[:en]Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, the capital of Achai. Corinth is a wealthy trading city. But it was a wicked city invaded by all kinds of religions and philosophies. Paul found the Corinthian church during his second missionary journey Acts 18) and stayed there for a year and a half. After he left, serious problem developed in the church. They church members were not getting along with each other. They were taking sides. Some of them were living in sinful lives. Paul wrote this letter to tackle their problems.
Problems of Corinthian Church:
- Division – they forget that it is only by God’s grace that they have been called (v. 9)
- Human leaders – they quarreled among themselves as to which leaders they were following (11-12)
- Dependence on human standard and philosophies – The crucified Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. But the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (vs. 20-25) God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lovely things of the world and the despised thing to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (vs. 26-30)
“Let him who boasts boasts in the Lord (v. 31)[:]