 Cor 2:4 Paul refens to a letter that has been appropriately named “the letter of tears”: “For out of much affliction and contraction of heart I wrote to you through many tears.” Although scholars have recognized the importance of this tearful letter in Paul's relationship with the church at Corinth, no attention ...

It is generally agreed that one key factor in the deterioration of Paul's relationship with the Corinthian assembly was his refusal to accept an offer of material support.

Acts 18:11-12 states that Paul stayed a year and six months in Corinth. He was then brought before Gallio by the Jews, “while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia.” It is likely that Gallio was newly arrived in Achaia at the time of this trial.

In Part II, Winter singles out changes that occurred after Paul left Corinth—the creation of the federal imperial cult, the relocation of the Isthmian Games, and the severe grain shortages—as precipitating new problems.

The so-called "painful letter," which is found in Chapters 10–13 of 2 Corinthians, contains Paul's defense of himself and of his work to the charges made against him by his enemies, including the Jewish legalists who said that Paul was an impostor who had not been authorized by the proper authorities to work among the ...

Second Corinthians 2:1–4 finds Paul explaining with great emotion how he decided not to return to Corinth until he learned whether they would side with or against him. He did not want to cause mutual needless pain with another difficult visit. Instead, he wrote to them in great anguish.