In the first lesson of CHC’s currently ongoing churchwide Bible study by Professor Doug Petersen of Vanguard University, he began by providing an overview of the Corinthian church and the Apostle Paul.
The first epistle that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians is a familiar book to most Christians. Yet not many know why Paul wrote the letter and the circumstances that surrounded it. Without context, it is easy to misjudge Paul. Often, readers of the Bible see Paul as macho, sexist and moody.
Professor Doug Petersen spent the first lesson of his online course on 1 Corinthians painting a picture of who the Corinthians were and their relationship with Paul. Prof Doug—as City Harvesters call him—is the co-director of graduate studies at Vanguard University. The five-week course started on 6 Sep and will continue every Wednesday evening at 8pm on Zoom and YouTube. Each lesson lasts for one and a half hours, with a short Q&A at the end of the lesson.
THE CITY OF CORINTH
“Here is a Pentecostal charismatic church in the middle of one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the Roman Empire,” began Prof Doug as he introduced the Corinthian church. Acts 18 details how Paul started a church in Corinth and that this congregation was wealthy and talented.
However, even though they had the great apostle with them, problems emerged over time. “They are the kind of problems that every cosmopolitan and Pentecostal church in the city will confront,” the professor said. The importance of First Corinthians is that it is the only book in the Bible that gives readers a glimpse of life in a city church. Prof Doug said that in the coming lessons, he will highlight the problems of the church and provide the dynamic equivalent to today’s context.
To understand where the problems of the church come from, Prof Doug first explained what the city of Corinth was like and how the society functioned.
The city of Corinth was located on an isthmus that connected the world. The Corinthians came up with a plan to pave a road across the Isthmus so that businessmen could get their goods across from one coast to the other without having to sail a long way over dangerous water. That created an opportunity for commerce which brought all kinds of people into the city.
Rome sent their slaves and criminals to Corinth. Ordinary people looking for opportunities and tradesmen came to seek their fortune and some managed to get rich. While there were many Jews in the city, most of the inhabitants were Gentiles. Overall, there were the new rich as well as lowlife cheats and crooks.
Being a cosmopolitan city, the arts, philosophy and religion were prevalent. As with other cities in Rome, the people believed in the wisdom and knowledge of the philosophers. Even the Corinthian church had an in-house philosopher. That eventually became part of the problem.
The thing that made Corinth famous was their sacred prostitution. The temples for these sacred prostitutes were a part of every day life for the Corinthians. This led to moral issues in the church.
Despite the 2,000-year gap between Bible times and today, the society of the Corinthians was not so different from modern Asia. Prof Doug raised the term “honour and shame”, explaining that a person receives honour from their social status and how others think about them. A person’s social status is passed down from the generations before them and they behave as expected of their status.
In secular society, people from different social classes do not mix. But once they step into the church, all that changes, and this gives rise to conflict. Sometimes, those of higher social status are used to running things and do not take kindly to having people of lower status being responsible for them. However, the gospel comes to break down these barriers, and the only way to do it is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The city was also filled with idol worship. Besides the Greek gods, each family also had their own idols and beyond those, there were other mystery religions. The moral standards were low—prostitution and fornication were the norm in that society.
Prof Doug also touched on the concept of patrons. In the first book of Corinthians, wealthy patrons support Paul and his ministry without expecting returns.
PAUL, THE APOSTLE
The professor went on to give an introduction of what the Apostle Paul was like. “There are two great leaders in the Bible, that are head and shoulders above everybody else. They are Paul and Moses—no other leaders can compare,” he said. “The Corinthians had this sort of love-hate relationship with Paul.”
Paul, previously Saul, grew up in a Jewish family learning Hebrew but was educated in Greek. That made him proficient in both languages. He grew up learning that there is only one God and there is none like God. Saul was therefore appalled when he hears about Christians and their God, Jesus. For him, that was blasphemy, and he needed to wipe them out.
On the road to Damascus, he met Jesus and was dramatically converted. He knew that God is perfect and would never raise a guilty man from the dead and bring him to heaven.
Contrary to popular belief that Paul was a sexist, moody leader, Prof Doug asserted, “Paul was a relational person and he had people stick with him for his whole career.”
The professor counted at least 40 people who worked with Paul directly. In every city that Paul went to, he had 12 to 15 people with him. Starting a church in a new city was tough and his team knew what they were in for. Yet, they continued to work with Paul for 20 years. “People do not stay with somebody who’s moody and unpredictable,” he said. “Paul loved the people he worked with.”
“Paul was what we call a task theologian,” Prof Doug pointed out. “He was a master at communicating and writing. The only reason we have Paul’s letters is that he was writing to solve the church’s problems.” In his letters, he does not simply tell the churches where they went wrong, he would always use a theological foundation to address the issue.
“There is no easy way to do some of this stuff, other than follow God’s word, which is the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, soon return,” he said. “We are not only Christ’s agents of reconciliation, there’s also an obligation to act like we’ve been set apart—the world can see we’re different. We’re not weird or perfect, but we’re different.”
The professor went on to introduce the different names mentioned in First Corinthians. Most of them are Paul’s co-workers and patrons. “When we think of the early church, we sometimes think they’re all just as poor as can be—that’s not true. They’re people from all the classes and there is wealth,” he said. Some of them were significant people but most in the church were not of noble birth. There were also the poor and the slaves in the church.
PAUL AND THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH
The Corinthian church was a church Paul knew better than others. He had led many in the congregation to Christ and he knew the names of their children. It broke his heart when he heard about the sinful behaviour in the church. He wrote a letter to confront their behaviour, but they ignored it (1 Cor 9:5). Years passed and Paul heard from Chloe, his patron who had employees in the church, that the church was divided into groups and the problems were becoming more serious. Paul also received a letter from the church, in which they questioned Paul’s spirituality and authority. First Corinthians is thus a response to what they had written to him.
He used their words, flipped them around and dealt with their issues one by one. Prof Doug explained the context behind each issue and why Paul wrote what he wrote. One example was in chapter 11 where some liberal women cast aside their head coverings and went outdoors. In their culture, this is the equivalent of going to church in a swimsuit.
“Theologically, we’re going to see eschatology because Paul will use that as a framework—you are a new creature in Christ, there’s a great day coming. We’ll see the work of Christ, salvation, the cross, great theology on the church, on the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit,” Prof Doug said, offering a snapshot of what the following weeks will cover.
In all his letters, Paul emphasised the importance of not hurting the body of Christ. Said Prof Doug, “This is God’s agent of reconciliation. Whatever you do, don’t hurt the body.’’
The remaining three lessons of the online churchwide Bible study will happen on 27 Sep, 4 and 11 Oct. You can watch the lesson for one week after each lesson. For more information, visit The CHC App or chc.org.sg.
