How does Corinth help us read Paul’s letters?
Corinth was a major setting of Paul’s ministry and correspondence. Acts describes sustained work there, while the Corinthian letters address rivalry, worship, sexuality, generosity, and resurrection. Paul answers local problems by returning repeatedly to the crucified and risen Christ.
Acts 18:1-17 · 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 · 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 7:1 · 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 · 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 · 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 · 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 · 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Work, welcome, and opposition
Acts places Paul with Aquila and Priscilla, working in their shared trade and speaking in the synagogue. The community grows amid opposition, and Paul remains for eighteen months. His appearance before Gallio provides an important chronological anchor: the project follows the commonly reconstructed proconsulship around AD 51–52. That external dating helps locate the ministry; it does not establish every episode in Acts.
Acts 18:1-17
Sources: The Acts of the Apostles · Pauline Letters chronology
Read the questions behind the answers
First Corinthians responds to reports and questions, so readers hear only one side of an ongoing exchange. Factions, lawsuits, a divided meal, and competitive use of gifts reveal tensions inside the church. It is too easy to blame every difficulty on a stereotyped immoral city. Paul also confronts the congregation’s own choices and calls it to holiness, mutual responsibility, and love.
1 Corinthians 1:10-17 · 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 7:1 · 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Sources: The Pauline letters
Power redefined by Christ
The cross challenges status-seeking, and resurrection grounds hope and faithful labor. Second Corinthians adds a portrait of ministry through weakness, reconciliation, and generosity. These are not disconnected moral lessons: Paul wants a community whose shared life fits the gospel it proclaims. Read the letters in substantial sections and compare their relationships and travel plans without assuming that every stage of the correspondence has survived.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 · 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 · 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 · 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Sources: The Pauline letters
Sources
Acts 18:1-17 · 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 · 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 7:1 · 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 · 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 · 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 · 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 · 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
- The Acts of the Apostles
Acts 7–28; passage references are supplied in each section.
- Pauline Letters chronology
Pauline Letters chronology: Acts, the letters, dated external anchors, and explicitly qualified reconstructions.
- The Pauline letters
Romans through Philemon; passage references are supplied in each section.
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