1 Corinthians. B. J. Oropeza
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or. Cicero, Partitiones oratoriae
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Pol. Aristotle, Politics
Post. Philo, De posteritate Caini
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Prob. Philo, Quod omnis probus libert sit
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Rhet. Aristotle, Rhetorica
Rhet. Alex. Anaximenes, Rhetorica ad Alexandrum (Ars rhetorica)
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Sacr. Philo, De sacrificus Abelis et Caini
Sent. Pseudo-Phocylides, Sententiae
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Smyrn. Ignatius, To the Smyrneans
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Introduction
Paul’s transformation from a Pharisee and persecutor of Christ’s followers took place only several years after Christ’s crucifixion.1 Once established in Antioch, he became an apostle to the Gentiles travelling to different cities proclaiming the gospel of Christ. It was during his so-called second missionary journey that he first evangelized Corinth, according to Acts 18:1–20.2 If his stay in Corinth corresponds with Gallio’s proconsulship of the region as portrayed in Acts, he was there somewhere between the years of 50–52 CE.3 A few years later he stayed in Ephesus and there wrote 1 Corinthians (see 1 Cor 15:32; 16:8–9), having already sent them at least one previous letter now lost to us (5:9). The first canonical letter was written about 54 or 55 CE.4 We will address issues surrounding Paul and the Corinthians, and the occasion and purpose for this letter, but first some information about ancient Corinth and its myths is in order.
Corinth: Its People and Myths
Corinth acquired the reputation of wealth and accessibility. It was situated strategically near the Isthmus of the Peloponnesus and had ports at Cenchreae and Lechaeum along with the diolkos road that enabled ships prior to Paul’s day to pass from the Aegean to Ionian Sea. Among other things, the city was a center for commerce, high-quality bronze, and state-of-the-art ships.5 The Corinthians demonstrated their military power when, together with Athenians and Spartans, they defended Greece against Persia (5th c. BCE). As a prime mover of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), they stirred up alliances which eventually led to Athen’s demise, and in the Corinthian War that followed they allied with other Greek cities against Sparta’s expansions. They fought against Philip II of Macedon at Chaeronea, and later joined the Achaean League, which eventually led to their disaster when opposing Rome. The Roman general, Lucius Mummius, set the city aflame, put to death many of its men, and sold its women and children into slavery (146 BCE).6
Bravery, hardship, and heroism in the Corinthian battles were doubtless retold by its citizens, things that stand in tension with characterizations of Corinth as a place of leisure and sexual license. The Acrocorinth’s alleged thousand sacred prostitutes devoted to Aphrodite, goddess of love (Strabo Geogr. 8.6.20c), at best seems exaggerated since sacred prostitution was not customarily a Greek practice.7 Aphrodite’s legendary origin from the foam of the sea, where the god Chronos had cut off the genitals of his father Ouranus (Hesiod Theog. 188–206), casts her in sensual light. But she also represented beauty, fruitfulness, safe seafaring, and protector of the Corinthians.8 Perhaps in this last role the women of Corinth would climb the Acrocorinth; they begged for “a great and terrifying divine force to inspire their warriors to overwhelm the horrifying destructive power of war.”9 Nevertheless, Corinth did have a licentious reputation. Plutarch mentions an “army of harlots” in the Acrocorinth (Amatorius 21[767F]), Aristophanes uses the term korinthiazesthai to refer to practicing sexual immorality (Frag. 354), and Plato seems to equate Corinthian women with sexual promiscuity (Rep. 404D). Although these words come from outsiders and perhaps promote Athenian propaganda,10 they are nonetheless complementary with what we find in 1 Corinthians. Here more than any of his other letters,