As Most Important
If you pick up a Bible study or commentary on the important teachings of the book of 1 Corinthians, or if you listen to a sermon series studying through the book, you are most likely to hear that the church in Corinth was a problem church – a church that wasn’t very grounded in the faith, a church that had significant problems.
The church in Corinth had numerous spiritual problems …
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The church in Corinth struggled with problems, sins affecting the church …
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Doctoral Dissertation
The Corinthian church was corroded with sin …
The problems that he encountered in this place were more numerous than he had found in other cities …
Cliffs Notes
But the church in Corinth had the same beginnings, the same foundation that other churches started by Paul enjoyed. In some ways, they even had several important advantages. Paul stayed in Corinth for an extended period of time. Aquila and Priscilla were left there to help the church grow and mature. Why did Corinth have problems that didn’t seem to surface in Ephesus, Philippi or Colossae?
Perhaps the church at Corinth wasn’t so much a problem church as it was a struggling church. It seems that a more appropriate observation about the church in Corinth would be that it was a church that was wrestling with what it meant to be the church – to be Christian – in a very urban, a very pluralistic, a very non-Christian culture. How can Christians stay Christian and not be influenced by the world around them?
Sound familiar?
What message did Paul tell the Corinthian Christians? What important Christian doctrines and behaviors most impact the culture? How should we best represent Christ in an unbiblical, non-Christian culture? To help us understand, let’s take several weeks and look at the fifteenth chapter of the book of First Corinthians.
We will look at those important doctrines over the next few lessons.
