• situated in a cosmopolitan city, with members from different economic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

• blessed with material prosperity and abundance of spiritual gifts.
• characterized by the accommodation of the gospel to the surrounding culture in many ways such as the strident individualism that emerges in so many of their behavioral aberrations.

• plagued by many serious problems: divisions among members, emphasis of human wisdom, lack of disciplinary action toward sin, abuse of Christian liberty, misuse of spiritual gifts, misunderstanding of doctrines.

• Corinthians think of their new faith in terms of wisdom (partially a result of Apollos' ministry) (ch.1-2) and consider Paul's gospel as milk for babes (ch.3).

• They reject Paul's prohibition of idol feasts (ch.10) because they thought he was inconsistent by eating meat from the market (ch.8).

• They question why Paul did not accept patronage from them (ch.9), thus doubting whether Paul thought himself unworthy (i.e. not an apostle) (ch.4) and rejecting his authority.

• emphasize gift of tongues (tongues as language of angels) (ch.12,14)
• emphasize wisdom and knowledge (ch.1-2), believe their own spiritual superiority
• have "spiritual" understanding of sacraments (ch.11): that one who has been baptized and partakes of the spiritual food finds security irrespective of behaviour
• have dim view of the body (from Hellenistic dualism and from an over-realized eschatology): they believe of living already as angels, thus the body is insignificant, thus denying bodily resurrection (ch.15), denying sexual relations within marriage (ch.7), at the same time affirming that moral laxity is unimportant (ch.5-6)

1:1
Paul asserts his authority based on: (a) divine call, (b) divine origin "by the will of God",
(c) nature of his vocation as "apostle of Jesus Christ".  Sosthenes is possibly the ruler of the
synagogue mentioned in Ac 18:17.  In this letter, Paul uses "I" indicating he is the sole author,
different from 1Th and 2Th where Paul uses "we" (including Silas and Timothy).

1:2
"sanctified" -- set apart for God; "holiness" -- observable behaviour

1:3
Traditional greeting word among Greeks (Greek chairein or greeting) becomes grace (Greek
charis) indicating God's activity towards man.  Traditional greeting word among Jews (Hebrew
shalom or peace) means well-being and wholeness, indicating benefits from God.

1:4
"grace" (Greek charis) and "gift" (Greek charisma) -- closely associated and are given by God,
thus no grounds for boasting.

1:5
"speaking" (Greek logos) -- "spiritual utterance" in ch.12-14 including tongues, prophecy;
"knowledge" (Greek gnosis) -- prophetic revelation (same two Greek words used in 12:8); "you
have been enriched" -- used to remind them that they are from God.

1:7-8
Paul uses "wait" and "keep you strong" to remind them that the end time has not yet arrived (in
contrast to their inaccurate eschatology).  The "already/not yet" motif is common in the biblical
perspective.  In Mt 28:18, "all authorities" are in Jesus' hands de jure (in law, by right, or in
principle) but they will ultimately be exercised de facto (in fact) in the future.

• greetings for both the Jews and the gentiles: sensitive to cultural differences, showing concernfor all people
• focus on God: his activity and his blessing

• General principle: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity"
• While exhortations and discipline are sometimes needed, everything must be done out of love.
• Emphasize our unity of common foundation in Christ, common objective, and common destiny. ("Christ" used 9 times and "our" used 7 times in this passage)
• Remember how evil is gaining influence on non-Christians as well as Christians in the world today, how can we waste our energy to fight among ourselves?