Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth was writ­ten from the city of Ephesus. Earlier, Paul had founded the church in Corinth, and he wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians because he’d heard about some problems there.

The city of Corinth in those days was a cosmopolitan Greek city and the capital of a Roman province. It was known for its:

• thriving commerce
• proud Greek cul­ture
• widespread immorality
• many different religions

Paul wrote about several subjects in the short let­ter of 1 Corinthians:

• divisions and immorality in the church
• questions about sex and marriage
• church order
• the gifts of the Spirit
• and the resurrection body

The best-known chap­ter in the letter is 1 Corinthians 13, where Paul de­scribed love in such a beautiful way. Since these same issues are still important today, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians still deserves to be studied closely.