Written to the church at Corinth in AD 55, the apostle Paul writes his first canonical letter to the Corinthian Christians from Ephesus while he was traveling on his third missionary journey. This church was established by Paul during his second missionary journey when he also had met Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish believers whom Paul lived with during his time in Corinth (Acts 18). Paul remained in Corinth for approximately a year and a half, but experienced much resistance from the Jewish leaders in that city, so he departed to Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla. After Paul’s departure, the church at Corinth began experiencing problems because the people remained spiritually immature and divided in their mission; furthermore, they had a difficult time staying distinct from the carnal culture around them and often returned to their immoral lifestyle.
Paul used the majority of this letter to call the Corinthian Christians to a change of behavior, dealing with issues such as disunity, immorality, relationships, diversity, and misunderstandings about worship in the church. Paul knew that the survival of this church was dependent on a proper understanding of truth and a willingness to submit to that truth. Since Paul loved and cared for the people at Corinth, he sent this letter to hopefully challenge them to mature in their faith and remain faithful to the truth they had been taught by him.
