The city of Corinth is located on the narrow (4 miles) ithsmus that connects northern and southern Greece. It separated northern Greece from the Peloponnesians in the south.

The area has been occupied since before 3,000 BC. the first written historical reference is 900 BC. In the 400’s BC, Corinth allied with Sparta to the south against Athens in the north in the Peloponnesian Wars.

In 146 BC, the Romans captured and destroyed Corinth. it was rebuilt as a Roman city in 44 BC.

Paul arrived in this port city in around 52 AD. Corinth was located on the imperial trade route. The town was known for its Temple and Temple prostitutes plied their trade here, descending the hill from the temple, making this a popular place for sailors. The city was so known for its lewd reputation, the name of the city became a verb: to “Corinthicize” meant to have carnal relations.

Reading

  • 1 and 2 Corinthians
  • Acts 18:1-19:1

We learn a lot from Paul’s own writing in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Paul was in Corinth 51-52 AD, so the letters are perhaps 53 or 54 AD, earlier than I Thessalonians and possibly Galatians.

Paul’s Timeline?
33 Jesus’ crucifixion
34? Paul’s conversion
Arabia (Gal. 1:17 — NOT Jerusalem)
Damascus (Gal. 1:17 — NOT Jerusalem; Wilson: “Cannot date Paul’s time in Damascus” p. 82)
37? Jerusalem (Gal. 1:18 — “after three years,” for 15 days; only saw Cephas/Peter and James, the Lord’s brother; Acts 9:26-30)
Tarsus (where Barnabas finds him, Acts 11:25)
Antioch (where Barnabas takes him, Acts 11:26)
37-46 Still nine years unaccounted for!
46-48 1st Missionary Journey with Barnabas (Acts 13-14)
48 Jerusalem conference with Barnabas and Titus (Gal. 2:1 “after 14 years”, Acts 15)
49-52 2nd Missionary Journey with Silas (Acts 15:36-18:21) Luke goes too. Timothy gets picked up in Lystra.
51-52 Paul in Corinth
53-57 3rd Missionary Journey (Acts 18:22-21:16)
59-62 4th Missionary Journey (to Rome, and some conjecture possibly Spain)

The letters themselves indicate that there are other letters. In A Heart for Reconciliation: A Walk through 2 Corinthians, Megan Hansen and I wrote:

2 Corinthians is one of many letters that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a city in Greece.

  1. The Warning Letter: In 1 Corinthians 5:9 says, “I have written you in my letter…” So we know Paul wrote a letter prior to 1 Corinthians. This is sometimes called the “warning letter.”
  2. 1 Corinthians: Then we have 1 Corinthians.
  3. The Severe Letter. In 2 Corinthians 2:3-4 and 7:8, Paul refers to an earlier “letter of tears.” 1 Corinthians clearly does not match that description; so this “letter of tears” may have been written between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
  4. 2 Corinthians. Refers to the Severe Letter and mends fences. Reading a letter is like listening to one side of a phone conversation.

The Corinthian correspondence includes quite a few struggles, including a sexual misconduct. Paul addresses severe conflicts in the church, and dissension among some other apostles. The rich are arriving to the assembly early, eating the best food and drinking a bit too much, which the poor arrive later, after work. Paul criticized this practice as out of sync with the egalitarian nature of the body of Christ. Such practices are not the Lord’s Supper.

These divides must certainly have strained Paul’s understanding of the transforming work of the Spirit, which he believed transformed people into children of God. They probably also deepened his theology of sin. His apostolicity was questioned and as a result, it appears he never returned to Corinth, a church he founded.

I Corinthians also contains one of the most beloved passages of Scripture, I Corinthians 13, Paul’s treatise on love.

As in Romans 16, where Paul mentions 35 people, in I Corinthians Paul mentions eight: Sosthenes (“our brother”), Chloe (whose people have been reporting to him), Apollos, Cephas (Peter) and Christ (who all have factions named after them), Crispus and Gaius (who Paul claims are the only people he baptized there), and Stephanus (whose household Paul suddenly recalls also having baptized). Paul claims to be writing I Corinthians from Ephesus (16:8).

Luke reports (Acts 18), that Paul went to Corinth after his time in Athens. He met Pricilla and Aquila there, Jews that had come from Rome after Claudius expelled the Jews (49 AD?). So we can safely place Paul in Corinth after that time.

Paul also mentions Pricilla and Aquila in Roman’s 16:3-4 and I Corinthians 16:19, calling them “coworkers in Christ Jesus.” In Romans Paul says they risked their lives for him and that there is a church that meets in their house, so apparently by the time Paul’s letter to the Romans, likely his last letter, was written (late 50’s?), Priscilla and Aquila have left Corinth and are back home in Rome.

Luke tells us that Priscilla and Aquila were in the same trade: tentmaking. Tents were large, expensive items, made out of leather. Paul and his tradesfolk were taxidermists, a trade that would have been hard to do and remain kosher at the same time. He probably stunk.

Finally

In Paul’s day, ships avoided the long trip around the southern tip of Greece by dragging their ships across the ithsmus on tracks, called the diolkos. In 67 AD, Nero began work on a canal, using Jewish slaves. The work stopped when he died and didn’t begin again until 1881. By the 9th century ships had become too large to drag. Completed in 1893, it cost a bundle and didn’t become the strategic passage it was intended to be. Below is the nearly 4-mile Corinthian Canal.

In 1858, Ancient Corinth (Αρχαία Κόρινθος, southwest of the modern city, was totally destroyed by an earthquake. New Corinth was then built to the north-east, on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth.

In 1928, another earthquake ruined New Corinth, which was then rebuilt in the same location. In 1933, there was a great fire, and the new city was rebuilt again.