Paul’s letters to the early Christian church in Corinth display brotherly love and personal commitment to this city which was an economic hub in the first century. Actually, Paul, having descended from Athens, described Corinth as a sensual pleasure and commercial center. Corinth had been a beautiful city before it was captured by the Babylonian conquest. With its clear reputation on lascivious worship, many beautiful temples of Corinth dotted the sloppy plains not very far from the lake.
Specifically, the most common form of worship was the one dedicated to the Goddess of Love. Prostitution was then at its core with more than 10,000 prostitutes within the temple of Aphrodite. Despite this, Paul, a committed servant of Jesus, made several trips to this city saturated with ungodly sexual acts, fornication, incest, and prostitution. Paul indicated those facts in his letters to Corinthians.
At the beginning of his first letter, a reader can easily imagine a picture where the tentmaker calls Paul as a tired long-distance traveler with a single coat walking in the dusty streets towards the house of Priscilla and Aquila to preach the good news of repentance from sexual sins, idolatry, and greediness. In his quest, Paul and his two companions, Aquila and Priscilla, must have preached the gospel of repentance in the synagogues and marketplaces full of people who were used to idolatry as a form of worship.
Thus, this reflective treatise attempts to explicitly analyze the captivity of sin, as described by Paul in the example of the city of Corinth. Reflectively, the analysis is based on prostitution, idolatry, and greed as condemned by Paul in his first and second letters to the converted early Christians in the city of Corinth.
Promiscuity in the Corinth City
As one of the first-century Christians, Paul was an intriguing figure as an apostle of Jesus. As a writer, Paul challenged the filth in society by having sought repentance and sanctification. Since the city of Corinth was mainly dominated by non-Jews in the first century, Paul had to package his letter well to convince the non-Judaism faiths to align with newfound Christianity. Paul considered himself as a prophet to these gentiles and targeted to spread his message through the tow letters sent to early Christians in Corinth.
This city was strategically located for trade besides a lake. The booming trade must have been the catalyzing factor for prostitution, adultery, incest, and other immoral sexual exploits that were common there. Since Corinth was located on a busy trade route, between Greece and Peloponnesus, this meant a continuous exchange of ideas, cultures, morals, and beliefs as merchants from different corners of the world converged to meet within the view of Aphrodite temple that had a line of prostitutes.
As a matter of fact, “Paul himself knew and disapproved of this: What do I gain if, humanly speaking…the author was idiosyncratic in his conservative orientation but stood within a long-standing literary tradition which tried to demonstrate the apocalyptic radicalism of the church (MacDonald 78). Thus, as suggested in the first letter to Corinthians, it seems sexual license reputation was widespread as captured by Aristophanes who referred to the sexual filth of that time as ‘corinthianization’ to suggest immoral sexual exploits participation.
Besides, several archeological pieces of evidence of the 18th century seem to suggest a stable sexual industry established during the first century. In a sarcastic statement, Strabo stated that Corinth was not a place for ordinary men. Indeed, it is apparent that this filthy state of sexual immorality inspired Paul to write of trembling and fear as he approached the city in the book of the 1st Corinthians, chapter two, verse three. Reflectively, the existence of many cultures that interact may be a possible reason for the spread of prostitution in Corinth.
These cultures belonged to Greeks, Jews, freedmen, and slaves as indicated in the first letter to Corinthians in chapter twelve. As a result of this diversity, prostitution thrived besides homosexuality and incest. Moreover, the lack of commitment and religious diversity of these interacting cultures may have influenced the incest as the worship of love goddess was common. As a matter of fact, the story has narrowed down “focus to south-central Asia Minor: Phrygia, Pisidia, southern Galatia, and western Cappadocia…which contains accurate references to local geography” (MacDonald 37).
For instance, the names, Priscilla, Crispus, and Aquila, are Latin names despite the fact that they descended from Jews. On the other hand, Fortunatus, Gaius, and Quartus were Romans. In addition, Stephanas, Erustus, and Achaicus were Greeks. These personalities influenced the direction of the message preached by Paul since they were among the first believers. Despite having a different background, they were united by the gospel of restoration as illustrated in the two epistles to Corinthians.
Greed and Selfishness
The passage naming different people in the letter of Paul to Corinthians suggests economic disparity as a result of greed and selfishness. The Corinth society consisted of the noble, merchants, and the poor. Especially, Titus, Gaius, and Erastus are mentioned by Paul in his epistle as people of good financial arms.
However, the first chapter of the first letter indicates that very few noble people were followers of Christianity at that time since they associated the new faith with idleness, poverty, and consolation. Reflectively, the conflict described by Paul in the eleventh chapter of this epistle was catalyzed by economic disparity as one group viewed the other as selfish. Though these conflicts were detrimental, they resulted in internal displacement and church leadership instability, and their overall effect was the eradication of the inequality dogma as revelations on the divine path to salvation.
In his assumption, Paul believed that the church in Corinth would share their finances selflessly amongst themselves without any squabble and still spare enough for the annual offerings meant for the believers in Jerusalem who were impoverished as indicated in chapter sixteen of his first epistle. Arguing from this perspective, it is apparent that the city of Corinth accommodated freedmen and slaves who shared finances according to their needs, especially in the church established by Paul.
Pagan Worship and Idolatry
The influence of Jew culture on the dwellers of Corinth was very minimal in the first century. In fact, it was apparent that Priscilla and Aquila were among the minority of church members. The most part of the first epistle to Corinthians suggests that the majority of the early converts were gentiles since pagan idolatry had been their early religion. For instance, chapter eight of the first epistle discusses the consequences of consuming meat offered to idols, which is unheard of among the Jews.
Besides, marriage issues addressed by Paul in chapter seven refer to a new family that has adopted a new faith and must strive to live within the confines of the principles suggested by Apostle Paul. Unlike the Jews who had clear laws regarding marriage and birth rites, Paul had to remind his Gentile converts to exercise self-discipline and clean spirit in worship. In addition, the dwellers of this city are showed as non-believers in the gospel of resurrection as Paul categorically revealed this in chapter fifteen. This belief was common in regard to people inclined towards worshiping Greek gods.
The consistent claim of prostitution rights describes this community in the first century as total pagans who used sexually immoral acts in their idolatry worships that arrived at the climax in sexual orgies. For instance, McDonald (1993) asserts that “again, in the martyrdom story Paul and his companion told, they are pitted against Nero and his companions…so complete is the polarization of characters that no one appears unaligned with one of the opposing camps.
Those not fro Paul are viciously against him” (28). Most of these pagans brought then some idolatry doctrines into Christianity characterized by Hellenistic views on behavior ethics. Despite being called Christians, a good number of them had attitudes called for radical surgery at minimal interference with heretic beliefs. For sure, “the plot of these stories are simple, economical…each moves forward chronologically towards its resolution” (MacDonald 18) as Paul was striving to win over the dweller of Corinth.
Slavery
As early as the first century, the city of Corinth was a stable administrative unit under the leadership of Gallio who was a brother to the stoic philosopher Seneca. Slavery was a common phenomenon within the wealthy elites of the beautiful city of Corinth. The first chapter of the first epistle to Corinthians captures the active practice of the slave trade and slavery. It is recorded that slaves from the house of the noble Chleo reported the news about church division to Paul.
Thus, “even though the story is extremely fragmentary…we know, thanks to an epitome of Nicephorus Callistus, that the epilogue told of the conversion of Hieronymus” (MacDonald 18) who was a governor. Specifically, Paul blamed the division on influences of idol worshipers who comprised drunkards, idolaters, and swindlers. Following these revelations, Corinthian Christians experienced systematic changes in the political, personal, social, and cultural systems which had previously been controlled by theological realms before Paul ministered to them through this epistle. Besides, financial accountability was more profound as the leadership of the church was held accountable for every penny spent.
Conclusively, the culture of the Corinth was characterized by idolatry, fornication, slavery, and greed. Many of Christianity converts brought idol worship doctrines to the church. Despite being called brethren, they had constant squabbles which inspired Paul to carry out a spiritual checkup on them without sending them away. Diversity in culture and religion proved to be the greatest challenge Paul had to face.
Besides, Paul had to contend with a deeply rooted tradition of the Corinth. This tradition dictated beliefs on the supernatural, doctrines of worship, and perception of what is good and bad for them. In addition, Paul, as a writer, had to align his language to fit the sensitive society who maintained some of their pagan beliefs despite being converted to Christianity. Some even carried with then idolatry into Christian faith.
Works Cited
MacDonald, Ronald. The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon. Alabama: Westminster Press, 1983. Print.