This letter, perhaps more than any other book in the Bible, directly addresses problems we face as Christians in 21st century America. It has been said that Corinth was the most American city mentioned in the New Testament. It was educated, it was wealthy, it was proud, and it was the capital of entertainment and sensual pleasure in the Roman Empire.

Corinth sat at the crossroads of the Roman Empire, where trade and people of all cultures passed through. It was a beautiful place, with palm trees and gorgeous architecture – pleasure central for the whole Empire. Residents of Corinth were devoted to two things: Wisdom and Pleasure (aka, intellectualism and sensuality). As Greeks, they loved to philosophize, and their culture bred "the wisdom of words."

They worshipped sex, literally. There was a temple in Corinth dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Part of worshipping her was having sex with her priests and priestesses and contributing financially to the temple. So the Priests and Priestesses of Aphrodite were really male and female prostitutes, and there were at least 10,000 of them in the city of Corinth (the population of the city was only 250,000!). Going to the temple to have sex with a “priestess” was regarded as a normal, proper part of life. And, because Greeks were progressive regarding gender roles, one branch of Aphrodite’s religion also included women having sex with priestesses and men with priests.

So, although the culture Paul wrote to at Corinth was similar to modern America, it really exceeded even our own moral corruption. Americans worship sex, but we don’t (yet) come close to what Corinthian Christians had to contend with. And remember, they grew up thinking of all of this as normal. To them, learning to not have licentious sex was like our young people learning to not use the anything computerized.

In addition to the rampant, open sensuality, they lived and worked in a culture that held in the highest regard the doctrines and teachings of the great philosophers. The great thinkers of what is called the “Golden Age” in Greece - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle – all spent parts of their lives in Corinth. Residents regularly debated issues, similar to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park at London. Corinthians loved wisdom.

Paul had founded the church in Corinth around A.D. 51 in the home of Aquila and Priscilla, which is recorded in Acts 18. He wrote this letter to the church around A.D. 57 while he was in Ephesus because he had heard that disagreements between Christian brothers and sisters were tearing the church apart.

Even though we call it "First" Corinthians, this is not the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. 1 Corinthians 5:9 refers to a former letter that we do not have, where he told them to not associate with sexually immoral people. So, this is at least his second letter to them. Likewise, 2 Corinthians is not literally his second or even third letter to these Christians. They received at least four letters from Paul, but God has given us only two for our scriptures.
In 7:1 we learn that in much of this letter, Paul is answering specific questions that the Corinthians asked him to address. In the structure of this letter Paul introduces his answers to their questions with “Now about” (e.g., 7:25; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1; 16:12, et al).

Read more: seektruth.boards.net/thread/25/1-corinthians-background-introduction#ixzz4LJcuk189