Research Paper On I Corinthians

I Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to help young and weak believers to grow in righteousness. This letter was written between 53 - 55 A.D. This was during Paul’s third missionary journey, towards the end of his three years ministry In Ephesus. A few years later, he was receiving questioning letters and reports of problems that were plaguing the church. Paul was outright in his letter to the Corinthians, answering their questions and instructing them in several areas. I Corinthians provide us with a glimpse inside “one struggling local church” in the first century. The Spirit of the world seemed to have had more influence in the church than the Spirit of God. He warns them not to follow the pattern of this world, but rather, to live as godly examples, reflecting godliness in the midst of an immoral world. He sought to bring understanding to the issues of divisions, marriage and divorce, liberty and responsibility, the exercising of spiritual gifts in the church, and the doctrine of resurrection.

The book of I Corinthians is highly applicable to the Christians today.

We are also suffering from the same problems that were plaguing the church at Corinth. Paul pleaded with saints to “be of the same mind, and let there be no divisions among you” (I Cor. 1:10). The church was divided over leadership. Some followed the teachings of Paul, others favored Cephas, and some preferred Apollo. Intellectual pride was actually at the center of this spirit of division. Paul urges them to follow the right messenger who is Christ than to focus on them. He said none of them was crucified for Christ but were mainly servants. He also admonished them to understand that the church is Christ body where God’s spirit dwells thus there shouldn’t be any division amongst the saints but love should help them grow together with Christ as the

head.

The believers were divided on some practices that were not from the Bible. Such as eating food offered to idols, self centeredness was the root of this division. Paul stresses spiritual freedom, although not at the expense of other believers whose faith might be weak. He further cautioned them not to eat what will cause a weaker believer to fall for the sake of love. The church also, had lost sight of God’s holiness, which is our standard for Holy living. There was that difficulty for the saints to witness to those out there and they were ignoring blatant sins amongst the members. Paul gave some practical instructions for dealing with immorality in the church.

There was also a problem of proper worship. Genuine love was absent amongst the members, the issue of taking brothers to lawsuits, disorder in worship and misuse of Spiritual gifts. Paul spent much time describing the proper role of Spiritual gifts and dedicated the whole of chapter 13 to give the definition of Love. The saints in Corinth were also divided over the misunderstanding of the resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of his followers. Paul threw more light on the importance and reality of Jesus’ resurrection. To conclude, Paul encourages the saints to set aside their offerings and bring on the first day of the week.